THE SOURCES OF THEOLOGY

The question concerning the sources of theology meets the theologian at the very threshold of his science. It will be profitable, therefore, to give this subject due consideration before entering the temple of truth to survey its inner wealth and magnificence. It is here that we meet the most widely divergent views-the Roman Catholic, the Protestant Evangelical, the Mystical, and the Rationalistic-each of which demands some attention. Not infrequently, also, reason and revelation are regarded as the sources of theology. For our purposes, however, we shall use another classification, arranging the sources in two main divisions: (I) Authoritative Sources; and (II) Subsidiary Sources. 

AUTHORITATIVE SOURCES 

Christian Theology as the science of the one true and perfect religion is based upon the documentary records of God's revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ. The Bible, therefore, is the Divine Rule of faith and practice, and the only authoritative source of theology. But this statement needs explication if not qualification. In a stricter and deeper sense, Jesus Christ himself as the Personal and Eternal Word is the only true and adequate revelation of the Father. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. His testimony is the last word in objective revelation and this testimony is perfected in the Christian Scriptures. "The Oracle and the oracles are one." The Scriptures, therefore, become the perfect disclosure and finished revelation of the will of God in Christ Jesus. 

In general, therefore, it may be said that the source of divine knowledge as exemplified in Christian theology is a unity, but a unity which exists in a twofold form with both objective and subjective aspects. Objectively, it is the self-revelation of God in Christ as recorded and presented in Holy Scripture, which "as the archetypal work of the Spirit of inspiration," says Martensen, "the Scriptures include within themselves a world of germs for a continuous development. While every dogmatic system grows old, the Bible remains eternally young" (MARTENSEN, Chr. Dogm., p. 52). Subjectively, the same revealed truth lives in the Christian consciousness of the Church, being begotten and nourished by faith in Jesus Christ. This dual principle has developed through similar processes but with widely divergent results in the two great branches of the Church-the Roman Catholic and the Protestant Evangelical. 

The Roman Catholic Church, previous to the Vatican Council, A.D. 1870, held that there were two valid and authoritative sources of theological knowledge - the Bible and tradition. By tradition as here used, is meant religious opinion on matters of faith and practice, which the Church believed to be handed down from apostolic times to succeeding generations by the Holy Spirit. Tradition, therefore, represents the crystallization of the subjective element in Christian consciousness. Lacking the deeper principle of fundamental unity, the relation    &nb

The Roman Catholic position concerning the Bible differs from the Protestant in two important particulars. (1) It has since the time of Augustine included the Apocrypha among the canonical books of the Old Testament and regards them as of inspired and infallible authority. These were declared canonical by the Councils of Hippo (A.D. 393) and Carthage (A.D. 397). Later this action was confirmed by the Council of Trent (1542-1564) with the exception of the two books of Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh. The Douay version of the Old Testament (1609) contained forty-six books. (2) It differs from the Protestant position in the matter of inspiration. Protestantism regards only the original Hebrew and Greek texts as inspired, while the Roman Catholic Church by a papal bull holds that the version known as the Latin vulgate was also inspired. There is also a wide difference in the matter of tradition, the Roman Catholic Church maintaining that tradition was another stream flowing from the same source of Christ who is the fountain of all truth. Thus later there came to be not only a canon of scripture but a canon of tradition, the Council of Trent affirming that the traditions are to be "received with equal piety and veneration with the Scriptures." The Protestant churches rejected tradition entirely as forming an authoritative source of theology.

 

of Scripture and tradition became very early a matter of serious concern. With the increasing authority of the Roman see, the dogmas and customs there received became in effect the criteria for the interpretation of the Scriptures themselves. This current ecclesiastical opinion was made the official position of the Church of Rome, at the Vatican Council in July, 1870, when it adopted the transmontane or Italian theory commonly known as papal infallibility. This was, in effect, a triumph of tradition over the supreme objective authority of the Bible. The Vatican decree had the further effect of changing the principle, originally held by both Eastern and Western Churches, as to the dual source of theological knowledge. Neither the written word nor ecclesiastical tradition is now the authoritative source. Both occupy a subordinate position and find their unity in the supreme authority of the Church. The pope when speaking ex cathedra becomes the mouthpiece of the Church, and thereby the source and arbiter of religious knowledge. The Church is thus placed in an abnormal relation to Jesus Christ, its Divine Head, and its decrees and interpretations have superseded the direct and immediate authority of the Holy Scriptures. Whatever honor may be accorded them, they are no longer, for Roman Catholicism, the sole and authoritative source of Christian Dogmatics. 

