The Father and Son are an eternal relation, which is what we understand as generation, because the Father is first in order, but insofar as he Is a Father, there is the generation and begottenness of a Son. But there is no passive potency in God, and the Father was always a Father. Inasmuch as he was always a Father, there was always a Son. The Trinitarian persons are opposed by relations. So, the Son is not the Father because it does not have paternity which, in turn, makes him relatively opposed to the Father without distinguishing himself as a distinct being.
Eternally generated him, which is the meaning of “begotten, not made” in the Athanasian Creed. This eternal generation is only a dynamic relation, not a static one. Meaning, that they do not pertain to distinct/separate substances or essences like there being a first procession and relation between a Father and Son, which reveals the dynamic relation between them.
John discloses the reciprocal immanence of the Father and the Son. (Jn 14:9-11). this mutual "being in" is certainly connected to the identity of Jesus as the Son and to that of God as Father: "The Father is in me and I am in the Father" (Jn 10:38). the immanence of both persons is formulated in terms of reciprocity which illuminates the divine plan of revelation and of salvation.
“Being in" in this verse designates a power that goes beyond a merely "functional" unity; it suggests a unity of vital and transcendent existence, a communion of being of the Son and the Father. Jesus and the Father are one single reality in their mutual distinct relation.
John 10:38 also enables one to understand that the identity of Jesus and the Father is in terms of unity and relation. they have a unity in being.
Their relationship goes beyond a merely "functional" unity; it suggests a unity of vital and transcendent existence, a communion of being of the Son and the Father. Jesus and the Father are one single reality in their mutual distinct relation. There’s also a reciprocal immanence of both the Father and the Son. The identity of Jesus and the Father is in terms of unity and relation. They have a unity in being. the immanence of both persons is formulated in terms of reciprocity which illuminates the divine plan of revelation and of salvation. “Son of God” is just Jesus’ place in the trinity and His relation to the Father and the Holy Spirit.
The trinitarian doctrine speaks of the divine person in terms of "relation of origin," it is not speculation detached from the economy of salvation, but it proposes a doctrine grounded on the teaching of the Gospels and Jesus whose existence is always relative to his Father (the name Father, which indicates the exclusive origin of Jesus, signifies also the close intimacy of Jesus with his Father).
Jesus is the revelation of the Father in person because he is the Son turned toward the Father. He reveals the Father not only in virtue of a "function" that he exercises but rather by reason of his being (which is characterized by his divine relation to the Father). When believers know Jesus as Son, they thereby know God his Father. To see the Son is to know the personal mystery of the Father.
Importantly, to speak of identity is to say that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are not functions or modalities of divine action, but rather their existence concerns the very reality of God, what God is. Nicene Creed first attributed the creative and providential action to God the Father then attributes this same activity to the Son. The Son's creative and providential activity manifests his consubstantiality with the Father. this consubstantiality likewise illuminates the creative activity of the Son: the Son is not Creator in the manner of an inferior intermediary, but rather he is Creator inasmuch as he possesses the very substance of the Father.
(to be continued..)