February 2003

ARTICLE TOOLS

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Since Wheaton College revised its Statement of Faith in 1990, hundreds of faculty and staff members have had to sign it every year. But it was a member of the student body, none of whom is required to sign the statement, who called attention to a theological error in it. "We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, and was true God and true man, existing in one person and without sin," the credo said. Oops! If the Holy Spirit begot Jesus, wouldn't that make him the Father? This fall the administration, faculty, and trustees rushed to approve a modification more in line with traditional church teaching. (The Nicene Creed, for example, explicitly states that Jesus is "eternally begotten of the Father.") Now Wheaton officially believes that "Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit."

The official site for Wheaton College still posts the old version of the statement of faith with the phrase "We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten of the Holy Spirit."