Confessing the One Faith, Revised Edition: An Ecumenical Explication of the Apostolic Faith as it is Confessed in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381)

By Theodore Gill and Dame Mary Tanner

Visible unity means that churches recognize in one another a witness to the fullness of the apostolic faith which they profess. Will Christians be able one day to declare together before the world, in common confession and praise, their faith in who God is and what God has done?

This text-growing out of many years of study and consultation, involving theologians from various Christian traditions and from all parts of the world-is a unique instrument for drawing the churches toward such a common confession.

As a contemporary explication of the creed that emerged from the ecumenical councils of Nicea (325) and Constantinople (381) and is used in both Eastern and Western Christian liturgies, Confessing the One Faith relates the subject matter of those ancient affirmations to the challenges of today's world-in which the language and philosophy of the fourth century sound alien to many, and the basic affirmations of the Christian faith are widely questioned.

This new edition includes an introduction written by Dame Mary Tanner, a president of the World Council of Churches.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Release date: Mar 5, 2010
• ISBN: 9781498271752

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Confessing the One Faith

An Ecumenical Explication of the Apostolic Faith as it is Confessed in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381)

Revised Edition

With a new Introduction by Dame Mary Tanner

Faith and Order Paper No. 153
WCC Publications, Geneva

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Confessing the One Faith

An Ecumenical Explication of the Apostolic Faith as it is Confessed in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381), Revised Edition

Copyright © 2010 World Council of Churches. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

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Preface to the Revised Edition

It is a very special privilege for me, as a former Moderator of Faith and Order and as a President of the World Council of Churches, to have been invited to contribute this preface for a new publication of Confessing the One Faith. Ever since the first work on the study process began in the 1980s, I have been convinced of the enormous importance and potential of the study as churches pursue the goal of the visible unity of the Church.

The Faith and Order Commission in the last quarter of the twentieth century became convinced that three things were required for visible unity: a common confession of the apostolic faith; common sacraments and a reconciled ministry; and common structures of deciding and teaching together. Work on sacraments and ministry resulted in the convergence document Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry (The Lima Text of 1982, or BEM). It caught the imagination of the churches. They responded to BEM with energy. It became a source for renewal in their own lives and an impetus to forming closer relations with other churches. Perhaps Confessing the One Faith came too close on the heels of BEM, and perhaps it was unrealistic to expect such a widespread engagement and official response from the churches. And yet, the very fact that some 25 years later there is a recognized need for a re-publication of the document reflects the fact that this study has proved to be important. This has been particularly so in seminaries and university departments, as well as its being used in local study groups in some churches.

This new publication could provide an opportunity, not simply to find in the document a basic text for doctrinal study, but to grasp at a deeper level the original vision that lay behind the study. It was never intended, as some mistakenly believed, to cause churches which did not use creeds regularly to move to formal recitation of the Creed in their worship. It was much, much more imaginative and potentially creative of unity than that. By taking the Nicene-Constantinopolitan symbol and explicating the biblical faith set forth in the Creed, and by exploring contemporary challenges to that faith, it was intended that divided churches would be helped to make a journey together. The hoped-for journey was to be one which would begin with exploration of the faith set forth in the Creed, and lead from there to recognition: recognition first of a church’s fidelity to the faith of the One Church through the ages and, secondly, recognition of that same faith witnessed to in the lives and spirituality of other churches. The intention of recognition was to move divided churches to a confident common celebration of the faith in word and in life, to proclaim together, This is the faith of the Church; this is our faith. There was no doubt that the journey from explication of the faith to recognition would be costly. It would entail not only being open to recognize one’s own fidelity to the faith: It would also mean being prepared to acknowledge where there is need for confession of infidelity and a lack of courage to respond in faith to the challenges of today’s world.

It is much to expect one document to energize the voyage from exploration and explication of the faith, to recognition, and then to common confession in word and in life. But where there has been deep engagement in the process of this study, there has been inspiration and a deeper understanding of the costliness of common confession, and thus a stimulus towards the visible unity of the Church.

The challenges of the contemporary world are not identical to those of the 1980s. But there could hardly be a time in history when the world is more in need of hearing a confident and united voice proclaiming the good news of Christ for all people. Those who take up this study will find that it leads them into new avenues of exploration of the faith and the way that our common faith challenges, and is challenged by, events in today’s world. Confessing the One Faith is a marvellous instrument to help churches in the fellowship of the World Council of Churches and its ecumenical partners grasp the opportunity to make common confession and to live this out together through engaging confidently in the various initiatives of the Council itself, not least of all in the Decade to Overcome Violence and the search for a just peace.