 

In the Protestant Evangelical Church a similar process took place, though with directly opposite results. The development in Protestantism was perhaps not so conspicuous as that in the Church of Rome, because of the many and varied communions which are embraced in this one general term. It nevertheless had its ill effects in a distorted conception of the nature of the sacred Scriptures, their place in the Church, and their proper relation to Christ the Living Word. The Protestant Evangelical Church, especially during the sixteenth and a portion of the seventeenth centuries, found the dual source of theology, not in the scriptures and tradition, but in the Scriptures and the spiritual illumination of the Church, this latter being known technically as the testimonium Spiritus Sancti. These two principles, when rightly construed, find their deeper unity in the glorified Christ, by whom the Holy Spirit is given to the Church. The Spirit then, becomes at once the inspiring source of the Holy Scriptures, and the illuminating, regenerating and sanctifying Presence through whom believers are enabled to perceive and understand the truth as presented in the written Word. This evangelical conception corresponds to the twin principles of the Reformation which found expression in the formula, "Scripture alone, and faith alone." 

 

As the unifying principle grew dim, the dual sources betrayed the same tendency toward severance as was displayed in the case of the Bible and Tradition. There was, however, this important difference. In Roman Catholicism, the material principle of tradition superseded the formal principle of sacred Scripture; while in Protestantism, the formal principle of Holy Scripture superseded the material principle of spiritual consciousness. In the Roman communion, therefore, the Church became the supreme authority and an apostolic succession a necessity; while in the Evangelical communion, the supreme authority was vested in the Scriptures, which being given to the Church by the apostles and prophets became thereby the only true and logical succession. Furthermore, as by undue emphasis upon the material principle, Rome placed the Church in a false sacramental position with respect to her Living Head, and made of it a communion with a priesthood; so also by undue emphasis upon the formal principle, Protestantism placed the Scriptures in a distorted relation to Christ, the Personal Word. The distinction, therefore, so delicately drawn by St Paul between the letter which kills and the spirit which gives life, soon lost its significance in Christian consciousness. Revelation and the written Word came to be regarded as identical. Intellectual adherence to certain received doctrines was accepted as the standard of orthodoxy. The concept of the Church as at base a spiritual fellowship was not duly emphasized. Legalism superseded spirituality. Further still, the testimonii Spiritus Sancti which had been interpreted as a spiritual experience, gradually came to mean nothing more than human reason. Thus there arose a conflict between reason and revelation which finally issued in the rationalistic movement of the nineteenth century. In reaction to this unwarranted emphasis upon reason, there arose various forms of mysticism which attributed no authority to either tradition or reason. 

 

There is but one safe course to follow, in a consideration of the authoritative sources of theology-the Scriptures must be our only rule of faith and practice. Whatever is not contained therein, or may be proved thereby, cannot be enjoined as an article of faith. The Scriptures as we now have them are but a condensation of the teachings of Christ, brought into unity and expanded into their full meaning by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. No future source,- therefore, can rise higher than the source of all truth-the fountainhead opened in Himself. For us, therefore, "the Bible means all revelation, and all revelation means the Bible." 
   

 

SUBSIDIARY SOURCES

 

While Protestantism recognizes the Holy Scriptures as under Christ the primary and final authority in the Church, it does take into consideration the fact that there are proximate or subsidiary sources of great value in determining a Christian Dogmatic. Among these secondary and subsidiary sources may be mentioned, first, Experience, which is commonly known as the vital source of theology in that it conditions a right apprehension of its truths; second, Confessions or Articles of Faith, which are the crystallization of the beliefs of particular periods or groups, generally termed the traditional source; third, Philosophy, which is the formal or shaping source of theology; and fourth, Nature, as a fundamental and conditioning source. 

