Okay, so there is a whole lot here going on in all of these threads…I’ll just focus on the whole issue of the Trinity (whether God is a Trinity of Persons or not). And, it seems that one fundamental notion that needs to be addressed in all of this is the notion of “eternity” (for, within the doctrine of the Trinity is included the notion of the Father eternally begetting the Son, as well as the Holy Spirit eternally proceeding from both the Father and the Son). So, let us take some time here to consider this whole notion of “eternity” and “being eternal”. And, to do so, we need to employ not only the Scriptures, but also our own use of reason, for that, too, is an aid to theology.
So, to understand what it means to “be eternal” (insofar as we,
temporal creatures that we are, can understand such a notion!), we need to first posit a definition of “being eternal”. I suggest that this term/phrase, strictly speaking, carries with it the fundamental notion of “being outside of time”.
This, then, begs the question: What is time? Well, if we consider the question carefully, and reason well about it, I believe that we will come to the conclusion that time is, by definition, “the number of motion”; or, we could say, it is a
measurement of motion. This is the definition that the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, proposed, and I believe it is an excellent definition.
But, this then begs the next question, what is “motion”? Again, if we were to make a thorough and reasonable analysis of this question, I think we could conclude (with Aristotle) that motion is the “act of that which has potential”. Thus, according to this definition (which, again, I believe is a very good one), we can say, for example, that a baseball leaving a pitcher’s hand is “in motion” towards the catcher’s glove; and, by this, we do not
merely or ONLY mean that it “has potential” to be at the catcher’s glove (for a ball lying, “not moving”, on the pitcher’s mound also has this potential), but, also, that the ball is “in act”, it is in (or has) an action that will enable it to fulfill its potential to be in the catcher’s glove (or, for that matter, being hit by a batter’s bat!)
Thus, anything that is “in time” is experiencing motion (for, again, time is a measurement of motion), which is a kind of change from something that is in potentiality to that which is in actuality. On the other hand, to “be eternal” means to be outside the realm where there is any kind of motion or change—it is to be PERFECTLY actual “always”. And this is the realm of God, Who alone, by nature, is eternal (for all other things, even angels, experience some kind of change, even if it were only the change of going from non-existence to existence). God just IS (“I AM WHO AM”). There is no before and after in God; there is simply NOW-- an “everlasting present moment”.
Likewise, when we consider the generation of the Word (the Son) from the Father, this generation just IS; there is no “before” and “after” with respect to this Divine generation in God (that is, there is no REAL thing that is being referenced as existing in God “before the generation of the Word” or “after the generation of the Word”, for this generation of the Word in God, like ALL things in God, is eternal, it just IS). And in saying that this generation “just is”, i.e., that it is eternal, it is also implied that this generation is
eternally COMPLETE and perfect; that is, there is no “progress” in this generation, as if there were a succession of steps from an imperfect stage of this generation to a more perfect stage (as occurs in the generation of creatures from their parents). But, rather, in saying that this generation “just is” we are saying that it just IS—perfectly, wholely, completely, forever and ever and ever and ever, etc. It is, thus, a perfect, complete, and perfectly complete generation that occurs
both "all at once"
and "forever"...for it occurs in the "everlasting present", the "everlasting today" of God's *timeless* eternity ("You are my Son, TODAY I have begotten you." (Ps. 2:7)).
These are lofty concepts and I am doing my best to explain them as well as I can, but I realize that a lot more could be said to express this reality more precisely and accurately-- and even were I to find the best words to use to try to express the truth of all this, they would still fall far short. But, perhaps, it would help us to understand this concept of "being eternal" if we were to look at the words of Thomas Aquinas, the great theologian, explaining one way in which we could know (by our reason) that God is eternal. He states:
Those beings alone are measured by time that are moved. For time, as is made clear in Physics IV [11], is “the number of motion.” But God, as has been proved, is absolutely without motion, and is consequently not measured by time. There is, therefore, no before and after in Him; He does not have being after non-being, nor non-being after being, nor can any succession be found in His being. For none of these characteristics can be understood without time. God, therefore, is without beginning and end, having His whole being at once. In this consists the nature of eternity.
So, I hope all this helps a little bit to explain and understand the whole concept of “being eternal” and applying this to God and the generation of the Word in God.
To Christ, the eternal Word of God, be glory for ever, Amen.
In Christ, the Son of God, the Son of Mary,
BrotherAlan
