The Orthodox Study Bible: Creed-Part II
THE ORTHODOX STUDY BIBLE, NEW TESTAMENT AND PSALMS (1993) Saint Athanasius Orthodox Academy, Nashville, Tennessee, Thomas Nelson Publishers
The review of this fine, academic source, continues.
Brief Review of The Orthodox Study Bible: Creed-Part I
Glossary from Reverend John Morris, PhD
Quote
'A statement of belief. Creeds in their earlier form were used by the apostles, and many are recorded in the New Testament (Eph. 5: 14; 1 Tim. 3: 16; 2 Tim. 2:11-13). The creed used throughout the Church was adopted at the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325 and expanded at the Council of Constantinople in A.D. 381. The Nicene Creed is used at baptisms, the Divine Liturgy, and in personal prayers.' (796).
λειτουργία/leitourgia
'Liturgy (leitourgia) is a Greek composite word meaning originally a public duty, a service to the state undertaken by a citizen. Its elements are leitos (from leos = laos, people) meaning public, and ergo (obsolete in the present stem, used in future erxo, etc.), to do. From this we have leitourgos, "a man who performs a public duty", "a public servant", often used as equivalent to the Roman lictor; then leitourgeo, "to do such a duty", leitourgema, its performance, and leitourgia, the public duty itself.'
Smartfaith.net
Cited
'Kevin Simington (B.Th. Dip. Min.) is a theologian, apologist and social commentator.'
Cited
'Contrary to some people’s misguided views, liturgy was not a later ‘add-on’ instituted by a stultified church but was a vital part of Christian worship from the very beginning. The New Testament contains many references to the ongoing practice of liturgical worship as well as actual examples of first century liturgy.'
Comments
The smartfaith.net comments are in agreement with the Orthodox Study Bible, in as much that liturgy was practiced within the New Testament and the New Testament era. To use the first New Testament reference from the Orthodox text, quoting a saying in Ephesians 5: 14:
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
14 For this reason [a]it says,
“Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ will shine on you.”
Footnotes
a) Ephesians 5:14 Or He
The Orthodoxy text uses the
New King James Version (NKJV)
14 Therefore He says:
“Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light.”
The Orthodoxy text states that verse 14 is an early baptism hymn, and that baptism is illumination. (450).
From my Reformed and Anabaptist perspective, baptism is a key New Testament practice (ordinance or sacrament, depending on the denomination) that represents a sign of regeneration (John 3, Titus 3, 1 Peter 1: 23) for a believer.
1 Peter 3: 21
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ...
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A good conscience exists via regeneration and the applied atoning and resurrection work of Jesus Christ to a believer.
From this brief review in Part 1, we can see that a creed is a statement of belief; whereas liturgy is a form of public worship. So, a liturgy may be a creed and vice-versa.
Both are a biblical means of expressing theological truths.
Selected source from cited links
Fortescue, A. (1910). Liturgy, In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved March 20, 2022 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09306a.htm
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The Orthodox Study Bible: Creed-Part II
One notable, historical key creed
C.A. Blaising explains that the Council of Nicea was the first ecumenical (many churches, my add) council in the history of the Christian Church. (774). This was convened by Roman Emperor, Constantine. (774). The Nicene Creed which resulted was the first to have the claim of universal theological authority throughout the Roman Empire (774). From Blaising, it was an 'almost unanimous production' (774) that was accepted for the universal Church.
From the Cairns text on page 24, is a Chronology of Church History, up to 1521 AD/CE. I could not find an image online and so I took a photo with my LG phone, below.
The first creed listed is the Nicene Creed from the Council of Nicea in 325 AD/CE. Paraphrasing the Pocket Dictionary, the Council of Nicea was convened by the Roman Empire, Constantine (83) in regards to Arianism (83), which denied the deity of Jesus Christ, based on the teachings of Arius (died 335-336) (15).
