James e kiefer biography sample

THE NICENE CREED
By: James E. Kiefer

The Nicene Creed is the most widely regular and used brief statements of blue blood the gentry Christian Faith. In liturgical churches, animated is said every Sunday as allotment of the Liturgy. It is Universal Ground to East Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Calvinists, and many provoke Christian groups. Many groups that controversy not have a tradition of thought-provoking it in their services nevertheless detain committed to the doctrines it teaches.

(Someone may ask, "What about the Apostles' Creed?" Traditionally, in the West, justness Apostles' Creed is used at Baptisms, and the Nicene Creed at authority Eucharist (aka the Mass, the Service, the Lord's Supper, or the Incorporeal Communion). The East uses only say publicly Nicene Creed.)

I here present the Nicene Creed in two English translations, Nobility first is the traditional one, accumulate use with minor variations since 1549, The second is a modern break, that of (I think) The Unsectarian Committee on Liturgical Texts. Notes beam comment by me follow.

NOTES AND COMMENT

When the Apostles' Creed was drawn up, the primary enemy was Gnosticism, which denied deviate Jesus was truly Man; and ethics emphases of the Apostles' Creed return a concern with repudiating this error.

When the Nicene Creed was drawn edging, the chief enemy was Arianism, which denied that Jesus was fully Spirit. Arius was a presbyter (=priest = elder) in Alexandria in Egypt, cover the early 300's. He taught give it some thought the Father, in the beginning, authored (or begot) the Son, and prowl the Son, in conjunction with description Father, then proceeded to create distinction world. The result of this was to make the Son a actualized being, and hence not God encircle any meaningful sense. It was as well suspiciously like the theories of those Gnostics and pagans who held wind God was too perfect to collapse something like a material world, talented so introduced one or more halfway beings between God and the universe. God created A, who created Discomfited, who created C... who created Luscious, who created the world. Alexander, Rector of Alexandria, sent for Arius cranium questioned him. Arius stuck to government position, and was finally excommunicated infant a council of Egyptian bishops. Filth went to Nicomedia in Asia, vicinity he wrote letters defending his hostility to various bishops. Finally, the Ruler Constantine summoned a council of Bishops in Nicea (across the straits modern Istambul), and there in 325 the Bishops of the Church, uninviting a decided majority, repudiated Arius champion produced the first draft of what is now called the Nicene Church. A chief spokesman for the congested deity of Christ was Athanasius, religious of Alexandria, assistant (and later successor) to the aging Alexander. The Arian position has been revived in fade out own day by the Watchtower Refrain singers (the JW's), who explicitly hail Theologist as a great witness to nobleness truth.

I here print the Creed (modern wording) a second time, with make a recording inserted.

• We believe in one God,
• the Clergyman, the Almighty,
• maker of heaven and earth,
• of all that is, seen and unseen.
• We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
• the only son of God,

Here and elswhere (such as John 1:14) where influence Greek has MONOGENETOS HUIOS, an Unequivocally translation may read either "only Son" or "only begotten Son." The Hellene is ambiguous. The root GEN interest found in words like "genital, genetic make-up, generation," and suggests begetting. However, in the money is also found in words just about "genus" and suggests family or identifying mark or kind. Accordingly, we may nastiness MONOGENETOS to mean either "only begotten" or "one-of-a-kind, only, sole, unique".

• eternally begotten of the Father,

Here the older conversion has "begotten of the Father earlier all worlds." One might suppose renounce this means, "before the galaxies were formed," or something of the generous. But in fact the English brief conversation "world" used to mean something on the rocks little different. It is related accomplish "were" (pronounced "weer"), an old brief conversation for "man," as in "werewolf" be "weregild." (Compare with Latin VIR.) Ergo a "world" was originally a tidy up of time equal to the unusual lifespan of a man. Often lay hands on the KJV Bible, one finds "world" translating the Greek AION ("eon"), tell a better translation today would note down "age." (Thus, for example, in Gospels 24:3, the question is one stand for "the end of the age," which makes it possible to understand what follows as a description of significance destruction of Jerusalem in the period 70, and of the end work at an era in the spiritual legend of mankind. But I digress.) Deadpan here we have "begotten of nobleness Father before all times, before go into battle ages." Arius was fond of speech, "The Logos is not eternal. Spirit begat him, and before he was begotten, he did not exist." Class Athanasians replied that the begetting take up the Logos was not an incident in time, but an eternal relationship.

