Which is the Historic Christian Doctrine?

Part Two

By Gary F. Zeolla

It was demonstrated in Part One of this three-part article that the doctrine of the Trinity teaches, “Within the one Being or essence of God, there eternally exists three distinct yet equal Persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.” Meanwhile, Modalism teaches that Father, Son, and Sprit are just different “modes” in which the one Person of God operates. It further teaches that “the Son is the Father.”

But which of these two views is reflected in the major Christian Creeds and Confessions of Faiths that have been drawn up over the centuries? Below are excerpts from such creeds.

First to be looked at are the earliest creeds of the Christian faith.

The Apostle’s Creed is one of the oldest creeds of the Christian Church, outside of the Bible. It mentions the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but it does not go into detail of the exact relationship of the three. Most likely, initially, all Christians “just knew” what was meant by these simple phrases. But later Creeds go into much greater detail.

The reason for this latter detail is probably due to a point mentioned in Part One. When you “debate” doctrine with someone, it forces you to get more exacting in your language to delineate exactly what it is you believe and how that differs from an opposing viewpoint. So as Christians were faced with various heresies, they were forced to use more exacting langue to describe what they believed.

One of the first major heresies the Christian Church faced was Arianism. This was, “A view of the person of Christ according to which he is the highest of the created beings and is thus appropriately referred to as a god, but not the God” (Erickson, p.15, italics in original). This is basically the viewpoint of Jehovah’s Witnesses today.

The Creed or Nicaea (325) was drafted in response to this heresy. It affirmed that Jesus is “of the same essence as the Father.” This specific language was chosen to delineate the Church’s belief in the full equality of the Father and the Son.

But that Creed did specify the exact nature of the distinction between the Father and the Son. It also did not elaborate beyond the Apostle’s Creed in its statement on the Holy Spirit. The reason it did not is again, it was drafted to combat one specific heresy, that of Arianism.

The Athanasian Creed most likely was not actually written by Athanasius ((c/296-373). He was a strong defender of the full deity of Christ and of the Creed of Nicaea. But by 500 A.D., Sabellianism was a widespread heresy that needed to be addressed.

This heresy was named after Sabellius (died after 260 AD). He “Taught a trinity of successive revelations. Hence the Godhead reveals only one member at a time—God in the Old Testament, Jesus at the incarnation, and the Holy Spirit in inspiration. Thus Father, son, and Holy Spirit are only temporary phenomena, or a temporary and modalistic Trinity, which fulfill their mission and then return to the abstract monad” (Moyer, p.355).

This viewpoint is not exactly the same as Modalism, but it is similar in claiming the Father, Son, and Spirit are not distinct Person but just “modes” in which God operates. The main difference is that Sabellianism emphasizes the successive nature of God’s revelations while Modalism has God being able to operate in any given mode at any given time.

But whatever the case, this Creed in no uncertain terms repudiates the ideas of “modes” and instead affirms that God exists as three distinct Persons.

It should also be noted that the clauses of this Creed not quoted affirm the full equality of the three Persons of the Godhead, along with the fact that there is only one God. All of these points are important. But the focus of this particular article is on the distinction of the Father, Son, and Spirit.

The decisions of the Second Council of Constantinople are considered to be infallible by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. They are respected as correctly representing orthodox doctrine by many Protestant denominations. It can be seen that it again affirms that the one Deity exists in three Persons.

Roman Catholic Confessions

Including the Councils of Nicaea and of Constantinople II, the Roman Catholic Church considers 21 councils to have been “Ecumenical” and thus infallible. Two of these later councils addressed the topic at hand:

So the Fourth Lateran Council (1215 A.D.) affirms a distinction between the three Persons of the Godhead.

The Council of Trent was the Catholic reaction to the Protestant Reformation. As such, it was mainly concerned with upholding Catholic doctrines that were being opposed by Protestants. Since Protestants by and large agreed with the Catholic Church in its viewpoint of the Trinity, it was not necessary for the council to go into great detail in this regard. But the decisions of the Council were prefaced with this statement.

It can be seen that the Confession specifics that the Son “sits at the right hand of the Father” which would be difficult to do if the Father and Son are the same Person. It is also difficult to see how the Holy Spirit could be “adored and glorified” together with the Father and Son, if the Three were one and the same Person. As such, although not specifically delineating the distinction between the Father, Son, and Spirit, it is clear that the Council of Trent put forth such a belief.

