COMMENTAIRE DE L’ARTICLE 2 DU CREDO : LE FILS, DE LA MÊME NATURE QUE LE PÈRE OU LE FILS CONSUBSTANTIEL AU PÈRE ?

Abstract

Commentary to Article 2 of the Creed: The Son, of the same Substance with the Father or the Son - Consubstantial with the Father? The Trinity's dogma of consubstantiality established at the first Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, in 325 AD, is a fundamental truth of the Christian faith. It guarantees the divine identity of Christ, the perfect and substantial unity of the Holy Trinity, but also the identity of the Church which has a Trinitarian origin and mission. If the Greek and Latin text created at the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea is unchanged, the French version of the Faith Symbol was changed in 1964. The expression “Son, of the same substance as the Father” was changed to another expression which does not underline enough the divinity of Christ “Son, of the same nature as the Father”. The philosophy's exam proves that the term nature is ambiguous, because it can be applied to human being, to the entire creation and to God. Beginning with the first Sunday of the Advent 2019, the French version of the Faith Symbol will reinstate the term used since 325, “Son, of the same substance as the Father” (homoousios). The testimony of the Trinitarian faith cannot be changed in its basis, it supposes an exact terminology.