Pat Arensberg: Father from all eternity

“Jesus revealed that God is Father in an unheard-of sense; he is Father not only in being Creator; he is eternally Father in relation to his only Son, who is eternally Son only in relation to his Father:”  -CCC #240

In the Old Testament, as we have seen, God is sometimes referred to as a father in relation to his Chosen People.  This is, in and of itself, a pretty radical difference from every other religion in the world.  We have all grown up in a culture that has breathed the air of Judeo-Christian thought, so we are accustomed to the image of God as Father.  But, in the Middle-East and the Far East this is a foreign concept.  Jesus takes the Jewish notion of God’s Fatherhood another step, back eternally.

Jesus shows us that the Creator did not become Father at the birth of the nation Israel, or even back when he created our first parents.  Rather, the first member of the Holy Trinity was Father from all eternity.  The Church teaches that the Divine Word proceeds from the Father from all eternity.  Jesus told us, “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”  In other words, the relationship between those two members of the Blessed Trinity is best described as a Father-Son relationship without reference to humanity.  The eternal relationship is paternal.

It is really difficult for the human mind to understand that the Son proceeds from the Father without arriving at a conclusion that the Father caused or created the Son.  But, we must remember that eternity is not just a really, really, really long time; eternity is existence without the presence of time.  Before God created the universe and time (which understanding the Big Bang Theory proves) there was no time.  So, things did not follow in a linear sequence of cause-effect.

About Pat Arensberg Patrick Arensberg is the Director of Religious Education for the Archdiocese of Mobile. Previously, he taught for 17 years at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, where he served as Chairman of the Theology Department. He attended the Gregorian University in Rome and holds an M.A. in Theology from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. He is married to Connie and they live in Mobile with their 5 children.