38 GOD AS TRIUNE
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of that Reality, which does not in any way take away from His substance (jawhar), He causes to overflow (yufi) on to that Image (surah) the totality of His perfections as though He were it and It were He; and this is His self-subsisting Word which was never subject to the creative fiat. And because it emanates (sadara) from Him and is begotten from Him in thought, not by motion, and not in space nor time, abiding in Him continually, we call It 'Word', and Him 'Father', just as we call the concept of our own thought, the production of our intelligence, 'the son of our thought', or its 'word', which our lips utter without severing it thereby from our intellect. Only, our word is an accidens, while in God there is no accidens, so that we are bound to assert that God's Word is God just as much as is Its Source. Further, since the Son resembles the Father, being His essential Image, there must be a connexion between the Father and His Word whereby the Father loves His Image and that Image is drawn to its Begetter. And this connexion also is not an accidens, but is likewise a substance (jawhar), the Holy Spirit, the mutual love betwixt Father and Son, proceeding from Them both.'
   

CHAPTER III

God as Incarnate

WE shall not consider the Incarnation from all of its aspects, but shall keep within the scope of these studies, namely, to show that it is not contrary to reason; to show that it facilitates faith in God, not makes it more difficult; while to deny it makes faith in God difficult, if not impossible.

Let us examine, therefore, the following objections to the Incarnation:

i. Was the Incarnation proper to the Son; if so, how can you say that God was incarnate?
ii. In asserting the Incarnation, you assert that God became, or was, transformed.
iii. In asserting the Incarnation you have brought God within the limits of space.
iv. The same with regard to the limits of time.
v. Lastly, you have involved God in weakness and passivity and suffering.

i. Was God, or the Son of God, incarnate?

We have already explained, in speaking of the Trinity, how it is possible to assign proper functions to one person as distinct from another in the Godhead without dividing the Godhead. The reason is that the Persons are one yet distinct.