Nicene Light

The Nicene Creed, composed by distinguished Christian pastors in 325 AD, affirms that Jesus is “... God from God, Light from Light, very God from very God...” From such a statement we deduce that the Christian Church was originally as clear as you and I that Jesus is from God.

The Church fathers who composed the Nicene Creed demonstrated sensitivity to the words of Jesus. He liked to talk about how he came from God. For example, the Lord Jesus said straight up ‘… I am from him…’ (John 7:29) and he spoke of himself as ‘the One who is from God’ (John 6:46). That was a title he used for himself.

However, you must notice this: We can’t use this same terminology for the Father. We can’t say that the Father is from God. Rather, we say that the Father is God.

The Unbegotten God

Now, because the Father is not from anyone, the Church fathers liked to call the Father “the Unbegotten.” Here are a two examples:

…to the Father of All, who is unbegotten, no name is given… his Son… the Word… was begotten… (Justin Martyr, Second Apology 6)

God is… unbegotten … (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.38.1–2)

At the time the Nicene Creed was written, there was a group of opposing pastors who said that Jesus had a beginning. In other words, they insisted Jesus was created. Those were the Arians. The Nicene pastors opposed them.

Origen warned the Arians that each of them should:

… take care that he be not guilty of impiety against the Unbegotten Father Himself, seeing he [the person who says there was a time when Jesus did not exist] denies that he had always been a Father (Origen, On First Principles 1.2.2–3).

Pure genius. What Origen is saying is that the Arians were irreverent to insist that Jesus is a created being because that would be tantamount to denying God as the Eternal Father. Origen is saying that Jesus was begotten long before his incarnation, having proceeded from God. In other words, Origen insisted that Jesus is from God. That’s also our point.

Is a father ever alone in the World? No. A father by nature has children. Thus, God also, who is the Eternal Father, has always had children. As a Father, God has fathered from eternity past. Jesus is our primary evidence of God’s fatherhood.

God-of-Himself

Speaking of Origen, he liked to use the term “God-of-Himself" or "Very God" for the Father. He wrote once:

God on the one hand is Very God, wherefore also the Savior says in his prayer to the Father, ‘That they may know you, the Only True God’ [John 17:3]… The God who is over all is God of Himself… The Son is not God of Himself… (Origen, Commentary on John 2.2 or 2.10)

So, Church fathers like Origen help us to understand the Bible expression True God (that it’s a synonym for Very God) and they help us to understand the Bible expression God Himself. You will see this expression God Himself used in the three passages below. What do they express? God’s self-sufficiency.

I’ll share the translations most akin to the original Greek. In the Greek, the word Himself comes very early in the sentence. That’s why the best translation of 1 Thessalonians 3:11 must be:

May he Himself, our God and Father, and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you.

And, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, if we follow the original word order, would best be rendered:

May he Himself, the God of Peace, sanctify you completely.

Finally, examine Revelation 21:3. Our best translation from the original Greek is this:

And the [One] God Himself will be with them as their God.

So, the Father is the Origin, Source, and Fountainhead of the divine nature. From him comes deity. He is Very God, or, as Paul called him, the Living and True God (1 Thessalonians 1:9). From the Father proceed power, glory, and authority. These things he transmitted to Jesus, and through Jesus, he'll transmit them to us!

God is Different

And—think about this—the Bible only uses the terms Very God and God Himself when it speaks of the Father. He is the One God. That means he comes from no one. He’s the Authentic God, the Original.

The Father does not derive his being, existence, or nature from anyone else. Again, that’s what the Church fathers meant by calling the Father “the Unbegotten God.” And that's why we can say unequivocally that God is not “of” Jesus. Rather, Jesus is “of” God.

Their relationship is not a two-way street. It’s not equivalence. They are not “co-equal” as the modern-day theologians like to say.

On the contrary, the relationship between Jesus and the Father is hierarchical. God is greater than Jesus. Jesus serves God. The Father is Jesus’ authority, and God’s will trumps Jesus’ will.

In case you feel the need to defend Jesus from these "attacks," you should know that he wouldn’t have it any other way. He honors the Father and came with the express purpose of making God known.

The point is not that Jesus is less, but God is more. And what makes him more? God gave Jesus equality with him, so that makes Jesus equal, right? Well, yes. But since it’s God who made Jesus equal, God is greater.

It’s God who put Jesus where he is, bringing him forth (Micah 5:2), establishing him (Proverbs 8:22–23), anointing him (Acts 10:38), resurrecting him (Romans 10:9), and seating him at his right hand (Ephesians 1:20).

Jesus is of God

We can’t say “God is of Jesus.” It would be untrue. But along with the Bible, we unwaveringly affirm that Jesus is “of” God. That’s what this whole study is about. The Church fathers affirmed it too. They said that Jesus was “of God” and by it they meant that Jesus derived his authority, nature, and very life from God.

Here are quotes from three famous Church fathers:

… he was begotten of the Father by an act of will… The Word of Wisdom, who is himself this God begotten of the Father… (Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 61)

That which is begotten of God is God… The Father is indeed above all, and he is the Head of Christ… (Irenaeus of Lyons; Against Heresies 4.20; Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 47).

… this Only One God has also a Son, his Word, who proceeded from himself… (Tertullian; Against Praxeas 2 & 9).

Do you believe the same? Do you believe that Jesus gets his life from God? Well, Jesus himself believed it. He said so. Listen to him here:

Just as… I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me (John 6:57).

Jesus Needs God, So Do We

This passage the Lord gives us as a point of comparison. He says that ‘just as’ he lives because of the Father ‘so’ do we live because of Jesus. In other words, in the same way God is Jesus’ source of life, so Jesus is our source of life!

So, how much do we need Jesus? We need him in the same magnitude and degree which he needs God. Jesus is the vine and we’re the branches. Only if we remain in him will we bear fruit. Apart from him we can’t do a thing.

Jesus said this. He said:

I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5, NASB).

You probably already knew about that verse, but did you know that it’s part of an analogy of how much Jesus depends on God? Probably not. But in that very parable, Jesus calls the Father the Vinedresser.

And you probably don’t know two other verses because the pastors who don’t want you to know the truth about God won’t give them much of the limelight.

Are you ready for them? These relatively unknown verses reveal that Jesus has the same relationship to the Father you have with Jesus: a relationship of dependency. They reveal that without God, Jesus can do nothing. Apart from God, Jesus is powerless.

Don’t take our word for it. The Lord Himself said it. He said:

I can do nothing on my own initiative (John 5:30, NASB).

And, here’s our last verse. Jesus said this:

Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same way (John 5:19, NASB).

The Lord Jesus was speaking for all of us. None of us can do anything without God, the One God, our Father. He is the Source of our strength, life, and purpose.