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111-756: Widely accepted in Western Christianity , including by the Roman Catholic Church , Lutheran Churches (it is part of the Lutheran confessions set out in the Book of Concord ), Anglican Churches , Reformed Churches , and ancient liturgical churches, the Athanasian Creed has been used in public worship less frequently, with exception of Trinity Sunday . However, part of it can be found as an "Authorized Affirmation of Faith" in

222-762: A "preincarnate appearance of the Messiah". While the developed doctrine of the Trinity is not explicit in the books that constitute the New Testament , the New Testament contains several Trinitarian formulas , including Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14, Ephesians 4:4–6, 1 Peter 1:2, and Revelation 1:4–6. Reflection by early Christians on passages such as the Great Commission : "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in

333-681: A commemoration of a double feast or a day within an Octave occurred. The 1960 reforms further reduced its use to once a year, on Trinity Sunday. It has been effectively dropped from the Catholic liturgy since the Second Vatican Council . It is, however, maintained in the rite of exorcism of the Roman Rite. Opus Dei members recite it on the third Sunday of every month. Consistent with its presence in Anglican prayer books, it

444-610: A common ritual practice inducting new members into the early Jesus sect by baptizing them in Jesus' name (2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5). According to Dale Allison , Acts depicts the appearances of Jesus to Paul as a divine theophany , styled on and identified with the God responsible for the theophany of Ezekiel in the Old Testament. The Gospel of John has been seen as especially aimed at emphasizing Jesus' divinity, presenting Jesus as

555-537: A liturgical document, the original purpose of the creed being for it to be spoken or sung as a part of worship. The creed itself uses the language of public worship by speaking of the worship of God rather than the language of belief ("Now this is the catholic faith: We worship one God"). In the medieval Catholic Church , the creed was recited following the Sunday sermon or at the Sunday Office of Prime . The creed

666-479: A mortuis. Ascendit ad [in] caelos, sedet ad dexteram [Dei] Patris [omnipotentis]. Inde venturus [est] judicare vivos et mortuos. Ad cujus adventum omnes homines resurgere habent cum corporibus suis; Et reddituri sunt de factis propriis rationem. Et qui bona egerunt, ibunt in vitam aeternam: qui vero mala, in ignem aeternum. Haec est fides Catholica, quam nisi quisque fideliter firmiterque crediderit, salvus esse non poterit. Whosoever will be saved, before all things it

777-1585: A nullo est factus: nec creatus, nec genitus. Filius a Patre solo est: non factus, nec creatus, sed genitus. Spiritus Sanctus a Patre et Filio: non factus, nec creatus, nec genitus, sed procedens. Unus ergo Pater, non tres Patres: unus Filius, non tres Filii: unus Spiritus Sanctus, non tres Spiritus Sancti. Et in hac Trinitate nihil prius aut posterius, nihil maius aut minus: Sed totae tres personae coaeternae sibi sunt et coaequales. Ita, ut per omnia, sicut iam supra dictum est, et unitas in Trinitate, et Trinitas in unitate veneranda sit. Qui vult ergo salvus esse, ita de Trinitate sentiat. Sed necessarium est ad aeternam salutem, ut incarnationem quoque Domini nostri Iesu Christi fideliter credat. Est ergo fides recta ut credamus et confiteamur, quia Dominus noster Iesus Christus, Dei Filius, Deus [pariter] et homo est. Deus [est] ex substantia Patris ante saecula genitus: et homo est ex substantia matris in saeculo natus. Perfectus Deus, perfectus homo: ex anima rationali et humana carne subsistens. Aequalis Patri secundum divinitatem: minor Patre secundum humanitatem. Qui licet Deus sit et homo, non duo tamen, sed unus est Christus. Unus autem non conversione divinitatis in carnem, sed assumptione humanitatis in Deum. Unus omnino, non confusione substantiae, sed unitate personae. Nam sicut anima rationalis et caro unus est homo: ita Deus et homo unus est Christus. Qui passus est pro salute nostra: descendit ad inferos: tertia die resurrexit

888-707: A single substance, despite the plurality of persons. Christians interpret the theophanies , or appearances of the Angel of the Lord , as revelations of a person distinct from God, who is nonetheless called God. This interpretation is found in Christianity as early as Justin Martyr and Melito of Sardis , and reflects ideas that were already present in Philo . The Old Testament theophanies were thus seen as Christophanies , each

999-465: A slave performs προσκύνησις to his master so that he would not be sold after being unable to pay his debts). The term can also refer to the religious act of devotion towards a deity. While Jesus receives προσκύνησις a number of times in the synoptic Gospels , only a few can be said to refer to divine worship. This includes Matthew 28:16–20, an account of the resurrected Jesus receiving worship from his disciples after proclaiming his authority over

1110-730: A slight deficiency, or a tendency toward sin yet without collective guilt , referred to as a "sin nature", to something as drastic as total depravity or automatic guilt of all humans through collective guilt. Most Western Christians use a version of the Nicene Creed that states that the Holy Spirit " proceeds from the Father and the Son ", where the original text as adopted by the First Council of Constantinople had "proceeds from

