Tractates on the Gospel of John

¹¹ Now hear further what follows: because He had said of the Son, “For God gives not the Spirit by measure: the Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand,” He added, “has given all things into His hands,” that you might know also here with what distinction it is said, “The Father loves the Son.” And why? Does the Father not love John? And yet He has not given all things into his hand. Does the Father not love Paul? And yet He has not given all things into his hand. “The Father loves the Son:” but as father loves, not as master loves a servant; as the Only Son, not as an adopted son. And so “has given all things into His hand.” What means “all things”? That the Son should be such as the Father is. To equality with Himself He begot Him in whom it was no robbery to be in the form of God, equal to God. “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.” Therefore, having deigned to send us the Son, let us not imagine that it is something less than the Father that is sent to us. The Father, in sending the Son, sent His other self.