The Filoque: Why is it important?

[ERose]

Anthony,

What you are arguing for is subordinationism which was one of the Arian fallacies. This was highly contested in the first 500 years of the existence of Christianity and granted it looked like for a while that Arianism would prevail. But the fact of the matter is that the Church teaches the Father, Son & Spirit are all equal in every aspect of their Divinity and Person.

Jesus humbles himself before His Father because that is what Love does. The Father exalts His Son because that is what Love does.

 

[anthony022071]

Anthony,

What you are arguing for is subordinationism which was one of the Arian fallacies. This was highly contested in the first 500 years of the existence of Christianity and granted it looked like for a while that Arianism would prevail. But the fact of the matter is that the Church teaches the Father, Son & Spirit are all equal in every aspect of their Divinity and Person.

Jesus humbles himself before His Father because that is what Love does. The Father exalts His Son because that is what Love does.

Nothing I’ve said equates with subordinationism.

The Father exalts the Son,but it is not said that the Father humbles himself before the Son. That is just a fact.

 

[ERose]

I didn’t deny that the Son is equal to the Father in divinity. I just pointed out that Jesus said that the Father was greater than he.
The Father is unbegotten,and the Son is begotten by the Father.
In that sense,the Father is greater than the Son.

That which is in bold is the definition of the relationship as per Arian. It is subordinationism.

 

[jimmy]

That which is in bold is the definition of the relationship as per Arian. It is subordinationism.

That is not Arianism. Arianism said that the Son was created. It is not subordinationism either.

 

[ERose]

That is not Arianism. Arianism said that the Son was created. It is not subordinationism either.

I guess I should not have used the term Arianism. But if one claims that that the Father is greater than the Son that is subordinationism. Arianism is a form of subordinationism but not the only form and is not the form proposed by Anthony. The Athanasian Creed declares that in the Trinity “none is before or after another: none is greater or less than another,” and as such the Father cannot be greater than the Son or the Son than the Father.

I know that this has devolved out of the subject of the thread so I will no longer comment on this subject here.

All I am saying is that the church teaches that the none in the Godhead are greater than the others. All are Equally God. One cannot claim that something is a greater perfection if both objects are absolutely perfect!

I did not mean to imply heresy. I just wanted to point out there was an error of thinking here.

Also for your info. The term “Subordinationism” as it refers to the Trinity is the claim that one or more of the Persons of the Trinity is subordinate in any way to another Person in the Trinity. Arianism is a form of Subordination, but not the form discussed here. Again I apologize.