8. “Evangelical” will be defined as theology that attempts to honor the notion of the historic Trinity, the “inerrancy of Scripture” (properly understood according to its literary “genres”), and the authority of Scripture above the authority of “tradition.”
9. Clement, First Epistle to the Corinthians, 1:17.
10. Nielsen, “Clement of Rome and Moralism,” 142.
11. Ibid., 142.
12. Athanasius, Historia Arianorum, cc. 33–34.
13. According to Arius, there was no distinction drawn between the Son being begotten and being created; though the Son was the “first” created being, he also had a beginning and there was a time when the Son did not exist.
14. Arius, as quoted by Athanasius, Orations against the Arians, 1.6.
15. Athanasius, De decretis Nicaenae synodi, c. 27.
16. Morrison, Tradition and Authority, 63.
17. Thomas, The Holy Spirit of God, 78.
18. Ibid., 85.
19. Swete, The Holy Spirit in the Ancient Church, 169.
20. Ibid., 169.
21. See Gregg and Groh, Early Arianism; also Badcock, Light of Truth and Fire of Love, 47–48.
22. Badcock, Light of Truth and Fire of Love, 50. This shift in thinking is illustrated by the emergence of the word theologia, which refers to the doctrine of the “immanent Trinity,” as opposed to oikonomia, or economy, referring to everything else that the Trinity does in relation to creation (see LaCugna, God with Us, 37ff.).
23. Athanasius, “First Letter to Serapion,” 129–30.
24. Ibid., 129–30.
25. Hanson points out that “Athanasius unmistakably believed in the sufficiency and primacy of Scripture for doctrinal purposes . . . showing that he desired to prove tradition from Scripture” (Hanson, “Basil’s Doctrine of Tradition in Relation to the Holy Spirit,” 243). Athanasius says, “It is our task now to search the Bible and to examine and judge when it is speaking about the divinity of the Word, and when about his humanity” (Athanasius, “Third Letter to Serapion,” 2.8).
26. Athanasius, “Third Letter to Serapion,” 2.28.
27. Athanasius, “First Letter to Serapion,” 22.121.
28. Gregory of Nazianzus, “On the Holy Spirit,” 325–26.
29. Badcock, Light of Truth and Fire of Love, 54.
30. Eunomius, quoted by Augustine, de Haeresae, LIV.
31. Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit, vol. 3, 29.
32. Swete, On the Early History of the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, 63.
33. Badcock, Light of Truth and Fire of Love, 55.
34. Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit, 31.
35. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Baptism of Christ, 5:519.
36. Gregory of Nazianzus, Select Orations, XL:41.
37. Ibid., V:3.
38. Ibid., V:4.
39. Ibid., V:10.
40. Badcock, Light of Truth and Fire of Love, 57.
41. Kelly, Early Christian Creeds, 97–98.
42. Frame states that “Lord is the name God gives to himself as head of the Mosaic Covenant and the name given to Jesus Christ as head of the New Covenant” and cites the following Scriptures as examples: Exod 3:13–15; 6:1–8; 20:1–2; John 8:58; Acts 2:36; Rom 14:9 (Frame, The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, 11–12). Lord” (Yahweh in Hebrew, kyrios in Greek) is also the name given in the New Testament to the exalted Christ (Acts 2:36; Rom 14:9) and to the Spirit (2 Cor 3:17–18).
43. Frame, The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, 13 (emphasis his).
44. Frame adds, “It is important to see the three lordship attributes as forming a unit, not as separate from one another. God is ‘simple’ in the theological sense (not compounded of parts), so there is a sense in which if you have one attribute you have them all” (Frame, The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, 17). Frame does interrelate these attributes further: “God’s control, according to Scripture, involves authority, for God controls even the structure of truth and rightness. . . . Authority involves control, for God’s commands presuppose His full ability to enforce them. Authority involves presence, for God’s commands are clearly revealed and are the means by which God acts in our midst to bless and curse. . . . Presence involves authority, for God is never present apart form His Word” (17–18). Nevertheless, these three critical attributes can and should be discerned when God’s “Lordship” is revealed in Scripture, so that divine authority might not be confused with divine power or presence, particularly when discerning divine “authority” within the world or church community
