Prologue — I - On the Articles of Faith

On the Articles of Faith

Prologue

Your charity asks me to write out for you, briefly and as a reminder, something on the articles of faith and the sacraments of the Church, together with the doubts that might be raised about them. But since the whole study of theologians turns on the doubts touching the articles of faith and the sacraments of the Church, if I wished to satisfy your request in full, I should have to take in, in summary, the difficult questions of all theology: and how laborious that would be, your prudence, I believe, perceives. So for the present let it suffice you if I briefly set out for you the articles of faith and the sacraments of the Church, and which errors are to be avoided concerning each of them.

First of all, then, you must know that the whole Christian faith turns on the divinity and the humanity of Christ; hence Christ, speaking with the voice of a man, says: You believe in God, believe also in me. Concerning each of these, some distinguish six articles and some seven; and so all the articles are said by some to be twelve, by others fourteen. The first, then, distinguish six articles concerning faith in the divinity in this way: for there are three things to consider concerning the divinity, namely the unity of the divine essence, the trinity of persons, and the effects of the divine power.

Part 1

On the Divinity of Christ

Article 1

On the Unity of the Divine Essence

The first article, then, is that we believe in the unity of the divine essence, according to Deut 6:4: Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one God. Concerning this article, several errors to be avoided present themselves. The first is that of the Gentiles or pagans, who hold that there are many gods; against them it is said in Exod 20:3: Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.

The second is the error of the Manichees, who hold that there are two first principles, one from which all good things come and another from which all evil things come; against them it is said in Isa 45:6-7: I am the Lord, and there is no other God, forming the light and creating darkness, making peace and creating evil; I the Lord that do all these things. God is said to create evil because, according to his justice, he inflicts the evil of punishment when he sees the evil of guilt in his creature.

The third is the error of the Anthropomorphites, who hold that there is one God but say that he is bodily and shaped after the manner of a human body; against them it is said in John 4:24: God is a spirit, and in Isaiah: To whom have you likened God, or what image will you set up for him?

The fourth is the error of the Epicureans, who say that God has neither knowledge nor providence of human affairs; against them it is said in the last chapter of 1 Peter: Casting all your care upon him, for he hath care of you.

The fifth is the error of certain pagan philosophers, who say that God is not almighty but can do only those things that come about by nature; against them it is said in the Psalm: Whatsoever the Lord pleased he hath done. All these, then, detract either from the unity of the divine essence or from its perfection; hence against all of them the Creed says: I believe in one God, the Father almighty.

Article 2

That There Are Three Divine Persons in One Essence

The second article is that there are three divine persons in one essence, according to the last chapter of 1 John: There are three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. Against this article there are several errors. The first is that of Sabellius, who held one essence but denied the Trinity of persons, saying that one person is called sometimes the Father, sometimes the Son, sometimes the Holy Spirit.

The second is the error of Arius, who held three persons but denied the unity of essence, saying that the Son is of another substance than the Father, a creature and less than the Father, neither coequal nor coeternal, but that he began to be after he had not been; and against these two errors the Lord says in John 10:30: I and the Father are one, because, as Augustine says, his saying "one" frees you from Arius, his saying "are", in the plural, frees you from Sabellius.

The third is the error of Eunomius, who held that the Son is unlike the Father; against him it is said in Col 1:15: Who is the image of the invisible God.

The fourth is the error of Macedonius, who held that the Holy Spirit is a creature; against him it is said in 2 Cor 3:17: Now the Lord is a Spirit.

The fifth is the error of the Greeks, who say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father but not from the Son; against them it is said in John 14:26: But the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, because the Father sends him as the Spirit of the Son and proceeding from the Son; and in John 16:14 it is said: He shall glorify me, because he shall receive of mine. And against all these errors the Creed says: I believe in God the Father, and in his Son, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father, and in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.

Article 3

On the Creation of Things

The other four articles of the divinity belong to the effects of the divine power. The first of them, which is the third, belongs to the creation of things in their natural being, according to the words: He spoke, and they were made. Against this article, Democritus and Epicurus erred first, holding that neither the matter of the world nor the very composition of the world is from God, but that the world was made by chance, through the meeting of indivisible bodies, which they thought the principles of things; against them it is said in the Psalm: By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, that is, according to an eternal reason and not by chance.