1221-609: A son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." This is because both the Ancient of Days (God the Father) and the Son of Man (Jesus, Matt 16:13) have an everlasting dominion, which

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1332-409: A striking similarity to much of the language of the Athanasian Creed, has led many to conclude that the creed originated with Vincent or his students. For example, in the authoritative modern monograph about the creed, J. N. D. Kelly asserts that Vincent of Lérins was not its author but that it may have come from the same milieu, the area of Lérins in southern Gaul. The oldest surviving manuscripts of

1443-554: A temple of God, thus proving that the Holy Spirit is equal with the Father and the Son. They also combined "the servant does not know what his master is doing" (John 15:15) with 1 Corinthians 2:11 in an attempt to show that the Holy Spirit is not the slave of God, and therefore his equal. The Pneumatomachi contradicted the Cappadocian Fathers by quoting, "Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for

1554-397: A three-part responsive creed for congregational use—is as follows: We worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity. The person of the Father is a distinct person, the person of the Son is another, and that of the Holy Spirit still another. But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one. Their glory equal; their majesty co-eternal. What quality the Father has,

1665-654: A truly royal and magnificent gift, he presented to the Emperor, opposing to the unwritten innovation, a written account the orthodox faith, so that an emperor might be overcome by an emperor, reason by reason, treatise by treatise." (Oration 21, p. 33) A medieval account credited Athanasius of Alexandria , the famous defender of Nicene theology , as the author of the Creed. According to that account, Athanasius composed it during his exile in Rome and presented it to Pope Julius I as

1776-514: A witness to his orthodoxy. The traditional attribution of the Creed to Athanasius was first called into question in 1642 by the Dutch Protestant theologian Gerhard Johann Vossius . It has since been widely accepted by modern scholars that the creed was not authored by Athanasius, that it was not originally called a creed at all and that Athanasius's name was not originally attached to it. Athanasius's name seems to have become attached to

1887-549: Is God and Man; yet he is not two, but one Christ. One; not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh; but by assumption of the Manhood into God. One altogether; not by confusion of Substance [Essence]; but by unity of Person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man; so God and Man is one Christ; Who suffered for our salvation; descended into hell; rose again the third day from the dead. He ascended into heaven, he sitteth on

1998-462: Is a divine being manifest in flesh, and the point of the texts is in part to make his higher nature known in a kind of intellectual epiphany." In the Gospels Jesus is described as forgiving sins, leading some theologians to believe Jesus is portrayed as God. This is because Jesus forgives sins on the behalf of others, people normally only forgive transgressions against oneself. The teachers of

2109-468: Is ascribed to God in Psalm 145:13. Some also argue "Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven." to be Trinitarian in apparently distinguishing between the Lord in heaven and the Lord on earth. People also see the Trinity when the Old Testament refers to God's word (Psalm 33:6), His Spirit (Isaiah 61:1), and Wisdom (Proverbs 9:1), as well as narratives such as

2220-538: Is at variance with Isaiah 40:13–14, Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? That is, if the plural pronouns of Genesis 1 teach that God consults and creates with a 'heavenly court', then it contradicts the statement in Isaiah that God seeks

2331-544: Is before, or after another; none is greater, or less than another. But the whole three Persons are coeternal, and coequal. So that in all things, as aforesaid; the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved, let him thus think of the Trinity. Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation; that he also believe faithfully the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For

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2442-442: Is but one uncreated and immeasurable being. The Father is almighty, the Son is almighty, the Holy Spirit is almighty. Yet there are not three almighty beings. There is but one almighty being. Thus the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. Yet there are not three gods. There is but one God. In the successive Books of Common Prayer of the reformed Church of England, from 1549 to 1662, its recitation

2553-463: Is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God" (1 Corinthians 2:11). They reasoned that this passage proves that the Holy Spirit has the same relationship to God as the spirit within us has to us. The Cappadocian Fathers also quoted, "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16) and reasoned that it would be blasphemous for an inferior being to take up residence in

2664-697: Is included, for example, in the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia's Book of Forms (published in 1991). It is sometimes recited in liturgies of the Canadian Reformed Churches and in the Protestant Reformed Churches. The Four additional ancient creeds that they adhere to would be Apostles, Athanasian, Creed of Chalcedon, and Nicene Creed. The text of an abbreviated form—based on the 1990s Christian Reformed Church's translation, arranged as

2775-411: Is lying to the Holy Spirit, he then says he is lying to God. In the New Testament, the Spirit is not portrayed as the recipient of cultic devotion, which instead, is typically offered to God the Father and to the risen/glorified Jesus. Although what became mainstream Christianity subsequently affirmed the propriety of including the Spirit as the recipient of worship as reflected in the developed form of

2886-575: Is necessary that he hold the catholic faith. Which faith unless every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. 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

2997-644: Is now generally only on Trinity Sunday or its octave. An Anglican devotional manual published by The Church Union , A Manual of Catholic Devotion: For Members of the Church of England , includes the Athanasian Creed with the prayers for Mattins , with the note: "Said on certain feasts at Mattins instead of the Apostles' Creed". The Episcopal Church, based in the United States, has never provided for its use in worship, but added it to its Book of Common Prayer for

