TCR.21-22, 1.2.3, 'The Divine esse is at once esse [being] in itself and existere [manifestation] in itself.'

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(3) The Divine esse is at once esse [being] in itself and existere [manifestation] in itself.

 

Jehovah God is esse in itself, because he is the I am, the only, and the first, from eternity to eternity, the source of everything that is, without whom it could not be. In this way and not otherwise he is the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the alpha and omega. It cannot be said that his esse is from itself, because the expression from itself implies something prior, and therefore time; and time is not applicable to the infinite, which is called infinite from eternity; it also implies another God who is God in himself, thus it implies God from God, or that God formed himself; in which case he would neither be uncreate nor infinite, for he would thus have made himself finite, either from himself or from another. From the fact that God is esse in itself it follows that he is love in itself, wisdom in itself, and life in itself, and that he is the itself, the source of all things, to which each thing must have relation in order to be anything. That God is God because he is life in itself is evident from the Lord’s words in John (5:26) and in Isaiah:

 

네 구속자요 모태에서 너를 지은 나 여호와가 이같이 말하노라 나는 만물을 지은 여호와라 홀로 하늘을 폈으며 나와 함께 한 자 없이 땅을 펼쳤고 (사44:24) I am Jehovah that maketh all things; that spreadeth forth the heavens alone that stretcheth forth the earth by myself (Isa. 44:24)

 

and that he alone is God, and beside him there is no God (Isa. 45:14, 15, 21, 22; Hos. 13:4). God is not only esse [being] in itself, but also existere [manifestation] in itself, because esse without existere is nothing, equally so existere unless it is from esse; therefore where the one is the other must needs be. The same is true of substance and form. Unless a substance is also a form nothing can be predicated of it, and for the reason that having no quality it is in itself nothing. The terms esse and existere are here used, and not essence and existence, because a distinction must be made between esse and essence, and between existere and existence, like that between the prior and the posterior, the prior being more universal than the posterior. To the Divine esse infinity and eternity are applicable; while to the Divine essence and existence, Divine love and wisdom are applicable, and through these two omnipotence and omnipresence, which will be considered in their order.

 

 

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That God is the itself, the only, and the first, which is called esse and existere in itself, the source of all that has being and existence, the natural man is wholly unable to discover by his own reason; for by his own reason the natural man can apprehend only what belongs to nature, since that agrees with the essential nature of his reason, because from his infancy and childhood nothing else had entered into his reason. But because man was so created as to be spiritual as well as natural, since he is to continue to live after death, and then to live among those who are spiritual in their world, God has provided the Word— in which he has revealed not only himself but also that there is a heaven and a hell, and that in one or the other of these every man is to live to eternity, in accordance both with his life and his faith. Moreover, God has revealed in the Word that he is the I Am or esse and the itself and only, which in itself is, and thus the first or beginning, the source of all things.

 

[2] By this revelation the natural man is enabled to raise himself above nature, thus above himself, and to see such things as pertain to God, yet only as if at a distance, although God is nigh to every man, for in his essence he is in man; and being in man he is very nigh to those who love him; and those love him who live according to his commandments and believe in him; these as it were see him. What is faith but to see spiritually that God is? And what is a life according to his commandments but an acknowledgment in act that from him are salvation and eternal life? But those whose faith is not spiritual but natural, which is mere knowledge, and whose life is therefore natural, do indeed see God, but from afar off, and this only when they speak of him. The difference between these two classes is like the difference between those who stand in a clear light and see men near by and touch them, and those who stand in a thick mist in which they are unable to distinguish between men and trees or stones.

 

[3] Or it is like the difference between men on a high mountain on which there is a city, who are going about there having interaction with their fellow townsmen, and men looking down from the top of that mountain who are unable to tell whether the objects they see below are people, beasts, or statues. Or it is like the difference between men standing upon some planet and seeing those about them, and men on another planet looking at these through telescopes, and saying that they see people there, when in fact they see nothing but a most general outline of the land as lunar brightness, and the watery parts as spots. Such is the difference in seeing God and Divine things in the mind that go forth from him, between those who are both in faith and in a life of charity, and those who merely know about faith and charity; and such consequently is the difference between natural and spiritual men. But those who deny the Divine holiness of the Word, and yet carry their religion about as in a sack upon the back, do not see God at all, but only utter the word “God,” almost like parrots.