Reformed Creeds and Canons

The Athanasian Creed
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History

This creed is named after the Theologian Athanasius, who live from AD 293 to AD 373. It was Athanasius who championed the battle against the Arian heresy, which blatantly attacked the Trinity of God.

While Athanasius didn't actually write the creed, he is traditionally credited with it on behalf of his work and devotion to the gospel truth of the Trinity.

The Athanasian creed is of Latin origin, and is not recognized by the Eastern Orthodox church today.

Athanasius the Man

Athanasius was so hated by his Arian enemies that they called the "Black Dwarf" for his jet black hair and dark complexion.

As a child Athanasius lived among the monks and hermits in the Egyptian desert.

In AD 325, the same year that the Council of Nicea met he arrived as a distinguished Deacon. After establishing himself at the Church the chief elder fell sick and appointed Athanasius as overseer of the congregation at Nicea.

Athanasius wanted no part of administrative and leadership duties, so he retreated back to the security of his cloister in Egypt. After a period of contemplation, Athanasius returned to Nicea for his ordination as chief overseer and counselor.

At this time the Roman Emperor Constantine wanted peace among all professing Christians, even if it meant tolerating some false doctrines. The issue at question was the doctrine of the Trinity. Athanasius and Constantine soon clashed over Athanasius' refusal to restore the Arian leader, Arius, to the church's full communion, when he refused to repent. Constantine threatened to banish the Nicene leader, but Athanasius refused to restore the Arian heretic.

In AD 337 Emperor Constantine died. Upon his death-bed, one of Arian's followers baptized him, and the Roman Senate subsequently declared Constantine "Divine." Athanasius then returned to Alexandria.

After Constantine's death, Julian became Emperor. A rabid, anti-Christian, Julian cancelled all clergy privileges and suspended all political support. The churches of Eastern and Western Christianity were soon in chaos.

Yet, this persecution was exactly what was needed to unite both East and West. After only one year, both branches of Christianity began a campaign of immense cooperation.

Athanasius called for a synod of both supporters of the Nicene Creed and its opponents. He invited Arians and Christians alike to settle, once and for all, the dispute concerning the Trinity.

Julian feared Athanasius' ability to unite the Churches, so he sought for his arrest, forcing his exile. Athanasius fled to Egypt. As tradition has it, Julian's soldiers caught up with Athanasius sailing on the Nile River. They called to him and asked him if he had seen Athanasius. Athanasius answered truthfully, and said, "Yes. He is just ahead of you. If you hurry, you will overtake him." The soldiers hurried up the Nile passing Athanasius by, leaving him behind. Athanasius hid until Julian died, and a decade later, Athanasius died in Alexandria.

Accomplishments : The Holy Canon

Athanasius accomplished much during his life. While the Old Testament books were clearly the work of God, written by His inspiration, others were not. There was an onslaught of writings claiming to be inspired, but were in fact heresies. Christians needed to be able to distinguish which writings were inspired and which were not.

Two major criteria was initially used by the Church to make this distinction. The True canon (or standard), originally proposed, was apostolic origin and the use of writing in the churches.

Any gospel or letter written by one of the original apostles would be used as the divine standard. Paul was considered as an original apostle. Therefore, along with other apostolic writing, his letters were canonized as divine.

Yet, there were many other church writings which were being consider that clearly did not bear the mark of Divine authenticity. Although books and letters from Polycarp, Barnabus, Clement and Ignatius were valued and regarded highly, many were reluctant to label them as "inspired."

In AD 367 Athanasius wrote his widely circulated "Eastern Letter." In it he named the Twenty Seven books that we now call our New Testament. In his letter, he argued for their acceptance through careful Theological reasoning.

He allowed, and encouraged other books to be useful, as private devotions, but only the twenty-seven named should be viewed as Divine.

While his arguments were sound, the matter was not finally decided upon, confirmed, and adopted until the Council at Carthage in AD 397.

Athanasius list proved to be accurate to the letter, and the church has not deviated from it since.

The Athanasian Creed

Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith;
Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

And the catholic faith is this:

    That we worship one God in Trinity,
    and Trinity in Unity;
    Neither confounding the persons, nor dividing
    the substance.

