Version History
Current published version
Today's Business, Issue 2B. p. 294. Revised published proposal.
Official Resolution Source Text
Resolution: 5-13
Canonical number: 5-13
Committee: Theology and Church Relations
Source: Today's Business, Issue 1
Printed pages: pp. 108-109
PDF pages: 108-109
Version: original, superseded
Source reference: Issue 1, pp. 108-109
Line numbers follow Today's Business, Issue 1, with numbering reset on each printed page, so delegates can compare this page with the official PDF.
Page 108
- To Give Thanks to God for 1700th Anniversary of First Council of Nicaea
- RESOLUTION 5-13
- Overtures 5-37, 5-44 (CW, 358–59, 362)
- WHEREAS, The year 2025 marked the 1700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, its having begun in Asia
- Minor on May 20, A.D. 325; and
- WHEREAS, The First Council of Nicaea opposed Arianism and confessed the doctrine of the Holy Trinity from the
- Scriptures, that the Son is homoousios (“of the same substance”) with the Father, equal in power, majesty, and glory; and
- WHEREAS, The confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church are in concord with the ancient symbols of the faith,
- including the Nicene Creed; and The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod continues to confess the doctrine of the Holy
Page 109
- Trinity according to the Holy Scriptures and the ecumenical creeds, especially the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, which
- deal specifically with the nature of the eternal relations between the persons of the Holy Trinity; and
- WHEREAS, Heresies, errors, and other misunderstandings of the doctrine taught and confessed in these ancient
- ecumenical creeds are in need of renewed attention and response, including the eternal subordination of the Son (Carl L.
- Beckwith, “Eternal Subordination of the Son: Arianism Past and Present,” Concordia Theological Quarterly 89, no. 4
- [October 2025]: 307–28) and modern social trinitarian teachings that view God as an inherently relational being,
- emphasizing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three distinct, conscious persons with three distinct wills in an eternal,
- perichoretic, loving communion who serve as a model for human relationships, among others; and
- WHEREAS, Certain Christian groups have made a mockery of the ecumenical creeds by changing their language to
- accommodate views at odds with biblical theology, morality, and views of gender and sexuality; therefore be it
- Resolved, That the Synod in convention give thanks to God for the 1700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea;
- and be it further
- Resolved, That the Synod in convention encourage ongoing catechesis of pastors, church workers, and congregations
- in the classical trinitarian doctrine confessed by the one holy catholic and apostolic Church, for the sake of the Gospel and
- the right confession of the Triune God, especially as it is expounded in Luther’s catechisms; and be it finally
- Resolved, That the Synod task the Commission on Theology and Church Relations with producing a study of the texts,
- theology, and usage of the three ecumenical creeds and of the contemporary theological errors challenging those creeds
- and their doctrine for the sake of the edification of the church.
- The Chief Financial Officer and LCMS Accounting and Financial Services staff, in consultation with the Finance
- Committee, anticipate no significant incremental costs as the activity is understood to be within the existing scope and
- budget of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations (estimate required by Bylaw 3.1.7 [g]).