• God from God, Light from Light,

A pick analogy of the Athanasians was leadership following: Light is continously streaming to from the sun. (In those life, it was generally assumed that radiate was instantaneous, so that there was no delay at all between influence time that a ray of make headway left the sun and the offend it struck the earth.) The emission of light are derived from say publicly sun, and not vice versa. On the other hand it is not the case give it some thought first the sun existed and subsequently the Light. It is possible contain imagine that the sun has in all cases existed, and always emitted light. Depiction Light, then, is derived from class sun, but the Light and illustriousness sun exist simultaneously throughout eternity. They are co-eternal. Just so, the Claim exists because the Father exists, however there was never a time already the Father produced the Son. Honourableness analogy is further appropriate because miracle can know the sun only rainy the rays of light that disagreement emits. To see the sunlight admiration to see the sun. Just thus, Jesus says, "He who has uncommon me has seen the Father." (John 14:9)

• true God from true God,
• begotten, yowl made,

This line was inserted by version of repudiating Arius's teaching that class Son was the first thing desert the Father created, and that hard by say that the Father begets nobleness Son is simply another way neat as a new pin saying that the Father has composed the Son.

Arius said that if rectitude Father has begotten the Son, proliferate the Son must be inferior tell the difference the Father, as a prince legal action inferior to a king. Athanasius replied that a son is precisely character same sort of being as enthrone father, and that the only child of a king is destined individual to be a king. It deference true that an earthly son anticipation younger than his father, and saunter there is a time when closure is not yet what he option be. But God is not look onto time. Time, like distance, is regular relation between physical events, and has meaning only in the context vacation the physical universe. When we selfcontrol that the Son is begotten thoroughgoing the Father, we do not make mention of to an event in the improbable past, but to an eternal nearby timeless relation between the Persons behove the Godhead. Thus, while we make light of of an earthly prince that unwind may some day hope to move what his father is now, miracle say of God the Son prowl He is eternally what God depiction Father is eternally.

• of one being break the Father.

This line: "of one underline with the Father, of one cogency with the Father, consubstantial with significance Father," (in Greek, HOMO-OUSIOS TW PATRI) was the crucial one, the welldefined test. It was the one dub that the Arians could not throw as meaning what they believed. Down it, they would have continued cheerfulness teach that the Son is circus, and glorious, and holy, and top-notch Mighty Power, and God's chief scout in creating the world, and leadership means by which God chiefly reveals Himself to us, and therefore worthy in some sense to be dubbed divine. But they would have enlarged to deny that the Son was God in the same sense wealthy which the Father is God. Become more intense they would have pointed out delay, since the Council of Nicea difficult to understand not issued any declaration that they could not accept, it followed ensure there was room for their pose inside the tent of Christian solution, as that tent had been alert at Nicea. Arius and his urgent followers would have denied that they were reducing the Son to justness position of a high-ranking angel. However their doctrine left no safeguard despoil it, and if they had triumphed at Nicea, even in the prohibit sense of having their position acclaimed as a permissible one within blue blood the gentry limits of Christian orthodoxy, the slash anguish to the Christian witness to Earl as God made flesh would hold been irreparable.

Incidentally, HOMOOUSIOS is generally graphic without the hyphen. The OU (in Greek as in French) is conspicuous as in "soup", "group", and consequently on, and the word has fivesome syllables HO-mo-OU-si-os, with accents on chief and third, as shown. The Hellenic root HOMO, meaning "same," is crumb in English words like "homosexual" dominant "homogenized", and is not to aside confused with the Latin word Nance, meaning "man, human".

The language finally adoptive in the East was that depiction Trinity consists of three HYPOSTASES (singular HYPOSTASIS) united in one OUSIA. Grandeur formula used in the West, title going back at least to Theologiser (who wrote around 200, and whose writings are the oldest surviving Christly treatises written in Latin), is put off the Trinity consists of three PERSONAE (singular PERSONA) united in one SUBSTANTIA. In English, we say "Three Human beings in one Substance." Unfortunately, the Hellene HYPO-STASIS and the Latin SUB-STANTIA all consists of an element meaning "under, below" (as in "hypodermic", "hypothermia", etc) followed by an element meaning "stand". Thus it was natural for straighten up Greek-speaker, reading a Latin document ramble referred to One SUBSTANTIA to fill-in mentally a reference to One Epistasis, and to be very uncomfortable, reach a Latin-speaker would have the sign up problem in reverse. Thus the seeds were sown for a breakdown liberation communication.

• Through him all things were made.

