UNDERSTANDING THE NICENE CREED

(PART 2)

bySøren Filipski

The Faith of the Church

FaithProfession

Types of Faith

FiduciaryPropositional

Lordship of Christ

Deut 6:4: The LORD our God is one LORD. 1 Cor 8:10: One God the Father and one

Lord Jesus Christ. Creed: I believe in one God, the Father …

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ…

Trinitarian Narrative

Confesses the divinity of the three persons.

Tells the story of salvation in light of that confession.

Faith in the Son

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,         the Only Begotten Son of God,         born of the Father before all ages.     God from God, Light from Light,         true God from true God,     begotten, not made, consubstantial        with the Father;         Through him all things were made.

Trinity

Sabellius (fl. ca. A.D. 215)

Taught that a single divine person revealed himself successively as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Sabellius (cont’d)

• One person in three modes or aspects.

Teaching known as:ModalismSabellianismPatripassionism

Tertullian (A.D. 160-225)

I testify that the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit are inseparable from each other, and so will you know in what sense this is said. (Against Praxeas, IX)

Tertullian

Now, observe, my assertion is that the Father is one, and the Son one, and the Spirit one, and that They are distinct from Each Other.

Tertullian

It is not by way of diversity that the Son differs from the Father, but by distribution: it is not by division that He is different, but by distinction.

One and Three

Distinct PersonsOne Substance

Distinct ≠ Separate

One and Three

Substance: What is God?Person: Who is God?

Tertullian

For the Father is the entire substance, but the Son is a derivation and portion of the whole, as He Himself acknowledges: My Father is greater than I.

Important Dates

A.D. 303-11 – Diocletian Persecution

313 – Edict of Milan legalizes Christianity

319 – Dispute of Arius and Alexander in Alexandria

321 – Local condemnation of Arius 325 – Council of Nicaea

Arius (ca. A.D. 256-336)

If the Father begat the Son, he that was begotten had a beginning of existence: and from this it is evident, that there was a time when the Son was not.

Arius

It therefore necessarily follows, that he had his substance from nothing.

Trinity

Nicaea

“Consubstantial”

Arian Hetero-ousios: Of different substance

Eusebian Homoi-ousios: Of similar substance

Orthodox Homo-ousios: Of the same substance

Athanasian Creed (ca. 430)

And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the Persons; nor dividing the Essence.

Athanasian Creed

For there is one Person of the Father; another of the Son; and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one; the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal.

“Begotten not Made”

Made: Created (out of nothing)Begotten: Generated

Divinity of the Son

The only begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God.

(Indicates origin, not creation.)

The Work of the Son

Incarnation Passion Glorification

The Incarnation

  For us men and for our salvation         he came down from heaven,         and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate         of the Virgin Mary,         and became man.

The Passion

   For our sake he was crucified       under Pontius Pilate,        he suffered death and was buried,         and rose again on the third day         in accordance with the Scriptures.

“Suffered Death”

Passus et sepultus est.

Glorification

    He ascended into heaven         and is seated at the right hand of the Father.    He will come again in glory         to judge the living and the dead         and his kingdom will have no end.

The Holy Spirit

I believe in the Holy Spirit,         the Lord, the giver of life,     who proceeds from the Father and the Son,     who with the Father and the Son         is adored and glorified,         who has spoken through the prophets.

Filioque

Constantinople I (381):“from the Father proceeding”

Athanasian Creed (ca. 430):“The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son.”

Pope Leo I (446):“The Holy Ghost is from the Father and the Son, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding”

Pope Benedict VIII (1014): Added filioque to Roman Rite

The Church

I believe in one, holy, catholic,      and apostolic Church.     I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins         and I look forward to the resurrection         of the dead and the life of the world to come.Amen.