3108-545: Is preserved in Divine Worship: Daily Office , the official breviary approved for use in the personal ordinariates for former Anglicans. A common visualization of the first half of the Creed is the Shield of the Trinity . Western Christianity Western Christianity is one of two subdivisions of Christianity ( Eastern Christianity being the other). Western Christianity is composed of

3219-414: Is revealing the roles of the Son and Holy Spirit as co-creators. And since, according to them, because only the holy God can create holy beings such as the angels, the Son and Holy Spirit must be God. Yet another argument from the Cappadocian Fathers to prove that the Holy Spirit is of the same nature as the Father and Son comes from "For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which

3330-530: Is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God , which defines one God existing in three, coeternal , consubstantial divine persons : God the Father , God the Son ( Jesus Christ ) and God the Holy Spirit , three distinct persons ( hypostases ) sharing one essence/substance/nature ( homoousion ). As the Fourth Lateran Council declared, it is the Father who begets ,

3441-631: Is the reference in Christian fellowship for a religious ritual meal (the Lord's Supper ; 1 Corinthians 11:17–34). Jesus is described as "existing in the very form of God" (Philippians 2:6), and having the "fullness of the Deity [living] in bodily form" (Colossians 2:9). Jesus is also in some verses directly called God (Romans 9:5, Titus 2:13, 2 Peter 1:1). The Gospels depict Jesus as human through most of their narrative, but "[o]ne eventually discovers that he

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3552-604: Is used as a collective term for all these. Today, the geographical distinction between Western and Eastern Christianity is not nearly as absolute as in Antiquity or the Middle Ages, due to the spread of Christian missionaries , migrations , and globalisation . As such, the adjectives "Western Christianity" and "Eastern Christianity" are typically used to refer to historical origins and differences in theology and liturgy rather than present geographical locations. While

3663-605: The Logos , pre-existent and divine, from its first words: " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God " (John 1:1). The Gospel of John ends with Thomas's declaration that he believed Jesus was God, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28). Modern scholars agree that John 1:1 and John 20:28 identify Jesus with God. However, in a 1973 Journal of Biblical Literature article, Philip B. Harner, Professor Emeritus of Religion at Heidelberg College , claimed that

3774-656: The Council of Chalcedon (451), and then from Eastern Orthodoxy with the East-West Schism of 1054. With the last-named form of Eastern Christianity, reunion agreements were signed at the Second Council of Lyon (1274) and the Council of Florence (1439), but these proved ineffective. Historian Paul Legutko of Stanford University said the Catholic Church is "at the center of the development of

3885-548: The Eastern Church . There is a possible allusion to the Creed in Gregory Nazianzen 's Oration in praise of Athanasius : "For, when all the rest who sympathised with us were divided into three parties, and many were faltering in their conception of the Son, and still more in that of the Holy Ghost, (a point on which to be only slightly in error was to be orthodox) and few indeed were sound upon both points, he

3996-666: The Julian calendar and Gregorian calendar respectively. However, before the Council of Nicea, various dates including Jewish Passover were observed. Nicea "Romanized" the date for Easter and anathematized a "Judaized" (i.e. Passover date for) Easter. The date of observance of Easter has only differed in modern times since the promulgation of the Gregorian calendar in 1582; and further, the Western Church did not universally adopt

4107-609: The Latin Church and Western Protestantism , together with their offshoots such as the Old Catholic Church , Independent Catholicism and Restorationism . The large majority of the world's 2.3 billion Christians are Western Christians (about 2 billion: 1.2 billion Latin Catholic and 1.17 billion Protestant). One major component, the Latin Church, developed under the bishop of Rome . Out of

4218-591: The Nicene Creed , perhaps the closest to this in the New Testament is in Matthew 28:19 and 2 Corinthians 13:14 which describe the Spirit as the subject of religious ritual. As the Arian controversy was dissipating, the debate moved from the deity of Jesus Christ to the equality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and Son. On one hand, the Pneumatomachi sect declared that the Holy Spirit was an inferior person to

4329-860: The Roman province of Africa . There is evidence of a Latin translation of the Bible as early as the 2nd century (see also Vetus Latina ). With the decline of the Roman Empire , distinctions appeared also in organization, since the bishops in the West were not dependent on the Emperor in Constantinople and did not come under the influence of the Caesaropapism in the Eastern Church . While

4440-865: The Second Helvetic Confession , the Belgic Confession , the Bohemian Confession and the Thirty-nine Articles . A metric version, "Quicumque vult", with a musical setting, was published in The Whole Booke of Psalmes printed by John Day in 1562. Among modern Lutheran and Reformed churches adherence to the Athanasian Creed is prescribed by the earlier confessional documents, but the creed does not receive much attention outside occasional use, especially on Trinity Sunday . In Reformed circles, it

4551-557: The apostles and other early preachers of the religion. In Western Christianity's original area, Latin was the principal language. Christian writers in Latin had more influence there than those who wrote in Greek , Syriac , or other languages. Although the first Christians in the West used Greek (such as Clement of Rome ), by the fourth century Latin had superseded it even in the cosmopolitan city of Rome , as well as in southern Gaul and

