creeds Archives — Theology Gals

The Chalcedonian Creed

by Guest Post | Feb 4, 2021 | Blogs

The Chalcedonian Creed

This creed is really important to help with understanding the error of Eternal Subordination of the Son. It is pronounced Cal-seh-don, not Chal-seh-don.

History of the Creed:

The Chalcedonian Creed was adopted at the council of Chalcedon, which met to fight against Monophysitism (the belief that Jesus only had one nature) in 451. Monophysitism became a theological issue because Eutyches, a presbyter/Bishop that was present at the council of Ephesus and who fought against Nestorianism (the belief that Jesus had two distinct natures that were joined by one will). Unfortunately, his passion against Nestorianism went so far that he went to the other extreme and taught that Jesus had one will and one divine nature.

There’s a few subsets within Monophysitism that have different nuances within the beliefs that I won’t be able to fully break down here, but I may try to revisit them later. There is a Trinitarian Glossary (http://bit.ly/tgtrinitygloss) with a brief overview of most of them. I do want to point out a couple of phrases in the Chalcedonian Creed that address specific heresies:

“Co-essential” is directed at Arianism
“Co-essential with us” is directed at Apollinarianism
“Two natures” refutes Eutychianism
“Without division, without separation” refutes Nestorianism

That said, it is important to recognize that Jesus had both a divine nature and a human nature and that each nature had its own will. I will also be discussing this a bit more in tomorrow’s post on the Athanasian Creed, but the CARM link below thoroughly outlines where we can support Jesus having both a human and divine nature through scripture.

Controversies Regarding the Creed:

The Chalcedonian Creed was not as readily accepted as the other creeds I’ve talked about. The Coptic Church dissented on the decision because they held more closely to a oneness view. The Oriental Orthodox Church also did not agree because they didn’t see the creed as being against Nestorianism enough. Churches that rejected the Chalcedonian creed formally separated from the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well. This schism resulted in a mass persecution of Coptic Christians by Eastern Orthodox Christians. This was sadly the first time in Christian history where Christians persecuted other Christians.

Reformed Liturgical Use and Confessional References:l

The creed is affirmed currently by Anglican churches and Dutch Reformed churches, but not as widely proliferated as other creeds. I think it’s largely put on the back burner in favor of the Athanasian Creed, which we will be discussing tomorrow.

Resources to Learn More:

Monergism; http://bit.ly/monchalcedon
Ligonier: http://bit.ly/ligchalcedon
The Reformed Brotherhood: http://bit.ly/trbchalcedon
TGC Coptic Church: http://bit.ly/tgcChalcKDY
TGC Hypostatic Union: http://bit.ly/tgckdyhypo
TGC The Incarnation and Two Natures of Christ: http://bit.ly/tgc2natures
Carm Two Natures of Jesus: http://bit.ly/carm2natures

Nicene Creed

by Guest Post | Feb 3, 2021 | Blogs

The Nicene Creed

Creed comes from a Latin word, credo, which means “I believe,” so creeds are a statement of belief, particularly about Christianity. These are things that the church has historically taught through the entirety of its existence to distinguish what makes Christianity different from other religions.

History of the Creed:

The Nicene Creed is the most thoroughly documented creed that I am addressing. It was originally adopted by the Council of Nicea (the first ecumenical council) in 325 AD to resolve the Arian controversy, which denied the divinity of Jesus. I’ll be addressing Arianism and other trinitarian heresies in December.

The creed was modified at the second ecumenical council (the council of Constantinople) in 381 to include the section on the Holy Spirit and affirm his divinity, in addition to Jesus’. The third ecumenical council (the council of Ephesus) affirmed the 325 version of the creed as a defense against Nestorianism in 431. The earliest written copy we have is from the council of Chalcedon in 451.

It is currently the only authoritative ecumenical statement accepted by Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Persian church, and most of Protestantism, including the Anglican communion.

Controversies Regarding the Creed:

The third ecumenical council affirmed the 325 version of the creed and explicitly banned the creation of any other creed or changing the Nicene creed. This ended up setting the stage for the Filioque controversy. Filioque is a Latin word meaning “from the Son.” That phrase was not originally in the 325 creed and was added in the 6th century by some Latin speaking churches in Spain.

