Tag Archives: Creed

Theology

Biblical Nuggets: The Creed of Chalcedon

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The Confession of Chalcedon provides a clear statement on the human and divine nature of Christ:[1]

We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach people to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body; consubstantial [co-essential] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the Manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; (ἐν δύο φύσεσιν ἀσυγχύτως, ἀτρέπτως, ἀδιαιρέτως, ἀχωρίστως – in duabus naturis inconfuse, immutabiliter, indivise, inseparabiliter) the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person (prosopon) and one Subsistence (hypostasis), not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten God (μονογενῆ Θεὸν), the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.

Endnote:
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Theology

Biblical Nuggets: The Nicene Creed

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The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God the Father, all-Sovereign maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all the ages, light of light, true God of true God begotten not made, of one substance with the Father, through whom all things were made: who for us men and for our salvation came down from the heavens, and was made flesh of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man, and was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was burried and rose again on the third day according to the scriptures, and ascended into the heavens, and sits on the right hand of the Father, and comes again with glory to judge living and dead, of whose kingdom there shall be no end:

And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and the Life-giver, that proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped together and glorified together, who spoke through the prophets.

In one holy Catholic and Apostolic church:

We acknowledge one baptism unto remission of sins. We look for a resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come.

Council of Constantinople, 381 A.D.

Terminology

Sunday Terminology: Docetism

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Docetism: A term used to refer to a theological perspective among some in the early church who regarded the sufferings and the human aspects of Christ as imaginary or apparent instead of being part of a real incarnation. The basic thesis of such docetics was that if Christ suffered he was not divine, and if he was God he could not suffer. The combination of the two natures, Son of David, and Son of God, affirmed by Paul in Rom. 1:3-4 was apparently already under attack in the Johannine community (see 1John 4:2; 2John 7)). Dosetic thinking became an integral part of the perspective of Gnostics, who viewed Jesus as the alien messenger from outside the present evil world and one who was untouched by the evil creator. This alien Jesus came to awaken Gnostics to their destiny outside the realm of creation. While the framers of the Apostle’s and Nicene Creeds, were opposed to docetic teaching and clearly assumed the two natures of Jesus, the drafters of the Definition of Chalcedon (AD 451) made explicit the Christian teaching concerning Jesus Christ as “truly God and truly man.”[1]

[1] Elwell, Walter A. Evangelical dictionary of theology (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1984), 326. Print..

Theology

Biblical Nuggets: The Creed of Nicea

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The Creed of Nicea

We believe in one God, the Father, Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible;

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only-begotten, that is, from the substance (ousia) of the Father; God from God, light from light very God from very God, begotten not made, of one substance (homoousios, consubstantial) with the Father, through whom all things were made both in heaven and on earth; who for us men and for our salvation came down and was incarnate, made man, suffered, and rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven, and is coming to judge the living and the dead;

And in the Holy Spirit.

And to those who say, ‘there ‘was a time when he was not’, and: ‘before he was begotten he was not’, and : ‘he came into being from nothing’, or those who pretend that the Son of God is ‘of another substance (hypostasis) or essence (ousia), or “created” or “alterable, or “mutable”, the Catholic and Apostolic church places under a curse.

Council of Nicea, 325 AD