    For there is one Person of the Father,
    another of the Son
    and another of the Holy Spirit.
    But the Godhead of the Father,
    of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is
    all one, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal.

Such as the Father is, such is the Son
and such is the Holy Spirit.

    The Father uncreate,
    the Son uncreate,
    and the Holy Spirit uncreate.
    The Father incomprehensible, the Son
      incomprehensible,
    and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible.

    The Father eternal,
    the Son eternal,
    and the Holy Spirit eternal.

    And yet they are not three eternals,
    but one eternal.

As also there are not three uncreated
nor three incomprehensibles,
but one uncreated
and one incomprehensible.

    So likewise the Father is almighty,
    the Son almighty,
    and the Holy Spirit almighty;
    And yet they are not three almighties,
    but one almighty.

    So the Father is God,
    the Son is God,
    and the Holy Spirit is God;

    And yet they are not three Gods,
    but one God.

So likewise the Father is Lord,
the Son Lord,
and the Holy Spirit Lord;

    And yet they are not three Lords,
    but one Lord.

For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord;

So are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say: There are three Gods or three Lords.

     The Father is made of none,
    neither created nor begotten.
    The Son is of the Father alone;
    not made nor created, but begotten.
    The Holy Spirit is of the Father
    and of the Son;
    neither made, nor created,
    nor begotten, but proceeding.

So there is one Father,
not three Fathers;
one Son, not three Sons;
one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.

And in this Trinity none is afore,
nor after another;
none is greater, or less than another.

But the whole three persons are co-eternal,
and co-equal.

    So that in all things, as aforesaid,
    the Unity in Trinity
    and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.

    He therefore that will be saved must thus
    think of the Trinity.

Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly 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 made 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 is God and man,
    yet He is not two, but one Christ.

    One, not by conversion of the Godhead into
    flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God.

    One altogether, not by the confusion of
    substance, but by unity of person.

    For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man,
    so God and man is one Christ;

    Who suffered for our salvation,
    descended into hell,
    rose again the third day from the dead;

    He ascended into heaven,
    He sitteth on the right hand of the Father,
    God Almighty;

    From thence He shall come to judge the living
    and the dead.

    At whose coming all men shall rise again with
    their bodies;

    And shall give account of their own works.

    And they that have done good shall go into life
    everlasting, and they that have done evil into
    everlasting fire.

This is the catholic faith,
which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.

Second Council of Constantinople
(553 AD)
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The History

The Second Council of Constantinople was called to resolve certain questions that were raised by the Definition of Chalcedon,the most important of which had to do with the unity of the two natures, God and man, is Jesus Christ. The Second Council of Constantinople continued where the first Council ended,confirming the Definition of Chalcedon, while emphasizing that Jesus Christ does not just embody God the Son, He is God the Son.

An easy way to understand the many Creeds, Confessions and Councils, is to understand that while the Church was young many heresies became popular. Each Council, took up the arguments and set out to formulate an accurate teaching from the Scriptures concerning each heresy.

Council of Nicea (325) - Christ is fully Divine

Council of Constantinople (381) - Christ is fully human

Council of Ephesus (431) - Christ is a unified Person

Council of Chalcedon (451) - Christ is human and Divine in one Person

Second Council Of Constantinople (553) - Confirmed Chalcedon's definition of the unity of Christ's natures

The Confession

I. If anyone does not confess that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one nature or essence, one power or authority, worshipped as a trinity of the same essence, one deity in three hypostases or persons, let him be anathema.

For there is one God and Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and one Holy Spirit, in whom are all things.

II. If anyone does not confess that God the Word was twice begotten, the first before all time from the Father, non-temporal and bodiless, the other in the last days when he came down from the heavens and was incarnate by the holy, glorious, God-bearer, ever-virgin Mary, and born of her, let him be anathema.

III. If anyone says that God the Word who performed miracles is one and Christ who suffered
is another, or says that God the Word was together with Christ who came from woman, or
that the Word was in him as one person is in another, but is not one and the same, our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, incarnate and become human, and that the wonders
and the suffering which he voluntarily endured in flesh were not of the same person, let him
be anathema.

