Finding Fitting Language for God

The late fourth century Arian debates brought out the importance of religious language

The late fourth century Arian debates brought out the importance of religious language.

Do words in the Bible talk directly about God's nature? Do they say nothing about God's nature but are beautiful metaphors? Do speak about God in some other way?

If God the Son is begotten, does that mean he divides from the essence of the Father like a cow and calf do in the birthing process? This univocal type of language means that the Bible is one-for-one literal.

But that's absurd. The Pro-Nicenes knew that literal/univocal descriptions of God do not work that way. The Father begot the Son without sexual intercourse, without time, without human passion because God is GOD.

That means that the word "begetting" is analogically speaking truly about God but not in a direct way.

Any ascription of God in Scripture works like this. Twice in Proverbs God is said to be "long of nose" to indicate anger. The truth claim is God is angry with sin; the metaphor of a long nose points to bodily flaring of the nostrils.

But the statement is neither overly literal (univocal) nor meaningless (equivocal). But it is, we might say, analogical. To be more thomistic, we could say there is a proportional analogy here.

But increasingly, I am trending away from Thomistic language and prefer the simpler Pro-Nicene idiom because it, IMO, makes better sense to most people who are used to the Bible and not theological discussions.

I think Thomistic language about God is correct, mind you. I am just thinking about the idiom of communication.

That said, Arianism of the late fourth century introduces a high point in the search for "fitting" language of God, a search already found in the Bible (Hebrews speaks of the incarnation as "fitting"). The Fathers all seek out appropriate language to speak of God and Christ.

In the Bible, we can see this narratively in God's revelation of himself as "I AM," a statement that really affirms that God is the Existent One known by his works.

This is precisely the order of teaching that the Cappodocians follow when they perceive God's works (energeia) as evidence of his power (dumanis), which in turn tells you that God is God because he alone can create, and the power of creation through the works of creation proves it.

Hence, both the Father and Son (and Spirit) are the Existent One, the I AM.