The second error is that of Plato and Anaxagoras, who held that the world was made by God, but out of pre-existing matter; against them it is said in the Psalm: He commanded, and they were created, that is, made out of nothing.

The third is the error of Aristotle, who held that the world was made by God, but from eternity; against him it is said in Gen 1:1: In the beginning God created heaven and earth.

The fourth is the error of the Manichees, who held that God is the creator of invisible things but that visible things were made by the devil; against them it is said in Heb 11:3: By faith we understand that the world was framed by the word of God, that from invisible things visible things might be made.

The fifth is the error of Simon Magus and Menander his disciple, and of many other heretics following them, who attribute the creation of the world not to God but to angels; against them Paul says in Acts 17:24: God, who made the world and all things therein, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, and so on.

The sixth is the error of those who said that God does not govern the world by himself but through certain powers subject to him; against them it is said in Job 34:13: What other hath he appointed over the earth? Or whom hath he set over the world which he made? And against these errors the Creed says: Maker — or creator — of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.

Article 4

On the Effects of Grace

The fourth article belongs to the effects of grace, by which we are justified by God, according to Rom 3:24: Being justified freely by his grace, that is, God's. And under this article are comprised all the sacraments of the Church, and whatever belongs to the unity of the Church, the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the justice of men. And since the sacraments of the Church will be treated later, let us leave them aside for the moment and set out the other errors against this article. The first of them is that of Cerinthus and Ebion, and also of the Nazarenes, who said that the grace of Christ is not enough for salvation unless one keeps circumcision and the other commandments of the Law; against them it is said in Rom 3:28: We account a man to be justified by faith without the works of the law.

The second is the error of the Donatists, who held that the grace of Christ remained only in Africa, because the whole rest of the world was in communion with Caecilian, bishop of Carthage, whom they had condemned, and in this they denied the unity of the Church; against them it is said in Col 3:11 that in Christ Jesus there is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

The third is the error of the Pelagians, who first denied that original sin is in little children, against what the Apostle says in Rom 5:12: By one man sin entered into this world; and in the Psalm it is said: For behold I was conceived in iniquities. Secondly, they say that the beginning of a good work comes to man from himself, but its completion from God; against what the Apostle says in Phil 2:13: It is God who worketh in us both to will and to accomplish, according to his good will. Thirdly, they say that grace is given to men according to their merits, against what the Apostle says in Rom 11:6: And if by grace, it is not now by works; otherwise grace is no more grace.

The fourth error is that of Origen, who held that all souls were created together with the angels, and that according to the difference of what they did there, some men are called by God through grace and others are left in unbelief; against which the Apostle says in Rom 9:11-12: When the children were not yet born, nor had done any good or evil, it was said that the elder shall serve the younger.

The fifth error is that of the Cataphrygians, that is, of Montanus, Prisca and Maximilla, who say that the prophets were as though possessed, and that they did not prophesy by the Holy Spirit; against them it is said in 2 Pet 1:21: For prophecy came not at any time by the will of man, but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Spirit. They also say that the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled not in the Apostles but in themselves, against what is said in Acts 2.

The sixth is the error of Cerdo, who first said that the God of the Law and the Prophets is not the father of Christ, nor a good God but a just one, while the father of Christ is good, whom the Manichees also followed in rejecting the Law; against them it is said in Rom 7:12: The law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good; and in Rom 1:2 it is said: Which he had promised before by his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son.

The seventh is the error of those who maintain that certain things belonging to the perfection of life are necessary for salvation: some of them, who most arrogantly called themselves Apostolics, think that those who live with their wives and own property have no hope of salvation. Others, namely the Tatianists, do not eat meat and utterly abhor it, according to the Apostle's words in 1 Tim 4:3, teaching men to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving by the faithful. The Euchites say that men cannot be saved unless they pray continually, because of what the Lord says in Luke 18:1: We ought always to pray, and not to faint: which, according to Augustine, is understood to mean that the fixed times of prayer are not to be left out on any day. Others again, who are called Passalorynchites, are so given to silence that they put a finger to their nostrils and lips: for in Greek passalos means a stake and rhynchos a nose. Some also said that a man cannot be saved unless he always goes barefoot. Against all of these the Apostle says in 1 Cor 10:22: All things are lawful for me, but not all things are expedient: from which we are given to understand that, although some things are taken up by holy men as expedient, their opposites are not on that account made unlawful.