 

1. Experience. We need to make clear at the outset, that in our use of the term experience, we do not mean thereby merely human experience of the unregenerate; but Christian experience, in the sense of an impartation of spiritual life through the truth as vitalized by the Holy Spirit. In our previous discussions, we pointed out the sense in which the written Word becomes a true source of theological knowledge, and the subordinate position which it must ever hold in respect to Christ, the Personal and Eternal Word. It now remains for us to show that the formal principle of the Word may through the Personal Word, so coincide with the material principle of faith as to become the engrafted word which is able to save the soul. Truth in its ultimate nature is personal. Our Lord made this clear when He said, I am the truth. He knocks at the door of men's hearts-not as a proposition to be apprehended, but as a Person to be received and loved. To those who receive Him, He gives the right to become the sons of God. Granting that all personal knowledge must have its root in ethical sympathy, or a likeness in character between the knower and the known, then the knowledge of God involves a filial relationship between the Incarnate Son and the souls of men, a relationship begotten and nourished by the Holy Spirit. This filial relationship is spiritual knowledge, inasmuch as it is an awakening into consciousness of a fellowship with God in Christ. Nor does the New Testament allow that spiritual knowledge of divine things is possible except on the basis of personal contact with God through the Spirit. 

 

Our Lord further emphasized this great truth when He said, If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself (John. 7: 17). Here Christ asserts that the knowledge of God does not come through scientific investigation or philosophical speculation, but through right ethical and spiritual relationships. Personal knowledge comes not by logical processes but through spiritual contacts. Our Lord further indicates that the pivot of personal knowledge is an obedient will, and that the deepening bond of sympathy makes possible a more intimate communion and an enrichment of personal knowledge. This ethical knowledge growing out of the obedience of faith is, we maintain, a rudimentary but true knowledge of God, and therefore a subsidiary source of Christian theology. We believe with Gerhart, that from it valid conceptions of God may be intellectually constructed, and systematic knowledge may be developed. Then the whole man, personality in all its functions, attains to the possession of divine truth (GERHART, Institutes, p. 30). 

 

2. Confessions and Creeds. The word "creed," derived from the Latin word credo, I believe, signifies a confession of faith or articles of belief. Confessions may be either individual or collective. As collective formulations of a common faith, they are public testimonies concerning the manner in which the doctrines of the Holy Scriptures are understood and taught by the Church. Creeds are not forced upon the Church from without, they grow up from within. Usually they begin as individual convictions, and come gradually to official recognition. Being the outgrowth of experience, such confessions represent a collective or corporate experience, corrected and tested by a wider group of believers. While not authoritative in the sense of a norm of doctrine, they are an outgrowth of the religious life which owes its origin to Jesus Christ through the Spirit, and must therefore be regarded in a subsidiary sense as true sources of theology. They are the conclusions to which the Church has come in its interpretation of the Word of God and its defense against errors. "It is because the great creeds of the Church represent genuine convictions," says William Adams Brown, "and for this reason alone they have a rightful place among the sources of theology." It is true, also, that in the development of the creeds, any lack of balance between the formal and material principles comes clearly to light. When the formal principle dominates and Christian experience is obscured, the creed ceases to be a genuine confession and becomes, instead, a symbol or a rule of faith. This drift from vital spiritual experience to formal statement is always by slow and imperceptible degrees, and in the transition the creed loses much of its earlier freedom and spontaneity, and becomes increasingly elaborate in character. 

 

According to Henry B. Smith, creeds and confessions have four objects: first, to give living testimony to the truth; second, to testify against error; third, to furnish a bond of union among those of the same belief; and fourth, to provide means of continuing the succession of those uniting in the belief, and instructing them and their children. The relation of the creeds to the scriptures is that the former are designed to express scriptural truth in relation to the errors, wants and questions of the times. 

The three Ecumenical Creeds may be said to preserve for us the substance of the faith of the undivided Church. These are (a) The Apostles' Creed; (b) The Nicene Creed; and (c) The Athanasian Creed. 

 

(a) The Apostles' Creed. Viewed from the standpoint of systematic arrangement, the Apostles' Creed is an expansion of the baptismal formula, its threefold division being that of the names of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. It is, however, to be regarded as a summary of facts rather than a theological interpretation, and was not written by the apostles, but so named because it represents a summary of their teachings. It appears that in the early Church some form of belief must be confessed in order to admission into the society of believers. The Church had been enjoined by the apostles to hold fast the form of sound words, and to guard "the deposit." There were two types of these formulas, (1) the Kerygma, which was a condensed record of the life of Christ; and (2) a Trinitarian form-these being condensed and combined in our present statement of the creed. In its final form, the Apostles' Creed is the Western baptismal creed. It is variously dated from 100-150 A.D., and in practically the same form as at present. Irenaeus and Tertullian state that it had always been the same (Cf. SCHAFF, Creeds, II, p. 52ff). It is certain that from the year A.D. 390 it existed in substantially the same form as now. This is shown by Rufinius' commentary. Few additions were made, and Pirminius of Frankland gave us the textus receptus in about the eighth century. Since that time it has been cherished by the Church for more than a thousand years with the exception of one change, that of ad inferos being substituted     

