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The Athanasian Creed

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The Athanasian Creed The Athanasian Creed So likewise the Father is almighty, For the right faith is that we believe the Son almighty, and the Holy and confess that our Lord Jesus Christianity constantly struggles to keep the Faith free from false Spirit almighty. Christ, the Son of God, philosophies. And yet They are not three is God and man; In Fourth Century Alexandria, Egypt, a persuasive preacher with a logical almighties but One Almighty. God of the substance of the Father, mind used a philosophical concept foreign to the Scriptures in order to explain So the Father is God, the Son is begotten before the worlds; the connection between Jesus and his Father. Arius borrowed from the popular God, and the Holy Spirit is God. and man of the substance of His And yet They are not three mother, born in the world. Greek concept that a “god,” by nature, had to be high, distant and almighty; Gods but one God. Perfect God and perfect man, of a reason- and that humans, consequently, had to be low, spatial and inferior. So likewise the Father is Lord, the able soul and human flesh subsisting. Arius taught that only the Father was really a proper God. Because Jesus Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord. Equal to the Father as touching was human, he was therefore only a creature (created by God) and therefore And yet They are not three His Godhead and inferior to the did not really possess any divine qualities. Lords but One Lord. Father as touching His The problem: when Arius denied the divinity of Christ, he destroyed God’s For as we are compelled by the manhood; role in accomplishing our salvation. If Jesus were not really God, then he could Christian truth to acknowledge Who, although He is God and man, not possibly have saved us from our sins. every Person by Himself to be both yet He is not two but One Standing for orthodox Christianity was Athanasius. Against Arius, he God and Lord, Christ: declared the scriptural teaching of the two natures of Christ—that he was both So we cannot by the catholic One, not by conversion of the “true God,” and “true man.” This creed named in his honor proclaims in great faith say that there are three Godhead into flesh but by taking the detail that Jesus is “equal with the Father.” Gods or three Lords. manhood into God; By affirming Jesus’ divinity, this creed confesses that God is the originator The Father is made of none, One altogether, not by of our salvation—he did it for us. By affirming Jesus’ humanity, it confesses that neither created nor begotten. confusion of substance but by Jesus died for every part of us—he was a Savior who was completely human. The Son is of the Father alone, unity of Person. Because of its emphasis on the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the Church not made nor created but For as the reasonable soul and flesh traditionally used it during Prime, the first of the “hours” or prayer services of begotten. is one man, the day in monastic communities, beginning each day focusing on the Triune The Holy Spirit is of the Father and so God and man is One Christ; God. It is now most often used among Lutherans on Trinity Sunday, and is of the Son, Who suffered for our salvation, helpful in teaching the Faith at other times, especially in areas involving the neither made nor created nor descended into hell, rose again the person and work of Christ or the Holy Trinity. begotten but proceeding. third day from the dead. So there is One Father, not three He ascended into heaven, He Whoever will be saved shall, above equal, the majesty coeternal. Fathers; One Son, not three Sons; sits at the right hand of the all else, hold the catholic* faith. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, One Holy Spirit, not three Holy Father, God Almighty, from Which faith, except everyone and such is the Holy Spirit. Spirits. whence He will come to judge keeps whole and undefiled, The Father uncreated, the Son And in this Trinity none is the living and the dead— without doubt he will perish uncreated, the Holy Spirit before or after another; none At whose coming all men will rise is greater or less than another; again with their bodies and will give eternally. uncreated. but the whole three Persons are an account of their own works. And the catholic faith is this, that we The Father incomprehensible, the coeternal together and coequal, so And they that have done good worship one God in Three Persons Son incomprehensible, the Holy that in all things, as is aforesaid, will go into life everlasting; and and Three Persons in one God, Spirit incomprehensible. the Unity in Trinity and the they that have done evil, into neither confusing the Persons The Father eternal, the Son Trinity in Unity is to be everlasting fire. nor dividing the substance. eternal, the Holy Spirit eternal. worshiped. This is the catholic faith which, For there is One Person of the And yet They are not three eternals He, therefore, that will be saved is except a man believe faithfully and Father, another of the Son, and but One Eternal. compelled thus to think of the Trinity. firmly, another of the Holy Spirit. As there are not three uncreated nor Furthermore, it is necessary to he cannot be saved. But the Godhead of the three incomprehensibles everlasting salvation that he also Father, of the Son, and of the but One Uncreated and One believe faithfully the incarnation *Belonging to the entire Church Holy Spirit is all one: the glory Incomprehensible. of our Lord Jesus Christ. throughout time and place..
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