The eighth error is that of those who say, on the contrary, that the works of perfection are not to be preferred to the common life of the faithful: as Jovinian held that virginity is not preferred to marriage, against what is said in 1 Cor 7:38: He that giveth his daughter in marriage doth well, and he that giveth her not doth better; and as Vigilantius, who made the state of those who own riches equal to the state of poverty taken up for Christ's sake, against whom the Lord says in Matt 19:21: If thou wilt be perfect, go sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor.

The ninth error is that of those who deny free will, as one did who said that souls of an evil creation cannot but sin; against which it is said in 1 John 2:1: These things I write to you, that you may not sin.

The tenth error is that of the Priscillianists and also of the astrologers, who say that men are bound to fatal stars, so that their works are subject to the necessity of the heavenly bodies; against them it is said in Jer 10:2: Be not afraid of the signs of heaven, which the heathens fear.

The eleventh error is that of those who say that men who have the grace of God and charity cannot sin, so that they maintain that those who sometimes sin never had charity; against them it is said in Rev 2:4-5: Thou hast left thy first charity; be mindful from whence thou art fallen.

The twelfth error is that of those who say that what the Church of God everywhere keeps is not to be observed: as the Aerians, who say that the appointed fasts are not to be solemnly kept, but that each should fast when he wishes, lest he seem to be under the law; and as the Tessaradecatitae, that is, the Quartodecimans, who say that Easter is to be kept on the fourteenth day of the moon, on whatever day of the week it falls; and the same holds of whatever the Church has established. And against all these errors the Apostles' Creed says: The holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins; and the Creed of the Fathers says: Who spoke through the prophets; and one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church; I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

Article 5

On the Resurrection of the Dead

The fifth article is on the resurrection of the dead, of which it is said in 1 Cor 15:51: We shall all indeed rise again; and against it too there are very many errors. The first of them is the error of Valentinus, who denied the resurrection of the flesh, and whom many heretics have also followed; against him it is said in 1 Cor 15:12: Now if Christ be preached, that he arose from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

The second is the error of Hymenaeus and Philetus, of whom the Apostle says that they have fallen from the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past: either because they believed in no resurrection but a spiritual one, or because they said that no others would rise but those who rose with Christ.

The third error is that of certain heretics of our own day, who say that there will be a resurrection, but not of the same bodies: rather, souls will take up certain heavenly bodies; against them the Apostle says in 1 Cor 15:53: This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

The fourth is the error of Eutychius, patriarch of Constantinople, who held that in the resurrection our bodies will be like air or wind, as Gregory relates in the fourteenth book of the Morals; against which stands the fact that the Lord, after his resurrection, offered his body to his disciples to be touched, saying in the last chapter of Luke: Handle, and see; while the Apostle nonetheless says in Phil 3:21 that he will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of his glory.

The fifth error is that of those who say that in the resurrection human bodies will be turned into spirit; against them it is said in the last chapter of Luke: A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see me to have.

The sixth is the error of Cerinthus, who tells the fable of a thousand years to come after the resurrection in an earthly kingdom of Christ, in which carnal men will have the pleasures of the belly and of lust; against him it is said in Matt 22:30: In the resurrection they shall neither marry nor be married.

Some also said that after the resurrection of the dead the world will remain in the same state in which it is now; against them it is said in Rev 21:1: I saw a new heaven and a new earth, and the Apostle says in Rom 8:21 that the creature itself also shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption, into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. And against all these errors it is said: The resurrection of the flesh, and in the other Creed: I look for the resurrection of the dead.

Article 6

On the Reward of the Good and the Punishment of the Wicked

The sixth article belongs to the last effect of the divinity, which is the reward of the good and the punishment of the wicked, according to the words of the Psalm: Thou wilt render to every man according to his works. And about this too there were many errors. The first of them is that of those who say that the soul dies with the body, as the Arabian asserts, or else after a short interval, as Zeno said, as is related in the book On Church Dogmas; against which the Apostle says in Phil 1:23: Having a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ, and Rev 6:9: I saw under the altar of God the souls of them that were slain for the word of God.

