Know the Creeds and Councils Quotes

“Because of the widespread illiteracy during the period of the Reformation, catechesis often took place in face-to-face discussion. This is why “Luther intended his catechism to target primarily pastors, but also parents, and other ‘opinion makers’ who would in turn share the teachings of the catechism orally with children and illiterate members of the household.”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“Do you consider him a Christian who oppresses the wretched, who burdens the poor, who covets others’ property, who makes several poor so that he may make himself rich, who rejoices in unjust gains . . . and a man of this kind has the audacity to”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“In the very act of confession”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“Understanding that the theological statements in this book31 are specific instances of the Christian act of confession is significant because it helps us remember that confessions are not primarily about doctrine and theology; they are ultimately about worship.”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“Lausanne encourages the contemporary church to be rooted in Scripture and insists”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“Doubt regarding the divine origin of the Bible often comes less from careful study than the general mood of the culture.”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“Sixth”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“Rather”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“What the reader should take away from the doctrine of predestination is an appreciation of the mercy of God (rather than speculating on how election works or priding themselves on being part of the “in” group).”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“In Augustine’s scheme, grace is not a divine nudge but a power that frees people to love God for who he really is.”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“However much the fathers wanted a united church, however, they maintained their loyalty to Christ above all. Hence, each council also demonstrated the “orthodoxy” part of “generous orthodoxy.” The deity of the Holy Spirit was deemed crucial to salvation, as was the full humanity of Christ. When the emperor favored a theology that might have reconciled political parties but which compromised the truth, the council maintained the truth even though it meant the continued division of Christendom. For modern Christians, the councils can serve as a reminder to extend all possible charity to those who disagree with us, but also to maintain strong views in the face of opposition.”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“The Christian faith is not only a matter of the heart, an exercise in sentimentality, for “Christian faith is a matter of the mind as well as the heart and the will, and as thinking persons we must give intellectual expression to our faith.”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“It is sometimes said that you cannot describe the Trinity without committing some sort of heresy. Either you make God out to be three gods, or you make the three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) into a sham and pretense. The reason for this is that to speak about God, to speak about the Trinity, is different from speaking about any other thing. God is categorically separate from all other subjects. God is God. And nothing else is. So when we discuss the Trinity, we are peering into what theologians call the “aseity” of God — God as he is a se, to himself. God presents himself fully only to himself. We know about the Trinity only because God lovingly reveals aspects of his being and character to us. But God knows himself very well!”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“If Christ were not fully human, or if he were not fully divine, he would not be able to serve as our mediator — as the God-man. He would be either just another man or God himself. Rather, as Anselm put it in his famous Cur deus homo (“Why God Became Man”), since sin is an affront against God, then a payment from a human will not suffice. The satisfaction of the debt, he said, must come from God himself. However, only humans are guilty of the penalty due for sin. Put simply, humans ought to, but only God can, make right the wrong done. It is in the person of Jesus Christ, who was fully God and fully man, that this satisfaction was made and our salvation was completely accomplished.”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“The Definition of Chalcedon is not expected to be an explanation of how God became a man, but rather is a statement of the mystery of faith that has been delivered to us through the prophets and through Christ himself, and in the Creed of Nicaea.”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“The council maintained a clear distinction between the concept of a person and the concept of a nature. Jesus was said to have a divine nature and a human nature while still being only one person; he had everything he needed to be divine and everything he needed to be human (yet without sin).”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“Because the Father and the Son are one substance, we can also be assured that we actually know God in Jesus Christ.”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“If the early Christians had lost their nerve and conceded the “lesser divinity” of Jesus, whatever that might mean, then the work of God in Christ for our salvation would have been rendered meaningless. No mere man, nor half god, could possibly intervene to save fallen and sinful humanity, let alone restore all of creation. Only the Creator can enter creation to fix its brokenness and redeem its original, latent purpose.”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“The communion of saints and the forgiveness of sins are ways in which we can relate to and experience God, because of Christ, and through the Holy Spirit, in our everyday, mundane lives, proving that the supernatural still breaks through into the world.”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“Creeds aren’t dogmas that are imposed on Scripture but are themselves drawn from the Bible and provide a touchstone to the faith for Christians of all times and places.”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“Tradition is the fruit of the Spirit’s teaching activity from the ages as God’s people have sought understanding of Scripture. It is not infallible, but neither is it negligible, and we impoverish ourselves if we disregard it. — J. I. Packer, “Upholding the Unity of Scripture Today”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“If I can bring anyone into that hall [creeds], I have done what I attempted. But it is in the rooms [confessions], not the hall, that there are fires and chairs and meals.”7”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“The political struggles of Ephesus can pose a problem for modernday believers. Even if denominations might differ on how difficult theological questions are resolved, it seems obvious that they should not be resolved the way that those at Ephesus were — with underhanded political tactics and a refusal to understand the points of the other side. The fact that one of the major councils of the church seems to depend just as much on politics as theology can be disturbing — can we be sure that the church made the right decision? Are the beliefs that we hold today the result of careful interpretation of Scripture, or the machinations of powerful figures? It is helpful to remember that the story of redemption in the Bible relies on people who deliberately did evil things — Samson, Saul, and David are excellent examples. When Jesus came, however, it became apparent that God not only had accounted for human failing but had even made it a part of his plan for the salvation of the world; as Joseph says to his brothers in Genesis 50:20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Because God is able to work through human failings as well as in spite of them, Christianity does not need to rely on a whitewashed version of history.”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“Jesus, they claim, is God: “God from God.” If you need an analogy, the next phrase serves. It’s like light. How can you separate light from light? You can’t. (This was a traditional example in early Christian writings, usually concerning the ray of the sun and the sun itself.) Neither can the Father and the Son be separated.”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“It is notable that many of the Semi-Arians were men of exceptional moral rigor but apparently little gentleness,13 and although Gregory also exhorted his listeners to focus on doing good works, he reminded them, “God specially rejoices in revealing Himself to the world as Love.”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“If Pelagius had solved the problem of sin and human responsibility by arguing that humans are perfectly capable of doing whatever they want, Augustine solved it by saying that humans deliberately act against the good ideals that they don’t know and are selfish, greedy, lustful, stubborn, and proud. In his words, people are non posse non peccare, “not able not to sin,” because even the good things that we do are not out of love for God but for some lesser purpose.”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare . . . it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit — immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
― Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils