Sunday, September 2, 2007

Trinitarian Heresies

Here is a start of a two part post concerning the Trinity and heresies of the Trinity. The following is the Athanasius Creed which lays out the true belief of the Trinity. It's a good forerunner because it is better to understand what is true before you look at what is false.


Whoever wants to be saved should above all cling to the catholic faith.
Whoever does not guard it whole and inviolable will doubtless perish eternally.
Now this is the catholic faith: We worship one God in trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being.
For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Spirit is
still another.
But the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coeternal in majesty.
What the Father is, the Son is, and so is the Holy Spirit.
Uncreated is the Father; uncreated is the Son; uncreated
is the Spirit. The Father is infinite; the Son is infinite; the Holy Spirit
is infinite. Eternal is the Father; eternal is the Son; eternal is the Spirit:
And yet there are not three eternal beings, but one who is eternal;
as there are not three uncreated and unlimited beings, but one who is
uncreated and unlimited.
Almighty is the Father; almighty is the Son; almighty is the Spirit:
And yet there are not three almighty beings, but one
who is almighty.
Thus the Father is God; the Son is God; the Holy Spirit is
God:
And yet there are not three gods, but one God.
Thus the Father is Lord; the Son is Lord; the Holy Spirit is Lord:
And yet there are not three lords, but one Lord.
As Christian truth compels us to acknowledge each distinct person as 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;
the Son was neither made nor created, but was alone begotten of
the Father; the Spirit was neither made nor created, but is proceeding from
the Father and the Son.
Thus there is one Father, not three fathers; one Son, not three sons; one Holy Spirit, not three spirits.
And in this Trinity, no one is before or after, greater or less than the other;
but all three persons are in themselves, coeternal and coequal; and so we must worship the Trinity in unity and the one God in three persons.
Whoever wants to be saved should think thus about the Trinity.
It is necessary for eternal salvation that one also faithfully believe that our Lord Jesus Christ became flesh.
For this is the true faith that we believe and confess: That our Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son, is both God and man.
He is God, begotten before all worlds from the being of the Father, and he is man, born in the world from the being of his mother -- existing fully as God, and fully as man with a rational soul and a human body; equal to the Father in divinity, subordinate to the Father in humanity. Although he is God and man, he is not divided, but is one Christ.
He is united because God has taken humanity into himself; he does not transform deity into humanity.
He is completely one in the unity of his person, without confusing his natures.
For as the rational soul and body are one person, so the one Christ is God and man.
He suffered death for our salvation.
He descended into hell and rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
At his coming all people shall rise bodily to give an account of their own deeds.
Those who have done good will enter eternal life, those who have done evil will enter eternal fire.
This is the catholic faith.
One cannot be saved without believing this firmly and faithfully.


Retrieved from "http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Athanasian_Creed"

7 comments:

  1. It might be good to point out that "catholic," as is used here is referring to the the true Church, the body of Christ, the body of believers and is not a reference to the Roman Catholic Church.

    "catholic" as defined by dictionary.com:

    2. universal in extent; involving all; of interest to all.
    3. pertaining to the whole Christian body or church.

    Etymology: c.1350, "of the doctrines of the ancient Church," lit. "universally accepted," from L.L. catholicus "universal, general," from Gk. katholikos, from phrase kath' holou, from kata "about" + gen. of holos "whole"

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  2. Yes, that is correct.
    Thank you my brother.

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  3. At Bible study last week Chuck said they read the Athanasius Creed in Church that Sunday and everyone was saying, "What! I'm not Catholic, I can't believe in that!"
    And so he spent the rest of the morning explaining the difference between "catholic" and "Roman Catholic."

    Just more proof that too many people who go to church don't spend enough time researching Christian history or doctrine.

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  4. It is sad how much proof there is of that, people not studying Christian history/theology/doctrine.
    Thanks for posting this Jordan. Regardless of what you go on to say about heresy or whatever, I think seeing the creeds laid out there as a means of communicating church doctrine is sadly lacking in most churches today.

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  5. I agree. And I'm going to go out on a limb and say Mike agrees too. And more than that I believe that doctrine is a big part of "Mike's Hymn o' the Week".

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  6. For sure, I'd say you are on a pretty sturdy limb on that one. But I happen to like creeds better than hymns, I don't usually get caught up studying the rhyme scheme of creeds. I'd say hymns are lacking in churches too, but I've been told that for almost a year now by him on a regular basis.

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  7. Sorry, but it's going to be a little while before I make my next post. I'm a little busy at the moment.

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