Arianism – Dose of Doctrine

Historical Background

The Athanasian Creed confirms the Trinitarian belief stressing the co-eternality and co-equality of all three persons of the Trinity while it also is centered over the complex belief of divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ affirming both the beliefs very fundamentally.

The Athanasian Creed is entitled originally in Latin as Quicumque vult (salvus esse…) (meaning “whoever will (be saved…)”) after the beginning phrase of the creed. It was called the Athanasian Creed because for centuries people attributed its authorship to Athanasius, a great champion of Trinitarian orthodoxy in the fourth century, while Arianism was inflicting the church with heresy and the Nicene Creed was formulated (although Athanasius did not write the Nicene Creed, he was among the chief opponents of the heretic movement). it only became clear after the Reformation that Athanasius was not the author of the Athanasian Creed. Athanasius died in 373 AD and the famously ascribed epithet on his tombstone reads, “Athanasius contra mundum,” that is, “Athanasius against the world.” Although it is hard to deny his influence in forming the Creed, it is quite clear that he did not write the Athanasius Creed as well.

The Creed was probably written between 435 AD and 500 AD most likely by theologians in the Lerinum monastery because of its striking similarities with decrees of synods held in Toledo (Spain) after 400 AD, teachings of Augustine in his De Trinitate, and passages in the writings of Vincentius of Lerinum.

the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed together are called the ecumenical creeds.

Why It’s Important and What Possibly it Could Teach Us?

What is the Trinity? How are we supposed to see the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in Scripture? Are they distinct persons or just different manifestations? How does the Son relate to the Father or the Spirit relates to the Son? The Athanasian Creed, of course, answers all those questions but in short, it also does the following things making a clear way for its need today as well:

It assures our interpretation of the Scriptural passages with historical credibility that our Trinitarian belief, reading of the Scripture, and preaching is not an afterthought product of some recent men.
It helps us keep away from becoming proud as we discover deep truths about the Triunity of God and grow in our knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord by letting us acknowledge that the Spirit had enlightened those before us with great revelations and we do not have a special standing among the children of God.
It helps us know some of the most important questions of life, like, What God is like and what is His being?
It reminds us of the transcendence of our God who is beyond our human comprehension and yet has revealed Himself to us in the Holy Scriptures.
It reminds us that our faith delivered to us in the Scriptures once for all is worth contending for when its truth is challenged.
It also offers us a systematised statement of faith on specific matters in a way that is far easy to memorise the very core doctrines of the Bible on which our faith stands.

The Athanasian Creed Text

Whoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic* faith;
Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt, he will perish everlastingly.
And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity;
Neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the substance.
For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son and another of the Holy Spirit.
But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal.
Such as the Father is, such is the Son and such is the Holy Spirit.
The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated.
The Father infinite, the Son infinite, and the Holy Spirit infinite.
The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal.
And yet they are not three Eternals, but one eternal.
As also there are not three uncreated nor three infinites, but one uncreated and one infinite.
So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty;
And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty.
So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God;
And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord;
And yet they are not three Lords, but one lord.
For like as we are compelled by the Christian truth to acknowledge every Person by himself to be both God and Lord;
so are we forbidden by the catholic religion* to say: there are three Gods or three Lords.
The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten.
The Son is of the Father alone; not made nor created, but begotten.
The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.
And in this Trinity, none is before, nor after another, none is greater, or less than another.
But the whole three persons are co-eternal and co-equal.
So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
He, therefore, that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.
Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man.
God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man of the substance of His mother, born in the world.
perfect God and perfect man, subsisting of a reasonable soul and human flesh.
Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood.
Who, although He is God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ.
One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God.
One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person.
For as the reasoning soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ;
Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead;
He ascended into heaven, He sits at the right hand of the Father, God Almighty;
From there He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
At His coming, all men shall rise again with their bodies;
And shall give account of their own works.
And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
This is the catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.

Additional Notes

*The word “catholic” throughout the Creed means simply “universal” church established by Christ Himself.

References:

* Creeds of the Churches: A Reader in Christian Doctrine from the Bible to the Present, by John H. Leith

* Handbook of Reformed Confessions: Classroom Edition, PTS, Dehradun

Historical Background

This Creed is also referred to as Constantinopolitan or Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. It is widely accepted as authoritative by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and other major Protestant churches all over the globe.

Theology of Arius raised a dispute concerning the very core of Christianity, Jesus Christ. It was pretty much believed that Jesus Christ was God and man at the same time. But it was Arian Theology that made the church clarify what they mean when they say Jesus Christ is God. Arius taught that Jesus Christ or the Word was a creature, that He was made by God, that He had a beginning, and that He was subject to change. Arius followed in the ways of Athanasius to deny the divinity of Jesus Christ. Athanasius also maintained that the Son does not have the full and accurate knowledge of the Father. The point it all came down to was that in Jesus man is not really confront by God. The attack on the identity of Christ is not something new but is an old heresy.

The Synod of Nicaea was convened in 325 AD and it rejected the doctrine of Arianism along with other Christological distortions. The expressions found in the Creed are directly stated against the false views of Jesus Christ. The Synod stated that the Son was “of the same substance with the Father.” The Greek term (homo-ousios) used to express the equality of Son with the Father was objected to by some that this term did not occur in Scripture, but as Arianism became influential and the fight against it became more intense and serious, this expression became a generally accepted one.

But for other matters, the Nicene Creed features the tradition of the creed of Jerusalem rather than a Roman tradition, as featured by the Apostles’ Creed. The passage on the Holy Spirit, the church, and baptism and so on was added at the Synod of Constantinople in 381 AD; hence it is more accurately the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. The Nicene Creed became the generally accepted among the Western and the Eastern churches.

Another heresy it combats relates to the procession of the Holy Spirit, a faulty view that the Holy Spirit proceeds only from the Son. It was stated in the Creed that He proceeds from the father with a later promoted addition “…and (from) the Son (Latin: ‘filioque’; the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son”), especially by Augustine. 800 AD onwards, the Creed was recited with this later addition in the Western church and in 11^th century, also in Rome. The Eastern Church was sharply against the view of the Nicene Creed and shortly afterwards the great schism between the Western and the Eastern Church took place.

The Nicene Creed

I believe in one God,

the Father Almighty,

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 worlds;

God of God, Light of Light,

very God of very God;

begotten, not made.

Being of one substance with the Father,

by whom all things were made.

Who, for us men and for our salvation,

came down from heaven,

and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary,

and was made man;

and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate;

He suffered and was buried;

and the third day He rose again,

according to the Scriptures;

and ascended into heaven,

and sits on the right hand of the Father;

and He shall come again, with glory,

to judge the living and the dead;

whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Spirit,

and Lord and Giver of life;

who proceeds from the Father and the Son;

who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified;

who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.

I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins;

and I look for the resurrection of the dead,

and the life of the world to come.

Amen.

References

* Creeds of the Churches: A Reader in Christian Doctrine from the Bible to the Present, by John H. Leith

* Handbook of Reformed Confessions: Classroom Edition, PTS, Dehradun