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4662-405: The divine messenger of Genesis 16:7, Genesis 21:17, Genesis 31:11, Exodus 3:2 and Wisdom of the sapiential books with the Son, and "the spirit of the Lord" with the Holy Spirit. Other Church Fathers, such as Gregory Nazianzen , argued in his Orations that the revelation was gradual, claiming that the Father was proclaimed in the Old Testament openly, but the Son only obscurely, because "it

4773-550: The see of Constantinople became dominant throughout the Emperor's lands, the West looked exclusively to the see of Rome , which in the East was seen as that of one of the five patriarchs of the Pentarchy , "the proposed government of universal Christendom by five patriarchal sees under the auspices of a single universal empire. Formulated in the legislation of the emperor Justinian I (527–565), especially in his Novella 131,

4884-401: The 4th century and found in later translations such as the King James Translation, cannot be found in the oldest Greek and Latin texts. Verse 7 is known as the Johannine Comma , which most scholars agree to be a later addition by a later copyist or what is termed a textual gloss and not part of the original text. This verse reads: Because there are three in Heaven that testify – the Father,

4995-401: The Americas (especially South America), Africa, Asia, Australia and the Pacific. Protestantism, including Anglicanism, came to North America, Australia-Pacific and some African locales. Today, the geographical distinction between Western and Eastern Christianity is much less absolute, due to the great migrations of Europeans across the globe, as well as the work of missionaries worldwide over

5106-416: The Athanasian Creed date from the late 8th century. The Athanasian Creed is usually divided into two sections: lines 1–28 address the doctrine of the Trinity , and lines 29–44 address the doctrine of Christology . Enumerating the three persons of the Trinity ( Father , the Son , and the Holy Spirit ), the first section of the creed ascribes the divine attributes to each individually. Thus, each person of

5217-1430: The Athanasian Creed is as follows: Quicumque vult salvus esse, ante omnia opus est, ut teneat Catholicam fidem: Quam nisi quisque integram inviolatamque servaverit, absque dubio in aeternum peribit. Fides autem Catholica haec est: ut unum Deum in Trinitate, et Trinitatem in unitate veneremur. Neque confundentes personas, neque substantiam separantes. Alia est enim persona Patris alia Filii, alia Spiritus Sancti: Sed Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti una est divinitas, aequalis gloria, coeterna maiestas. Qualis Pater, talis Filius, talis [et] Spiritus Sanctus. Increatus Pater, increatus Filius, increatus [et] Spiritus Sanctus. Immensus Pater, immensus Filius, immensus [et] Spiritus Sanctus. Aeternus Pater, aeternus Filius, aeternus [et] Spiritus Sanctus. Et tamen non tres aeterni, sed unus aeternus. Sicut non tres increati, nec tres immensi, sed unus increatus, et unus immensus. Similiter omnipotens Pater, omnipotens Filius, omnipotens [et] Spiritus Sanctus. Et tamen non tres omnipotentes, sed unus omnipotens. Ita Deus Pater, Deus Filius, Deus [et] Spiritus Sanctus. Et tamen non tres dii, sed unus est Deus. Ita Dominus Pater, Dominus Filius, Dominus [et] Spiritus Sanctus. Et tamen non tres Domini, sed unus [est] Dominus. Quia, sicut singillatim unamquamque personam Deum ac Dominum confiteri christiana veritate compellimur: Ita tres Deos aut [tres] Dominos dicere Catholica religione prohibemur. Pater

5328-590: The Catholic Church accounting for over half and various Protestant denominations making up another 40%. Hussite movements of 15th century Bohemia preceded the main Protestant uprising by 100 years and evolved into several small Protestant churches, such as the Moravian Church . Waldensians survived also, but blended into the Reformed tradition . Relevant figures: Relevant figures: Relevant figures: Relevant figures: Relevant figures: Trinity The Trinity ( Latin : Trinitas , lit.   'triad', from Latin : trinus 'threefold')

5439-427: The Christian church has been culturally divided between the Latin-speaking West, whose centre was Rome , and the Greek-speaking East, whose centre was Constantinople . Cultural differences and political rivalry created tensions between the two churches, leading to disagreement over doctrine and ecclesiology and ultimately to schism . Like Eastern Christianity , Western Christianity traces its roots directly to

5550-544: The Eastern Orthodox Church, has traditionally held a distinction between God's essence, or that which He is, with God's energies, or that which He does. They hold that while God is unknowable in His essence, He can be known (i.e. experienced) in His energies. This is an extension of Eastern Christianity's apophatic theology , while Western Christians tend to prefer a view of divine simplicity , and claim that God's essence can be known by its attributes. Today, Western Christianity makes up close to 90% of Christians worldwide with

5661-442: The Father and Son. On the other hand, the Cappadocian Fathers argued that the Holy Spirit was equal to the Father and Son in nature or substance. Although the main text used in defense of the deity of the Holy Spirit was Matthew 28:19, Cappadocian Fathers such as Basil the Great argued from other verses such as "But Peter said, 'Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of

