This Is the Catholic Faith

Click here to listen to this sermon.Click here to listen to this sermon.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

“Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith… This is the catholic faith; whoever does not believe it faithfully and firmly cannot be saved.

A creed (from the Latin credo, “I believe”) is a confession of faith used by individual Christians, congregations, and churches to express what is believed, taught, and confessed about God and, consequently, what is not believed, taught, and confessed about God.

Creeds and conflict are not just intertwined; they are inseparable. When disputes over doctrine emerge, creeds are a beacon of clarity, guiding us through the diverse interpretations of God's nature. Some perceive God in one way, others in another. Some view Jesus as a righteous man, others as God incarnate, and a few as a deity with a lowercase' g'. Some argue it is inconsequential, while others assert it is paramount. In these moments, creeds play a crucial role, helping to resolve these conflicts and bring us back to a unified understanding of our faith.

So why don’t we all just agree on what the Bible says? It depends on our understanding of what the Bible is. Some say the Bible is the Word of God, others say it only contains the Word of God, and still others say it is the Word of man. Some say it’s Scripture alone, others say it’s Scripture plus reason, and still others say it’s Scripture plus the pope.

When there’s conflict over doctrine, a creed is not just helpful; it's necessary. Creeds and conflict go hand in hand. Creeds say, “This is what the Bible says about God and therefore what we can say about God and what we cannot say about Him. A big part of what Creeds do is separate. They separate the truth of God’s word from false teaching, and they separate the Christian from the non-Christian. In this way, creeds serve as a guide, a standard by which we can measure our beliefs and ensure they align with the teachings of the Bible.

Yet, the most significant role of creeds is not just in separating truth from false teaching but in their power to unite. They bring Christians together, forming a communion of saints. They foster solidarity within the Church. Through rigorous theological exploration and discourse, we reach a consensus on what a particular creed conveys about God's message in the Bible. Creeds enable us to articulate the Christian faith with a unified voice, not just among ourselves but our fellow believers across different eras and locations who echo the same words about God. This unity is a testament to the strength and power of our shared beliefs.

That’s what that little word “catholic” with a small “c” means. Catholic is a Greek word that means universal. When we say, “and the catholic faith is this,” we mean that that faith of the one, holy Christian Church is this!

So, I hope you see how the creeds work to unite Christians and why they are so important in the life of the Church. All who confess the faith as carefully hammered out in the creeds are members of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, and all who cannot confess the same are not.

Just to be clear, creeds do not come down from heaven. Creeds are human words that say divine things. If someone asked you to put the Old and New Testaments into three words that define the essence of its meaning and distinguish it from false belief, could you do it?

Actually, that is what the earliest creed was. The first creed that Christians recited together, which separated right from wrong and united true believers, was the three-word creed: “Jesus is Lord.” The essence of the entire Old and New Testament is summarized perfectly in those three words. The name Jesus means Savior. Lord is the covenant name of God, Yahweh. If you can say those three words in sincerity and truth, you are a Christian. If you can’t, then you are not.

Unfortunately, over time, people began to say things about Jesus that didn’t fit with what the Bible says about him. And so, the three-word creed had to be expanded. The Apostles’ Creed states what the Bible says about God in three articles: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. But the Second Person of the Trinity required the most clarification at that time. The big questions were, “Who is Jesus, and what has He done?”

Over time, a concise statement about “Who is Jesus and what has He done?” focused on His humiliation: He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, died, and was buried. Then, it carefully described His exaltation: He descended into hell, rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven, and sits in the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence, He will come to judge the living and the dead.

Then, there was a big question about whether Jesus is God in the same way that the Father and Spirit are God. That required another creed, which we call the Nicene Creed, which significantly clarifies what the Scriptures say about the divinity of Jesus. He is the only begotten Son of God, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

Then, there was a considerable controversy in the Church about how the Scriptures described how each person in the Trinity related to the other. Thinking and speaking about the Trinitarian nature of God is like wandering into quicksand. It doesn’t take too long to realize you’re over your head. Is the Son the same as the Father, who just shows up in human form occasionally? Is the Spirit simply the force of God? Is the Son the same as God, or is He a lesser God—half man/half God? So, the Athanasian Creed tries to draw a bold, clear line through all these questions to keep the faith true and keep the Church united around the truth.

Well, that’s a long introduction to the topic we’re focusing on today: the Trinity and how the Athanasian Creed discusses the relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The Athanasian Creed reaffirms and clarifies all the early Church councils and the Nicene Creed, which fought tooth and nail to preserve the orthodox faith against heretics like Nestorius, Arius, Eutyches, Apollinaris, Sabellius, Macedonius, and Paul of Samosata. Athanasius may not have written the creed, but its words encapsulate everything he stood for. The two primary targets are the heresies promoted by Nestorius and Arius.