IV. If anyone says that the union of the Word of God with man was only according to grace or function or dignity or equality of honor or authority or relation or effect or power or according to his good pleasure, as though God the Word was pleased with man, or
approved of him, as the raving Theodosius says;
or that the union exists according to similarity of name, by which the Nestorians call God the Word Jesus and Christ, designating the man separately as Christ and as Son, speaking thus clearly of two persons, but when it comes to his honor, dignity, and worship, pretend to say that there is one
person, one Son and one Christ, by a single designation;

and if he does not acknowledge,
as the holy Fathers have taught, that the union of God is made with the flesh animated by a
reasonable and intelligent soul, and that such union is according to synthesis or hypostasis,
and that therefore there is only one person, the Lord Jesus Christ one of the holy Trinity -
let him be anathema.

As the word "union" has many meanings, the followers of the impiety of Apollinaris and Eutyches, assuming the disappearance of the natures, affirm a union by confusion. On the other hand the followers of Theodore and of Nestorius rejoicing in the
division of the natures, introduce only a union of relation. But the holy Church of God, rejecting equally the impiety of both heresies, recognizes the union of God the Word with the flesh according to synthesis, that is according to hypostasis. For in the mystery of Christ the union according to synthesis preserves the two natures which have combined without confusion and without separation.

V. If anyone understands the expression - one hypostasis of our Lord Jesus Christ - so that
it means the union of many hypostases, and if he attempts thus to introduce into the mystery
of Christ two hypostases, or two persons, and, after having introduced two persons, speaks of one person according to dignity, honor or worship, as Theodore and Nestorius insanely have written; and if anyone slanders the holy synod of Chalcedon, as though it had used this expression in this impious sense, and does not confess that the Word of God is
united with the flesh hypostatically, and that therefore there is but one hypostasis or one
person, and that the holy synod of Chalcedon has professed in this sense the one hypostasis of our Lord Jesus Christ; let him be anathema.

For the Holy Trinity, when God the Word was incarnate, was not increased by the addition of a person or hypostasis.

VI. If anyone says that the holy, glorious, and ever-virgin Mary [Note: The claim that Mary
is "ever-virgin" is Roman Catholic folklore. (Jonathan Barlow)] is called God-bearer by misuse of language and not truly, or by analogy, believing that only a mere man was born of her and that God the Word was not incarnate of her, but that the incarnation of
God the Word resulted only from the fact that he united himself to that man who was born of her;

if anyone slanders the Holy Synod of Chalcedon as though it had asserted the Virgin to be God-bearer according to the impious sense of Theodore; or if anyone shall call her manbearer or Christbearer, as if Christ were not God, and shall not confess that she is truly God-bearer, because God the Word who before all time was begotten of the Father was in these last days incarnate of her, and if anyone shall not confess that in this pious sense the holy Synod of Chalcedon confessed her to be God-bearer: let him be anathema.

VII. If anyone using the expression, "in two natures," does not confess that our one Lord Jesus
Christ is made known in the deity and in the manhood, in order to indicate by that expression a difference of the natures of which the ineffable union took place without confusion, a union in which neither the nature of the Word has changed into that of the flesh, nor that of the flesh into that of the Word (for each remained what it was by nature,
even when the union by hypostasis had taken place); but shall take the expression with
regard to the mystery of Christ in a sense so as to divide the parties, let him be anathema.

Or if anyone recognizing the number of natures in the same our one Lord Jesus Christ, God the Word incarnate, does not take in contemplation only the difference of the natures which compose him, which difference is not destroyed by the union between them - for one is composed of the two and the two are in one - but shall make use of the number two to divide the natures or to make of them persons properly so called, let him be anathema.

VIII. If anyone confesses that the union took place out of two natures or speaks of the one incarnate nature of God the Word and does not understand those expressions as the holy Fathers have taught, that out of the divine and human natures, when union by hypostasis took place, one Christ was formed; but from these expressions tries to introduce one nature or essence of the Godhead and manhood of Christ; let him be anathema.

For in saying that the only-begotten Word was united by hypostasis personally we do not mean
that there was a mutual confusion of natures, but rather we understand that the Word was united to the flesh, each nature remaining what it was. Therefore there is one Christ, God and man, of the same essence with the Father as touching his Godhead, and of the same essence with us as touching his manhood.