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5772-484: The Father is Almighty; the Son Almighty; and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not three Almighties; but one Almighty. So the Father is God; the Son is God; and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods; but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord; the Son Lord; and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not three Lords; but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity; to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord; So are we forbidden by

5883-412: The Father" without the addition of either "and the Son" or "alone". This Western version also has the additional phrase "God from God" ( Latin : Deum de Deo ), which was in the Creed as adopted by the First Council of Nicaea , but which was dropped by the First Council of Constantinople. The date of Easter usually differs between Eastern and Western Christianity, because the calculations are based on

5994-533: The Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one; the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal. Such as the Father is; such is the Son; and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father uncreated; the Son uncreated; and the Holy Ghost uncreated. The Father infinite; the Son infinite; and the Holy Ghost infinite. The Father eternal; the Son eternal; and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet they are not three eternals; but one eternal. As also there are not three uncreated; nor three infinites, but one uncreated; and one infinite. So likewise

6105-473: The God who visited Abraham as Jesus, the second person of the Trinity. Augustine, in contrast, held that the three visitors to Abraham were the three persons of the Trinity. He saw no indication that the visitors were unequal, as would be the case in Justin's reading. Then in Genesis 19, two of the visitors were addressed by Lot in the singular: "Lot said to them, 'Not so, my lord ' " (Gen. 19:18). Augustine saw that Lot could address them as one because they had

6216-482: The Gregorian calendar at once, so that for some time the dates of Easter differed between the Eastern Church and the Roman Catholic Church, but not necessarily as between the Eastern Church and the Western Protestant churches. For example, the Church of England continued to observe Easter on the same date as the Eastern Church until 1753. Even the dates of other Christian holidays often differ between Eastern and Western Christianity. Eastern Christianity, and particularly

6327-463: The Latin Church emerged a wide variety of independent Protestant denominations , including Lutheranism and Anglicanism , starting from the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, as did Independent Catholicism in the 19th century. Thus, the term "Western Christianity" does not describe a single communion or religious denomination but is applied to distinguish all these denominations collectively from Eastern Christianity. The establishment of

6438-416: The Latin Church maintains the use of the Latin liturgical rites , Protestant denominations and Independent Catholicism use various liturgical practices. The earliest concept of Europe as a cultural sphere (instead of simply a geographic term) appeared during the Carolingian Renaissance of the 9th century, which included territories that practiced Western Christianity at the time. For much of its history,

6549-423: The Messiah will represent the Trinity on earth. This is because Counselor is a title for the Holy Spirit (John 14:26), the Trinity is God, Father is a title for God the Father, and Prince of Peace is a title for Jesus. This verse is also used to support the Deity of Christ . Another verse used to support the Deity of Christ is "I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like

6660-474: The New Testament references often portray actions that seem to give the Spirit an intensely personal quality, probably more so than in Old Testament or ancient Jewish texts. So, for example, the Spirit "drove" Jesus into the wilderness (Mk 1:12; compare "led" in Mt. 4:1/Lk 4:1), and Paul refers to the Spirit interceding for believers (Romans 8:26–27) and witnessing to believers about their filial status with God (Romans 8:14–16). To cite other examples of this, in Acts

6771-402: The New Testament were brought together to form the concept of the Trinity—one Godhead subsisting in three persons and one substance . The concept of the Trinity was used to oppose alternative views of how the three are related and to defend the church against charges of worshiping two or three gods. Modern Biblical scholarship largely agrees that 1 John 5:7 seen in Latin and Greek texts after

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6882-410: The Nicene (and Apostles') Creeds in making negative statements about the people's fate: "They that have done good shall go into life everlasting: and they that have done evil into everlasting fire." That caused considerable debate in England in the mid-19th century, centred on the teaching of Frederick Denison Maurice . Composed of 44 rhythmic lines, the Athanasian Creed appears to have been intended as

6993-438: The Son has, and the Holy Spirit has. The Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, the Holy Spirit is uncreated. The Father is immeasurable, the Son is immeasurable, the Holy Spirit is immeasurable. The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, the Holy Spirit is eternal. And yet there are not three eternal beings. There is but one eternal being. So too there are not three uncreated or immeasurable beings. There

7104-455: The Son is substantia of his mother Mary according to his human nature. The Creed's wording thus excludes not only Sabellianism and Arianism but also the Christological heresies of Nestorianism and Eutychianism . A need for a clear confession against Arianism arose in Western Europe when the Ostrogoths and Visigoths , who had Arian beliefs, invaded at the beginning of the 5th century. The final section of this Creed also moved beyond

7215-422: The Son who is begotten , and the Holy Spirit who proceeds. In this context, one essence/nature defines what God is, while the three persons define who God is. This expresses at once their distinction and their indissoluble unity. Thus, the entire process of creation and grace is viewed as a single shared action of the three divine persons, in which each person manifests the attributes unique to them in

7326-415: The Spirit alerts Peter to the arrival of visitors from Cornelius (10:19), directs the church in Antioch to send forth Barnabas and Saul (13:2–4), guides the Jerusalem council to a decision about Gentile converts (15:28), at one point forbids Paul to missionize in Asia (16:6), and at another point warns Paul (via prophetic oracles) of trouble ahead in Jerusalem (21:11). The Holy Spirit is described as God in

