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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.