October is a month of anniversaries of great moments in Christian history. Many are familiar with October 31, 1517, when Martin Luther posted his discussion points on the church door at Wittenburg (called the 95 Theses). Church history celebrates a lesser known event this month- the fourth ecumenical council that met October 22nd and 25th of 451 A.D. Because it met in a town called Chalcedon, the famous Christian doctrinal statement this counsel produced is called the Chalcedonian Creed. For some of the coming weeks, Tag, Tom Breeden (our GCC Intern) and I will unpack various aspects of this famous creed. Why should we care about this dusty old page from church history?
The creed deals with questions surrounding Jesus of Nazareth and His divine and human characteristics. Earlier creeds used scriptural truth to answer questions posed by distortions of biblical doctrine about Jesus. Some in the ancient world found the humanity of Jesus to be unbelievable. The Greek dualistic world view saw all the material world as bad and the spiritual world as good. Thus, it was not offensive to suggest that a god walked among us, but it was offensive to suggest He became one of us. Another heresy of the early centuries resembles heresies taught today in many mainline churches: Jesus was human and not God. He was a godly human but as human as any of us. A famous earlier creed addressed these concerns - the Nicene Creed. We have used that creed in our worship at GCC on occasion.
The council met to address confusion arising from the teachings of several Christian leaders: Nestorius, who was the Bishop of Constantinople at the time, Eutyches of Constantinople, and Apollinaris. These leaders attempted to explain Christ in ways that caused confusion and concern. Faithful Christians believed then and believe now that Jesus is God, and is worshipped along with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Faithful Christians believe (and always have) that Jesus was actually human. If you cut Him, He bled. When it was hot outside, He got thirsty. How you explain these doctrines can make a world of difference.
Chalcedon was exploring scriptural teaching about how all of this worked. If Jesus is God, and Jesus is man, how does that seem to work as scripture describes it? Nestorius seemed to be saying (though it is in dispute to this day) that Jesus had two separate persons within himself: His divine person and his human person. I have heard Christians say something similar to this in interpreting various stories about Jesus (“that was His human side talking”). Apollinaris (351 A.D.) explained it by suggesting that Jesus had a human body but not a human mind or spirit, and that His mind and spirit were from the divine nature of the Son of God. Lastly, Eutyches (AD 378-454) felt he had the easy explanation. He taught the human and divine natures mixed to form a new nature.
Why dust off Chalcedon for you? Wayne Grudem writes of the creed, “It has been taken as the standard, orthodox definition of the biblical teaching on the person of Christ since that day by Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox branches of Christianity alike” (Systematic Theology, page 556). In other words, the Council of Chalcedon so nailed the biblical view of the two natures and one person of Christ that all Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Protestant Christians agree with it. It defines what Christians believe about these truths. Our own Westminster Confession of Faith borrows some of its language. Chalcedon is important because any teaching that deviates from it also deviates from God’s truth!
Chalcedon gives useful teaching and great measuring tools for truth claims about Jesus. Someone can be winsome, inviting, and attractive as a teacher and communicator. They may be very entertaining speakers. We must ask: do they preach and teach the biblical Christ? The Creed can help us evaluate what we are hearing. It helps us in our own thinking about Jesus to understand clearly that He is fully God and fully human. It helps us to see He had both a human and divine nature inside His one person. We hope in the coming weeks to help you see some of the finer points in this creed.
A great reference for this topic is Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem (pp.554-558). Dr. Grudem writes in a style which is easy for readers who don’t enjoy reading technical theological writings for fun.
Here is the English text of the creed:
We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body; consubstantial [co-essential] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the Manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.
Enjoy thinking about these deep thoughts!
Don