The Eternal Son is the perfect expression of the Father’s “first” personal and infinite concept. Definition of concept: “Original idea; purpose; design.”
Note that “first” is in quotes. What does that signify? The dictionary gives six uses of quotes in this manner:
A. Technical or slang terms.
B. Nicknames.
C. Expressions of doubtful propriety.
D. Expressions for which the writer apologizes.
E. That for which he disavows responsibility.
F. Words which have special meanings.
The Son is a perfect expression of something which is both personal and infinite—an infinite personality.
He is also the final expression—not the beginning or the end, but the completed. One of the definitions of final is: “Conclusive; decisive; definitive.”
Note: This was not the first concept of the I AM or the First Source and Center—but of the Universal Father.
Query: The First Source and Center could not be a Father until he had a Son. Since he has always had a Son he has always been a Father.This explains the use of quotes with the term “first” personal and infinite concept.
Again, we encounter the attempt of the authors to make eternal conceptions “graspable” by time-bound mortal mind.
Note the term “expression”–the introduction of the thought-word concept. The Father personally expresses himself through the Eternal Son—the divine WORD.
See John 1:1-4. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
This WORD concept is shown in other Scriptures. See 1 John 5:7.(King James) “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”
The Eternal Son is residential on Paradise, enshrouding the personal presence of the Universal Father.
Talking about God’s “first” thought is a contact-compromise with the time-bound mortal mind.
In fact, God never could have had a first thought—the Eternal Son could never have had a beginning.
Only in philosophy can we conceive of a beginning. Neither can we conceive of future eternity without an end.
The author was told to portray the eternity doings of Deity so as to reach the finite mortal mind. Question: Who instructed him? Probably the Revelatory Commission.
The Eternal Son is the Father’s spiritual personalization of:
A. Divine reality.
B. Unqualified spirit.
C. Absolute personality.
The Father’s Concept is:
A. Universal—scope.
B. Infinite—value.
This concept of the Father has three meanings:
A. Divine reality—universal and infinite.
B. Unqualified spirit—universal and infinite.
C. Absolute personality—universal and infinite.
The Son is the revelation of the creator identity of the Universal Father.
The Son’s personality discloses that the Father is the source of all meanings and values of the:
A. Spiritual.
B. Volitional.
C. Purposeful.
D. Personal.
The Father is the source:
A. Eternal—time value.
B. Universal—space value.
Definitions: MEANING: “That which is intended; purpose; aim; object; that which one intends to convey by an act, significance, understanding, purport.” VALUE. “Non-material meaning. The quality or fact of being worthwhile. Excellent, useful, desirable. Principle, quality, importance, intrinsic worth.”
Meanings and values of what?
A. The spiritual.
(1) Meaning: Eternal and universal.
(2) Value: Eternal and universal.
B. The volitional.
(1) Meaning: Eternal and universal.
(2) Value: Eternal and universal.
C. The purposeful.
(1) Meaning: Eternal and universal.
(2) Value: Eternal and universal.
D. The personal.
(1) Meaning: Eternal and universal.
(2) Value: Eternal and universal.
All of this is what the perfect personality of the Son tells us about the Father as the source of all such meanings and values.
The Eternal Son is the original and only-begotten Son of God. Discussion: A number of texts are involved in this statement. John 1:18. “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.”
How true: The Eternal Son enshrouds the Father. This is a direct attempt to separate the concepts of Michael and the Eternal Son. John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Note: This passage does not appear in The Urantia Book. 1 John 4:9. “God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.” Note: This is not a fact — but how true.
The Eternal Son is the spirit center and divine administrator of the universal spiritual government. Note: While the Son is cocreator,
God is spirit and the Son is a personal revelation of that spirit. Note: There are many revelations of God’s spirit which are not personal—the Thought Adjusters.
The First Source and Center is the Volitional Absolute; the Second Source and Center is the Personality Absolute. Note: And yet he alone does not create personalities as we understand.
God does not function as a personal creator without the Son. Question: Does God function other than as a personal creator? Perhaps in the Absolutes.
The Bible reference is John 1:1-3. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.”
The Bible reference is 1 John 1:1. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life.”
One of the prayers of this Son implies he came from the Father as did the Original Son. John 17:5. “And now, Father, glorify thou me in thy own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world was made.”
The Eternal Son is the Word of God—God personally manifest to the universes. Note: The Word of God is living, personal, infinite—even absolute—not human verbiage mandated by some human council.
The Bible reference is John 14:9. “Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father.’”
The Eternal Son is the mercy minister to all creation.
