by Søren Filipski

Faith Profession

Fiduciary Propositional

 Deut 6:4: The L ORD our God is one L ORD.  1 Cor 8:10: One God the Father and one Lord Jesus Christ.  Creed: I believe in one God, the Father … I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ…

 Confesses the divinity of the three persons.  Tells the story of salvation in light of that confession.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; Through him all things were made.

Taught that a single divine person revealed himself successively as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

One person in three modes or aspects.  Teaching known as:  Modalism  Sabellianism  Patripassionism

I testify that the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit are inseparable from each other, and so will you know in what sense this is said. ( Against Praxeas, IX)

Now, observe, my assertion is that the Father is one, and the Son one, and the Spirit one, and that They are distinct from Each Other.

It is not by way of diversity that the Son differs from the Father, but by distribution: it is not by division that He is different, but by distinction.

Distinct Persons One Substance Distinct ≠ Separate

Substance: What is God? Person: Who is God?

For the Father is the entire substance, but the Son is a derivation and portion of the whole, as He Himself acknowledges: My Father is greater than I.

 A.D – Diocletian Persecution  313 – Edict of Milan legalizes Christianity  319 – Dispute of Arius and Alexander in Alexandria  321 – Local condemnation of Arius  325 – Council of Nicaea

If the Father begat the Son, he that was begotten had a beginning of existence: and from this it is evident, that there was a time when the Son was not.

It therefore necessarily follows, that he had his substance from nothing.

Arian Hetero-ousios: Of different substance Eusebian Homoi-ousios: Of similar substance Orthodox Homo-ousios: Of the same substance

And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the Persons; nor dividing the Essence.

For there is one Person of the Father; another of the Son; and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one; the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal.

Made: Created (out of nothing) Begotten: Generated

The only begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God. (Indicates origin, not creation.)

 Incarnation  Passion  Glorification

For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

Passus et sepultus est.

He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.

Constantinople I (381): “from the Father proceeding” Athanasian Creed (ca. 430): “The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son.” Pope Leo I (446): “The Holy Ghost is from the Father and the Son, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding” Pope Benedict VIII (1014): Added filioque to Roman Rite

I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.