7437-411: The Spirit within the Old Testament and 35 identified in the non-biblical Dead Sea Scrolls , the New Testament, despite its significantly shorter length, mentions the Spirit 275 times. In addition to its larger emphasis and importance placed on the Spirit in the New Testament, the Spirit is also described in much more personalized and individualized terms than earlier. Larry Hurtado writes; Moreover,

7548-402: The Trinity in many places. For example, in the Genesis creation narrative , specifically the first-person plural pronouns in Genesis 1:26–27 and Genesis 3:22 ('Let us make man in our image [...] the man is become as one of us '). "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over

7659-407: The Trinity is described as uncreated ( increatus ), limitless ( Immensus ), eternal ( æternus ), and omnipotent ( omnipotens ). While ascribing the divine attributes and divinity to each person of the Trinity, thus avoiding subordinationism , the first half of the Athanasian Creed also stresses the unity of the three persons in the one Godhead, thus avoiding a theology of tritheism . The text of

7770-415: The Trinity, thereby proving that everything comes "from the Father," "through the Son," and "in the Holy Spirit." This doctrine is called Trinitarianism and its adherents are called Trinitarians , while its opponents are called antitrinitarians or nontrinitarians and considered non-Christian by most mainline groups. Nontrinitarian positions include Unitarianism , Binitarianism and Modalism . While

7881-417: The Word and the Holy Spirit – and these three are one. This verse is absent from the Ethiopic, Aramaic, Syriac, Slavic, early Armenian, Georgian, and Arabic translations of the Greek New Testament. It is primarily found in Latin manuscripts, although a minority of Greek, Slavonic and late Armenian manuscripts contain it. In the Pauline epistles , the public, collective devotional patterns towards Jesus in

7992-410: The appearance of the three men to Abraham . However, it is generally agreed among Trinitarian Christian scholars that it would go beyond the intention and spirit of the Old Testament to correlate these notions directly with later Trinitarian doctrine. Some Church Fathers believed that a knowledge of the mystery was granted to the prophets and saints of the Old Testament, and that they identified

8103-547: The author of Genesis was too theologically primitive to deal with such a concept as 'plurality within unity'; Hamilton thus argues for a framework of progressive revelation , in which the doctrine of the Trinity is revealed at first obscurely then plainly in the New Testament. Another of these places is the prophecy about the Messiah in Isaiah 9. The Messiah is called "Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Some Christians see this verse as meaning

8214-548: The book of the Acts of the Apostles But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God". Acts 5:3–4 Peter first says Ananias

8325-433: The catholic religion; to say, There are three Gods, or three Lords. The Father is made of none; neither created, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone; not made, nor created; but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten; but proceeding. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity none

8436-469: The cosmos and his ever-continuing presence with the disciples (forming an inclusion with the beginning of the Gospel, where Jesus is given the name Emmanuel, "God with us," a name that alludes to the God of Israel's ongoing presence with his followers throughout the Old Testament (Genesis 28:15; Deuteronomy 20:1). Whereas some have argued that Matthew 28:19 was an interpolation on account of its absence from

8547-424: The counsel of nobody. According to Hamilton, the best interpretation 'approaches the trinitarian understanding but employs less direct terminology'. Following D. J. A. Clines , he states that the plural reveals a 'duality within the Godhead' that recalls the 'Spirit of God' mentioned in verse 2, And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Hamilton also says that it is unreasonable to assume that

8658-486: The creed as a sign of its strong declaration of Trinitarian faith. The reasoning for rejecting Athanasius as the author usually relies on a combination of the following: The use of the creed in a sermon by Caesarius of Arles , as well as a theological resemblance to works by Vincent of Lérins , point to Southern Gaul as its origin. The most likely time frame is in the late fifth or early sixth century AD, at least 100 years after Athanasius lived. The Christian theology of

8769-473: The creed is firmly rooted in the Augustinian tradition and uses the exact terminology of Augustine's On the Trinity (published 415 AD). In the late 19th century, there was a great deal of speculation about who might have authored the creed, with suggestions including Ambrose of Milan , Venantius Fortunatus and Hilary of Poitiers . The 1940 discovery of a lost work by Vincent of Lérins , which bears

8880-617: The cultural divide between the Hellenistic East and Latin West and the political divide between the Western and Eastern Roman empires . During the Middle Ages , adherents of the Latin Church, irrespective of ethnicity, commonly referred to themselves as "Latins" to distinguish themselves from Eastern Christians ("Greeks"). Western Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of Western civilization . With

8991-537: The developed doctrine of the Trinity is not explicit in the books that constitute the New Testament , the New Testament possesses a triadic understanding of God and contains a number of Trinitarian formulas . The doctrine of the Trinity was first formulated among the early Christians (mid-2nd century and later) and fathers of the Church as they attempted to understand the relationship between Jesus and God in their scriptural documents and prior traditions. The Old Testament has been interpreted as referring to

9102-400: The developed doctrine of the Trinity is not explicit in the books that constitute the New Testament , it was first formulated as early Christians attempted to understand the relationship between Jesus and God in their scriptural documents and prior traditions. According to Margaret Baker, trinitarian theology has roots in pre-Christian Palestinian beliefs about angels. An early reference to