 

The following analysis of the creed will serve to show more definitely the various ages when the different clauses were added, and also in general, the meaning which has always attached to the various statements of the creed.   CREDO IN DEUM PATREM OMNIPOTENTEM. Ancient.   (CREATOREM COELI ET TERRAE.) This is found generally in the Eastern creeds from the earliest times and especially in the writings of Irenaeus. It appears first in the Western creed about A.D. 375. It was copied from the East without animus and is probably the last article to be generally adopted. ET IN JESUS CHRISTUM FILIUM EIUS UNICUM DOMINUM NOSTRUM. Ancient. As here used, the word "Jesus" means Saviour and is the name of the Man, while "Christ" means anointed and is the representative of God. He is the full representative in that He is the unique Son, and as "Our Lord" is the object of our religion.   QUI (CONCEPTUS) EST SPIRITU SANCTO, NATUS EX MARIA VIRGINE. Ancient.   (PASSUS) SUB PONTIO PILATO, CRUCIFIXUS, (MORTUUS) ET SEPULTUS. Ancient.   (DESCENDIT AD INFERNOS.) Late fourth century, but without any controversial animus. It is generally understood to connote that our Lord went into the place of the dead, preached to them, and led away into Paradise those who would follow Him. This was often mentioned as "the harrowing of hell." Certainly the word "hell" in this article does not mean the place of torment, but that of departed spirits. It signifies the realm of the departed.   TERTIA DIE RESURREXIT A MORTIUS. Ancient.   ASCENDIT (AD) COELOS SEDIT AS DEXTERAM (DEl) PATRIS (OMNIPOTENTIS). Ancient 'It signifies that the humanity of Christ lives now with God in glory.   (INDE) VENTURUS EST JUDICARE VIVOS ET MORTUOS. Ancient. The doctrine of the coming of Christ in glory for judgment is older than that of His coming "in great humility."   (CREDO) IN SPIRITUM SANCTUM. Ancient. To correspond with the earlier baptismal formula, the Spirit is correlated with the Father and the Son as a Divine Person.   SANCTAM ECCLESIAM (CATHOLICAM). Catholicam is late fourth or fifth century, the rest ancient "Catholic" at first meant universal as opposed to local, but from the third century it meant also and usually, in harmony with the universal Church as opposed to the heretical and schismatic.   (SANCTOREM COMMUNIONEM.) This is about contemporary with Catholicam. There is some doubt about its earlier creedal use. When put into the creed it meant the unity of life of all the Church, living and departed.   REMISSIONEM PECCATORUM. Ancient.   CARNIS RESURRECTUIONEM. Ancient. The body will be raised - the same body by personal continuity, but in a very different condition - a spiritual body.   (ET VITAM AETERNAM.) Late fourth century. "Eternity" here means superior to mere successiveness in time. Von Hugel defines it as ''simultaneity.''

 

for ad inferna. It has been well said that this creed should be treasured in the hearts and minds of all believers and be often upon their lips. The creed is as follows:  

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; 

And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. 

 

I believe in the Holy Ghost; the Holy Catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.    

 

(b) The Nicene Creed. An interesting history attaches to this creed, adopted at the First Ecumenical Council, held at Nicaea in Bithynia during the summer of A.D. 325. The Council was summoned by the Emperor Constantine, who at that time was not a baptized Christian, but who hoped by this measure to restore peace to the Church which was greatly distracted by the Arian controversy. The Council was attended by a great number of bishops from Egypt and Asia Minor, and some from the provinces beyond the Bosphorus. Other countries were ably represented also, and there were in addition a number of missionary bishops present from outside the Roman Empire. The lists of names extant specifies only about two hundred and twenty, but Eusebius, the historian, who was present, speaks of more than two hundred and fifty. Constantine and Athanasius declared that there were over three hundred present. Dr. Dickie suggests that the foundation for the belief in the three hundred was symbolical rather than historical. Since the Greek symbol for three hundred and eighteen is TIH, as early as the Epistle of Barnabas this number, which is that of Abraham's household in the fight with the kings (Gen. 14), came to be regarded as the ideal number in the championship of truth against error, T standing for the cross, and IH being the first two letters in IHSOUS. At the time of the Nicene Council, however, none of the participants seem to have had any realization of its great importance for the whole future history of Christianity (Cf. DICKIE, Organism of Christian Truth, p. 208). Even during the life time of Athanasius, it became a settled belief that there were three hundred and eighteen present at the Council, and for this reason it is called "the Council of the three hundred and eighteen holy fathers." The text of the original creed differs in a few points from that which came to be used universally in the Church. We give the text of the latter: 

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. 

