Theological Term of the Week

the Nicene Creed
A statement of the orthodox faith of the early Christian church, first adopted at the Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.) in response to the Arian heresy, which denied the full deity of Jesus Christ; and later revised at the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople (381 A.D.) as a response to the Macedonian or Pneumatomachian heresy, which denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit.

• Text of the Nicene Creed as it is recited today: 

  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.

• From The Undivided Three by Michael Haykin:

Among the greatest achievements of the early church is the forging of the doctrine of the Trinity. It received classical expression in the fourth-century creedal statement known to history as the Nicene Creed, in which Jesus Christ is unequivocally declared to be “true God” and “of one being (homoousios) with the Father” and the Holy Spirit is said to be the “Lord and Giver of life,” who “together with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.”¹ Some historians have argued that this document represents the apex of the Hellenization of the church’s teaching, in which fourth-century Christianity traded the vitality of the New Testament church’s experience of God for a cold philosophical formula. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. The Nicene Creed served to sum up a long process of reflection that had its origins in the Christian communities of the first century. As Douglas Ottati, an American professor of theology who teaches at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, has recently put it: “Trinitarian theology continues a biblically initiated exploration.”² Or, in the words of an earlier twentieth-century orthodox theologian Benjamin B. Warfield: the “doctrine of the Trinity lies in Scripture in solution; when it is crystallized from its solvent it does not cease to be scriptural, but only comes into clearer view.”³

….

Not only does the New Testament then provide clear warrant for the direction that theological reflection upon the nature of God took in fourth-century orthodoxy, but it should also be recognized that the men who stood behind the Nicene Creed were not primarily philosophers. They were active pastors in the church of their day, men who sought to be faithful witnesses to the teaching of the Scriptures.

Learn more:

1. Theopedia: Nicene Creed
2. GotQuestions.org: What is the Nicene Creed?
3. James E. Kiefer: Note and Comments on the Nicene Creed
4. Justin Holcomb: The Nicene Creed

Related terms:

• the Apostles’ Creed
• Arianism
• the Athanasian Creed
• filioque
• the Chalcedonian Definition

Filed under Creeds and Confessions.

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

the Apostles’ Creed
An early creed of the Christian church that serves as a summary of the apostles teaching and emphasizes the true humanity of Christ.

• Text of the Apostles’ Creed as it is recited today: 

  I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
     the Creator of heaven and earth,
     and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

  Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
     born of the Virgin Mary,
     suffered under Pontius Pilate,
     was crucified, died, and was buried.

  He descended into hell.

  The third day He arose again from the dead.

  He ascended into heaven
     and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
     whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

  I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church,
     the communion of saints,
     the forgiveness of sins,
     the resurrection of the body,
     and life everlasting.

  Amen.

• From Exposition of The Apostles’ Creed by the Rev. James Dodds:

It is sometimes urged as an objection to this Creed that it is not a sufficiently comprehensive summary of Christian doctrine. Those who object to it on this ground should consider the purpose of creeds. They were not meant to cover the whole field of Christian faith, but to fortify believers against the teaching of heretics. The Apostles’ Creed was not intended, and does not profess, to state all the things that Christians ought to believe. There is no reference in it to Scripture, to Inspiration, to Prayer, or to the Sacraments. It sets forth in a few words, distinct and easily remembered, the existence and relations to men of the three Persons of the Godhead—those facts and truths on which all doctrine and duty rest, and from which they find development.

It is especially objected that there is no reference in this Creed to the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But, though not directly expressed, this doctrine is really and substantially contained in it. The Creed is the confession of those whose bond of union is common faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. The articles which treat of Him and of His sufferings and work are intelligible only to those who believe in the reality and efficacy of the Atonement.

….

In estimating the value of creeds in the early ages of the Christian Church, it is important to bear in mind that the converts were almost wholly dependent on oral instruction for their knowledge of Divine truth. Copies of the Old and New Testaments existed in manuscript only. These were few in number, and the cost of production placed them beyond the reach of the great majority. A single copy served for a community or a district in which the Hebrew or the Greek tongue was understood, but in localities where other languages were in use the living voice was needed to make revelation known. It is only since the invention of printing and the application of the steam-engine to the economical and rapid production of books, and since modern linguists have multiplied the translations of the Bible, that it has become in their own tongues accessible to believers in all lands, available for private perusal and family reading. It was therefore a necessity that Christians should possess “a form of sound words,” comprehensive enough to embody the leading doctrines of Christianity, yet brief enough to be easily committed to memory.

Learn more:

1. Justin Holcomb: The Apostles’ Creed
2. James Orr: The Apostles’ Creed
3. Greg Uttinger: The Theology of the Ancient Creeds Part 2: The Apostles’ Creed
4. Ligon Duncun: The Apostles’ Creed (Series)
5. R. C. Sproul: What does the Apostles’ Creed mean when it says that Jesus descended into hell?
6. James E. Kiefer: The Apostles’ Creed Versus Gnosticism (pdf)

Related terms:

• the Nicene Creed
• the Athanasian Creed
• the Chalcedonian Definition

Filed under Creeds and Confessions.

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

baptismal regeneration
The belief that baptism is necessary for salvation, and that the act of baptism causes regeneration; or the belief that baptism is the usual means of regeneration.

• Scripture used to defend the doctrine of baptismal regeneration: 

  And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38 ESV)

  Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ … (1 Peter 3:21 ESV)

• From The London Baptist Confession, Chapter 29. (This statement teaches, in opposition to the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, that baptism is a sign of the listed benefits of salvation rather than the means through which one is saved.)

  1. Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, to be unto the party baptized, a sign of his fellowship with him, in his death and resurrection; of his being engrafted into him; of remission of sins; and of giving up into God, through Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life.

• From Baptismal Regeneration by Charles Spurgeon:

  I come with much brevity, and I hope with much earnestness … to say that FAITH IS THE INDISPENSABLE REQUISITE TO SALVATION. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned.” Faith is the one indispensable requisite for salvation.

• From Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem:

  [W]hat about 1 Peter 3:21, where Peter says, “Baptism … now saves you”? Does this not give clear support to the … view that baptism itself brings saving grace to the recipient? No, for when Peter uses this phrase he continues in the same sentence to explain exactly what he means by it. He says that baptism saves you “not as a removal of dirt from the body” (that is, not as an outward, physical act which washes dirt from the body—that is not the part which saves you, “but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience” (that is, as an inward, spiritual transaction between God and the individual, a transaction symbolized by the outward ceremony of baptism). We could paraphrase Peter’s statement by sying, “Baptism now saves you—not the outward physical ceremony of baptism but the inward spiritual reality which baptism represents.” In this way, Peter guards against any view of baptism that would attribute automatic saving power to the physical ceremony itself.

Learn more:

1. GotQuestions.org: Is baptism necessary for salvation? What is baptismal regeneration?
2. John MacArthur: Is Baptism Necessary for Salvation?
3. Greg Koukl: Is Baptism Necessary for Salvation? 
4. James White: A Brief Rebuttal of Baptismal Regeneration
5. John Piper: What Is Baptism and Does It Save?

Related terms:

• credobaptism
• paedobaptism
• regeneration

Filed under Defective Theology.

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.