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