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God; begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of light, Very God of very God, begotten, not made; being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under 

    

The text of the original Nicene Creed as adopted in 325 is as follows: "We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of the Father-that is of the substance of the Father; God of God; Light of light; very God of very God; begotten, not made; of the same substance with the Father; by whom all things were made, both the things in heaven and the things in earth; who for us men, and for our salvation, descended and was incarnate, and was made man, suffered and rose again the third day; he ascended into heaven; and cometh to judge the living and the dead. And in the Holy Spirit. But the holy, catholic, and apostolic Church anathemizes those who say there was a time when the Son was not, or that he was not before he was begotten, or that he was made of things not existing, or who say that the Son of God was of any other substance or essence, or created, or liable to change or conversion."   The text of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of A.D. 381, is essentially as given in the body of the text above, with the exception that it begins with "We" instead of "I." The clause on Baptism seems to have been directed against the Novatians, who rebaptized. The Eastern or Orthodox Church recognized heretical baptism as valid.

 Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He arose again according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven; and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead: whose kingdom shall have no end.   

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and Son together is worshiped and glorified; Who spake by the prophets; and I believe in one Catholic and Apostolic Church; I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead; and the life of the world to come. Amen.  

It will be noted that this creed is but an expansion of the threefold division of the Apostles' Creed, which in turn was an expansion of the baptismal formula. The trinitarian conception seems to have been one of the earliest principles of systematization. The creed itself was a growth, having passed through several recensions. In its earlier form, as adopted by the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., it was directed against Arianism and other forms of error. It was found with the Eusebian          

The following notes on the technical terms of the creed drawn from various sources may prove illuminating and helpful.   GOD OF GOD. Christ is viewed as God derived from God.   LIGHT OF LIGHT. This was a favorite metaphor in the fourth century.   BEGOT'TEN NOT MADE. This is directed against the Arian teaching that Christ was a creature.   BEING OF ONE SUBSTANCE WITH THE FATHER. The divinity of Christ is here regarded as being the same as that of the Father, because there is but one divinity.   BY WHOM ALL THINGS WERE MADE. This refers to the Son, as in the pre-Nicene forms. The Logos is the agent of God in creation. The word through whom is better than that of by whom. The word is expressive of the meaning of God in nature, and then in man.   CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN. Metaphorical or mystical in form.   THE HOLY GHOST, THE LORD AND GIVER OF LIFE. The Greek words for Lord and Life-Maker, are in the neuter, purely grammatical gender to agree with the word Spirit.   TOGETHER IS WORSHIPED AND GLORIFIED. More literally, is co-worshiped and co-glorified.   ONE CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH. The word holy as in the Apostles' Creed and the earlier text of the Nicene Creed is here omitted. It belongs, however, before the word Catholic, for eis is found before mian, and hagian is predicated of the church as well as catholic.

 

Confession in a letter of Eusebius to his diocese at Caesaraea, and the closing paragraph contained the anathema. In A.D. 381, at the Council of Constantinople, the creed was revised, some additions and changes made, and the anathema omitted. A paragraph, substantially as now used, was added in order to combat the error concerning the Holy Ghost which Macedonius and his followers had advanced, denying the essential deity of the Spirit. The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed is essentially the same as the present creed with the exception that it contained the word holy before the words Catholic and Apostolic Church; and omitted the words "and from the Son" (filioque) as it concerns the procession of the Spirit. The unique feature of the creed is the insertion of the word filioque, which indicates the belief in the procession of the Spirit from the Son as from the Father, but this will be treated more fully under the head of Christology. 

