The devil has no son. This is because, like pure matter, it has no form, no actuality, no perfection or permanence. It is always in potency, never in act. God on the other hand has a son, Jesus. Jesus is the perfection of the Father, and his expression. When people bear children, they want every good thing for these children. The good we desire for our offspring is the same we desire for ourselves. And we desire good for our offspring because of the light of grace that exists in our soul. It is through this light of grace that we are able to reach into the mind of God and emulate his own fatherly example.
Because the devil has no son, the perfection of individual nature and the perfection of good and beauty, we can easily see that there is no real good in the devil. There is not an iota of perfection in the devil, but only a privation thereof. The devil, removed as he is from participation in the First Cause, in the Prime Mover, is unable to conceive of anything perfect, anything actual. And so the devil is in a sense a master of privation. His personhood is based on privation, and anything that is deprived of being or truth is akin to the devil, and exists at one with him.
The light of truth on the other hand enables as many as are far from associating with the devil to become more and more like God, become more and more perfect, in keeping with Christ’s injunction: “Be ye perfect as your heavenly father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). The light of truth sourcing from the inner teacher makes us adequated to reality and being. It makes us seek after perfection, especially since we know that it is only in such light that we can become more like God. “For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light” (Psalm 36:9). This light is from light itself, Jesus from God the Father, consubstantial with him and the Holy Spirit, who is that inner teacher of whom Augustine speaks.
Jesus is the Son of God, and in searching for the light that makes us more perfect each and every day, we turn to him. We emulate him. If he is the perfection of God – and he is – then doing what he does means that we become more perfect, and ever more true to the divine nature within us. With God we can do all things (Phil 4:13), and so without him we cannot do anything that is good. Without God, we are like the devil and deprived of all perfection. Jesus said in this regard: “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Our actions must consequently show that we are in step with the master Jesus.
What does it mean to be in step with Jesus? It means that we do the will of God. Have you noticed that all those who refuse to do the will of God seem to have no purpose? There seems to be no objective direction to their efforts. If you ask them for example: “Why do you hate your neighbor?” They have no true and objective answer. “What are you going to gain from smoking pot and having mindless sex?” They cannot say. It’s all rubbish living. The bible says in this regard: “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov. 14:12). And this is the way of the devil. It leads not to the perfection of God, but to death and the ultimate privation; the privation of being itself.
We should be ethical in our conduct. This is the way to emulate God in Jesus. It is in this way that we can tap into the principle of generation and perfection, and not privation and corruption. It is the way by which we can be like God and attain eternal life, and share in the divine creative process. If on the other hand we do not act ethically, but spend ourselves in dissipation and debauchery, we achieve nothing substantial, but draw closer and closer to death and the devil, the master of death, who has no son. In doing bad things, we progressively distance ourselves from the divine teleology. We rob ourselves of any purpose, since we rob ourselves of God’s love and design. We therefore live lives that do not “work together unto good” (Rom. 8:28), but rather drift along aimlessly in limbo, ending painfully in eternal damnation in the horrific fires of hell.
Because the devil has no son, the perfection of individual nature and the perfection of good and beauty, we can easily see that there is no real good in the devil. There is not an iota of perfection in the devil, but only a privation thereof. The devil, removed as he is from participation in the First Cause, in the Prime Mover, is unable to conceive of anything perfect, anything actual. And so the devil is in a sense a master of privation. His personhood is based on privation, and anything that is deprived of being or truth is akin to the devil, and exists at one with him.
The light of truth on the other hand enables as many as are far from associating with the devil to become more and more like God, become more and more perfect, in keeping with Christ’s injunction: “Be ye perfect as your heavenly father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). The light of truth sourcing from the inner teacher makes us adequated to reality and being. It makes us seek after perfection, especially since we know that it is only in such light that we can become more like God. “For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light” (Psalm 36:9). This light is from light itself, Jesus from God the Father, consubstantial with him and the Holy Spirit, who is that inner teacher of whom Augustine speaks.
Jesus is the Son of God, and in searching for the light that makes us more perfect each and every day, we turn to him. We emulate him. If he is the perfection of God – and he is – then doing what he does means that we become more perfect, and ever more true to the divine nature within us. With God we can do all things (Phil 4:13), and so without him we cannot do anything that is good. Without God, we are like the devil and deprived of all perfection. Jesus said in this regard: “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Our actions must consequently show that we are in step with the master Jesus.
What does it mean to be in step with Jesus? It means that we do the will of God. Have you noticed that all those who refuse to do the will of God seem to have no purpose? There seems to be no objective direction to their efforts. If you ask them for example: “Why do you hate your neighbor?” They have no true and objective answer. “What are you going to gain from smoking pot and having mindless sex?” They cannot say. It’s all rubbish living. The bible says in this regard: “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov. 14:12). And this is the way of the devil. It leads not to the perfection of God, but to death and the ultimate privation; the privation of being itself.
We should be ethical in our conduct. This is the way to emulate God in Jesus. It is in this way that we can tap into the principle of generation and perfection, and not privation and corruption. It is the way by which we can be like God and attain eternal life, and share in the divine creative process. If on the other hand we do not act ethically, but spend ourselves in dissipation and debauchery, we achieve nothing substantial, but draw closer and closer to death and the devil, the master of death, who has no son. In doing bad things, we progressively distance ourselves from the divine teleology. We rob ourselves of any purpose, since we rob ourselves of God’s love and design. We therefore live lives that do not “work together unto good” (Rom. 8:28), but rather drift along aimlessly in limbo, ending painfully in eternal damnation in the horrific fires of hell.
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