Hijacked word: a word that once had previous means but takes on a new meaning over time because of the regular use by a particular group. Take, for example, “Pentecostal,” all Bible-believing Christians believe in the Pentecost (Acts 2). However, over time it begins to be used by those who believe in the continuation of supernatural spiritual gifts. One of these words that have been hijacked is ‘catholic.’ People assume that you belong to the Roman Catholic church when you

The last section of the Creed was also expanded in 381. The original Creed (325) stopped after the line, “and the Holy Spirit.” The last section of the Creed has a similar form to the Apostles Creed. One might call this section ‘a-la-carte;’ a mis-mash of one-liners. However, the last lines of the Nicene Creed speak of the Church and its believers. It ties the first word of the Creed, ‘We,’ to the rest of the Creed. Sadly, many people

Trinitarian theology is more than an academic discussion. Sadly, as I have mentioned before, Christians only see their need for Jesus. However, we need the true living God, who exists in three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. Take, for example, the doctrine of adoption; the Father adopts us through the Son by the Spirit (Gal 4:4-6). Many doctrines have recently been questioned that quite possibly come back to a failure to understand Trinitarian theology and I might argue more specifically

The Holy Spirit is God (Heb 2:4, 9:14; Eph 4:30; Gen 1:2; Matt 28:19; 2 Cor 13:14). The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is the same essence as the Father and the Son because of his procession. The Holy Spirit, therefore, is to be worshiped and glorified. As we mentioned when we began the section on the Holy Spirit, the major reason for expanding this section in 381 AD was that the Macedonians

The Filioque clause, comes from the Latin phrase which means “and from the Son” was added in the 6th century. This was not in the original creed as written in 325 in Nicaea or 381 in Constantinople. This was officially incorporated into the liturgical practice of the Latin speaking churches in the West (Centered around Rome) in 1014. Although this was not the sole reason for the East and the West to separate, it was a piece of the puzzle.

The line of the Nicene creed comes straight from John 15:26, “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.” Just as we discussed regarding the Son, the second person of the Trinity is eternally begotten (not made) Son of God. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son (more on

The Holy Spirit, you could say, is the most misunderstood person in the Godhead. Although not perfectly we have the concept God as our creator and redeemer. Much of theological discussion has centered around Christology or Theology, many systematic volumes spend little time on the Holy Spirit, in one chapter (this I believe is because the work of the Holy Spirit is the tread which ties many of the chapters together, as we will mention below with inseparable operations). Jesus explains

Below is a summary of the Holy Spirit as found in the Westminster Confession of Faith. You could also expand this post to include the larger and shorter catechisms, but for the sake of time, we will limit ourselves to the Westminster Confession of Faith. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son (1 John 5:7; Matt 3:16-17; 2 Cor 13:14 cf. WCF 2.3). The nature of continuing revelation has ceased after

First, let us begin with an understanding of the word Ghost or Spirit. This is a difference in the English language and shows the progression of words. The Holy Ghost was used in the 1611 King James Version of the Bible. The Holy Ghost is translated 90 times in the KJV, and Holy Spirit is only translated seven times. Ghost today has taken on a broader semantic range than in 1611; ghost used to mean "an immaterial being"; however, today,

Before moving to the next section, I want to stop and reflect on something that I have commented about a couple of times. This Creed we are looking at was written within history and dealing particularly with heresies, mainly Arius' heresy saying Jesus was not God but was a celestial servant of God. In the original Creed, 103 Greek words were used, 83 spoke about the second person of the Trinity (See Chart 1). The Creed was approved in 325,