The Athanasian Creed - What Difference Does a Right Theology of the Trinity Make?

 

I recently heard a talk on Athanasius a year ago--and he became a new hero to me.  

Athanasius was secretary to the Bishop of Alexandria (in Egypt) in 325AD while the Arian controversy was heating up.  Athanasius attended that the Council of Nicea and soon became involved in a life-long theological battle against Arianism--the false teaching Arius taught that Jesus was created, see this post.

Athanasius was a known as "the black dwarf" - a short, African theologian and teacher. He was a teacher and theological writer whose books Against the Gentiles and On the Incarnation of the Word revealed his lifelong belief in biblical teaching and love for right thinking.

Athanasius would go on to become the Bishop of Alexandria-- for 45 years! More than his longevity, Athanasius was known for his persistent battle for the Nicene Creed and against the Arians.  It turns out a great majority of the church was "Arian." Political leaders in the day also tended to be Arian, especially as their politics was tied to various powerful church leaders and Christian constituencies.

On Athanasius' epithet was "Athanasius contra mundum. "Athanasius against the world. One understands why we you read about his life 'on the run.' He was

Exiled by Constantine I

Freed by Constantine II 

Exiled by Constantius

Freed by Constans

Exiled (again) by Constantius

Hated by Emperor Julius and numerous church leaders.

As a Church Father, Athanasius left us a legacy of holding tightly to biblical truth.  He died in 373 AD, but his influence has continued through the centuries.  The third and final "Ecumenical Creed" which Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed folk hold to helps further clarify the the three-in-one nature of the Trinity. It reasserts the two natures of Christ (God and Man) as accepted at the Council of Chalcedon (451).  The "Athanasian Creed" was seemingly adopted at the Synod of Autun (ca. 670). It cannot be confidently attributed to Athansius as author, but certainly its name gives 'creedence' and reflects the Trinitarian thinking Athanasius defended. 

As a creed it is long and drawn out and repetitious.  It has a meter that lends itself to a 'call and response' use in a worship gathering. It also has a harsh beginning and ending which appears to condemn to hell those who do not believe.  C.S. Lewis said of the 'offense' of the creed (p. 8): 

The words “Which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly” are the offence. They are commonly misunderstood. The operative word is keep; not acquire, or even believe, but keep. The author, in fact, is not talking about unbelievers, but about deserters, not about those who have never heard of Christ, nor even those who have misunderstood and refused to accept Him, but of those who having really understood and really believed, then allow themselves, under the sway of sloth or of fashion or any other invited confusion to be drawn away into sub-Christian modes of thought. They are a warning against the curious modern assumption that all changes of belief, however brought about, are necessarily exempt from blame.  

The Creed can be useful and worshipful if used with some instruction in a Christian worship setting. The Shield of the Trinity (see above). has also been used in association with the Athanasian Creed and the clarity it aims to communicate about the Trinity.

To the point about what difference does right theology make? Do we have to think rightly about God?

1. Thinking rightly about the God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit gives us a foundation for discerning false teachings about God--and keeps us from believing in a false God. A brief look at the '-isms" the early church fought: Sabellianism, Nestorianism, Arianism, and Monophysitism, reveals that proper biblical thinking about God is necessary to keep from bouncing off of the trampoline of faith into cults and false teaching.  

Like mentioned earlier, Jehovah Witnesses are modern day Arians.

Mormons believe in their own version of three gods.

Muslims deny the Trinity completely. 

Oneness Pentecostals deny the Trinity in favor of a "Jesus-Only" worldview (Modern-Day Sabellianism). 

Often the denial of the basic truth about God elucidated in these Creeds leads to all sorts of manipulative and false rules for living.

In order for a complete biblical understanding of God, one must consult the Old and New Testaments first, of course.  But from there, one finds the Creeds to be summaries of Biblical belief with regard to the person of God and Christ.  These are essential to understanding our salvation and knowing our Savior.

2. It is a matter of life and death. According to the creed at least, we must hold to this right thinking to be saved. No one likes to be told that what they believe will keep them from being saved. But the church fathers held to it.  Jesus himself was clear that all must believe in him to have eternal salvation (John 3:16). Jesus said of himself "I am the way the truth and the life' (John 14:6).  Are not these creeds simply a reiteration of Jesus' insistence that He must accepted, received and believed upon in the fullness of all that he is, as God, One with the Father (John 5)? The early disciples bowed to worship Jesus. This is the proper response of all believers for our salvation.

In the end, it is worth reviewing these universal creeds--knowing the story behind them--and giving thanks to God for men like Athanasius who suffered much to keep biblical teaching about God and the Trinity in the forefront of the church's understanding. 

Praise God for Athanasius!