As I write this, I remember with gratitude those who contributed so much to this study; in particular, I recall the inspiration of Professor John Deschner, my predecessor as Moderator of the Commission, and Father Jean Tillard, who for many years moderated the study process. My hope and prayer is that this new publication will act as a stimulus for churches to recognize in themselves, and in each other, a fidelity to the faith of the Church, and that it will provide an impetus to living out that faith together in today’s complex and hurting world.

Mary Tanner, D.B.E.

Member of the Presidium, World Council of Churches

(Moderator of the Faith and Order Commission, 1991–98)

April 2009

Preface to the 1999 Edition

Informed observers of church life have noted that, in recent decades, the churches have been affected by profound questioning about the content of their faith, and this has had important repercussions in ecumenical life. In view of the often discordant conclusions of the many forms of analysis to which Scripture is subjected, people are asking where to find those truths of faith which are the foundation of koinonia, and where to turn to find verification of the ecclesial doctrines which divide the churches. Even the most fundamental statements about the person of Christ and his work are being interpreted in different, sometimes contradictory ways. During one of the Padare sessions at the eighth assembly of the World Council of Churches in Harare in December 1998, participants said: Tell us what we have to confess if we are genuinely to belong to the una sancta.

I. In Bangalore (1978), Lima (1982), and Stavanger (1985), the Commission on Faith and Order had already decided to press ahead with an in-depth study on the vast question of the common confession of the apostolic faith. The responses of several churches to the Lima document on Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry urged that this study be carried out as rapidly and as seriously as possible, for they realized that the churches cannot be truly united unless each recognizes in the life and practice of the others the fullness of the apostolic faith which it professes. For some churches, this applies even to the case of baptism in which the faith of the ages, understood in its most authentic sense, has to be proclaimed. The different expressions of the confessional doctrine known since the Reformation as confessions of faith (Augsburg, La Rochelle, Westminster, Philadelphia, etc.) need to affirm that faith. The goal to be attained through this mutual recognition is the common confession (in the classical sense of the word) of the common apostolic faith, the source of the koinonia among the churches which is so much wanting today. This common confession could then form the basis for all the other measures necessary for the return to visible unity.

Obviously, each church must ask itself in all honesty and sincerity to what extent, in its liturgical practice and its life of witness to the gospel, but also more immediately in its preaching and catechesis, it is in total harmony with what the churches in communion have from the beginning confessed as the true faith. To what extent is it faithful to the integrity of this faith? If it discovers itself to be unfaithful, in that it adheres only to chosen pieces of the given faith or to expurgated dogmas (sic), it is in need of renewal.

This examination of conscience is more necessary than ever today, for a number of reasons. On the one hand, fundamentalist movements are springing up all over the place, many of them questioning official teachings which they consider too vague or too liberal, and on the other, new opinions are creating a certain perplexity, even anxiety, in the churches. Is Jesus Christ the divine actor in a fairy tale, a preacher and instigator of an altruistic moral code, a likeable man deified after the event by his disciples—or is he the One celebrated in the liturgies of the Nativity and of Easter? Is the Church simply a human association of friends of Jesus, or does it have its origin in God’s purpose of leading humanity to communion in his Trinitarian life? Is the hope of eternal life simply a grandiose dream?

II. 1. An examination of this sort aiming at recognition of the faith and its present state in the churches in search of visible unity requires tools and instruments to guide it. For this purpose, the Commission on Faith and Order, after a consultation held in Rome in October 1983, chose to offer the churches an explication of—or extended commentary on—the ecumenical Creed of Nicea and Constantinople (381), received by the Council of Chalcedon (451) as bearing witness to the traditional faith.

The Commission was of course aware of the position of some churches which do not use creedal statements, either for fear it may lead to formalism at the expense of the personal commitment of individual Christians to their faith, or because they do not want to put pressure on consciences. But it also knew that the doctrine of these churches corresponds in fact to what is expressed in the articles of the Creed. As the primary aim was not to impose the use of the latter but only to present its doctrine, this choice did not violate the traditions of those churches. Moreover, the Commission had been at pains to elicit studies in which Christian communities of different languages and cultures and various traditions expressed the baptismal faith in their own words. The essential thing was the content. It did not, however, abandon the hope that, in certain circumstances, all the churches might unite in reciting together the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed—which would be a magnificent sign of koinonia in the faith.