9213-834: The distinct Latin Church, a particular church sui iuris of the Catholic Church , coincided with the consolidation of the Holy See in Rome , which claimed primacy since Antiquity. The Latin Church is distinct from the Eastern Catholic Churches , also in full communion with the Pope in Rome , and from the Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodox Churches , which are not in communion with Rome. These other churches are part of Eastern Christianity . The terms "Western" and "Eastern" in this regard originated with geographical divisions mirroring

9324-527: The early Christian community are reflective of Paul's perspective on the divine status of Jesus in what scholars have termed a "binitarian" pattern or shape of devotional practice (worship) in the New Testament, in which "God" and Jesus are thematized and invoked. Jesus receives prayer (1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 12:8–9), the presence of Jesus is confessionally invoked by believers (1 Corinthians 16:22; Romans 10:9–13; Philippians 2:10–11), people are baptized in Jesus' name (1 Corinthians 6:11; Romans 6:3), Jesus

9435-453: The early Christian movement as a public cult centered around Jesus in several passages. In Acts, it is common for individual Christians to "call" upon the name of Jesus (9:14, 21; 22:16), an idea precedented in the Old Testament descriptions of calling on the name of YHWH as a form of prayer. The story of Stephen depicts Stephen invoking and crying out to Jesus in the final moments of his life to receive his spirit (7:59–60). Acts further describes

9546-606: The expansion of European colonialism from the Early Modern era , the Latin Church, in time along with its Protestant secessions, spread throughout the Americas , much of the Philippines , Southern Africa , pockets of West Africa , and throughout Australia and New Zealand . Thus, when used for historical periods after the 16th century, the term "Western Christianity" does not refer to a particular geographical area but

9657-613: The first few centuries of early Christian quotations, scholars largely accept the passage as authentic due to its supporting manuscript evidence and that it does appear to be either quoted in the Didache (7:1–3) or at least reflected in the Didache as part of a common tradition from which both Matthew and the Didache emerged. Jesus receiving divine worship in the post-resurrection accounts is further mirrored in Luke 24:52. Acts depicts

9768-527: The first time in 1979, where it is included in small print in a reference section, "Historical Documents of the Church". The Anglo-Catholic devotional manual Saint Augustine's Prayer Book , first published in 1947 and revised in 1967, includes the Athanasian Creed under "Devotions to the Holy Trinity". In Lutheranism , the Athanasian Creed is, along with the Apostles' and the Nicene Creed, one of

9879-399: The law next to Jesus recognizes this and said "Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Mark 2:7 Jesus also receives προσκύνησις ( proskynesis ) in the aftermath of the resurrection, a Greek term that either expresses the contemporary social gesture of bowing to a superior, either on one's knees or in full prostration (in Matthew 18:26

9990-464: The livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' [...] "Then the LORD God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil [...]" A traditional Christian interpretation of these pronouns is that they refer to a plurality of persons within the Godhead. Biblical commentator Victor P. Hamilton outlines several interpretations, including

10101-513: The logos, no less than the theos, had the nature of theos," which in his case means the Word is as fully God as the person called "God". John also portrays Jesus as the agent of creation of the universe. Some have suggested that John presents a hierarchy when he quotes Jesus as saying, "The Father is greater than I", a statement which was appealed to by nontrinitarian groups such as Arianism . However, influential theologians such as Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas argued this statement

10212-540: The main volume of the Common Worship liturgy of the Church of England published in 2000. Despite falling out of liturgical use, the creed's influence on current Protestant understanding of trinitarian doctrine is clear. Designed to distinguish Nicene Christianity from Arianism , the Athanasian Creed traditionally was recited at the Sunday Office of Prime in the Western Church. It has not been commonly used in

10323-538: The most widely held among Biblical scholars, which is that the pronouns do not refer to other persons within the Godhead but to the 'heavenly court' of Isaiah 6 . Theologians Meredith Kline and Gerhard von Rad argue for this view, as von Rad says, 'The extraordinary plural ("Let us") is to prevent one from referring God's image too directly to God the Lord. God includes himself among the heavenly beings of his court and thereby conceals himself in this majority.' Hamilton notes that this interpretation assumes that Genesis 1

10434-534: The name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" and Paul the Apostle 's blessing: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all", leading theologians across history in attempting to articulate the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Eventually, the diverse references to God, Jesus, and the Spirit found in

10545-412: The other was an intriguing text for those who believed in a single God in three persons. Justin Martyr , and John Calvin similarly, interpreted it such that Abraham was visited by God, who was accompanied by two angels. Justin supposed that the God who visited Abraham was distinguishable from the God who remains in the heavens, but was nevertheless identified as the (monotheistic) God. Justin interpreted

10656-587: The past five centuries. Original sin , also called ancestral sin , is a Christian belief in a state of sin in which humanity has existed since the fall of man , stemming from Adam and Eve 's rebellion in the Garden of Eden , namely the sin of disobedience in consuming the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil . Theologians have characterized this condition in many ways, seeing it as ranging from something as insignificant as

