Theological Term of the Week

Athanasian Creed
An early statement of Christian doctrine affirming the triune nature of God and the dual nature of Christ, originally attributed to Athanasius but almost certainly not written by him. 

• Text of the Athanasian Creed: 

  Whoever desires to be saved should above all hold to the catholic faith.

  Anyone who does not keep it whole and unbroken will doubtless perish eternally.

  Now this is the catholic faith:

      That we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity,
      neither blending their persons
      nor dividing their essence.
          For the person of the Father is a distinct person,
          the person of the Son is another,
          and that of the Holy Spirit still another.
          But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one,
          their glory equal, their majesty coeternal.

      What quality the Father has, the Son has, and the Holy Spirit has.
          The Father is uncreated,
          the Son is uncreated,
          the Holy Spirit is uncreated.

          The Father is immeasurable,
          the Son is immeasurable,
          the Holy Spirit is immeasurable.

          The Father is eternal,
          the Son is eternal,
          the Holy Spirit is eternal.

              And yet there are not three eternal beings;
              there is but one eternal being.
              So too there are not three uncreated or immeasurable beings;
              there is but one uncreated and immeasurable being.

      Similarly, the Father is almighty,
          the Son is almighty,
          the Holy Spirit is almighty.
              Yet there are not three almighty beings;
              there is but one almighty being.

          Thus the Father is God,
          the Son is God,
          the Holy Spirit is God.
              Yet there are not three gods;
              there is but one God.

          Thus the Father is Lord,
          the Son is Lord,
          the Holy Spirit is Lord.
              Yet there are not three lords;
              there is but one Lord.

      Just as Christian truth compels us
      to confess each person individually
      as both God and Lord,
      so catholic religion forbids us
      to say that there are three gods or lords.

      The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten from anyone.
      The Son was neither made nor created;
      he was begotten from the Father alone.
      The Holy Spirit was neither made nor created nor begotten;
      he proceeds from the Father and the Son.

      Accordingly there is one Father, not three fathers;
      there is one Son, not three sons;
      there is one Holy Spirit, not three holy spirits.

      Nothing in this trinity is before or after,
      nothing is greater or smaller;
      in their entirety the three persons
      are coeternal and coequal with each other.

      So in everything, as was said earlier,
      we must worship their trinity in their unity
      and their unity in their trinity.

  Anyone then who desires to be saved
  should think thus about the trinity.

  But it is necessary for eternal salvation
  that one also believe in the incarnation
  of our Lord Jesus Christ faithfully.

  Now this is the true faith:

      That we believe and confess
      that our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son,
      is both God and human, equally.

       He is God from the essence of the Father,
      begotten before time;
      and he is human from the essence of his mother,
      born in time;
      completely God, completely human,
      with a rational soul and human flesh;
      equal to the Father as regards divinity,
      less than the Father as regards humanity.

      Although he is God and human,
      yet Christ is not two, but one.
      He is one, however,
      not by his divinity being turned into flesh,
      but by God’s taking humanity to himself.
      He is one,
      certainly not by the blending of his essence,
      but by the unity of his person.
      For just as one human is both rational soul and flesh,
      so too the one Christ is both God and human.

      He suffered for our salvation;
      he descended to hell;
      he arose from the dead;
      he ascended to heaven;
      he is seated at the Father’s right hand;
      from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
      At his coming all people will arise bodily
      and give an accounting of their own deeds.
      Those who have done good will enter eternal life,
      and those who have done evil will enter eternal fire.

  This is the catholic faith:
  one cannot be saved without believing it firmly and faithfully. 1

• From The Athanasian Creed by R. C. Sproul:

The Athanasian Creed reaffirms the distinctions found at Chalcedon, where in the Athanasian statement Christ is called, “perfect God and perfect man.” All three members of the Trinity are deemed to be uncreated and therefore co-eternal. Also following earlier affirmations, the Holy Spirit is declared to have proceeded both from the Father “and the Son,” affirming the so-called filioque concept that was so controversial with Eastern Orthodoxy. Eastern Orthodoxy to this day has not embraced the filioque idea. 

Finally, the Athanasian standards examined the incarnation of Jesus and affirmed that in the mystery of the incarnation the divine nature did not mutate or change into a human nature, but rather the immutable divine nature took upon itself a human nature. That is, in the incarnation there was an assumption by the divine nature of a human nature and not the mutation of the divine nature into a human nature. 

Learn more:

1. Theopedia: Athanasian Creed
2. GotQuestions.org: What is the Athanasian Creed?
3. Justin Holcomb: The Athanasian Creed
4. R. C. Sproul: The Athanasian Creed

Related terms:

• the Apostles’ Creed
• the Chalcedonian Definition
• Eutychianism
• Nestorianism
• the Nicene Creed

Filed under Creeds and Confessions.

