Consubstantial with the Father
Consubstantial is one of those great Catholic words that have fallen out of common usage. Unless you happen to be a Roman Catholic, but it is the perfect word to describe the Divine nature of the Son. Remember, through this week, we are focusing solely on the Divine nature of the Son of God. So, what do we mean when we say Jesus Christ is consubstantial with the Father?
We mean that the Son is exactly the same substance as the Father. Earlier I wrote that whatever the Father is, the Son also is. To put it very imperfectly in our terms, if the Father had DNA, and the Son had DNA, and you tested their DNA, it would be exactly the same. Now we all know that in our world, this doesn’t happen. Our children’s DNA is not identical to our DNA. Their DNA is a blend of the father and the mother. The Son of God is exactly the same substance as the Father.
For a moment I want you to think about, to contemplate, God the Father. Think about all you know about the Father. Contemplate the attributes of the Father. I’ve written in previous blogs about His pardon, protection and provision. Think about his love, his goodness, his grace and mercy.
None of these things are things the Father feels. They are all who he is. There’s a major difference. Feelings are transitory. They come and go. God the Father’s love never comes and goes. Neither does his mercy, grace, goodness, or anything else. These and all of his other perfections are his substance.
The Son is consubstantial. Because all of these perfections, and more besides, are the Father, they are also the Son. And this is important for us to know because we tend to think of God as “up there” and Jesus as having been “down here”. But even when the Son was “down here” he was still the Son. He didn’t leave his divinity, his being Son, behind when he became incarnate. Even then, he was still consubstantial with the Father. He was still God. And in the person of the Son, God stepped down from heaven and became a man. The Divine took on the human, so that the human could touch the Divine
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