The
difference between “the God” and “a God”
(12) But since the proposition, “In the
beginning was the Word,” has been placed first, perhaps it indicates some
order; in the same manner, next, “And the Word was with God,” and third, “And
the Word was God.” Perhaps he says, “And the Word was with God,” then, “And the
Word was God,” that we might understand that the Word has become God because he
is “with God.”
(13) John has used the articles in one place
and omitted them in another very precisely, and not as though he did not
understand the precision of the Greek language. In the case of the Word, he
adds the article “the,” but in the case of the noun “God,” he inserts it in one
place and omits it in another.
(14) For he adds the article when the noun
“God” stands for the uncreated cause of the universe, but he omits it when the
Word is referred to as “God.” And as “the
God” and “God” differ in these places, so, perhaps, “the Word” and “Word” differ.
(15) For as the God who is over all is “the God” and not simply “God,” so the
source of reason in each rational being is “the
Word.” That reason which is in each rational being would not properly have the
same designation as the first reason, and be said to be “the Word.”
(16) Many people who wish to be pious are
troubled because they are afraid that they may proclaim two Gods and, for this
reason, they fall into false and impious beliefs. They either deny that the
individual nature of the Son is other than that of the Father by confessing him
to be God whom they refer to as “Son” in name at least, or they deny the
divinity of the Son and make his individual nature and essence as an individual
to be different from the Father.
(17) Their problem can be resolved in this
way. We must say to them that at one time God, with the article, is very God,
wherefore also the Savior says in his prayer to the Father, “That they may know
you the only true God.” On the other hand, everything besides the very God,
which is made God by participation in his divinity, would more properly not be
said to be “the God,” but “God.” To
be sure, his “firstborn of every creature,” inasmuch as he was the first to be
with God and has drawn divinity into himself, is more honored than the other
gods beside him (of whom God is God as it is said, “The God of gods, the Lord
has spoken, and he has called the earth”). It was by his ministry that they
became gods, for he drew from God that they might be deified, sharing
ungrudgingly also with them according to his goodness.
(18) The
God, therefore, is the true God. The others are gods formed according to him as
images of the prototype. But again, the archetypal image of the many images is the Word with the God, who was “in the beginning.” By being “with the God” he always continues to be
“God.” But he would not have this if he were not with God, and he would not
remain God if he did not continue in unceasing contemplation of the depth of
the Father. (Origen, Commentary on the Gospel According to John, Books 1-10 [The
Fathers of the Church 80; trans. Ronald E. Heine; Washington, D.C.: The
Catholic University of America Press, 1989]. Book 2, 98-99)