We Believe in One Lord Jesus Christ (Ancient Christian Doctrine, Band 2)

216 Pages·2009·5.48 MB·English

by  John Anthony McGuckin

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed
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ai 0a h/a a h f
ar /ta 9 \ 9 ~ ifi r i r
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ai ao/ a \ a / a ul ffr r
a \a)ata/ h = / h9 / | r r t , n t r
aa_ a_ aa& r t ri r
ai a o/ ei o\ o a u/, m,
ai a m o s t
0 d i ~ = a r m r t r
ai a&li 0 /m mta_ ru t rus , r ,
=a ~ta a\ ru/ l
[ = ai /a o 1 a /o k h
ai 0 t =a o\ a$ E rit m l ,
\ , ai\ \ o , , r , r
\ u = ar\ o uo/ o r r t r
o \ \ \ i i |~
u r u/ o a\ a m o r r r
\ lsa \ t o t ~ r k r t r
0 m/a a( a/ a h/ E m t
a \a) soi \ 0 hi/a t
9m ~m a& ma s k
0 ! i (ma i ~ ; f r n
rso ~m a&sai ~ t r m rt k r rr f ,
ai h\ o= o aiw& Ah/ m f t rl
C     E   
Bishop Kallistos Ware, Oxford
Bishop Stephen Sykes, Durham
Prof. Augustine DiNoia, Rome
Prof. James I. Packer, Vancouver
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We Believe in
One Lord Jesus Christ
EDITED BY
J A MG
SERIES EDITOR
T C. O
InterVarsity Press
P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426
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E-mail: [email protected]
©2009 by the Institute of Classical Christian Studies (ICCS), Thomas C. Oden and John Anthony McGuckin
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from InterVarsity Press.
InterVarsity Press® is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA®, a student movement active on campus at hundreds of
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Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of
Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.
Selected excerpts from The Didache, The Epistle of Barnabas, The Epistles and Martyrdom of St. Polycarp, The Fragments of Papias, The
Epistle to Diognetus, translated by James A. Kleist, S.J., Ancient Christian Writers 6, ©1948; Ephrem the Syrian, Hymns, translated and intro-
duced by Kathleen McVey, preface by John Meyendorff, Classics of Western Spirituality, ©1989. Reprinted by permission of Paulist Press, Inc. <www.
paulistpress.com>.
Selected excerpts from Henry Bettenson, ed., The Early Christian Fathers: A Selection from the Writings of the Fathers from St. Clement of
Rome to St. Athanasius, ©1963; Henry Bettenson, ed., The Later Christian Fathers: A Selection from the Writings of the Fathers from St. Cyril
of Jerusalem to St. Leo the Great, ©1970; St. Gregory of Nazianzus: Poemata Arcana, edited with a textual introduction by C. Moreschini, intro-
duction, translation and commentary by D. A. Sykes, Oxford Theological Monographs, ©1997. Used by permission of Oxford University Press.
Selected excerpts from John A. McGuckin, St. Cyril of Alexandria and the Christological Controversy, ©2004. Used by permission of St. Vladimir’s
Seminary Press, Crestwood, N.Y.
Selected excerpts from J. Stevenson, ed., Creeds, Councils and Controversies: Documents Illustrative of the History of the Church A.D. 337-461,
©1966; Dionysius the Areopagite: On the Divine Names and the Mystical Theology, translated by Clarence Edwin Rolt, ©1920. Used by permis-
sion of SPCK, London.
Selected excerpts from Christology of the Later Fathers, edited by Edward Rochie Hardy in collaboration with Cyril C. Richardson, Library of Chris-
tian Classics 3, ©1954. Used by permission of Westminster Press.
Every effort has been made to trace and contact copyright holders for materials quoted in this book. The editors will be pleased to rectify any omissions
in future editions if notified by copyright holders.
Design Credit: Cindy Kiple
Art Credit: The Adoration of the Trinity by Albrecht Dürer, at Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY
School of Canterbury Reliquary cross. Victoria & Albert Museum, London/Art Resource, NY
ISBN 978-0-8308-9724-7 (digital)
ISBN 978-0-8308-2532-5 (print)
For Helmar Nielsen,
an extraordinary patron of
Early Christian thought
in the New World

C     
A Guide to Using the Commentaries in the Ancient Christian
Doctrine Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
We Believe in One Lord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Jesus Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
The Only Son of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Eternally Begotten of the Father . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
God from God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Light from Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
True God from True God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Begotten Not Made . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Of One Being with the Father . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Through Him All Things Were Made . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
For Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
And for Our Salvation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
He Came Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
From Heaven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
By the Power of the Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
He Became Incarnate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
From the Virgin Mary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
And Was Made Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Outline of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
List of Ancient Authors and Texts Cited . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Author/Writings Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Scripture Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
A G     U     C         
     A      C      
D        S    
Several features have been incorporated into the design of this commentary series. The follow-
ing comments are intended to assist readers in making full use of each of the volumes.
Se t o s of t e Cr ed
The five commentaries are first and foremost a phrase-by-phrase commentary on the Nicene-
Constantinopolitan Creed. The portion of the Creed for each individual volume has been set in
three languages—Greek, Latin and English—with the appropriate phrase under consideration
highlighted in bold font in each language. Numerous English translations have been developed
in recent years; we have used the ICET version of 1975 because of its current wide use.
to ic l Co text n O ew
Following each section of the Creed is a short section labeled H C. Where
wording of the Creed reflects the culmination of discussions of highly controverted issues, read-
ers are offered a brief summary of the controversy and the issues at stake in order for them to
make more sense of the selections set forth. Where doctrine developed harmoniously without
much controversy, that fact is noted and a brief description of the development of the doctrine is
supplied. Following the historical context is a section labeled O, designed to provide a
brief précis of the ensuing section’s excerpts. It tracks a reasonably cohesive thread of argument
among patristic comments, even though they are derived from diverse sources and generations.
Top c l He din
An abundance of varied patristic comment is available for each phrase of the Creed. At the same
time the Creed itself forms a skeleton for supporting the larger doctrinal convictions of the
church. Thus the commentary on the Creed can show the full range of the church’s systematic
theological concerns. For this reason we have broken the sections of the Creed into two levels.
First are subsections that group common themes within the patristic comments. Then each in-
dividual patristic comment is tagged by a key phrase, metaphor or idea that suggests the essence
of the excerpt.
I en if in the a s s
Following the topical heading of each excerpt, the name of the patristic commentator is given.
An English translation of the patristic comment is then provided. This is immediately followed