# John 5:26 "For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also...."



## Pergamum (Mar 24, 2015)

> John 5:26; “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself”



I am looking for all the info I can find on this verse. How does it pertain to the Trinity, the Son's co-eternal and co-equal status to the Father, the ontological versus economic Trinity, the eternal generation of the Son.

Richard Muller wrote this abut the "Persons" of the Trinity:



> A divine person, then, can be identified as “an incommunicable subsistence of the divine essence,” granting that the divine essence is possessed in common by the three persons, while the persons represent incommunicable characteristics: Father, Son, and Spirit are God, but the Father is not the Son, the Son not the Spirit, and so forth. The essence is one, the persons several:
> 
> thus, essence is absolute, person relative: the persons of the Son and Spirit have an origin, the essence does not. Person generates and is generated: essence neither generates nor is generated.(Wendelin,Christianae theologiae libri duo, I.ii.2 (2).)
> 
> ...



However, I don't understand Muller's phrase above: "...the persons of the Son and Spirit have an origin..." What does he mean by "origin?" And why did the Father need to "grant" the Son anything in light of their co-eternal ontological natures?

How do you address this verse in sermons?


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## Ask Mr. Religion (Mar 24, 2015)

"Origin" relates to: "They are distinct, however, *in origin*, in order, and in manner of operation, *inasmuch* as the *Father is from himself* _(a se_), the *Son from the Father*, and the *Spirit from the Father and the Son*; the Father is first, the Son second, and the Spirit third in order; and in internal operation, the Father acts _a se_, the Son from the Father, and the Spirit from the Son and the Father. (Wendelin, _Christianae theologiae libri duo_, I.ii.2 (3).)"


Ontology speaks to the nature of being and not to the distinctive properties of the Persons of the Godhead. It is a poor analogy but just as men and women are equal ontologically, that is they are human beings, they each have distinctions of their personal properties (WLC #9-11).


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## Peairtach (Mar 24, 2015)

Christ is surely talking about the Theanthropos in His Mediatorial capacity. 



> And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.(v27)


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## Cymro (Mar 24, 2015)

Dr Reymond has 2 pages (325-6 ) on the subject, Turretin has references in a number of places( volume 3) Godet also less
fully on the verse, Berkoff has P 93-95 on the eternal generation of the son, also Hutcheson in his commentary deals with the verse. They all show the several proofs that Christ gives in response to the charge by the Jews that He made himself 
equal with God. Christ rather than reproving or denying developes His self testimony further. Equality of actions sprung from equality of nature.


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## Pergamum (Mar 30, 2015)

I am looking for more resources on this. Thanks. A very deep topic.


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