The Eastern Orthodox Church does not say that clause because they argue that it violates Canon VII from the council of Ephesus banning changing the creed. The Filioque was formally adopted by Roman Catholicism in 1014, but this caused such a great conflict within Eastern Orthodoxy that the churches severed ties in 1054, known as the Great Schism. While there were other factors contributing to the Great Schism, it seems that the filioque is such a big component that it still proves as an obstacle to reunification efforts.

Reformed Liturgical Use and Confessional References:

The creed is mostly said before the Lord’s Supper and is also said as a confession of faith on major Sundays in the church calendar.

Resources to Learn More:

Table Talk http://bit.ly/ttrscnicene
Ligonier http://bit.ly/lignicene
TGC Course http://bit.ly/tgcapostlescourse
Got Questions http://bit.ly/gqnicenecreed

Apostles’ Creed

by Guest Post | Feb 2, 2021 | Blogs

by a Theology Gals contributor

Most of the information on the creeds is coming from the fourth edition of A History of the Christian Church by Williston Walker and edited by Richard Norris, David Lotz, and Robert Handy. You can get it on Amazon (http://bit.ly/willistonhistory). It is fantastic for lay people in the church and written very clearly. It also starts with a little bit of pre Christian history to set the scene for how Greco Roman philosophy influenced Christian heresies, which I really appreciate.

Every use of the word catholic for this series will mean “universal,” unless specified as Roman Catholic.

History of the Creed:

The Apostles’ Creed was among the earliest formal confessional statements that the church universally held (although it wasn’t completely universally used, as I’ll explain in a bit). The affirmations it outlined are what we consider core doctrines of the church.

The earliest known mention of the expression “Apostles’ Creed” is in a letter from a Synod of Milan in 390. According to Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, the twelve apostles got together and each contributed to one article of the creed. This was widely circulated in the Latin speaking parts of the church, but we have no evidence as to whether or not that’s actually true, I just think it’s an interesting idea. (http://bit.ly/rogerscreeds)

A simpler form of the creed (known as the Roman Symbol) did exist in 180 AD and many similar statements can be found in the writings of Irenaeus, Tertullian, Novatian, Ambrose, Augustine, Nicetas, and Jerome (some of the early church fathers, 3 on this list we will cover this month). The earliest fully written copy came from De Singulis Libris Canonicis Scarapus (“Excerpt From Individual Canonical Books” in Latin) by St. Pirminius and the creed likely came out of France or Spain and then shared throughout Rome some time after 450 AD. The creed as we know it was most likely completed some time between 710 and 714.

Controversies Regarding the Creed:

The biggest controversies were debates over the trinity (which I will also cover more over the next 3 days), over the apostolic authorship, and on the line “descended into hell.” I personally don’t believe there is enough evidence to the apostolic authorship beyond a second or third generation Christian quoting scripture. According to A. A. Hodges, the reformers had their doubts on this too:

“This Creed was appended to the Shorter Catechism, together with the Lord’s Prayer and Ten Commandments, in the first edition published by order of Parliament, “not as though it were composed by the apostles, or ought to be esteemed canonical Scripture, . . . but because it is a brief sum of Christian faith, agreeable to the Word of God, and anciently received in the churches of Christ.” It was retained by the framers of our Constitution as part of the Catechism.”

Link: http://bit.ly/hodgesapostles

The phrase “descended into hell” (or “to the dead”) was present in one of the versions in 390, but did not appear in any other version until 650 AD. Because of that, some churches today still don’t say it. That said, the text seems to be quoting Ephesians 4:9-10:

“(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth*? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)”

* [an alternate translation for that phrase is “the lower regions of the earth”]

Reformed Liturgical Use and Confessional References:

The creed is affirmed by parents when an infant is baptized at Presbyterian, continental reformed, Anglican/Episcopal, and Lutheran churches. It is also affirmed at many reformed churches across denominations when congregants take their membership vows as new members. Some churches recite it before communion, as well. It is also part of the daily readings in the Book of Common Prayer (Anglican) for both the morning and the evening.

The Heidelberg Catechism exegetes the creed from questions 23 to 65. Calvin’s Institutes was also formatted to match the Apostles Creed, with Book I being on God the Creator (Father), Book II on God the Redeemer (Christ), Book III on the mode of obtaining grace (through the Holy Spirit), and Book IV on the means of grace (through the holy catholic church). The Belgic, Westminster, Savoy Declaration, and 1689 London Baptist Confession all follow a similar formatting. Along with, the Second Helvetic Confession, which also notably affirms the Apostles Creed in Ch 3 saying that it “delivers us true faith.”

Resources to Learn More: