‘This Is Heresy’: William Lane Craig Draws Fire Over His View of the Nicene Creed

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William Lane Craig, who is a prominent theologian and apologist, has received significant criticism after stating that he does not affirm that Jesus Christ is eternally begotten of the Father in His divine nature, as is stated in the Nicene Creed.

Craig, who serves as a professor emeritus of philosophy at the Talbot School of Theology of Biola University, made the comments about the Nicene Creed, which was featured in a video posted by his Reasonable Faith ministry on Aug.19 and subsequently went viral after being shared on social media by Protestia.

"There is a doctrine that has become part of the famous Nicene Creed that says that the Son of God is begotten from the Father, not in His human nature, but in His divine nature; that somehow from eternity past, even prior to the incarnation and His virginal conception, the Son of God is begotten from God the Father in His divinity," Craig said in the short video post, that has now been viewed more than 1 million times. 

He also claimed that New Testament scholars "seem to have reached something of a consensus that this is not a doctrine to be found in the New Testament,” The Christian Post reported.

"When John talks about Christ as the only begotten Son of God, he's not talking about Him being begotten in his divine nature. Certainly, Christ is begotten in His human nature in being born of Mary, but I don't think you're going to find very good proof texts in the New Testament that Christ was eternally begotten in His divine nature. Rather, the origin of this doctrine stems from what is called 'Logos Christology,'" Craig said.

The apologist argued that Logos Christology developed from early Greek Christian apologists in the late second century and cited from the apostle John's description of Christ as Logos, stating he  "imagined that initially there was just God the Father, and that somehow the mind of the Father proceeded and came forth from Him as a second person, and this was then the Son of God, who became incarnate in Christ."

"So the idea was that the second person of the Trinity proceeds out of or emanates out of the first person of the Trinity, the Father. And this Logos Christology became extremely influential in the early church, and it eventually gets ecclesiastical status as authoritative in the Nicene Creed and then the Council of Chalcedon later on," Craig said.

"I am skeptical of this doctrine. I don't want to deny outright a doctrine that has such a strong ecclesiastical tradition, but I refrain from affirming it. I do not confess it," he continued, adding, "I just don't have a belief in that regard, and so similarly, I do not believe or confess that the Son is eternally begotten from the Father in His divine nature, and I think in so saying, I am being faithful to the New Testament."

Craig’s comments were met with online backlash, with some accusing him of heresy.

"This is heresy. The Logos Christianity and Eternal Generation Craig doesn't confess isn't a product of Greek theologians, it comes straight from the apostles," Michael Carlino, an adjunct professor of theology at Boyce College in Louisville, Kentucky, posted online in response to Craig's comments in the video. 

He cited John 1:14, which states, "And the Word [λόγος] became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten [μονογενής] of the Father, full of grace and truth."

Luke Stamps, a theology professor at the Clamp Divinity School of Anderson University in Anderson, South Carolina, also shared his thoughts online on Craig's statements, writing,"I'm not a [Craig] hater. I think he has done a lot of important apologetic work. But this is really bad.”

"Logos Christology originates with John (and OT precedents). Both Word and Son imply (eternal) origin. Plenty of 'from' language in the NT that can't be reduced to the economy," Stamps added.

Photo Credit: ©X/Reasonable Faith

Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.