The Yarah Project

This section on God the Father in the Nicene confession affirms the one God, the Father Almighty, as Creator of all things visible and invisible. Scripture consistently affirms God as the eternal source, sustainer, and sovereign Lord of creation, a belief shared across the universal (catholic) Christian tradition.

By confessing God as Creator, the Creed affirms the inherent goodness and intentionality of creation. The Mar Thoma Church rejects dualistic or purely materialistic views, affirming that all reality, seen and unseen, stands under God’s creative will and sustaining power.

The Creed’s confession of Jesus Christ as Lord affirms His full divinity and unique authority. The Mar Thoma Church confesses Christ not merely as a moral teacher but as the eternal Son who shares in the divine identity and redemptive work of God.

These references counter Arian and Adoptionist errors by affirming Christ’s full divinity.

This clause rejects the idea that the Son is a created being and affirms His eternal relationship with the Father. The Mar Thoma Church receives this teaching as essential to salvation, since only God can truly reconcile humanity to God.

The Creed emphasizes that the incarnation and saving work of Christ are acts of divine love for humanity. Salvation, in Mar Thoma understanding, is restoration into communion with God and participation in renewed life.

The Creed summarizes the Gospel events as historical and saving acts of God. These sections corresponds to the Creed’s affirmation the Gospel accounts of his suffering and resurrection, emphasizing the historical and redemptive reality of the Cross. The Mar Thoma Church affirms these events as the center of Christian faith and worship.

This section affirms the central Christian proclamation that Christ rose again on the third day, according to the Scriptures and by His own will, conquering death and inaugurating the new creation. The emphasis on “His own will” is particular to Syriac theology, which explains the independent agency and will of God the Son, which at the same time is the one will of the Holy Trinity. Early English translations of the Liturgy of the Mar Thoma Church were incorrectly translated with the phrase “by His Father’s holy will”.

These sections supports the confession that Christ ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father, exercising divine authority and priestly intercession.

These sections ground the belief that Christ will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and that His kingdom shall have no end.

This section affirms the Nicene confession of the Holy Spirit as Lord, life-giver, and divine, who speaks through the prophets and apostles and is worshiped together with the Father and the Son. Confessing the Holy Spirit as Lord affirms the Spirit’s full divinity and life-giving work. The Mar Thoma Church emphasizes the Spirit’s role in sanctification, guidance, and the life of the Church.

The Eastern Churches reject the Filioque Clause (that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son) on theological and ecclesiological grounds. Theological, in that the Filioque rejects the “Monarchy of the Father”, who is the sole source and cause within the Trinity. Thus, the Filioque introduces two sources in the Godhead leading to the breakdown of the unity of the Trinity. In addition, as the Father’s unique characteristic (hypostases) is as “the Cause”, the addition of the Son to that property blurs the unique roles of the Persons of the Trinity. Thirdly, the Filioque subordinates the Spirit to the Son, breaking the co-equality. Instead, Eastern tradition upholds that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and rests in the Son, or proceeds through the Son. Ecclesiologically, the Eastern Churches oppose the Filioque because it was added by the Western Church unilaterally, contrary to the Ecumenical Councils of Constantinople and Ephesus which forbade unilateral changes to the Creed, thereby breaking the unity of the Churches. Finally, the Eastern Churches adhere strictly to John 15:26, which state the procession of the Spirit from the Father. The Mar Thoma Church, upholding the Eastern Christian tradition, upholds the Nicene Creed without the Filioque Clause, accepting the the Spirit proceeds from only the Father.

The Creed’s confession of the Church expresses unity in faith, holiness in calling, universality in scope, and apostolic continuity. This section links Scripture to the Creed’s confession of one Church, founded by Christ, sustained by the Twelve Apostles, and sanctified by the Spirit, into which believers are incorporated through baptism.The Mar Thoma Church understands itself as participating in this one historic Church while exercising reform within continuity.

The Apostolic Churches uphold the doctrine of one baptism through its Biblical affirmation (Eph 4:5) and creedal confession (Nicene Creed). As the Sacrament of Baptism is the incorporation into the death and resurrection of Christ (Rom 6:3), to repeat Baptism is to crucify Christ again, and suggesting that His first sacrifice was insufficient. Secondly, as physical birth is a one-time event, so it is with spiritual regeneration (rebirth). Thirdly, the Sacrament of Baptism is a seal upon the believer, marking them as belonging to God. This mark cannot be removed nor can the Sacrament be repeated. The validity of Baptism is because it is an act of God, not of humans. Falling into sin does not require re-baptism, but rather confession and repentance. Finally, Baptism is the sacramental entrance into the Church, the “One Body” of Christ. Re-baptism suggests that the entry into the “Body of Christ” was false or that Christ is divided (1 Cor 1:13). The Mar Thoma Church upholds only one Baptism, dependent upon the promise of God and the Trinitarian Formula, thus accepting the validity of all Baptisms made according the Trinitarian Formula as per the command of the Lord Jesus (Matt 28:19).

The Creed concludes with Christian hope in bodily resurrection and renewed creation. This section supports the final Nicene hope: the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come, affirming bodily resurrection, final judgment, and the renewal of creation. The Mar Thoma Church affirms this hope as shaping ethical living, worship, and mission in the present age.