 

(c) The Athanasian Creed. The Athanasian Creed is a Latin document of uncertain date. It is frequently assigned to Vincent of Lerins in the fifth century; others assign it to Hilary, Bishop of Arles (A.D. 449), or Vigilius, Bishop of Tapsus in Africa; while Gieseler thinks that it originated in Spain some time during the seventh century. It is a further expansion of the Apostles' Creed, and is far more explicit in its teachings concerning the Trinity and the Incarnation than those which precede it. Dr. Summers characterizes it as "very subtile, metaphysical and minute." It was never adopted by any general council, but was received in the seventh century as one of the ecumenical symbols. The Lutherans placed the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed in the Liber Concordiae; while the Eighth Article of the Anglican Thirty-nine Articles states that "the three creeds - the Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed, and that which is commonly called the Apostles' Creed - ought thoroughly to be received and believed, for they may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture." As to the comparative excellency of the three creeds, it is generally allowed that the Apostles' Creed excels in traditional antiquity the Nicene in formal dogmatic status, and the Athanasian in fullness of explicit statement. The creed is too long for common use and has been omitted from the Liturgy of the Protestant Episcopal Church of America. The following text is from the recension of the creed as inserted in the Anglican Liturgy. 
   

 

QUICUNQUE VULT 

1. Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith. 

2. Which Faith, except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. 

3. And the Catholic Faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity. 

4. Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. 

5. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. 

6. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal. 

7. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. 

8. The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate. 

9. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible. 

10. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal. 

11. And yet there are not three eternals, but one eternal. 

12. And also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible. 

13. So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty. 

14. And yet there are not three Almighties, but one Almighty. 

15. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. 

16. And yet there are not three Gods, but one God. 

17. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy Ghost is Lord. 

18. And yet there are not three Lords, but one Lord. 

19. For like as we are compelled by Christian verity to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord. 

20. So we are forbidden by the Catholic Religion to say there be three Gods, or three Lords. 

21. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. 

22. The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten. 

23. The Holy Ghost is of the Father, and of the Son, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. 

24. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts. 

25. And in this Trinity none is afore or after another; none is greater or less than another. 

26. But the whole three Persons are coeternal together and coequal. 

27. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshiped. 

28. He, therefore, that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity. 

29. Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation, that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

30. For the right faith is, that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man. 

31. God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds, and Man of the substance of his Mother, born in the world; 

32. Perfect God, and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting; 

33. Equal to the Father as touching his Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching his Manhood. 

34. Who although he be God and Man, yet he is not two, but one Christ; 

35. One; not by Conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the Manhood into God; 

36. One altogether; not by Confusion of Substance, but by unity of Person. 

37. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ. 

38. Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead. 

39. He ascended into heaven, he sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. 

40. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give account for their works. 

41. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire. 

42. This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved. 

This creed is sometimes called the Quicunque Vult from the first Latin word which means Whosoever. Dr. Summers says that "the creed itself is a venerable and valuable symbol, and we do not think, with some that its positive and negative propositions are contradictory and puzzling to the understanding. It is not designed for unlearned persons, but as a dialectic development of the dogmas of Christianity, as settled by the most acute and learned theologians of the age in which it was written" (SUMMERS, Systematic Theology, 

Philosophy should be the constant companion of theology, but each is to retain, without interchange or confusion, its own peculiar field. Its work does not consist in the merely logical. process of connecting thoughts together (arrangement), nor in the exercise of occasional criticism (reasoning); but rather in combining the great variety of matter into a higher unity for the consciousness. This can be done only after the material has been furnished from without, by experience and history. Philosophy can neither invent the needed material in the exercise of its own authority, nor destroy or make it other than it is through a pretended transformation or idealizing process. - CROOK AND HURST, Ency. and Meth., p. 74.

3. Philosophy. Philosophy is the formal or shaping source of theology. Its claim as a subsidiary source of theology lies solely in the fact that it has the power of systematizing and rationalizing truth, so that it may be presented to the mind in proper form for assimilation. Perhaps the relation of philosophy to theology has never been better stated than by Auberlin in his Divine Revelation. "This is the task of all philosophico-theological labors," he says, "to see the actual as it were transparent, as illuminated by the divine idea, the positive as ideal, the real - that which is truly real, that is effected by God - as rational, so that it may lose that external character in which it might seem foreign to our minds." 

Christianity was introduced into a world characterized, not only by ancient forms of religion, but also by ancient systems of philosophy. It came into conflict simultaneously with heathen religion and pagan philosophy. As early as the time of St. Paul warnings were offered against the dangers of philosophy and vain deceit (Col. 2: 8) and science, falsely so-called (I Tim. 6:20). 

