How can God be His own Son?

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ValiantDomain

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I hate to admit it, but I was stumped when somebody asked me that question (How can God be His own Son?). I’m still REALLY new at Christian apologetics, much less any theology, and when I was posed that question earlier this afternoon I felt so inadequate because I wasn’t able to answer it!

I know the answer lies in an explanation of the Trinity, but getting that far seems so terribly complicated! How can God be His own Son? Because God is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, etc., etc., etc… What kind of answer is that??

I’m currently reading F.J. Sheed’s Theology for Beginners, and while it all is making sense, it’s not helping me in coming to an answer which the intelligent atheist (or Muslim) would understand or accept.
 
the answer to your question is so simple it is complicated. yes it does have to do with the trinity and also with God’s omnipotence.

God exists from the beginning and being omnipotent, nothing is beyond Him (except for things like evil which if you read St Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica you will see is nothing more or less than a privation or negation of some good). Therefore, God is not just creator (as He made man) but also procreative (that is that He is able to create another like unto Himself, but since God is infinite, perfect, etc, than that “other” would also be infintie, perfect, etc. Therefore, the logical conclusion is that this “other” is identical to the Father, except that He proceeds from the Father as the Eternal Son.

Another explanation is that God being perfect has perfect knowledge and with that perfect knowledge can form a perfect image of Himself which is the Son. Because unlike a man’s image of himself, God’s image of Himself is not only flawless but also full of His power, that is to say a self existent being.

From these we can conclude that not only is it possible for God to have a Son but also necessary lest be imply any defect in God, which would be manifestly false.

I hope that helps.
 
The question is one of natures.

Is your own son less human than you?

Pax domini sit semper vobiscum.
 
Hi Valiant,

Well, we could have called the persons of the Blessed Trinity Person 1, Person 2 and Person 3; then you wouldn’t have a problem, would you?

Father, Son and Holy Spirit are just human terms to try and describe God, which is really impossible. Person 2 eternally proceeds from Person 1, so, in human terms we call Him the Son, and we call Person 1 the Father. but one does not preceed or follow the other; they co-exist eternally.

So God is not His own Son, since they both exist from eternity. There was never a “time” when one or the other did not exist.

Does that answer your question?

Verbum
 
“Thus the connection of the Father in the Son, and of the Son in the Paraclete, produces three coherent persons, who are yet distinct one from another. These three are, one essence, not one person, as it is said, ‘I and my Father are one’ [John 10:30], in respect of unity of being not singularity of number” (ibid., 25).
 
Thanks all for your answer so far. The real problem is that this person does not understand (much less accepts) the concept of the Trinity…so any discussion of ‘how’ ultimately involves a long-winded explanation on ‘what’. :banghead:
 
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