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

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Pergamum

Ordinary Guy (TM)
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).)

The persons, therefore are identified according to what they have in common and how they are distinct: they have in common the numerically singular and indivisible divine essence, the essential properties, the works, dignity, and honor of God. 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).)

Src: Muller, Richard A. Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics: The Rise and Development of Reformed Orthodoxy; Volume 4: The Triunity of God. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003. Print.

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?
 
"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).
 
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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