LANGUAGE AND TERMS OF THE NICENE CREED
AS REFLECTED BY IRENAEUS AND DEVELOPED BY TERTULLIAN AND ORIGEN

A Paper

Submitted to Dr. John Landers

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Course

CHHI 610

Historical Development of Christian Theology

Ghali, HebatAllah

September 2015

This paper analyses the language and terms in the Nicene Creed that are found in Irenaeus theological arguments and developed by Tertullian and Origen.  Each partook in the concepts of the Nicene Creed through their earlier writings to refute heresies against the Son of God and the Trinity, which were later developed by Athanasius.  It is my contention that Irenaeus developed the unity of faith setting the role of the three hypostases in one God; Tertullian developed “one substance” (homoousios); and Origen developed the “eternal begotteness.”

Nicene Creed:  Language found as early as Irenaeus

The language in the Nicene Creed is found as early as Irenaeus in his writing Against Heresies 1.10, where he sets the rules of faith, which is the unity of faith of the Church throughout the world—the Trinity, the Gospel, and the Church.  In this chapter, Irenaeus spells out descriptions of the three persons of the Trinity that are to become later the formulation of the Nicene Creed:

[The church believes] in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate of our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord  and His [future] manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father “to gather all things in one,” and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race in order that Christ Jesus, our Lord and God, and Savior and King, according to the will of the invisible Father “every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess” to Him and that He should execute just judgment towards all…[1]

Irenaeus built on the Apostles’ Creed by specifying “one God” then describes the three distinct roles of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (oneness with distinction).  Hitchcock argues that Irenaeus does not deal with the generation of the Son, though the “Word is dependent on the supreme will of the Father.”[2]  In other words, the monarchia of the Father is pronounced, “while the Being and Initiative of the Son assume a unique importance in the economy of creation and man.”[3]  The Son’s deity or Christology is tied to salvation; he viewed “salvation as deification (partial participation in God’s own immortal energy and life) in order to prove the necessity of Christ’s humanity.”[4]  Irenaeus expands on the Apostles’ Creed regarding the Holy Spirit which is very brief by explaining His role and which the Cappadocian Fathers later dwells on in terms of equality in the Godhead with distinction to formulate the final formulation of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (381 AD).  Irenaeus does not deal with substance (homoousios) or with the eternal begotteness of the logos, which Tertullian and Origen, respectively, develop earlier to Athanasius.

Nicene Creed:  Terms Tertullian and Origen developed

Tertulllian had developed una substantia-one substance reflected in the Nicene Creed as “not made, being of one substance” (homoousios); all have the same essential attributes of deity, distinction without division.[5]  Tertullian brings to the fore the Latin Trinitarian formula in his writing Against Praxeas for the una substantia, tres personae; by substance, he meant that fundamental “ontological being-ness that makes something what it is, while by person, he meant that identity of action that provides distinctness.”[6]  Tertullian developed the concept of “organic monotheism,” where he explained that “God’s ‘oneness’ does not rule out or exclude a kind of multiplicity, just as biological organisms can be ‘one’ and yet made up of interconnected and mutual parts.”[7]  This formula fought against Sabellian modalism (patripassianism—incarnation, suffering, and dying of God the Father; the three persons are three different aspects of God) and semi-Arian subordinationism of the Son to the Father (denying the Son’s divinity and lowering Him to a status lower than God but higher than creatures).[8]

Origen’s contribution was regarding “the divinity of the logos who became Jesus Christ as eternal and equal with God the Father;” [9] a concept that Athanasius reflected in the Nicene Creed by the word “begotten, not made.”  Athanasius affirmed that the Son is the eternally begotten of the Father, who is “completely unbegotten and without any source or origin in another.”[10]  The eternal begotteness of the logos rules out Arianism that alleged that the logos was “made” or “created” which denies Christ’s divinity, subordinates Christ’s to the Father, and reduces Christ to a demiurge and not God.  However, Origen was accused of a subordinationism tendency, where he refutes this accusation in In Illud: Tunc et Ipse Filius.  He affirms that the “three Persons of the Trinity have each one their own properties, but they all share the same nature or substance…the Son, far from being subordinated to the Father, is worthy  of the same honor as the Father is.”[11]  Origen rejects any reductionist approach to the Son and assures that the Son is not a creature or a fragment of the Father’s substance by virtue of eternal generation from the Father.[12]

 Increased Role of Philosophical Language in the Ancient Church.

The New Testament was written in Greek and was impacted by the Greek culture and philosophy that was first reflected in John’s gospel concerning the use of the Greek word logos to introduce the eternal Son of God, that was with God and that is God.  Gnosticism was a competing religion to Christianity and the Church had to speak the same language and use the same philosophy to get across the mystery of the Trinity to the people and refute the gnostic philosophy.  Also, most Patristic Fathers were educated in Greek Philosophical schools of Aristotle or Plato (like the Cappadocian Fathers).  Even the School of Alexandria, where the Egyptian Church Fathers like Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Athanasius were educated, was highly philosophical and allegorical.  The heresies the Church Fathers fought against, like Arianism, Sabellianism, Apollorianism, Eunomianism, and Pneumatomachianism, could only be refuted by referring to philosophy (metaphysical arguments), focusing on the ultimate goal of salvation—deification or divinization.  Philosophy was a powerful tool at a time when the canon was still open and the gospel not so widely spread, and Gnosticism was at its heyday.  Christian theologian, Tertullian, opposed using philosophy in theology by rhetorically asking, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” criticizing the growing use of Greek philosophy instead of relying on Scriptures to develop Christian theology.[13]  As Origen argues, it is Greek Philosophy that set the stage for the mystery of the Trinity and concept of salvation; it was a preparatio evangelica for philosophy cannot provide a saving knowledge or cure a person.[14]  Theology was often viewed as “divine philosophy,” that used pagan and secular ideas to get across a contextualized gospel message.  Philosophy was always brought under the authority of Scriptures and Revelation in line with the Apostolic tradition.[15] 

