The answer
It is response to Arianism, which did not understand the Lord’s saying, “My Father is greater than I” (John 14:28). The Father is not greater than the Son in essence, for the Son has the same nature and essence as the Father, and His very divinity, for He is equal to Him in all aspects.
The statement “My Father is greater than I” was said during the self-emptying state of the Incarnation. It is said, “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross” (Phil. 2:6-8).
The state of self-emptying, i.e. the taking of the servant’s form, is this in which it was said “My Father is greater than I,” while the essence of the divinity remained as is.
The Father is greater than the form of the passions and the Cross, in all the dishonour that the Son bore in His Incarnation. As for the essence of the divinity that is united with this humanity, it remains as is, and not lacking anything on account of the humanity’s humility.
Thus, in His humanity, He was able to say and do all that befits His divinity, with which He is equal with the Father.
As such, He said, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30); “I am in the Father, and the Father in Me” (John 14:11); “That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father” (John 5:23). In His incarnation, He also said to the palsied man, “[T]hy sins be forgiven thee” (Mark 2:5). He said the same statement to the sinful woman who washed His feet with her tears (Luke 7:48).
In His incarnation, He walked on water (Matt. 14:25); rebuked the wind and the sea, causing them to cease and for there to be calm (Mark 4:39); created new matter in the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes (Matt. 14:17-21), the changing of water into wine at the wedding of Cana of Galilee (John 2), and in granting sight to the man born blind (John 9). He did many things that reveal His divinity, in addition to His resurrection while the tomb was sealed, His entry into the upper room while the doors were shut (John 20:19), and His ascension to Heaven.
His Holiness Pope Tawadros II
Pope Tawadros II, My Faith: A Series of Dialogues on the Creed (Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate, 2014), 53–55.
The pages in the book (53–55)