Here's the creed named in his honor: 

The Athanasian Creed 

Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic [Christian] faith.
      Whoever does not keep it whole and undefiled will without doubt perish eternally.
      And the catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confusing
      the persons nor dividing the substance.
      For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Holy Spirit is another.
But the Godhead of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one: the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.
      Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit:
      The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, the Holy Spirit uncreated;
      The Father infinite, the Son infinite, the Holy Spirit infinite;
      The Father eternal, the Son eternal, the Holy Spirit eternal.
And yet there are not three Eternals, but one Eternal, just as there are not three Uncreated or three Infinites, but one Uncreated and one Infinite.
      In the same way, the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, the Holy Spirit almighty;
      And yet there are not three Almighties, but one Almighty.
      So the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God;
      And yet there are not three Gods, but one God.
      So the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord;
      And yet there are not three Lords, but one Lord.
      Just as we are compelled by the Christian truth to acknowledge each distinct person as God and Lord,
      So also are we prohibited by the catholic religion to say that there are three Gods or Lords.
      The Father is not made nor created nor begotten by anyone.
      The Son is neither made nor created, but begotten of the Father alone.
      The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son, neither made nor created nor begotten, but proceeding.
Thus, there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.
      And in this Trinity none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another;
But the whole three persons are coeternal with each other and coequal, so that in all things, as has been stated above, the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity is to be worshiped.
      Therefore, whoever desires to be saved must think thus about the Trinity.
But it is also necessary for everlasting salvation that one faithfully believe the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, it is the right faith that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is at the same time both God and man.
      He is God, begotten from the substance of the Father before all ages;
      And He is man, born from the substance of His mother in this age:
Perfect God and perfect man, composed of a rational soul and human flesh; equal to the Father with respect to His divinity, less than the Father with respect to His humanity.
      Although He is God and man, He is not two, but one Christ:
One, however, not by the conversion of the divinity into flesh, but by the assumption of the humanity into God; one altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person.
      For as the rational soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ,
      Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead,
Ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
At His coming all people will rise again with their bodies and give an account concerning their own deeds.
And those who have done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil into eternal fire.
      This is the catholic faith; whoever does not believe it faithfully and firmly cannot be saved. 

-------------------------------------- 

For Further reading/listening:

Gonzalez, Justo. "Athanasius of Alexandria," The Story of Christianity, p. 173-180 

John Piper's Biographical talk on Athanasius 

 

The Nicene Creed - Was Jesus Created?

In 2011, I underwent a theological grilling. To be ordained by the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA), I had been asked to 

1. Write a theological paper on their statement of faith. After this I received a license and waited three years.

2. Further refine that paper, submitting it to a couple of readers for dialogue and correction, and finally.

3. Undergo an ordination council where a number of individuals from our church along with local EFCA pastors "grilled me" on my paper. It was an nerve racking and exciting time. I had elected my mother-in-law to transcribe the meeting. Somewhere there is a record of my hemming and hawing, on one particular issue: The Trinity.

"Did God die on the cross?" someone asked. I retorted weakly, "Sort of." The question required a simple answer, and I gave one that led me down numerous rabbit trails. 

I passed the council, but was required to write a little more to clarify my views on the Trinity. I'll tell you the simple answer I arrived later. 

The early church struggled to maintain the teaching of the Apostles about Christ in the face of false doctrines.  One popular doctrine taught in the early 300s claimed that Jesus was a created being. Remember the phrase "God so loved the world He gave his only begotten son?" (John 3:16) Common understanding of 'begotten' confused people into thinking that there must have been a time when Jesus WAS NOT--that Jesus was the first thing created by God.  John 1:1-3 clearly argues against such a view stating "All things were made by him [Jesus, the Word)] and without Him, nothing was made that was made." If Jesus made all created things, did he make himself? Of course not, he WAS in the beginning, with God, as God.

Things were not so clear to the church and a teacher named Arius promoted this falsehood that Jesus was a created being--that there was a time when Jesus WAS NOT.

The recently legalized church held a council (thanks to Constantine) in 325AD in which Arius's views were debated, clarified, and condemned. The church signed The Creed of Nicaea in agreement against Arius. Later, what is known as the Nicene Creed further addressed this topic and was adopted in 381AD in Constantinople.

Why is it important today? 

We need to value the truth of God's Being as revealed to us in the written Word of God, given by the Holy Spirit to the apostles and chewed on by the church of the last 2000 years. Knowing and embracing these truths bring clarity to our understanding of God and His Salvation in the World.  False teachings like those promoted by Arius and the 4th century church are likely to rise again in modern times.  If one researches the Jehovah Witnesses, one quickly learns that they are modern day Arians. In answer to the question "When was Jesus created?" their website says, 

God created Jesus before creating Adam. In fact, God created Jesus and then used him to make everything else, including the angels. That is why the Bible calls Jesus “the firstborn of all creation” by God. 

JW's rehearse again that old false understanding of what "firstborn" means (it's about privilege not time) and declaring there was a time when the Jesus, the Son of God, WAS NOT.

The Nicene Creed most specifically addresses the issue of Jesus co-eternality and establishing the fully divinity of Jesus ('of one substance'), a well as functioning as summary of core Christian beliefs. Notably, there is no mention of 'descending into hell'!

The Creed is generally considered Ecumenical or Universal, meaning all Christian denominations hold to it. The Lutheran Church I am now a part of holds to it and occasionally will occasionally use it in worship gatherings. 

Let us rejoice in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who always have been! Amen! 

P.S. The simple answer I arrived at when asked "Did God die on the cross?" was "The Son of God died on the cross." 

The Nicene Creed (confirmed in 381AD)

We believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all ages,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made;
of the same essence as the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,
and was made human.
He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered and was buried.
The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again with glory
to judge the living and the dead.
His kingdom will never end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life.
He proceeds from the Father and the Son,
and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.
He spoke through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look forward to the resurrection of the dead,
and to life in the world to come. Amen.

Translation © 1988, Faith Alive Christian Resources. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Sources:

Gonzalez, Justo. The Story of Christianity. "The Arian Controversy and the Council of Nicea," 158-167.   

Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology, p. 243-245

Leith, John, Creeds of the Churches.