The Creeds

The Creeds are an affirmation of our faith in a Trinitarian God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Episcopal Church uses the Creeds in the Daily Offices (see pages 37 - 127, BCP, 1979) and in Sunday Worship. They are part of who and "whose" we are. As Christians, we are committed to following Jesus, "The Christ" and do not apologize to anyone for that!   "They Can Tell We Are Christians By Our Love."

The first Christians did not put forward a philosophy or a theology right away. They bore witness to Jesus, who had spoken to them about the one God of Scripture as His Father. Jesus was dead, He had been crucified, died and was buried. But "God who made this Jesus whom you crucified, Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:24,36) still dwelt among them. "Lord" is the title given to God in scripture. And so, God gave his own Name to his Son Jesus (phil 2:6-11). That is to say, that Jesus the Christ is close to God. Before becoming man, he was already with God, like Wisdom in Proverbs 8, He took part in creation (Col 1,15f). In the beginning of the Gospel according to John, Jesus is the Word of God made flesh, this Word by whom the world was made. Word is logos in Greek, verbum in Latin. The term logos is biblical, often indicating the Word of God in the Old Testament. But the Greek philosophers also spoke of logos as thought or divine will, so there was a meeting point there.

We find the first confessions of faith in the New Testament, the outline of a Creed. The liturgies of Baptism and the Eucharist included a profession of faith. Christians affirmed their faith by means of phrases from the scriptures. But they also had to make this faith comprehensible to the world in which they lived, and it was necessary for them to explain things that, in the first instance, appeared incompatible. How could God be unique and at the same time Father and Son? How could a man who was born, lived and died, be God, let alone a God who was by definition beyond all change? Christian theology came into being as an answer to these questions. But thought went off in different directions, and one day different positions had to be reconciled. This was the work of the councils, which brought together the Bishops who were the leaders of the church.

Every Sunday in our churches we proclaim our faith by means of the Nicene Creed. This text did not evolve through the peaceful exchange of ideas, but often through violent arguments which went beyond questions of dogma. Conflicts between people, cultures, regions; exiles; bloody skirmishes and interventions by the army and the police are the background to the formation of our Creed. Prior to the formation of the Creeds, there was one crisis after another in the Church about the status of God, and the relation of Jesus to God. One of the first that arose in about 313, was centered around the Creed. Arius, a strict and highly respected priest from a parish in Alexandria wanted like many others before him, to safeguard the position of a unique God, a being who alone had no beginning. He proposed that if God was father, it was because at a certain moment he begat a Son. So the Son had a beginning. He (the Son) then was not of the same nature as the Father, and was subordinate to him. Arius used proverbs 8.22 and John 14,28 to support his claim.

Finally, Jesus saved humanity by urging people to follow his own example in order to one day be glorified with Him. Alexander, bishop of Alexandria did not accept this theology. The Son, the Word (logos) of God had existed from all eternity as the equal of the Father. If the Word were not fully God, man could not be fully divine because it would not have been God who became incarnate in a man. So man could not be saved. After many meetings and heated discussions on the matter were held, Arius and a dozen of his followers were excommunicated in about 318. Trouble flared up in Alexandria. Theological insults were hurled in the theaters and in the market places. Arius composed works and songs to defend his ideas.

In 325, the Council of Nicea met for the first time, bringing together about 300 Bishops, of whom we still have the names of 220. This council, called together by Constantine recorded to be the first of its kind, Vatican II being the twenty first. At Nicea, most of the Bishops confirmed the condemnation of Arius. Eusebius of Caesarea put forward the creed of his church. This creed was accepted by the council, but at the request of Constantine, on the advice of Hosius, the Bishop added the adjective homoousios in speaking of the Son of God: that is to say that the Son is of the same ousia, the same substance, as the Father, or consubstantial with Him. This term affirms the absolute equality between the Father and the Son. The Creed that came out of Nicea in 325 is much the same as it is today:

We Believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only begotten, that is, from the substance of the Father; God from God, Light from Light, very God from very God, begotten, not made, Consubstantial with the Father, by whom all things were made, both things in heaven and things in earth; who for us men and for our salvation came down and was incarnate, was made man, suffered and rose again the third day, ascended into heaven, and is coming to judge the living and the dead. And in the Holy Spirit, and those who say "There was when he was not" and "Before his generation he was not" and "He came to be from nothing" or those who pretend that the Son of God is "Of other hypostasis or substance; or "created" or alterable" or "mutable"; the Catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes.

