Jordan Cooper on the "Filioque"

 Here is a great video from Lutheran pastor and theologian Rev. Dr. Jordan Cooper defending the Western view of the "filioque."

'What in the world is that?', you may be asking.  In the Nicene Creed (which churches I pastor recite occasionally) we affirm that "We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son..."  

 That phrase "and the Son" is, in Latin, "Filioque" and it was not included in the original form of the Creed that was approved by ecumenical councils representing the whole of the Early Church.  It was added later by the Western Church to emphasize the divinity of the Son.  What is being affirmed is that, from all eternity, the Holy Spirit is proceeding both from the Father and from the Son within the Life of the Holy Trinity forever.

Eastern Orthodox Churches and other Eastern Rites have tended to reject this understanding of the relationship of the Spirit and the Son within the life of the Holy Trinity, and have vociferously rejected the addition of this phrase to the Creed.  

I believe that the "filioque" actually is good theology: it is consistent with the Biblical witness and makes sense of the nature of God, as Cooper explains in the video below.  However, I also agree that an ecumenical creed, authorized by an Ecumenical Council and shared in common by the whole universal/catholic Church of Jesus, ought not be unilaterally changed by only one part of that church without an Ecumenical Council authorizing the change.  

I'm glad to see that, beginning with the Lambeth Conference of 1978, churches of the Anglican Communion have begun to allow the original form of the Creed to be used - but without denying the truth that the "filioque" teaches.  Thus the 2019 Book of Common Prayer allows the phrase "and the Son" to be omitted with the Nicene Creed is recited (see page 768).  The brand new Methodist hymnal, Our Great Redeemer's Praise, follows the 2019 BCP and puts this phrase in [brackets] to indicate that it may be omitted.  Perhaps this approach will become more widespread within the Western Church and may contribute to warmer relations with the Eastern Church as well.