The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the mainline liberal Lutheran denomination as opposed to us conservative Lutheran denominations (LCMS, WELS, ELS, et al.), has agreed to drop the filioque (“and the Son”) from the Nicene Creed.
The American denomination has accepted the recommendation from joint ecumenical discussions between the Orthodox Church and the Lutheran World Federation.
We’ve blogged about the controversy over this phrase in the creed–see our post “Who Proceeds from the Father and the Son“–which was a major factor in the splitting of the church into Western and Eastern branches. In 1014, Pope Benedict VIII added “and the Son” to what the Nicene Creed confessed about the procession of the Holy Spirit. Even though the Creed was ratified by an ecumenical council in 325. The Pope never consulted the Eastern churches when he made this addition, an assertion of his alleged universal jurisdiction that the East refused to acknowledge. The dispute was not so much theological as jurisdictional, and after many such assertions of papal authority, this was the last straw. The result was the “Great Schism” of 1054, five centuries before the Reformation.
Now we Lutherans are on the side of the Eastern Orthodox in rejecting the authority of the pope. And yet when we too confess the Nicene Creed, we say that the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son” like the Catholics do and unlike the Orthodox, who keep to the original wording of the creed as it was confessed for seven centuries.
Why? Well, the immediate reason is because we are Western Christians and the newer version is what we have been used to confessing. A better reason is because the Scriptures teach that the Holy Spirit does proceed from the Son as well as the Father. (See my post for the evidence for this.) Our authority is neither pope nor councils but the Bible.
I appreciate, though, with some astonishment, the ELCA’s stated desire to be reconciled to Eastern Orthodoxy. The denomination issued this statement:
As we commemorate the 1700th anniversary of Nicaea, and celebrated a common date for Easter this year, “The Common Statement on the Filioque” presents us with an opportunity to move toward healing age-old divisions within Christ’s church, in light of our common affirmation that the filioque is no longer church-dividing. Recently, ELCA Church Council unanimously recommended “that the 2025 Churchwide Assembly prayerfully receive the 2024 Lutheran Orthodox Common Statement on the Filioque, understanding such reception to be an intention to lean into a fuller understanding of this issue and the promise of greater unity in the body of Christ.” By doing so, the ELCA would commit to: 1) reflect on our Trinitarian theology and the role of the Holy Spirit and 2) take continued steps toward local dialogue, understanding, and reconciliation with our Orthodox siblings.
If the ELCA agrees with the Orthodox on the filioque, why not agree with them that only men may be ordained? Why not agree with them on the sinfulness of homosexuality? Why not agree with them on the sinfulness of abortion? Why not agree with them on opposition to modernist and liberal theology?
Surely those issues are “church-dividing.” And returning to the older positions would contribute to “greater unity in the body of Christ.”
Maybe reflecting on Trinitarian theology and the role of the Holy Spirit would lead to continued steps towards local dialogue, understanding, and reconciliation with their Lutheran siblings.
Illustration: The First Council of Nicea by Michael Wolgemut (1483) via Picryl, Public Domain
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