Therefore the Church of God equally rejects and
anathematizes those who divide or cut apart or who introduce confusion into the mystery of the divine dispensation of Christ.

IX. If anyone says that Christ ought to be worshipped in his two natures, in the sense that he
introduces two adorations, the one peculiar to God the Word and the other peculiar to the man; or if anyone by destroying the flesh, or by confusing the Godhead and the humanity, or by contriving one nature or essence of those which were united and so worships Christ, and does not with one adoration worship God the Word incarnate with his own flesh, as the Church of God has received from the beginning; let him be anathema.

X. If anyone does not confess that our Lord Jesus Christ who was crucified in the flesh is true
God and the Lord of Glory and one of the Holy Trinity; let him be anathema.

XI. If anyone does not anathematize Arius, Eunomius, Macedonius, Apollinaris, Nestorius,
Eutyches and Origen, together with their impious, godless writings, and all the other heretics already condemned and anathematized by the holy catholic and apostolic Church, and by the aforementioned four Holy Synods and all those who have held and hold or who in their godlessness persist in holding to the end the same opinion as those heretics just
mentioned;
let him be anathema.

The Canons of the Council of Orange
(529 AD)
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The History

The Council of Orange was an outgrowth of the controversy between Augustine and Pelagius.

This controversy had to do with degree to which a human being is responsible for his or her own salvation, and the role of the grace of God in
bringing about salvation. The Pelagians held that human beings are born in a state of innocence, i.e., that there is no such thing as a sinful nature or original sin.

As a result of this view, they held that a state of sinless perfection was achievable in this life.

The Council of Orange dealt with the Semi-Pelagian doctrine that the human race, though fallen and possessed of a sinful nature, is still "good" enough
to able to lay hold of the grace of God through an act of unredeemed human will.

The Council held to Augustine's view and repudiated Pelagius. The following canons greatly influenced the Reformed doctrine of Total Depravity.

The Canons of Orange

CANON 1. If anyone denies that it is the whole man, that is, both body and soul, that was "changed for the worse" through the offense of Adam's sin, but believes that the freedom of the soul remains unimpaired and that only the body is subject to
corruption, he is deceived by the error of Pelagius and contradicts the scripture which says,

"The soul that sins shall die" (Ezek. 18:20);

and,

"Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are the slaves of the one whom you obey?" (Rom. 6:16);

and,

"For whatever overcomes a man, to that he is enslaved" (2 Pet. 2:19).

CANON 2. If anyone asserts that Adam's sin affected him alone and not his descendants also, or at least if he declares that it is only the death of the body which is the punishment for sin, and not also that sin, which is the death of the soul, passed
through one man to the whole human race, he does injustice to God and contradicts the Apostle, who says,

"Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned" (Rom. 5:12).

CANON 3. If anyone says that the grace of God can be conferred as a result of human prayer, but that it is not grace itself which makes us pray to God, he contradicts the prophet Isaiah, or the Apostle who says the same thing,

"I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me" (Rom 10:20, quoting Isa. 65:1).

CANON 4. If anyone maintains that God awaits our will to be cleansed from sin, but does not confess that even our will to be cleansed comes to us through the infusion and working of the Holy Spirit, he resists the Holy Spirit himself who says through
Solomon,

"The will is prepared by the Lord" (Prov. 8:35, LXX), and the salutary word of the Apostle, "For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13).

CANON 5. If anyone says that not only the increase of faith but also its beginning and the very desire for faith, by which we believe in Him who justifies the ungodly and comes to the regeneration of holy baptism - if anyone says that this belongs to us by
nature and not by a gift of grace, that is, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit amending our will and turning it from unbelief to faith and from godlessness to godliness, it is proof that he is opposed to the teaching of the Apostles, for blessed Paul says,

"And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of
Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6).

And again,

"For by grace you have been saved through faith;
and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8).

For those who state that the faith by which we believe in God is natural make all who are separated from the Church of Christ by definition in some measure believers.

CANON 6. If anyone says that God has mercy upon us when, apart from his grace, we believe, will, desire, strive, labor, pray, watch, study, seek, ask, or knock, but does not confess that it is by the infusion and inspiration of the Holy Spirit within us that we have the faith, the will, or the strength to do all these things as we ought; or if anyone makes the assistance of grace depend on the humility or obedience of man and does not agree that it is a gift of grace itself that we are obedient and humble, he contradicts the Apostle who says,

"What have you that you did not receive?"
(1 Cor.4:7),

and,

"But by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10).