2. Why was this Creed chosen? At a time when erroneous positions on Christ and the Holy Spirit were already tearing the Church apart, the Ecumenical Councils set forth the faith of the apostolic community which it is the Church’s mission to safeguard, defend, and transmit. The essential truths of this faith were summarized and articulated in creeds or confessions of faith, most often in the liturgical context of baptism.

The creedal statement known as the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed is a typically Eastern creed, the core of which dates back to the Council of Nicea (325), while its third article is linked with the Council of Constantinople (381). Because it is used in the liturgies of both East and West it is undoubtedly the best witness to the unity of the churches in the apostolic faith, as Faith and Order affirmed at Lausanne (1927). It reminds all Christians and all communities of their faith, and links it with the faith of all ages and all places. The churches of the Reformation have included it in their creedal books as a reference text that objectively expresses the faith, making no concessions to religious sentimentality, and drawing directly on Scripture.

3. Faith and Order presents the text of this Creed and offers an explication of its content. The latter is the fruit of long and painstaking work entrusted to a small team called the Steering Group. But the group did not work all by itself, indeed it was concerned to involve as many theologians of all confessions and denominations as possible, through international consultations and meetings. Besides this, a first draft of the study document, published in 1987 (Faith and Order Paper No. 140), brought an impressive number of reactions, comments, and suggestions from members of the Commission, theologians, theological faculties, ecumenical institutes, ecumenical conferences, national Faith and Order commissions, and National Councils of Churches. This material was carefully examined and further developed by the Steering Group over a period of more than three years. In 1990 at Dunblane (Scotland), the Standing Commission approved the new version of the document entirely revised and corrected on this basis. It authorized its publication, and the study document was duly sent to the churches for further study and consideration.

4. This is not a consensus, nor even a convergence text, but an instrument offered to the churches to assist them as they reflect on and seek to recognize the apostolic faith. This is why we were careful to include in each section an explication for today, intended to present the traditional doctrine in language appropriate for our times.

III. 1. To assist the churches in this reflection on the common faith, the meeting of the Standing Commission (known at that time as the Board) in Bangkok in 1996 approved the publication of a small study guide for use in group discussions or for more personal study. This small, 30-page booklet is written in very simple language, avoiding too many technical terms and including frequent references to the major biblical texts. It is intended to be accessible to all circles in the churches and seeks to link the Creed to questions of faith and practice, without addressing these directly, following the literary genre of the catechism. Its aim is above all pastoral.

This document should not be taken as a substitute for the study Confessing the One Faith, however. It can serve as a helpful introduction to reading the latter and understanding its structure, but it cannot replace it. Especially in the very complex situation described above, the churches and above all the men and women who carry particular responsibility for the teaching and safeguarding of the faith cannot content themselves with this shorter instrument. It was not written to provide all the light they need for examining the confession of the apostolic faith.

2. After a hiatus of three years while we awaited the responses of the churches, the time has now come to relaunch the program Towards a Common Expression of the Apostolic Faith Today. For this it was felt that a second edition of our working tool, the study Confessing the One Faith, should be prepared. Several reactions from participants in the Padare sessions at Harare—which unfortunately cannot be included in the official record of the eighth assembly because of the way these meetings were designed—expressed deep concern about the state of the faith in the churches. By its very vocation, Faith and Order is directly challenged here. With its study on hermeneutics, A Treasure in Earthen Vessels (1998), which dealt directly with the question of interpreting Scripture and the sources for communities living in different contexts, it clarified the method that will guide our thinking. The paper on The Nature and Purpose of the Church (1998) emphasized the need to reach a common understanding of Christian identity in a changing world (cf. no. 120). The ground has thus been laid for each church to set to work, taking to heart the questions being asked by its members, conscious of the growing malaise, and united with all the churches in their anxiety about the future of the faith. Faith and Order knows that no one can abdicate before a problem of this kind. It is a matter of our faithfulness to God himself. Will Christians one day be able to declare together before the world, in common confession and praise, their faith in who God is and what God has done?

IV. Understanding the sequence of the text is important, so emphasis is given to the following observations in sections 32–34 of the Introduction:

1. Confessing the One Faith is structured in three parts, following the three articles of the Creed. Each part consists of sections focusing on the main themes of each article. Further sub-divisions correspond to specific phrases in the text of the Creed that need explanation.

2. Each section begins with the introductory paragraphs indicating basic affirmations as well as