This conflict of theology and philosophy has come down through all Christian history, and so close have been their relations, that the history of one cannot be written without the other. We may classify in a general way, the periods and forms of this conflict in four main divisions: (I) the ancient Greek and Roman philosophy; (II) Scholasticism as a revival of the Greek and Roman philosophy; (III) the period of Rationalism during the 17th and 18th centuries; and (IV) the Absolute or Pantheistic systems of the 19th century. 

Christianity came as a system of revealed truth for which it claimed absolute authority as coming from the true God. This revelation is placed over against the pretensions of human reason and was thereby brought into immediate conflict with the philosophy of that time. The conflict reached its heights in the Gnostic and Manichaean controversy of the second and third centuries, and in the Neo-Platonic controversy which extended into the fourth century. Two modes of defense were found in the Church, first, that represented by Tertullian who claimed that all philosophy is fiction, and that it is necessary to cling to faith alone; and second, the School of Alexandria which maintained that there was a true Christian philosophy, and that on this basis alone the false pagan philosophies must be defeated. Due to this conflict with pagan philosophy and religion, Christian Theology took the form of Apologetics and frequently that of Polemics. In the scholastic philosophy of the mediaeval period we find perhaps the greatest attempt in the history of the Church to reconcile Christianity with traditional philosophy. Scotus Erigena had derived from Platonism a form of theosophic pantheism, which brought on a conflict with those Church Fathers who had adopted the Aristotelian philosophy. Thus was revived the ancient controversy which took the form of Nominalism and Realism. The logic of Aristotle, however, made possible a comprehensive scheme of classification, and of this the Fathers took advantage, using it as a basis for the systematic arrangement of the dogmas of the Church. Thus philosophy shaped the theology of this period into Systematic, or more properly Dogmatic Theology. 

In the third, or Rationalistic Period, philosophy is again brought into conflict with theology. Like Hagar, philosophy rendered great service to her mistress, but exalting herself, she was cast out. The Reformation period freed the mind as well as the Church, and made possible the logic of induction which was promptly applied to all spheres of investigation. Philosophy, losing sight of its true mission, attempted to furnish the materials of investigation instead of confining itself to the systematization of the truth derived from nature and revelation. Three tendencies are to be noted, first, that of Descartes and the Cartesian School, which appealed to self-consciousness as the ultimate fact; second, the appeal to nature, as opposed to revelation. This gave rise to English Deism and German Rationalism; and third, a theosophic or mystical tendency which sought truth in pure spiritual vision. As a consequence theology in this period took the twofold form of (I) Natural Theology, and (II) Revealed Theology-the former being largely apologetic. As a consequence also of the false emphasis upon human reason, there arose a number of rationalistic theological systems, all having at base some form of philosophical speculation. 

In the fourth period, which covered the nineteenth and the earlier portion of the twentieth century, the rationalistic tendencies of the previous period found expression in Materialism and reactionary Pantheism. The philosophical systems of Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and especially Hegel gave color to much of the theology of the period. The search for the Absolute in philosophy found its counterpart in the theological discussions concerning the Being and Nature of God; while the Synthetic Philosophy of Herbert Spencer, and the investigations of Huxley and Darwin, furnished the impetus for the various forms of theistic evolution which have characterized recent treatises on theology. 

4. Nature as a Fundamental Source of Theology. The Scriptures recognize the fact that nature reveals God, not only by frequent references to the work of nature but also by direct assertion. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world (Psalm 19: 1-4). The meaning here, according to Dr. Alexander, is that "the idea of perpetual testimony is conveyed by the figures of one day and one night following another as witnesses in unbroken succession .... The absence of articulate language, far from weakening the testimony, makes it stronger. Even without speech or words, the heavens testify of God to all men." 

The Apostle Paul in his address at Lystra (Acts 14:15-17), and also in his Athenian address (Acts 17: 22-34), makes it clear that nature reveals God sufficiently to lead men to seek after Him and worship Him. But it is in the introduction of his Epistle to the Romans that he gives us his clearest statement on natural revelation, and also defines its limitations. That which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful (Romans 1: 19-21). From this it cannot be doubted that God sufficiently reveals Himself through His works, as to lay in nature a sure foundation for Theology. But He limits this revelation in its scope to a knowledge of "His power and Godhead" that is, to His existence and personality. Men may be led to seek after God by nature, to feel for Him in conscience, but only through the added revelation of His Word can men find Him in the knowledge of salvation. Rationalists may assert that the light of nature is sufficient for salvation, but every branch of the historical Church denies it. No man can tell what is necessary for salvation, or even that salvation is possible apart from a supernatural revelation.