The Son is not merely merciful—he is a mercy minister.
Mercy is the essence of the Son’s character. ESSENCE: Definition. “Substance as distinguished from all supporting attributes. Prime character. Ultimate or intrinsic nature.”
Mandates of the Eternal Son are keyed in tones of mercy. KEY: Definition. “A system of family tones based on their relation to a keynote. The total harmonic or melodic relations of such a system.”
The Father contacts personality by means of the personality circuit and the Father spirit fragments.
Always does the spirit of the Son function with the spirit of the Father.
Father fragments have a special and exclusive function—solitary and unique.
D.finitions: SOLITARY: “Being, living, or going alone—without companions. Characterized by seclusion—solitude.” UNIQUE: “Single, sole. Being without a like or equal. Single in kind or excellence. Unequaled. Unusual; notable.” EXCLUSIVE: “Single, sole, an exclusive agent. Singly, devoted. Undivided—giving exclusive attention to a matter.”
The Original Son is spiritually and universally self-conscious.
“What is self-consciousness?
A. CONSCIOUSNESS: “Awareness, especially of something within oneself. Mind in the broadest possible sense. That form of existence which is able to distinguish itself from other existences. The totality of conscious status.”
B. SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS: “Consciousness of one’s acts or states as belonging to, or originating in oneself. Consciousness of oneself as an object of observation by others. Awareness of oneself as an individual who experiences, desires, and acts.”
C. Note: The papers say animals are conscious—but not self-conscious.
In wisdom, the Son equals the Father.
The Son is equal with the Father in omniscience—he knows all.
Both the Father and the Son know the whereabouts of all spirits and spiritualized beings in the universe.
The Son is also cognizant of all that passes over the reflectivity service.
The Son has an omnipresent spirit. Question: Is this separate from the spirit gravity circuit? It appears to be.
It may be that the spirit gravity circuit is a specialized phenomenon occurring within, and as a part of, the Son’s universally manifested spirit, just as the Gulf Stream functions in, and is a part of, the Atlantic Ocean.
Another Question: If infinite beings have such perfect techniques for knowing all things, why should they make use of such partial information as is supplied by the reflectivity system? Answer: All of finity is a part of the experience of infinity. The Infinite God is no wiser because he indwells mortal man, but the Universal Father has a new experience in the life of each one of us.
And there are other ways in which the Paradise Son is omniscient.
The Eternal Son is just as affectionate as the Universal Father and just as kind and patient as the Paradise Sons who bestow themselves upon the evolutionary worlds.
REFERENCE: UB 6:5.4 — “The Eternal Son is limited…”
COMMENT
The Eternal Son is limited in transmittal of a creator prerogatives. PREROGATIVE: “The right is to exercise a power in priority to, or to the exclusion of, others. The right attached to an office or rank. To exercise a special function, an official and hereditary right which may be asserted without question.”
The Father and the Son join in producing Sons with creative attributes.
But with these co-ordinate Sons, the prerogatives of creatorship are not transmissable.
Thus Creator Sons receive the prerogatives of creatorship, but they do not transmit the same to their sons.
Note: The Father Melchizedek does participate in the creation of his order.
The Eternal Son cannot fragmentize his nature, as does the Father and the Infinite Spirit.
The Gods bestow themselves upon entities as well as beings. ENTITY: “Being; existence; essence. That of which predictions can be made. An existence—whether an actuality or an ideal conception.”
The Urantia Book uses entity to denote a being who is not a personality—Thought Adjuster, for example.
The Son bathes all creation in his spirit and draws all spirit realities to himself.
In nature and attributes, the Eternal Son is the full equal of the Universal Father. COMPLEMENT: “That which fills up or completes. To complete a symmetrical whole; one of two mutually complementing parts. Implies two things which mutually complete each other and together constitute a whole.” COUNTERPART: “That which seems to complete or complement something else. A person closely resembles another.” Syn.: Double, like, twin, complement.
As God is the Universal Father, the Son is the Universal Mother.
As persons, you can distinguish the Father and the Son, but in universe administration they are so intertwined that it is not always possible to distinguish them. INTERTWINE: “To wind about, to embrace, to encircle. To unite or become mutually involved by twining one with another; to entangle; to interlace; intertwist.”
When you cannot distinguish Father and Son, remember that God is the initiating thought and the Son is the expressionful word.
In the local universe this inseparability is personalized in the Creator Son.
During the morontia life the Creator Son compensates our failure to understand the Eternal Son. In Orvonton and Havona we will begin to comprehend the Original Son.