Jesus Christ Reveals the Trinity General audience of August 19, 1987

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Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word of God the
Father General audience of September 2, 1987
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• In the preceding catechesis we paid particular
  attention to those statements in which Christ,
  speaking of himself, used the expression,
• "I Am."
• The context in which these words appear,
  especially in John's Gospel, encourages us to
  conclude that in using such a phrase, Jesus
  referred to the name by which the God of the Old
  Testament designated himself to Moses when God
  entrusted to Moses the mission to which he had
  been called
• "I Am who I Am...
• tell the sons of Israel,
• 'I Am has sent me to you'"
• (Ex 314).

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• Jesus spoke of himself in a similar vein during
  the discussion concerning Abraham
• "Before Abraham was, I Am"
• (Jn 858).
• This expression allows us to conclude that the
  Son of Man gave witness to his divine
  pre-existence,
• and this is not an isolated statement.

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• More than once Jesus spoke of the mystery of his
  person.
• The most synthetic of these comments about
  himself would seem to be,
• "I came from the Father and have come into the
  world and now I leave the world to go to the
  Father"
• (Jn 1628).
• These words were addressed by Jesus to the
  apostles in his farewell discourse on the eve of
  the paschal events.

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• These words clearly say that before he came into
  the world Christ
• "was"
• with the Father as a Son.
• They indicate, as a consequence, his
  pre-existence in God.
• Jesus unambiguously stated that his earthly
  existence cannot be separated from his
  pre-existence in God.
• Without that, his personal reality cannot be
  correctly understood.

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• There are many similar expressions.
• When Jesus referred to his coming into the world
  from the Father, his words usually denoted his
  divine pre-existence.
• This is especially clear in the Gospel of John.
• In the presence of Pilate Jesus stated
• "I was born for this
• I came into the world for this,
• to bear witness to the truth"
• (Jn 1837).

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• Perhaps it is not without significance that
  Pilate later asked him
• "Where are you from?"
• (Jn 199).
• Earlier in the text we had read
• "My testimony is still valid because I know where
  I came from and where I am going"
• (Jn 814).

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• In that nocturnal conversation with Nicodemus,
• the question,
• "where are you from?"
• receives a special response
• "No one has gone up to heaven except the one who
  came down from heaven"
• (Jn 313).

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• This "coming down" from heaven,
• from the Father,
• indicates the divine pre-existence of Christ in
  relation to his "departure" as well
• "What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where
  he was before?"
• Jesus asked in the context of the Eucharistic
  discourse in the neighborhood of Capernaum
• (cf. Jn 62).

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• Divine pre-existence
• The entire earthly existence of Jesus as Messiah
  originates from that
• "before"
• and is united with it as a fundamental dimension
  which testifies to the Son as "one" with the
  Father.
• In this context, how eloquent are the words of
  the priestly prayer in the upper room,
• "I have glorified you on earth and finished the
  work that you gave me to do.
• Now, Father, it is time for you to glorify me
  with that glory I had with you before the world
  began"
• (Jn 174-5).

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• Similarly, the Synoptic Gospels speak in many
  instances of the coming of the Son of Man for the
  salvation of the world
• (cf. e.g., Lk 1910 Mk 1045 Mt 2028).
• Nevertheless, the texts noted by St. John speak
  unequivocally about
• the pre-existence of Christ.
• The prologue of St. John's Gospel contains the
  most comprehensive synthesis of this truth.
• It can be affirmed that in the text the truth of
  the divine pre-existence of the Son of Man is
  given a more explicit delineation that, in a
  certain sense, is more definitive.

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• "In the beginning was the Word,
• and the Word was God.
• He was with God in the beginning.
• Through him all things came to be
• not one thing had its being
• but through him.
• All that came to be
• had its life in him
• and that life was the light of men,
• a light
• that shines in the darkness,
• a light
• that the darkness could not overpower"
• (Jn 11-5).

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• In these statements, the evangelist confirms that
  which Jesus declared about himself
• "I came from the Father and have come into the
  world"
• (Jn 1628),
• or when he prayed to his Father to glorify him
  with the glory that he had with him before the
  world began
• (cf. Jn 175).

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• At the same time there is a strict correlation
  between the pre-existence of the Son in the
  Father with the revelation of the trinitarian
  mystery of God.
• The Son is the eternal Word,
• he is "God from God"
• he is of the same substance of the Father
• (as is expressed by the Council of Nicaea in the
  creed).
• That council's formula reflects exactly the
  prologue of John.
• "The Word was with God and the Word was God."