1© 1987, CRC Publications, Grand Rapids MI. www.crcna.org.  

Do you have a term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.

Theological Term of the Week

Chalcedonian Definition
The statement produced by the Council of Chalcedon in A. D. 451 that has been regarded by most branches of Christianity as the orthodox definition of the biblical teaching on the person of Christ;1 also called the Chalcedonian Creed.

• Text of the Chalcedonian Definition: 

  We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men 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; 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 and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God 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.     

• From Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem:

Some have said that that Chalcedonian definition really did not define for us in any positive way what the person of Christ actually is, but simply told us several things that it is not. In this way some have said that it is not a very helpful definition. But such an accusation is misleading and inaccurate. The definition actually did a great deal to help us understand the biblical teaching correctly. It taught that Christ definitely has two natures, a human nature and a divine nature. It taught that his divine nature is exactly the same as that of the Father (consubstantial with the Father according to the Godhead”). And it maintained that the human nature is exactly like our human nature, yet without sin (“consubstantial with the Father according to the Godhead”). Moreover, it affirmed that in the person of Christ the human nature retains its distinctive characteristics and the divine nature retains its distinctive characteristics (“the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved”). Finally, it affirms that, whether we can understand it or not, these two natures are united together in the one person of Christ. 

Learn more:

1. Theopedia: Chalcedonian Creed
2. Justin Holcomb: The Creed of Chalcedon
3. Nick Needham: Truly God, Truly Man: The Council of Chalcedon
4. Charles Biggs: Christological Heresies and the Council of Chalcedon
5. Melinda Penner: The Interaction of Philosophy and Theology in the Development of the Trinity and Christology at Nicaea and Chalcedon (pdf) 
6. James White: The Trinity, the Definition of Chalcedon, and Oneness Theology

Related terms:

• the Apostles’ Creed
• the Athanasian Creed
• Eutychianism
• Nestorianism
• the Nicene Creed

Filed under Creeds and Confessions.

1From Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem.

Do you have a term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.

Theological Term of the Week

filioque
“Latin for “and from the Son, ” a term  referring to a clause inserted into the Nicence Creed to indicate that the Holy Spirit proceeds not from the Father only but also from the Son. The controversy that arose over this doctrinal point contributed to the split between the Eastern and Western churches in A. D. 1054.”1

• Text of the Nicene Creed with the filioque clause in italics: 

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

  And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
        the only Son of God,
        begotten from the Father before all ages,
             God from God,
             Light from Light,
             true God from true God,
        begotten, not made;
        of the same essence as the Father.
        Through him all things were made.
        For us and for our salvation
             he came down from heaven;
             he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,
             and was made human.
             He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;
             he suffered and was buried.
             The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.
             He ascended to heaven
             and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
             He will come again with glory
             to judge the living and the dead.
             His kingdom will never end.

  And we believe in the Holy Spirit,
        the Lord, the giver of life.
        He proceeds from the Father [and the Son],
        and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.
        He spoke through the prophets.
        We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
        We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
        We look forward to the resurrection of the dead,
        and to life in the world to come. Amen.

• Scriptural evidence for the filioque clause:

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you (John 16:7 ESV)

• From Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem:

In the light of John 15:26 and 16:7, where Jesus said that he would send the Holy Spirit into the world, it seems there could be no objection to such a statement if it referred to the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son at a point in time (particularly at Pentecost). But this was a statement about the nature of the Trinity, and the phrase was understood to speak of the eternal relationship between the Holy Spirit and the Son, something Scripture never explicitly discusses.

…Is there a correct position on this question? The weight of evidence (slim though it is) seems clearly to favor the western church. In spite of the fact that John 15:26 says that the Spirit of truth “proceeds from the Father,” this does not deny that he proceeds also from the Son (just as John 14:26 says that the Fahter will send the Holy Spirit, but John 16:7 says that the Son will send the Holy Spirit). In fact, in the same sentence in John 15:26 Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit as one “whom I shall send to you from the Father.” And if the Son together with the Father sends the Spirit into the world, by analogy it would seem appropriate to say that this reflects eternal ordering of their relationships. This is not something that we can clearly insist on based on any specific verse, but much of our understanding of the eternal relationships among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit comes by analogy from what Scripture tells us about the way they relate to the creation in time.

Learn more:

1. GotQuestions.org: What is the filioque clause / controversy?
2. BELIEVE Religious Information Source: Filioque Controversy
3. James E. Kiefer: The Filioque Clause
4. John Starke: A Pastoral Case for the Filioque Clause
5. John S. Romanides: The Filioque

Related terms:

• the Nicene Creed

Filed under Creeds and Confessions.

1From Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem.

Do you have a term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.