Adult Bible Class
August 31, 2025
After Nicaea
Arianism was largely rejected in the Empire … after some
fits and starts.
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Remember that Constantine II was an Arian.
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Pockets remained in out-of-the-way areas.
A New Heresy – Apollinarianism
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Apollinarius tried to explain Jesus’
relationship with the Father by saying that He was a human man with a divine
spirit. (A man with God inside him.)
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Is this the way the Bible talks about Jesus?
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The importance of the Incarnation remains today.
A question lingered – Homoousios or homoiousios?
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Homoousios – the same substance
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Homoiousios – a similar substance
Another question – What about the Holy Spirit’s substance?
381 – The 1st Council of Constantinople
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Kept the homoousios language.
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Expanded the section on the Holy Spirit
o
Lord and Giver of Life – He is God.
o
Proceeds from the Father … and the Son?
o
With the Father and the Son is worshipped and
glorified.
o
Spoke by the prophets
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This council also added the section on the
Church
o
Christian vs Catholic
o
Apostolic – Acts 2:42
o
Baptism
o
Resurrection
o
Eternal Life in the New Creation
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Added “Amen.”
Filioque?
East and West agreed that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the
Father at the 1st Council of Constantinople.
In the late 500s A.D., some churches in the West began
adding the phrase, “and the Son,” or, in Latin, “et filioque.”
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Seems to have begun in Spain and then migrated
into France.
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Charlemagne recited the Nicene Creed with the
Filioque in late 700s and early 800’s.
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Frankish monks visiting the East caused a
scandal when they confessed the Nicene Creed with the Filioque during this time
period.
o
The East was comfortable with the statement,
“proceeds from the Father, through the Son,” but objected strenuously to, “and
the Son.”
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867 A.D. – Patriarch Photius of Constantinople
declared the entire Western Church was heretical because of the Filioque.
o
Photius was in a conflict with another Byzantine
Patriarch named Ignatius. They sought help from Pope Nicholas to resolve the
issue, and, shortly after he sided with Ignatius was when Photius condemned the
West as heretical.
o
We shouldn’t overlook the place of politics in
the history of the Church!
o
When anything other than the Word of God becomes
our source of unity, we will have disunity.
In 1014 A.D., Pope Benedict VIII officially included the
Filioque in their liturgy.
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How is this different from what happened in 325
and 381?
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Seven Ecumenical Councils
Many point to the Filioque as the cause of the Great Schism
in 1054.
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That’s only partially true.
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The Filioque represented the West’s
authoritarian attitude toward the East.
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The West was often more politically powerful
than the East, and that complicated relationships.
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We cannot overlook the issue of the presumed
primacy of the Bishop of Rome.
o
In the 1500s the early Lutherans reached out to
the Eastern Church for support as they had this concern in common. The East
wanted nothing to do with them.
This topic is still alive in ecumenical dialogue.
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2024 – The Lutheran World Federation issued a
statement encouraging the use of “through the Son” instead of “and the Son.”
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2025 – Varying sources state that the ELCA is
encouraging the removal of the Filioque to heal “age-old divisions within
Christ’s church.” I couldn’t find anything with language that strong, but it
has definitely stated that the ELCA’s congregations have the option to omit the
Filioque.
How We Use the Nicene Creed
One of the by-products of the controversy over the Nicene
Creed was the increased use of the Old Roman Creed – aka The Apostles’ Creed
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Tradition of the Apostles’ recitation.
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It is old and there are fragments of it, but the
first full record of it comes to us from St. Ambrose in 390 A.D.
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It was part of the catechesis for baptism in the
West.
o
A two-year process!
As time went on in churches that used both the Apostles’ and
Nicene Creeds, the Apostles’ Creed became the Baptismal Creed, and therefore the
daily creed the Christian would recite in devotions. The Nicene Creed was
incorporated into services celebrating the Lord’s Supper – which in some
congregations was/is every Sunday.
The Purpose of Creeds
Key Takeaways?
Next Week
Joining Jesus On His Mission: How to Be an Everyday Missionary
This course walks through Pr. Greg Finke’s book by the same
title and will prepare us for Finke’s visit and evangelism training in January.
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