Hey, Church!
Last week, we read the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed during our Maundy Thursday service as part of a corporate confession. Much like the better-known Apostle’s Creed, the Nicene Creed was authored by our Christian forefathers as a response to a contemporary misreading of Scripture that led many to adopt a heretical view of God. When it was written in the third and fourth century, Arianism had warped the teachings of Scripture and attempted to rationalize the admittedly difficult doctrine of the Trinity by saying that Jesus was created by God in the likeness of a human “Son” but did not share in the Father’s same substance (i.e. deity). After much deliberation, prayer, and study, the Council ruled that the Bible presents Jesus as both God and man, even though such a thought must remain a unsearchable mystery to our finite imaginations. The original statement of faith from Nicaea was published in AD 325. 56 years later, in response to new heresies, the first council of Constantinople convened and updated the Creed with an important revision concerning the Person of the Holy Spirit.
Spend some time this weekend pondering each carefully-written line of the following statement of faith. Consider the awesome heritage it represents! And then come to church Sunday morning with a renewed desire to worship Him as the One God in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Your brother,
Ryan
Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (AD 381)
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.* We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
*The Church is “one” (unified under one baptism, one Lord and Savior Jesus Christ) and yet “catholic” (i.e. universal–many members of one body across every nation and tongue); “holy” (set apart, independent of His creation) and yet “apostolic” (revealed to human flesh and propagated by the teachings of His apostles).