CANON 7. If anyone affirms that we can form any right opinion or make any right choice which relates to the salvation of eternal life, as is expedient for us, or that we can be saved, that is, assent to the preaching of the gospel through our natural powers without the illumination and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who makes all men gladly assent to and believe in the truth, he is led astray by a heretical spirit, and does not understand the voice of God who says in the Gospel,

"For apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5),

and the word of the Apostle,

"Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God" (2 Cor.3:5).

CANON 8. If anyone maintains that some are able to come to the grace of baptism by mercy but others through free will, which has manifestly been corrupted in all those who have been born after the transgression of the first man, it is proof that he has no place in the true faith. For he denies that the free will of all men has been weakened through the sin of the first man, or at least holds that it has been affected in such a way that they have still the ability to seek the mystery of eternal salvation by
themselves without the revelation of God. The Lord himself shows how contradictory this is by declaring that no one is able to come to him

"unless the Father who sent me draws him"
(John 6:44),

as he also says to Peter,

"Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 16:17),

and as the Apostle says,

"No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the
Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:3).

CANON 9. Concerning the succor of God. It is a mark of divine favor when we are of a right purpose and keep our feet from hypocrisy and unrighteousness; for as often as we do good, God is at work in us and with us, in order that we may do so.

CANON 10. Concerning the succor of God. The succor of God is to be ever sought by the regenerate and converted also, so that they may be able to come to a successful end or persevere in good works.

CANON 11. Concerning the duty to pray.
None would make any true prayer to the Lord
had he not received from him the object of his prayer, as it is written,

"Of thy own have we given thee" (1 Chron. 29:14).

CANON 12. Of what sort we are whom God loves. God loves us for what we shall be by his gift, and not by our own deserving.

CANON 13. Concerning the restoration of free will. The freedom of will that was destroyed in the first man can be restored only by the grace of baptism, for what is lost can be returned only by the one who was able to give it. Hence the Truth itself
declares:

"So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36).

CANON 14. No mean wretch is freed from his sorrowful state, however great it may
be, save the one who is anticipated by the mercy of God, as the Psalmist says,

"Let thy compassion come speedily to meet us"
(Ps. 79:8),

and again,

"My God in his steadfast love will meet me"
(Ps. 59:10).

CANON 15. Adam was changed, but for the worse, through his own iniquity from what God made him. Through the grace of God the believer is changed, but for the better, from what his iniquity has done for him. The one, therefore, was the change brought
about by the first sinner; the other, according to the Psalmist, is the change of the right hand of the Most High (Ps. 77:10).

CANON 16. No man shall be honored by his seeming attainment, as though it were not a gift, or suppose that he has received it because a missive from without stated it in writing or in speech. For the Apostle speaks thus,

"For if justification were through the law, then Christ died to no purpose" (Gal. 2:21);

and

"When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men"
(Eph. 4:8, quoting Ps. 68:18).

It is from this source that any man has what he does; but whoever denies that he has it
from this source either does not truly have it, or else

"even what he has will be taken away"
(Matt. 25:29).

CANON 17. Concerning Christian courage.
The courage of the Gentiles is produced by simple greed, but the courage of Christians by the love of God which "has been poured into our hearts" not by freedom of will from our own side but "through the
Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Rom. 5:5).

CANON 18. That grace is not preceded by merit. Recompense is due to good works if they are performed; but grace, to which we have no claim, precedes them, to enable them to be done.

CANON 19. That a man can be saved only when God shows mercy. Human nature, even though it remained in that sound state in which it was created, could be no means save itself, without the assistance of the Creator; hence since man cannot
safe- guard his salvation without the grace of God, which is a gift, how will he be able to restore what he has lost without the grace of God?

CANON 20. That a man can do no good without God. God does much that is good in a man that the man does not do; but a man does nothing good for which God is not responsible, so as to let him do it.