George Newlands explains that Arius believed that Jesus Christ was the incarnate Logos, but was subject to change. (103). The Logos, itself, was therefore subject to change. (103). The Logos for Arius would not be eternal God. This is error in my view as the nature of God the Son, God the Word (Logos/Λόγος), is eternal, infinite and immutable (the Gospel of John, Chapter 1, clearly portrays the Word of God, as fully God). As Jesus Christ was fully human, his body would change, as would any other human being. But his divine nature, as the God the Word, Logos, would not.
Does the resurrected body of Jesus Christ change? As now immortal, I doubt it. (Referencing the example of resurrected humanity in 1 Corinthians 15).
Arius reasoned that as God was immutable, my term paraphrasing (103), Jesus Christ could not be God. (103). Therefore he reasoned the Logos was not God. This is a misunderstanding of trinitarian theology and the biblical text by Arius and within Arianism. The same could be stated for denying the deity of Christ over the issue of impassibility (103). Jesus Christ as fully human, would suffer, but God in nature cannot suffer. God is impassible in my view, at least in that God's ontological nature cannot be changed by suffering. I do reason that God with infinite knowledge, does understand all suffering.
Blaising documents that Arianism argued that the Son cannot have the same exact essence as God the Father, because then 'the essence would be divisible'. (774). Arianism stated that the Son only does God the Father's will, as do all other creatures. (774).
The Pocket Dictionary documents that the Nicene Creed teaches that God the Son is of one substance with God the Father (83) as in homoousios (83), ὁμοούσιος (my add). As spirit (John 4: 24) God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, have one nature as three distinctions/persons. The Nicene Creed was revamped slightly at the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD/CE (83).
V.L.Walter reasons that 'the most compelling argument against Arianism' (75), in agreement with Athanasius, is that only God incarnate, could reconcile and redeem fallen humanity to a holy God. (75).
I would state that God the Son, Jesus Christ, as infinite could outlast finite sin on the cross. A finite being, as in Arianism, could not do so. God the Son, Jesus Christ, as perfect human being, could serve as the divine sacrifice for sin and simultaneously conquer death.
Romans 6: 23 King James Version (KJV)
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Nicene Creed, in my view, biblically protects the New Testament, Trinitarian theology of the deity of Jesus Christ. Yes, in the incarnation, God the Son, God the Word (John 1) took an additional human nature that does not mix with the infinite, eternal nature of God. God the Son, remains, fully God the Son, even as incarnate Jesus Christ.
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ARIUS
Cited
'As with most heretics, Arius is known primarily through the eyes of his opponents; only a few letters of Arius himself survive. Modern studies of Arius and Arianism are scarce: Henry Melvill Gwatkin, Studies of Arianism: Chiefly Referring to the Character and Chronology of the Reaction Which Followed the Council of Nicaea (1882; 2d ed. 1900), and John Henry Newman, The Arians of the Fourth Century (1833; 4th rev. ed. 1876), are helpful but prejudiced and outdated. Of general surveys, G.L. Prestige, Fathers and Heretics (1940); Jean Daniélou and Henri Marrou, The Christian Centuries, vol. 1: The First Six Hundred Years (1963; trans. 1964); and Henry Chadwick, The Early Church (trans. 1967), can be consulted with profit.'
ATHANASIUS, SAINT, PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA, (-373) (1970). St. Athanasius on the Incarnation : the Treatise De Incarnatione. Verbi Dei. London :A. R. Mowbray & Co.
BLAISING, C.A (1996) ‘Nicea Council of’ in Walter A. Elwell (ed.) Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Books.
CAIRNS, EARLE E. (1981) Christianity Through The Centuries, Grand Rapids, Zondervan Publishing House.
GRENZ, STANLEY J., DAVID GURETZKI and CHERITH FEE NORDLING (1999) Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms, Downers Grove, Ill., InterVarsity Press.
NEWLANDS, GEORGE (1999) 'Christology', in Alan Richardson and John Bowden (eds.), A New Dictionary of Christian Theology, Kent, SCM Press Limited.
SHELBY, BRUCE L. (1982) Church History In Plain Language, Word Books, Waco, Texas.
WALTER, V.L. (1996) ‘Arianism’ in Walter A. Elwell (ed.) Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Books.
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