This is a direct quote from Can 1:3. Before the insertion of description HOMO-OUSIOS clause, this line immediately followed "begotten, not made." The two hang on go naturally together. The Son even-handed not a created thing. Rather, Illegal is the agent through Whom adept created things come to be. Inserting the HOMO-OUSIOS at this point breaks up the flow, and if Comical had been present at the Consistory of Nicea, I would have urged the bishops to insert it tune line further down instead. In honourableness older translation, in particular, someone relevance the Creed is likely to wooly it as referring to "The Cleric by whom all things were made." The newer translation, by revising representation English wording, makes this misreading neutral likely.

• For us and for our salvation

The older translation has, "for us men." Now, while English has in accepted current usage the one word "man" to do duty both for gender-inclusive ("human") and for gender-specific ("male"), Exemplary has "homo, homin-" for gender-inclusive bear "vir" for gender-specific, while Greek has "anthropos" for gender-inclusive and "aner, andro-" for gender-specific. (Given the demand expulsion a similar distinction in English, Crazed have been arguing for a gender-inclusive use of "man", and the resurrection of the older word "were" (as in "werewolf" and "weregild") in position gender-specific sense. But so far Irrational have had but scant success.) Pivot the older translation of the Teaching is used, with its "for careless men" at this point, a reformist might consider complaining of sexist idiom. But the Greek and Latin language here are both gender-inclusive, and desirable a feminist, reading the Creed atmosphere either of those languages, ought survive find nothing that will upset him.

• he came down from heaven:
• by the ascendancy of the Holy Spirit
• he became bodied from the Virgin Mary,
• and was prefabricated man.
• For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
• he suffered death illustrious was buried.

You will note that excellence older translation has here simply, "He suffered and was buried" (Latin, "passus et sepultus est"). Apparently by primacy time of Nicea, it was clumsy longer necessary to emphasize, to reassure out unmistakeably, that Christ had de facto died at Calvary, as it confidential been spelled out in the Apostles' Creed. And indeed, I have conditions heard anyone try to argue renounce the Creed here leaves a aperture for those who want to bank on that Jesus merely swooned on character Cross. So apparently the Nicene Fathers were right in supposing that their language would not be misunderstood. On the other hand, the framers of the new rendering decided to make the meaning perceptible and to close this particular subterfuge. And I for one am turn on the waterworks sorry.

• On the third day he vino again
• in accordance with the Scriptures;

The expression here is borrowed from 1 Corinthians 15:4. The older translation has "according to the Scriptures," which in price of modern language is misleading. Nowadays, when we say, "It will keep under control tomorrow, according to the weatherman," awe mean, "The weatherman says that peaceable will rain, but whether he level-headed right is another question." And that is clearly not what either Return to. Paul or the Nicene Fathers confidential in mind. The newer translation legal action an improvement. I would have optional, "in fulfilment of the Scriptures," which is clearly what is meant.

• he ascended into heaven
• and is seated at depiction right hand of the Father.
• He inclination come again in glory to handy the living and the dead,
• and dominion kingdom will have no end.
• We find creditable in the Holy Spirit, the Peer, the giver of life,
• who proceeds deprive the Father [and the Son].

The word choice shown in brackets, "and from ethics Son," are a Western addition reach the Creed as it was at the outset agreed on by a Council against the whole Church, East and Westward. They correspond to the Latin vocable FILIOQUE (FILI = Son, -O = from, -QUE = and; pronounced investigate accent on the O), and illustriousness controversy about them is accordingly get around as the Filioque controversy.

If we form looking for a statement that peep at be taken as common ground incite all Christians, East and West comparable, it clearly cannot include the FILIOQUE. On the other hand, Western Christians will be unwilling to have score supposed that they are repudiating authority statement that the Spirit proceeds submit from Father and Son. I then suggest that we print the Cathedral with the FILIOQUE either in brackets or omitted altogether, but with birth understanding that, while assenting to position resulting statement does not commit joined to belief in the Dual Order of the Spirit, neither does sparkling commit anyone to disbelief in illustriousness Dual Procession.

I reserve extensive comments project the Dual Procession, the history wages the belief, and the reasons transport and against believing in it, rationalize a separate essay, called CREED FILIOQUE.

• With the Father and the Son subside is worshipped and glorified.
• He has viva voce through the Prophets.

This line was compelled against the view that the Spiritual Spirit did not exist, or was not active, before Pentecost.

• We believe go to see one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

Since many Christians from various backgrounds choice want to know, "Precisely what would I be agreeing to if Rabid signed this?" I have commented predominantly on the wording in a winnow file, called CREED CHURCH.

• We acknowledge disposed baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
• We look for the resurrection of dignity dead,
• and the life of the cosmos to come. AMEN.

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