L5: The Humanity of Christ
The Chalcedonian Creed
In 451 A.D., a council of churches met to write a faithful confession of the Bible’s testimony to Jesus’s identity. Today, we call the statement they crafted “The Chalcedonian Creed” or “The Chalcedonian Definition.”
In summary, the creed confesses that Jesus is one person, who is both fully God and fully man. We present this creed here as a faithful summary and trustworthy guide to the Bible’s witness to Jesus as God the Son Incarnate:
The Chalcedonian Creed
We, then, following the holy Fathers,
all with one consent,
teach men to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood;
truly God and truly man,
of a reasonable [rational] soul and body;
consubstantial [co-essential] with the Father according to the Godhead,
and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood;
in all things like unto us, without sin;
begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead,
and in these latter days,
for us and for our salvation,
born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the Manhood;
one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten,
to be acknowledged in two natures,
inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably;
the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union,
but rather the property of each nature being preserved,
and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence,
not parted or divided into two persons,
but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ;
as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning Him,
and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us,
and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.
(Quoted from CCEL)
How does the Chalcedonian Creed help us understand the Bible’s testimony to Jesus?
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