10767-578: The proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God. ' " (Acts 5:3–4). Another passage the Cappadocian Fathers quoted from was "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host" (Psalm 33:6). According to their understanding, because "breath" and "spirit" in Hebrew are both "רוּחַ" ("ruach"), Psalm 33:6

10878-503: The right Faith is, that we believe and confess; that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man; God, of the Substance [Essence] of the Father; begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the Substance [Essence] of his mother, born in the world. Perfect God; and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead; and inferior to the Father as touching his Manhood. Who although he

10989-497: The right hand of God the Father Almighty, from whence he will come to judge the living and the dead. At whose coming all men will rise again with their bodies; And shall give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil, into everlasting fire. This is the catholic faith; which except a man believe truly and firmly, he cannot be saved. The Christology of

11100-399: The sake of those who are to inherit salvation?" (Hebrews 1:14) in effect arguing that the Holy Spirit is no different from other created angelic spirits. The Church Fathers disagreed, saying that the Holy Spirit is greater than the angels, since the Holy Spirit is the one who grants the foreknowledge for prophecy (1 Corinthians 12:8–10) so that the angels could announce events to come. While

11211-466: The second section is more detailed than that of the Nicene Creed and reflects the teaching of the First Council of Ephesus (431) and the definition of the Council of Chalcedon (451). The Athanasian Creed uses the term substantia (a Latin translation of the Nicene ousia : 'being' or 'substance') with respect to the relation of the Son to the Father according to his divine nature, but it also says that

11322-463: The theory received formal ecclesiastical sanction at the Council in Trullo (692), which ranked the five sees as Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem." Over the centuries, disagreements separated Western Christianity from the various forms of Eastern Christianity: first from East Syriac Christianity after the Council of Ephesus (431) , then from that of Oriental Orthodoxy after

11433-589: The three ecumenical creeds and is placed at the beginning of the 1580 Book of Concord , the historic collection of authoritative doctrinal statements (confessions) of the Lutheran Church. It is still used in the liturgy on Trinity Sunday . In Roman Catholic churches, it was traditionally said at Prime on Sundays when the Office was of the Sunday. The 1911 reforms reduced that to Sundays after Epiphany and Pentecost and on Trinity Sunday , except when

11544-520: The three "persons" of later Trinitarian doctrines appears towards the end of the first century, where Clement of Rome rhetorically asks in his epistle as to why corruption exists among some in the Christian community; "Do we not have one God, and one Christ, and one gracious Spirit that has been poured out upon us, and one calling in Christ?" (1 Clement 46:6). A similar example is found in the first century Didache , which directs Christians to "baptize in

11655-520: The traditional translation of John 1:1c ("and the Word was God") is incorrect. He endorses the New English Bible translation of John 1:1c, "and what God was, the Word was." However Harner's claim has been criticized by other scholars. In the same article, Harner also noted that; "Perhaps the clause could be translated, 'the Word had the same nature as God". This would be one way of representing John's thought, which is, as I understand it, that

11766-696: The values, ideas, science, laws, and institutions which constitute what we call Western civilization ". The rise of Protestantism led to major divisions within Western Christianity, which still persist, and wars—for example, the Anglo-Spanish War of 1585–1604 had religious as well as economic causes. In and after the Age of Discovery , Europeans spread Western Christianity to the New World and elsewhere. Roman Catholicism came to

11877-458: Was not safe, when the Godhead of the Father was not yet acknowledged, plainly to proclaim the Son". Genesis 18–19 has been interpreted by Christians as a Trinitarian text. The narrative has the Lord appearing to Abraham, who was visited by three men. In Genesis 19, "the two angels" visited Lot at Sodom. The interplay between Abraham on the one hand and the Lord/three men/the two angels on

11988-528: Was often set to music and used in the place of a Psalm. Early Protestants inherited the late medieval devotion to the Athanasian Creed, and it is considered to be authoritative in many Protestant churches. The statements of Protestant belief (confessional documents) of various Reformers commend the Athanasian Creed to their followers, including the Augsburg Confession , the Formula of Concord ,

12099-492: Was provided for on 19 occasions each year, a practice that continued until the 19th century, when vigorous controversy regarding its statement about 'eternal damnation' saw its use gradually decline. It remains one of the three Creeds approved in the Thirty-Nine Articles, and it is printed in several current Anglican prayer books, such as A Prayer Book for Australia (1995). As with Roman Catholic practice, its use

12210-531: Was the first and only one, or with the concurrence of but a few, to venture to confess in writing, with entire clearness and distinctness, the Unity of Godhead and Essence of the Three Persons, and thus to attain in later days, under the influence of inspiration, to the same faith in regard to the Holy Ghost, as had been bestowed at an earlier time on most of the Fathers in regard to the Son. This confession,

12321-476: Was to be understood as Jesus speaking about his human nature. Prior Israelite theology held that the Spirit is merely the divine presence of God himself, whereas orthodox Christian theology holds that the Holy Spirit is a distinct person of God the Father himself. This development begins early in the New Testament, as the Spirit of God receives much more emphasis and description comparably than it had in earlier Jewish writing. Whereas there are 75 references to

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