Arius could easily be considered the godfather of all heretics, with most heresies tracing back to him. He is known for denying Christ’s divinity to maintain the oneness of God over and against the threeness of God. Contrary to Scripture, Arius claimed that Christ was a creature of God and not God Himself. While He shared in god-like qualities, the Father and the Son did not share the same “substance” and the threeness of God according to His “persons.”

You must feel a measure of sympathy for the authors of the creed because they were given the monumental task of clearly expressing one of the greatest mysteries in the whole Bible! God is one, and one is three! The triune nature of God cannot be fully explained or analogized; it can only be confessed as revealed in Scripture.

The last half of the Athanasian Creed is aimed squarely at Nestorius, who denied that the second person of the Trinity is true God and true man united in the person of Jesus. Nestorius wanted to keep Christ’s divinity as far away from His humanity as possible because of the scandal that divinity would have anything to do with humanity. It’s widely held even today that the finite cannot hold the infinite (therefore, the reasoning of some that Christ’s body and blood are only present symbolically in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper).

The Old Testament’s emphasis on the separation of clean and unclean, the sacred and the profane, also presented a problem for Nestorius regarding Jesus’ divine and human natures. But as the creed says, it is not divinity that is transformed into humanity, but God took up humanity into Himself. As the Servant Song of Isaiah 53 beautifully states, He carries our humanity and our infirmity to redeem humanity and conquer our infirmity.

This all seems good for a history lesson, but what about today? Why celebrate Trinity Sunday, and why recite a creed that’s over 1,500 years old? Unfortunately, history has a way of repeating itself, or, as theologians have often said, every heresy was thought up in the first 300 years of the Church. Since then, we simply have been recycling, rebranding, and repeating the same old errors. You’ll find two groups active in our community that have popularized these ancient heresies.                                                                           

The Jehovah’s Witnesses borrow from the heresy of Arius, an early Christian theologian, who taught that Jesus Christ was not co-eternal with God the Father but was a created being, distinct and subordinate to the Father. This view, known as Arianism, was declared a heresy by the early Church.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints incorporates elements of Nestorianism, which emphasizes the separation between Jesus Christ's human and divine natures. Nestorianism rejected the idea that Mary could be called Theotokos (God-bearer), as it implied that she gave birth to God Himself rather than to Christ’s human nature. The teaching of the LDS also recalls certain aspects of Gnosticism, which emphasized special knowledge for spiritual advancement, where human beings can ultimately become gods.

George Santayana is attributed with saying, “Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.” This saying underscores the importance of understanding and learning from historical events to avoid making similar mistakes in the future. The same can be said for the creeds. Knowing and understanding the creeds can help us avoid the heresies and misunderstandings of the past.

The close of the Athanasian Creed emphasizes the importance of holding fast to this confession: “This is the catholic faith; whoever does not believe it faithfully and firmly cannot be saved.” The creed is no mere quarrel over words. Salvation is on the line. It is a matter of eternal life or death. God has put His Word into your ears so that you would believe it in your heart and confess it with your mouth. Then, by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, we are saved, and so we confess. And in this confession, we worship, praise, and adore our triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In the first edition of his Loci Communes, Philipp Melanchthon warns that the mysteries of God are to be adored, not investigated. The Feast of the Holy Trinity is not a day for explaining and investigating the unfathomable mystery of God’s triune being; it is a day for adoration.

The worship of the three divine persons who are but one God runs from start to finish in the Church’s liturgy. The service begins with the invocation, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Note name, singular! Three persons, yet only one God. Forgiveness is proclaimed in the triune name in the Absolution. We join in singing, “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.” We speak to each of the three divine persons in the Kyrie: “Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us.” In the Gloria in Excelsis, we proclaim that Jesus Christ is most high with the Holy Spirit in the Father’s glory. There are three alleluias. The Creed has three articles. The “holy, holy, holy” of the Sanctus adores the Trinity with the hosts of heaven. The Aaronic Benediction hints at the Trinity with its threefold repetition of “the Lord.” The prayers are offered “through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.”

Thus, every time the historic liturgy is used, the Trinity is worshiped, confessed, and adored. Yet, the Church sets aside the Sunday following Pentecost to meditate on the mystery of this true and living God around whom we can never wrap our minds. Today, the Church teaches us not to confuse the divine persons, for the Father is not the Son, nor is the Son the Holy Spirit. She also teaches us not to divide the Unity, for the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, yet not three gods, but only one. The Proper Preface best captures the joys into which the Church summons us on this day: “It is truly good, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to You, holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, who with Your only-begotten Son and the Holy Spirit are one God, one Lord.” In the confession of the only true God, we worship the Trinity in Person and the Unity in substance of majesty coequal.

Go in the peace of the Lord and serve your neighbor with joy. You are forgiven for all your sins.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.