speratus said: Even Ravi's generic statement of faith is unacceptable to me: "We believe Jesus Christ to be true God and in His incarnation to have been true man." Many heretical sects teach that Jesus was true man but no longer is.
Speratus,
I'm a bit confused by your point. Elswhere you stated:
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speratus said:
Wes,
The words can be interpreted two difference ways. One way invents a Christ who saves no one. To guard against this heresy, I would recommend that Ravi confess the Athanasian Creed.
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Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe faithfully the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right faith is, that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man; God of the Substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man of the substance of His mother, born in the world; Perfect God and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood; Who, although He be God and Man, yet He is not two, but one Christ: One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking the manhood into God; One altogether; not by confusion of Substance, but by unity of Person."
I don't see that the creed you sited meets your other requirement of confessing that Jesus remains man. Can't someone who confesses this creed equally believe that Jesus is God and man (now) but will not be throughout eternity? The creed you quote speaks of the present, but is it a perpetual present? I'm not trying to give you a hard time; I am just trying to point out that it's hard to pass under such scrutiny. I don't think that Ravi's statement about the incarnation may be manipulated to imply something that he clearly does not say. Nor should the creed be twisted into saying such a thing.
Ravi stated:
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We believe there is one God who is infinitely perfect, existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe Jesus Christ to be true God and in His incarnation to have been true man. He was born of the Virgin Mary, conceived by the Holy Spirit, died for our sins and was raised from the dead for our justification. He is now seated at the right hand of God in majesty, making intercession as our High Priest.
Unless Ravi changed the meaning of who "he" is, Jesus is still God and man in one person. I don't think it is fair to require of Ravi that he need to be more explicit than he has been. Don't get me wrong, it would have been nice had he aligned himself with the historic creeds of the church, but I don't think it was necessary.