CANON 21. Concerning nature and grace. As the Apostle most truly says to those who would be justified by the law and have fallen from grace,

"If justification were through the law, then Christ died to no purpose" (Gal. 2:21),

so it is most truly declared to those who imagine that grace, which faith in Christ advocates and lays hold of, is nature:

"If justification were through nature, then Christ died to no purpose."

Now there was indeed the law, but it did not justify, and there was indeed nature, but it did not justify. Not in vain did Christ therefore die, so that the law might be fulfilled by him who said,

"I have come not to abolish them, but to fulfil them" (Matt. 5:17),

and that the nature which had been destroyed by Adam might be restored by him who said that he had come

"to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10).

CANON 22. Concerning those things that belong to man. No man has anything of his own but untruth and sin. But if a man has any truth or righteousness, it from that fountain for which we must thirst in this desert, so that we may be refreshed from it
as by drops of water and not faint on the way.

CANON 23. Concerning the will of God and of man. Men do their own will and not the will of God when they do what displeases him; but when they follow their own will and comply with the will of God, however willingly they do so, yet it is his will by which what they will is both prepared and instructed.

CANON 24. Concerning the branches of the vine. The branches on the vine do not give life to the vine, but receive life from it; thus the vine is related to its branches in such a way that it supplies them with what they need to live, and does not take this from them. Thus it is to the advantage of the disciples, not Christ, both to have Christ abiding in them and to abide in Christ. For if the vine is cut down another can shoot up from the live root; but one who is cut off from the vine cannot live without the root (John 15:5ff).

CANON 25. Concerning the love with which we love God. It is wholly a gift of God to love God. He who loves, even though he is not loved, allowed himself to be loved. We are loved, even when we displease him, so that we might have means to please him.
For the Spirit, whom we love with the Father and the Son, has poured into our hearts the love of the Father and the Son (Rom. 5:5).

CONCLUSION. And thus according to the passages of holy scripture quoted above or the interpretations of the ancient Fathers we must, under the blessing of God, preach and believe as follows.

The sin of the first man has so impaired and weakened free will that no one thereafter can either love God as he ought or believe in God or do
good for God's sake, unless the grace of divine mercy has preceded him. We therefore believe that the glorious faith which was given to Abel the righteous, and Noah, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and to all the saints of old, and which the Apostle Paul commends in extolling them (Heb. 11), was not given through natural goodness as it was before to Adam, but was bestowed by the grace of God.

And we know and also believe that even after the coming of our Lord this grace is not to be found in the free will of all who desire to be baptized, but is bestowed by the kindness of Christ, as has already been frequently stated and as the Apostle Paul declares,

"For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also
suffer for his sake" (Phil. 1:29).

And again,

"He who began a good work in you will
bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6).

And again,

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and it is not your own doing, it is the gift of God"
(Eph. 2:8).

And as the Apostle says of himself,

"I have obtained mercy to be faithful"
(1 Cor. 7:25, cf. 1 Tim. 1:13).

He did not say, "because I was faithful," but "to be
faithful."

And again,

"What have you that you did not receive?"
(1 Cor. 4:7).

And again,

"Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights" (Jas. 1:17).

And again,

"No one can receive anything except what is given him from heaven" (John 3:27).

There are innumerable passages of holy scripture which can be quoted to prove the case for grace, but they have been omitted for the sake of brevity, because further examples will not really be of use
where few are deemed sufficient.

According to the catholic faith we also believe that after grace has been received through baptism, all baptized persons have the ability and responsibility, if they desire to labor faithfully, to perform with the aid and cooperation of Christ what is of essential importance in regard to the salvation of their soul.

We not only do not believe that any are foreordained to evil by the power of God, but even state with utter abhorrence that if there are those who want to believe so evil a thing, they are
anathema.

We also believe and confess to our benefit that in every good work it is not we who take the initiative and are then assisted through the mercy of God, but
God himself first inspires in us both faith in him and love for him without any previous good works of our own that deserve reward, so that we may both faithfully seek the sacrament of baptism, and after baptism be able by his help to do what is pleasing to him.

We must therefore most evidently believe that the praiseworthy faith of the thief whom the Lord called to his home in paradise, and of Cornelius the centurion, to whom the Angel of the Lord was sent, and of Zacchaeus, who was worthy to receive
the Lord himself, was not a natural endowment but a gift of God's kindness.