Nicaea - Renewing the FaithSample

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son, He is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets.

The Holy Spirit plays a prominent role in the New Testament along with the Father and Son. In the Great Commission, Jesus instructs his followers to make disciples by baptizing them “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt 28:19: ESV). We see this same triadic formula in several other places as well. At the announcement of Jesus’s birth to Mary, the angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High [the Father] will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35, NIV). Likewise, at his baptism, we read that as soon as he emerged from the water, Jesus saw “the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven [the Father] said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matt 3:16-17, NIV). But references to the Spirit are not limited to the trinitarian formula. In Acts 5 we read how Ananias and Sapphira tried to mislead the apostle Peter. But Peter confronts Ananias and asks him, “How is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?” (v. 3, NIV). Please note that Ananias lied to “the Holy Spirit.” The text continues, “Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God” (v. 4, NIV). When Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit, he lied “to God.” We repeatedly find references in the NT that affirm the full deity of the Spirit. In fact, in the first three centuries, this was not a teaching that was greatly challenged. For most, it was assumed. But that was to change leading up to and especially following the council of Nicaea.

In the original Nicene Creed of 325, the section on the Holy Spirit was extremely brief. It said, “And [we believe] in the Holy Spirit.” That was it. However, supplementary phrases were added at the Council of Constantinople in 381. As a result, the Creed that emerged—the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, the Creed that is typically used today—was revised to the following: “And [we believe] in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son, he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets.” Why the additions? The answer has to do with heresies that emerged during the intervening years.

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity was not officially articulated in the first couple of centuries. Although the earliest fathers recognized that the Holy Spirit was mentioned throughout the Bible, they were not always sure how to understand that material. It was the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed that affirmed the full divinity of the Holy Spirit and ratified the doctrine of the Trinity that was articulated so clearly at Nicea. Around the time of the Council of Nicea, the church faced one of its greatest challenges. A Bishop named Arius claimed that just as a human son must come after his father, so also the Son of God must have come after his Father. In other words, the Son was a creation of God. Arius insisted that “the Son was … a ‘creature,’ and that ‘there was a time when He was not.’” Thus, the primary reason for the Council of Nicea was to combat Arianism. When the original creed was written in 325, the person and work of the Holy Spirit was not under attack, rather, it was the person and work of the Son that was under fire. This is why the original section on the Son was quite lengthy, while the section on the Spirit is comparatively short. However, following Nicea, a group emerged that was known by several names. Sometimes this group was called the Tropici, other times it is referred to as Macedonianism (after Macedonius, bishop of Constantinople ), Semiarianism, and finally the Pneumatomachi (those who “fight against the Spirit” ). These Pneumatomachi claimed the Holy Spirit was the chief angel, thus denying the Spirit’s full deity. Oddly, they believed the Spirit was “eternal” yet “less than God and so not to be worshiped.” The Creed of 381 was intended to silence and condemn such claims. Hence the reason the section on the Holy Spirit was expanded.

The revised section on the Holy Spirit begins, “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life…” The church recognized that the Spirit was not merely endowed with life but was himself the giver of life. Without a doubt, though, the next clause has been the most hotly disputed. It states that the Spirit “… proceeds from the Father and the Son.” In describing the origin of the Holy Spirit, the original creed stated that the Spirit “proceeds from the Father…” However, over time, some parts of the Western church began to include the word filioque, which means “and the Son.” Thus, the revised creed stated that the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son.” The Eastern Church was horrified by the addition of the filioque clause. While they readily affirmed the procession of the Spirit, they adamantly rejected the filioque clause believing it went beyond the teaching of Scripture. It is an unfortunate reality of history that eventually the filioque clause became the occasion of the church split in 1054.

This section of the creed concludes, “With the Father and the Son, he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets.” We should be careful not to rush past these final two sentences. The Holy Spirit is not merely God’s power. Rather, the Spirit is God, and as a result, he is to be worshiped and adored. In the beginning, the Spirit hovered over the face of the deep (Gen 1:2), and at the very end of recorded history, we are told that it is the Spirit and the bride who invite the thirsty to come (Rev 22:12). From beginning to end, the Spirit is who directs all of history.

Some subjects we can come to grips with in a relatively short period of time and feel a kind of mastery. The Trinity is not one of those. Thankfully, most Christians seem to understand that the Holy Trinity is beyond our ability to fully comprehend. However, we must be careful not to err too far in the other direction. Just as it is a mistake to claim to know too much about the Godhead, it is also a mistake to claim too little knowledge. While we cannot comprehend the Trinity, we can apprehend the doctrine. In the Bible, God repeatedly insists there is only one God (Is. 44:6, 8b, 45:5, 6b, 21c-22, 45:9, etc.). Nevertheless, in the New Testament, three distinct persons are called God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. While it is true that there is real mystery in the Trinity, there is also real and meaningful knowledge of God. And we should always remember that we have been given everything we need for life and godliness “through our knowledge of him” (2 Pet 1:3, NIV).

Prayer

Spirit of the Living God, incline our hearts to your word (Ps. 119:36). You who are the gift of the Father, the finger of God, and the promise made to Abraham, we need you. Kindle within our hearts a passion like fire to know you more deeply. Grant us grace to see you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so that our lives will be a living sacrifice to you. We ask this in the name of Jesus, and in the power of the Spirit, and to the glory of the Father, amen.

Jeffrey Anderson, Ph.D., D.Min., serves as Associate Professor of Christian Theology at the Regent University School of Divinity.