Nicene Creed Language:  Part of our Discussion 

The Nicene Creed language hinges upon the Trinity; each of same substance (homoousios) yet distinct; the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three distinct hypostases (persons), not separate, and one homoousios.  It has become part of our discussion as well as division. The Eastern Orthodox Church recognizes the authority of the first seven ecumenical councils; whereas, the magisterial Protestant denominations recognize the authority of the first four ecumenical councils and Creeds.[16]  They still testify to the Triune God by reciting the Nicene Creed in all their liturgies, gatherings, meetings, and ecumenical councils. While free-church tradition reject the idea of ecumenical councils and refer to the Bible as the source of authority for their creed.[17]  They contend that the contents of the creed are biblically retrievable, favoring “back-to-the-Bible” and separation of state and church.[18]

The language of the creed has become part of our division on local church levels and gatherings, especially in the West, where culture is individualized.  The community approach is lacking and this creates a difficulty in understanding the oneness in community relationship in the Godhead between the three hypostases (ousia).  Though church fathers’ analogy of the sun-light-warmth is intelligible to Westerners but on the everyday practical communion the concept of oneness in community-relationship in the Godhead is apprehended.  In the Eastern Orthodox Church, this concept of three-in-one Godhead is as natural as the air we breathe.

The Nicene Creed:  Personal Application

As a Coptic Orthodox, the Church recites the Nicene Creed in its liturgies; every believer prays it at least two times daily, in private prayers.  I testify that the Nicene Creed has given me immense strength and inner spiritual power that sustained my faith and life during a great ordeal that had lasted for a long time.  Every time I recited and prayed with the Nicene Creed, the Holy Spirit that filled the Fathers and guided them was being poured in me. It was a very special time of unity to the Church Fathers who fought, struggled, and died to preserve the Christian faith.  I praise the Lord for the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church Fathers of Alexandria, Egypt, who were and still are beacons of light to the world.

CONCLUSION

The mystery of the Trinity has always occupied the Church heart and mind as it was the cornerstone in the Christian faith.  The first Church formulated the Apostles’ Creed setting out briefly the basic features of the Christian.  The Church Fathers developed it further as a response to fight heresies, using philosophy that was subjected to the truth of the Gospel, Revelation, and Tradition. Ireneaus, in Against Heresies, set out the unity of faith delineating the role of the three persons and the monarchy of the Father; Tertullian, in Against Praxeas, developed one substance and three persons; and Origen developed the “eternal begotteness” or generation of the Son from the Father, ruling out any Arian subordinationism tendency. The increased philosophical language used was natural because the culture of the time was Greek impregnated with philosophy and the Bible itself was written in Greek using Greek terms, like logos, to reach out for people with the gospel message.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hitchcock,  F. R. Montgomery.  “The Apostolic Preaching of Irenaeus and its Light on His Doctrine of the Trinity.”  Hermathena.  Vol. 14, No. 33, 1907, pp. 307-337

Irenaeus. “Against Heresies 1.10” Anti-Nicene Fathers 01:  The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus. http://www.ccel.org

Olson, Roger E.  The Story of Christian Theology:  Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform.  Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 1999.

Origen.  “On First Principles 2.6” Anti-Nicene Fathers 04: Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen, Parts First and Second, ed. Philip Schaff.  http://www.ccel.org

Ramelli, Ilaria L.E.  “Origen’s Anti-Subordinationism and its Heritage in the Nicene and Cappadocian Line.” Vigiliae Christianae . Vol. 65, 2011, pp. 21-49.

Tertullian.  “Against Praxeas, 7.1” Anti-Nicene Fathers 03: Latin Christianity, Its Founder, Tertullian, ed. Philip Schaff. http://www.ccel.org

 APOSTLES’ CREED AND NICENE CREED

APOSTLES’ CREED

NICENE CREED

1. I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: 2. And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord: 3. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary: 4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried: He descended into hell: 5. The third day he rose again from the dead: 6. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty: 7. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead: 8. I believe in the Holy Ghost: 9. I believe in the holy catholic church: the communion of saints: 10. The forgiveness of sins: 1l. The resurrection of the body: 12. And the life everlasting. Amen.

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 (rules out Arianism made or created which subordinated Christ to a lower than God but higher than man), not made, being of one substance (consubstantial homoousios) with the Father, by whom all things were made. Who, for us men 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 quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end. And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the 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 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.

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[1]. Irenaeus, “Against Heresies 1.10,” Anti-Nicene Fathers 01:  The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus. http://www.ccel.org

[2]. F. R. Montgomery Hitchcock, “The Apostolic Preaching of Irenaeus and its Light on His Doctrine of the Trinity,” Hermathena, Vol. 14, No. 33, 1907, 336.

[3]. Ibid, 337.

[4]. Olson, Roger E.  The Story of Christian Theology:  Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform.  Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 1999, 169

[5]. Olson, 96, 154-155.

[6]. Ibid, 96.

[7]. Ibid.

[8]. Ibid, 92, 95, 166.

[9]. Ibid, 108.

[10]. Ibid, 171.

[11]. Ilaria Ramelli, “Origen’s Anti-Subordinationism and its Heritage in the Nicene and Cappadocian Line,” Vigiliae Christianae , Vol. 65, 2011, 26.

[12]. Ibid.

[13]. Ibid, 22.

[14]. Ibid, 102.

[15]. Ibid, 104.

[16]. Olson, 158.

[17]. Ibid, 159.

[18]. Ibid.