The Only Son and the One Lord

It must further be observed that no creature can be what its Creator is. And so, as the divine substance or essence admits of no comparison, neither does the Godhead. Moreover, every creature comes from nothing. A spark is so slight a thing, yet it is fire; and it begets from itself something created out of nothing, and keeps in it the essential nature of that from which it springs, that is, the fire of the spark it came from. If so, why could not the substance of that eternal Light, which has always existed because it has nothing in itself that is not substantial, produce from itself a brightness that has substance? Rightly, then, is the Son called “only” and “unique.” For he who was born in this way is “only” and “unique,” and what is unique admits of no comparison. Nor can he who made all things be like in substance to the things he has made. This, then, is Christ Jesus, the only Son of God, who is also our Lord. “Only” may be taken both with “Son” and with “Lord.” For Jesus Christ is “only” both as truly Son and as one Lord. All other sons, though they are called sons, are called so by the grace of adoption, not by the truth of their nature; and if there are others who are called lords, they are called so by an authority given to them, not one that is theirs by nature. But Christ alone is the only Son and the only Lord, as the apostle says, “One Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things.” So, after the creed has set out in due order the mystery, beyond words, of the Son’s birth from the Father, it now comes down to the plan of salvation which he was pleased to enter on to save humankind. And of him whom it has just called “the only Son of God” and “our Lord,” it now says: [a]