The second error is that of Origen, who held that the demons and damned men can be purged again and return to glory, and that holy angels and blessed men can again be led into evil; which is against the authority of the Lord in Matt 25:46: These shall go into everlasting punishment, but the just into life everlasting.

The third is the error of those who say that all the rewards (of the good) and all the punishments of the wicked will be equal; against the first of these it is said in 1 Cor 15:41-42: Star differeth from star in glory: so also is the resurrection of the dead; against the second, in Matt 11:22: It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.

The fourth is the error of those who say that the souls of the wicked do not go down to hell at once after death, and that no souls of the saints enter paradise before the day of judgment; against them it is said in Luke 16:22 that the rich man also died, and he was buried in hell, and in 2 Cor 5:1 it is said: If our earthly house of this habitation be dissolved, we have a house not made with hands, kept in heaven.

The fifth is the error of those who say that there is no purgatory of souls after death, that is, of those who die in charity and have something to be purged; against them it is said in 1 Cor 3:12-15: If any man build upon this foundation — namely, of faith working through love — wood, hay, stubble, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. And against these errors the Creed says: Life everlasting. Amen, or The life of the world to come.

Those, however, who assign seven articles concerning faith in the divinity distinguish them in this way: the first is on the unity of the essence, the second on the person of the Father, the third on the person of the Son, the fourth on the person of the Holy Spirit, the fifth on the effect of creation, the sixth on the effect of justification, the seventh on the effect of reward, in which they include the resurrection and eternal life. And so, by dividing the second of the six articles above into three and joining the fifth and sixth into one, they arrive at seven articles; nor does it matter, as regards the truth of the faith or the avoiding of errors, how they are distinguished.

Part 2

On the Humanity of Christ

Article 1

On the Conception and Birth of Christ

It remains now to consider the articles that belong to the humanity of Christ. Concerning it, too, some distinguish six articles, the first of which is on the conception and birth of Christ, according to what is said in Isa 7:14, and taken up in Matt 1:23: Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel. And about this there were many errors. The first was that of those who said that Christ was a mere man, and that he did not always exist but took his beginning from the Virgin Mary: and this is the error of Carpocrates and Cerinthus and Ebion and Paul of Samosata and Photinus; against them it is said in Rom 8: Of whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all things, God blessed for ever. Amen.

The second error is that of the Manichees, who say that Christ did not have a true body but an imaginary one; against which the Lord, in the last chapter of Luke, rebukes the error of his disciples, who being troubled and frighted, supposed that they saw a spirit; and Matt 14:26: Seeing him walking upon the sea, the disciples were troubled, saying: It is an apparition. And they cried out for fear, whose opinion the Lord removed, saying: Be of good heart: it is I, fear ye not.

The third error is that of Valentinus, who said that Christ brought a heavenly body with him and took nothing from the Virgin, but passed through her as through a stream or a pipe, without any flesh taken from her; against which it is said in Gal 4:4: God sent his Son, made of a woman.

The fourth is the error of Apollinaris, who said that something of the Word was turned or changed into flesh, and not that flesh was taken from the flesh of Mary, because of what is said in John 1:14: The Word was made flesh, understanding by this that the Word was turned into flesh; against which there follows at once in the same place: And dwelt among us. But he would not have dwelt wholly in our nature had he been turned into flesh; so it is to be understood thus: The Word was made flesh, that is, the Word was made man, for flesh is often taken so in the Scriptures, according to Isa 40:5: All flesh together shall see that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.

The fifth error is that of Arius, who held that Christ did not have a human soul, but that the Word took the place of the soul; against which it is said in John 10:18: No man taketh my soul away from me, but I lay it down, and I take it up again.

The sixth error is that of Apollinaris, who, when he was convinced by the testimony just cited and by others that Christ had a human soul, held that Christ did not have a human intellect, but that the Word of God took the place of his intellect; against which the Lord confesses himself to be a man, in John 8:40: You seek to kill me, a man who have spoken the truth to you: but he would not have been a man had he lacked a rational soul.

