…Allow me to share a few quotes. As you read, I want you to ask yourself where, in the history of the church these quotes are found?
“Nobody denies that the Father is somehow greater than the Son, not because of another hypostasis nor because of any difference, but because the name of Father itself is greater than ‘Son.’”
“Even though He [the Son] is subordinated to the Father, still He is God ‘according to His perfect and true nature.’”
“We do not make the Son equal to the Father, but subordinated to the Father.”
“There is no uncertainty about the Father being greater: it cannot be doubted by anyone that the Father is greater in honour, in dignity, in glory, in majesty in the very name of ‘Father.’”
“[The Holy Spirit] subject and obedient in all things to the Son; and the Son, subject and obedient in all things to God who is his Father.”
Any guesses?
All of these quotes are from the fourth century. They were written during the time of the Trinitarian controversy. The first four are taken from a variety of creeds written by heretical opponents of the Nicene Creed in the years between AD 325 and 381. They were all written by those who promoted one variation of the Arian theme or another. They were all written by opponents of orthodox theologians such as Athanasius and the Cappadocian fathers. The hope of the authors was that these alternative creeds would replace the Nicene Creed, which they opposed. The final quote above is taken from a Arian creed written by Ulfilas, a bishop of the Goths.
…Guess where these kinds of quotes can be easily found today Read more»
Keith Mathison, “American Evangelicalism’s Toleration of Heresy” (May 12, 2021)
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- Niceness: The Eddie Haskell Of Evangelicalism
- Bog Standard Evangelicalism Circa 1962
- American Evangelicalism: From David Joris to David Koresh
- Peace (with Evangelicalism) in Our Time
- The Survival of Evangelicalism
- Audio: Darryl Hart on “Deconstructing Evangelicalism”
- Are Reformed “Evangelical” or “Evangelicals”?
- Audio: Larry Rast on Contemporary “Evangelicalism”
- Sure Things are Fine in “Evangelicalism”
- iMonk: Evangelicalism’s Stock Needs to Drop
- Darryl Hart: “Evangelicalism” and Ma Bell
- Bog Standard Evangelicalism
- Big Eva And Big Church
- Trueman: What “Big Eva” Is And Why It Matters To Reformed Churches
- Trueman On Big Eva
- How Did Some Evangelicals Come To Teach The “Eternal Subordination Of The Son”? Biblicism
- We Are Not Merely Discussing Economic Subordination
- A Response To Grudem’s Appeal To Hodge On Eternal Subordination
- How Should A Lay Christian Learn Theology?
The first quote made me think of Eunomius, since he believed different names = different essences.