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• To acknowledge the pre-existence of Christ in the
  Father is tantamount to recognizing the divinity.
  
• Eternity appertains to the substance of the
  divinity,
• just as it likewise pertains to the substance of
  the Father.
• It is this that is referred to when discussing
  the eternal pre-existence in the Father.

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• In revealing the truth concerning the Word, the
  prologue of John constitutes the definitive
  complement of what the Old Testament had already
  said regarding wisdom.
• For example we read
• "From eternity in the beginning he created me and
  for eternity I shall remain"
• (Sir 249)
• "My creator made me pitch my tent and he said to
  me, 'Pitch your tent in Jacob'"
• (Sir 248).

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• The wisdom referred to in the Old Testament is a
  creature that at the same time has attributes
  that enthrone it above all creation.
• "Although alone
• she can do all
• herself unchanging
• she makes all things new"
• (Wis 727).
• The truth about the Word contained in the
  prologue of John reconfirms, in a certain sense,
  the revelation concerning the wisdom evident in
  the Old Testament.

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• At the same time it surpasses it in a definitive
  manner.
• The Word is not merely,
• "with God" but "is God."
• Coming into this world,
• the Word
• "came into his own domain,"
• since "the world had its being through him"
• (cf. Jn 110-11).
• He came "unto his own," because
• "he is the true light that enlightens every man"
• (cf. Jn 19).
• The self-revelation of God in Jesus Christ
  consists in this coming into the world by the
  Word,
• who is the eternal Son.

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• "The Word was made flesh and he lived among us
  and we saw his glory, the glory that is his as
  the only Son of the Father, full of grace and
  truth"
• (Jn 114).
• Let us repeat it once more
• the prologue of John is the eternal echo of the
  words uttered by Jesus
• "I have come from the Father and come into the
  world"
• (Jn 1628).

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• It also echoes his sentiments when he prayed to
  his eternal Father to glorify him with that glory
  he had before the creation of the world
• (cf. Jn 175).
• The evangelist is contemplating the Old Testament
  revelation concerning wisdom and simultaneously
  visualizes the entire paschal event
• that departure through the cross and
  resurrection in which the truth about Christ,
• Son of Man and true God,
• is rendered crystal clear to those who were
  eyewitnesses of those events.

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• In strict relationship with the revelation of the
  Word, that is, with the divine pre-existence of
  Christ, one also finds confirmation of the truth
  about Emmanuel.
• This word
• which literally signifies "God with us"
• expresses a particular and personal presence of
  God in the world.

22

• Christ's "I Am" manifests exactly such a
  presence,
• as pre-announced by Isaiah
• (cf. 714),
• which the Gospel of Matthew
• (cf. Mt. 123)
• repeats following the prophet, and is confirmed
  in the prologue of John
• "The Word was made flesh and came
• to dwell among us"
• (Jn 114).

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• The language of the evangelists is indeed
  multiform but the truth expressed is identical.
• In the Synoptic Gospels Jesus pronounces his
• "I am with you"
• in moments of special tension
• (such as Mt 1417 Mk 650 Jn 620),
• when he calmed the tempest,
• as also in the perspective of the Church's
  apostolic mission
• "Behold I am with you all days even to the end of
  the world"
• (Mt 2820).

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• Christ's statement,
• "I have come from the Father and have come into
  the world"
• (Jn 1628)
• contains a salvific and soteriological
  significance.
• All the evangelists manifest this phenomenon.
• The prologue of John expresses it in these words
  
• "To all who did accept him (the Word), he gave
  power to become children of God,"
• that is, the possibility of being generated by
  God
• (cf. Jn 112-13).
•  

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• This is the central truth of all Christian
  soteriology that finds an organic unity with the
  revealed reality of the God-Man.
• God became man so that man could truly
  participate in the life of God
• so that, indeed, in a certain sense,
• he could become God.

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• "Through the immense love he bore,
• he became what we are,
• thereby affording us the opportunity of becoming
  what he is"
• (cf. Adv. Haer., V. Praef. PG 7, 1120).

The Fathers of the Church had a clear
consciousness of this fact. It is sufficient to
recall St. Irenaeus who, in his exhortations to
imitate Christ, the only sure teacher,
declared
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(No Transcript)
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• This truth opens up for us unlimited horizons
  among which we locate and pinpoint the concrete
  expression of our Christian life,
• in the light of faith in Christ,
• Son of God,
• the Word of the Father.
•