Summary
The influence of the Greek philosophy of Neo-Platonism caused
the problem of the Trinity. The Neo-Platonic attempted solution of the
philosophical problems of the one and the many (Is reality one or many?)
and of change (Is change real?) created for Christian theology the problem
of how could the three members of the Trinity be one God. The
theological solutions proposed by Origen and Augustine are nothing more
than Neoplatonism dressed up in Christian terminology.
From the Christian view of reality, the Neo-Platonic attempt to solve these philosophical problems reduced God to an impersonal being, an super "It", and ignored the fundamental ontological difference between God as the Creator and all other beings as created. Even the solutions proposed by Augustine is the solution proposed by the Greek philosophers (Neoplatonism) dressed up in Christian terminology. Augustine's solution is Neoplatonism with the emanations intrepreted as creation and the difference between the Creator and His creation as the difference between the One infinite Being as God and the many as all finite beings. In this Christian (?) philosophy, God is the One and the Unchanging (without change) and the creation is the many and changing. This solution to the problems of change and of the one and the many is nothing more than the Greek view of reality dressed up in Christian terminology. The Greek view of reality said that the one and the unchanging only is real and the many and the changing are unreal and/or only appearance.
The Biblical view of reality is that the Creator is both one and many, the Trinity, the three in one. And the being of this Triune God is personal, not an impersonal super-It. The many of the Trinity are three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three Persons of the Trinity are one being, homoousia; that is, they are uncreated, without beginning or end; they have existed forever, neither coming into existence nor will they ever cease to exist, thus unchanging. But as the Living God, this triune God make changes; they decided to create, "Let us make..." This triune God is both unchanging and changing. That is, this eternal God has sovereignly chosen to create everything that is not-God, "the heavens and the earth." This creation is real, but it is not ultimately real; and it is not just an appearance, but it has its own created reality. The difference between the Creator and his creation is not the difference between Being and non-Being or Being and Becoming, but it is the difference between uncreated being and created being; that is, there are two levels of being, and the uncreated level of being has created the created level of being.
This Christian view of reality is summarized in
The "Nicene" Creed of the Council of Chalcedon.
It reads:
We believe in one God, the Father, ruler of all,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all ages,
light from light,
true God from true God,
begotten not made,
of one substance (homoousios) 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 Spirit and the Virgin Mary,
and became man,
and was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate,
and suffered and was buried,
and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures,
and ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of the Father,
and will come again with glory to judge the quick and the dead,
Whose kingdom shall have no end.
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life,
Who proceeds from the Father,
Who with the Father and Son together is worshipped and glorified,
Who spake through the prophets in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
This creed is now included in the proceedings of the First Council of Constantinople, A.D. 381, a place which is confirmed in the decrees of the 5th and 6th sessions on 22 and 25 October A.D. 451, respectively, of the Council of Chalcedon. Although its exact pedigree is a matter of speculation, its theology is clearly the same as the orthodoxy proclaimed by the 150 fathers of the First Council of Constantinople, A.D. 381.
When we compare this Creed with the one of the Council of Nicaea, A.D. 325, we find that the third article on the Holy Spirit is highly developed and there is explicit recognition of a resurrection of the "dead" (not of the "flesh"). And there is a strong Western influence throughout. The first article combines "heaven and earth" with "visible and invisible", thereby linking West and East, biblical imagery and philosophical accuraccy. The second article makes a specific reference to the suffering of Jesus on the cross, tying it literally to the witness of Scripture. This makes considerable advance on the earlier creed, and is not typical of the Eastern tradition. The only oddity is the ommision of "died" between "suffered" and "was buried", which preserves the Eastern reluctance to mention the fact of Christ's death too openly. Lastly, the final article contains a non-Trinitarian appendix which also reflects a Western, rather than an Eastern, model.
After A.D. 451, this Creed, slightly adapted for personal and liturgical use, was accepted as authoritative by East and West alike. It is the only credal statement to be recognized by all branches of the Christian Church. At first it was recited mainly at baptisms, but gradually it began to be said (not sung) during the Communion service as well. This practice began among the heretical Monophysites in A.D. 476, as an attempt on their part to be more orthodox than the orthodox. The Creed was introduced into the liturgy at Constantinople in A.D. 511 and after A.D. 589 it was used in Spain, though only as a preparation before the Communion service began.
Charlemagne eventually put the Creed in after the Gospel, sometime around the Year A.D. 798. This custom had reached him from England via Alcuin of York, and had originated in Ireland. It seems that the Irish monks had got the Creed from Spain, and they treated it with their characteristic originality! Eventually, about A.D. 1014, even Rome gave way and admitted the Creed to the liturgy, where it has remained ever since. For some unknown reason, the English Reformers dropped the word "holy" before "catholic and apostolic Church", and this curious form is preserved in the Book of Common Prayer; otherwise they did not modify it.
Non-liturgical churches have not incorporated it into their services, but all them have accepted its doctrine. More than any other document than the Scriptures, this "Nicene" Creed remains for all Christians the touchstone and guarantee of orthodox, biblical faith.
In writing this last part of the summary,
I have relied very heavily upon Gerald Bray's book,
Creeds, Councils & Christ
[Downers Grove, Illinois, USA: Inter-Varsity Press, 1984], pp. 116-118,
so that maybe I should put quotation marks around that part of the summary.
Thank you, Dr. Bray.