The seventh error is that of Eutyches, who held in Christ one nature compounded of divinity and humanity; against which the Apostle says that being in the form of God, he took the form of a servant, Phil 2:6-7, clearly distinguishing in him two natures, the divine and the human.

The eighth error is that of the Monothelites, who hold in Christ one knowledge, one operation and one will; against which the Lord says in Matt 26:39: Not as I will, but as thou wilt, where there is clearly set in Christ a human will distinct from the divine will, which is common to the Father and the Son.

The ninth error is that of Nestorius, who held that Christ is perfect God and perfect man, and yet said that the person of God is one and the person of the man another, and that the union of God and man was made not in the one person of Christ but only by the indwelling of grace; so that he denies that the Blessed Virgin is the Mother of God, saying that she is the mother of the man Christ; against which it is said in Luke 1:35: The Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

The tenth error is that of Carpocrates, who is said to have thought that the man Christ was born of both parents; against which it is said in Matt 1:18: Before they came together, she was found with child, of the Holy Spirit.

The eleventh error is that of Helvidius, who said that after the Blessed Virgin gave birth to Christ, she bore several sons by Joseph; against which it is said in Ezek 44:2: This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall pass through it, because the Lord the God of Israel hath entered in by it. And against all these errors the Apostles' Creed says: Who — that is, the Son of God — was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary; and the Creed of the Fathers: Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.

Article 2

On the Passion and Death of Christ

The second article is on the passion and death of Christ, as the Lord himself foretold, saying in Matt 20:18-19: Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be betrayed to the chief priests, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to be mocked, and scourged, and crucified. And about this article there is first the error of the Manichees, who, as they assert that the body of Christ was imaginary, so think that the passion of Christ took place not in truth but in appearance; against which it is said in Isa 53:4: Surely he hath borne our infirmities, and: He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, which is also cited in Acts 8:32.

The second is the error of Gaianus, who held one nature in Christ, but an incorruptible and immortal one; against which it is said in 1 Pet 3:18: Christ also died once for our sins. And against these errors the Creed sets: Crucified, dead and buried.

Article 3

On the Descent to Hell

The third article is on the descent to hell: for we believe that the soul of Christ went down to hell while his body lay in the tomb, Eph 4:9: He descended first into the lower parts of the earth. Hence the Creed says: He descended into hell; which is against certain people who held that Christ did not go down to hell in his own person, although Peter says in Acts 2:31 that he was not left in hell.

Article 4

On the Resurrection of Christ

The fourth article is on the resurrection of Christ, as he himself said in Matt 20:19: The third day he shall rise again. And about this article Cerinthus erred first, maintaining that Christ has not risen but will rise; against which it is said in 1 Cor 15:4: He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures.

The second error is the one laid to Origen's charge: that Christ will suffer again for the salvation of the demons; against which it is said in Rom 6:9: Christ rising again from the dead dieth now no more, death shall no more have dominion over him. And against these errors the Creed says: The third day he rose again from the dead.

Article 5

On the Ascension of Christ into Heaven

The fifth article is on the ascension of Christ into heaven, of which he himself says in John 20:17: I ascend to my Father and to your Father. About this the Seleucians err, who deny that the Saviour sits in the flesh at the right hand of God the Father, but (say) that he put it off and placed it in the sun; against which it is said in the last chapter of Mark: And the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God. Hence the Creed says: He ascended into heaven, he sits at the right hand of the Father.

Article 6

On His Coming for Judgment

The sixth article is on the coming for judgment, of which the Lord himself says in Matt 25:31: And when the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty, and so on; and Peter says in Acts 10:42: It is he who was appointed by God to be judge of the living and of the dead, that is, of the good and the wicked, or of those who have already died and of those who will be found alive at Christ's coming. And about this err those of whom it is said in 2 Pet 3:3-4: In the last days there shall come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts, saying: Where is now his promise or his coming? Against them it is said in Job 19:29: Flee then from the face of the sword, for the sword is the revenger of iniquities, and know ye that there is a judgment; hence the Creed says: From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.

Those, however, who set seven articles of the humanity divide the first article into two, putting the conception of Christ under one article and his birth under another.