Being quoted is the most recent official Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church. The excerpts show beyond any doubt that the Catholic Church officially believes in the doctrine of the Trinity, by which is meant that the One “essence” of God exists as three “Persons” and that there is “a real distinction among them.” It further specifically denies any idea of this distinction being just of “modalities.” It further specifically denies that the Son is the Father, that the Holy Spirits is the Father or Son.

This is in direct contradiction to the claim by “Arletta” in the email exchange that opened Part One of this article. She claimed, “I got my understanding of the teachings of the Trinity from Catholic Priests and Bishops.” She then said that understanding was, “Trinity means that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all equal, all separate facets of one Godhead.” She further claimed this understanding included the idea that “The Son is the Father.”

I have no way of knowing if Arletta misunderstood the priests and bishops she supposedly talked to, or if those priest and bishops were simply not skilled at articulating Catholic doctrine. But one thing I am sure of, officially the Catholic Church would repudiate the idea that the distinction between the Father, Son, and Spirit is that they are just “facets” of God. Such a word is never used in official Catholic Creeds and Confessions. The Catholic Church also specifically repudiates the idea that “the Son is the Father.”

Note: In Part One, I referred to “Arletta” as “he.” But someone pointed out to me that Arletta is a woman’s name, so I have corrected my pronouns.

Eastern Orthodox Creeds

The Eastern Orthodox Church is sometimes called “the Church of the Seven Creeds” as it accepts the first seven, and only first seven “Ecumenical” councils as infallible. As such, it ascribes to the aforementioned Apostle’s, Nicene, and Athanasius creeds. But in reaction to the Protestant Reformation, it drew up the following Confession:

Between its ascription to the early creeds and this confession, the position of the Eastern Orthodox Church is clear—it affirms belief in the one God existing as three Persons.

Major Protestant Confessions

After the Protestant Reformation, the various emerging Protestant denominations began drawing up their own Confessions of Faith. These will be looked at next.

The Augsburg Confession is the original confession of Lutheran Churches. It is included in the Book of Concord, the official collection of approved creeds and catechisms. This book also includes the previously quoted Apostle’s, Nicene, and Athanasius Creeds. As such, there is no doubt that the Lutheran Church official affirms the doctrine of the Trinity and repudiates any idea of Modalism.

The Westminster Confession is the official confession of Reformed and Presbyterian churches. It clearly affirms that God exists in three Persons, with each Person being God. And it clearly delineates distinctions between these three Persons.

The Thirty-Nine Articles are the official statement of faith of the Anglican Church. Again, there is a clear statement belief in there being three Persons in the Godhead.

The New Hampshire Confession is an early American, Baptist confession. The Abstract of Principles is the statement of faith of various Southern Baptist seminaries. It was affirmed by the Southern Baptist Convention in 1925 as an official statement of faith.

These confessions are not as exact in their language as some previous confessions. But it is still clear that Baptists affirm a belief in the Godhead consisting in three distinct Persons. This is in contradiction to Arletta, who claimed her studies with Baptist showed her otherwise.

The above two are variations of the official statement of faith of Methodist churches. Both affirm “there are three persons” in the one God.

This discussion will be concluded in Part Three of this article. It will appear in the next issue of Darkness to Light newsletter.

Bibliography:

Catechism of the Catholic Church. Liguori, MO: Liguori Publications, 1994.

Erickson, Millard J. Concise Dictionary of Christian Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1986.

Leith, John ed. Creeds of the Churches. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982.

Moyer, Elgin. rev. by Earle Cairns. The Wycliffe Biographical Dictionary of the Church. Chicago: Moody Press, 1982.

Schaff, Philip. The Creeds of Christendom, sixth ed., 3 vols. Baker Books, 1996.

Zeolla.org is the new personal Web site for Gary F. Zeolla, author of Christian and of fitness books, Web sites, and newsletters, and a top ranked and multi-record holding powerlifter. This site provides links to all of my writings, along with information about my Christian faith, my powerlifting, and other personal details. Check it out!

Also by Gary F. Zeolla:

Zeolla.org is the personal Web site for Gary F. Zeolla,
author of Christian and of fitness books, Web sites, and newsletters,
and a top ranked and multi-record holding powerlifter.

All material in this newsletter is copyrighted © 2009 by Gary F. Zeolla or as indicated otherwise.

5/8/09