In 381, continued crisis brought another council together at Constantinople to resolve the issue of the Holy Spirit. Is the Holy Spirit God? Basil, Bishop of Caesarea (370-379), in his treatise on the Holy Spirit, demonstrated that the Spirit too, is of the same substance as the Father. "We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Life giver, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and Son is worshiped and glorified."

Our Creed is getting more and more as it is today. There are yet more issues to face the Church regarding the Creed. Around 428, Nestorius, who originally came from Antioch, attacked the popular piety which called on Mary as Theotokos, or Mother of God. Nestorius claimed that since this term was not in Scripture, Mary could only be the mother of the man Jesus. Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria opened the next council, held at Ephesus on 22 Jun 431. During this council, Nestorius was deposed as a new Judas, a heretic for his statements regarding Mary. The council of Ephesus reinforced the authority of Nicea and the emphasis on the unity of Christ. The term Theotokos was no longer to be in dispute. In 433, John of Antioch, one of Cyrils opponents, proposed a formula of union and reconciliation: "Union of two natures had been achieved ---- and because of this union we confess that the Holy Virgin is Theotokos, because the Word of God had been made flesh and been made man . Another piece of our present day Creed. In 451, a new emperor, Marcian, brought the Bishops together for the council at Chalcedon, where the Nicea Constantinopilian creed was read and accepted by those present. Included in historical documents of the Church is the "Definition of the Union of the Divine and Human Natures in the person of Christ" (act v, council of Chalcedon 451A.D.) Article VIII (of the thirty nine articles of the Church) titled Of the Creeds, reads as follows: "The Nicene Creed, and that which is commonly called the Apostles Creed, ought thoroughly to be received and believed; for they may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scriptures."

In our Book of Common Prayer, the Apostles Creed is used in the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer, and in the renewal of our Baptismal vows during Holy Baptism (pp 304 BOP). The Nicene Creed is used during the Eucharist (I pp 326) and (II pp 358. In our Catechism, or an Outline of the Faith (pp845, BCP) there is a section on the Creeds (pp851)

Q What are the Creeds?
A The Creeds are our statement of our basic beliefs about God.
Q How many Creeds does this Church use in its Worship?
A The Church uses two Creeds: The Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed.
Q What is the Apostles Creed?
A The Apostles Creed is the Ancient Creed of Baptism; it is used in the Church's daily worship to
recall our Baptismal Covenant. Q What is the Nicene Creed?
A The Nicene Creed is the Creed of the Universal Church and is used at the Eucharist.
Q What is the Anathasian Creed?
A The Anathasian Creed is an ancient document proclaiming the nature of the Incarnation and of God
as Trinity. Q What is the Trinity?
A The Trinity is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The Nicene Creed

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:
   by the power of the Holy Spirit
    he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
   and was made man.
   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.
   With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
   He 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 Apostles' Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
   creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
    He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
       and born of the Virgin Mary.
  He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
       was crucified, died, and was buried.
  He descended to the dead.
  On the third day he rose again.
  He ascended into heaven,
        and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
    He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
  the holy catholic Church,
  the communion of saints,
 the forgiveness of sins,
    the resurrection of the body,
    and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Creed of St. Athanasius

Whosoever will be saved,
before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith.
Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled,
without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

And the Catholic Faith is this:
That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity,
neither confounding the Persons,
nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father,
another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost.
But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost, is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal.
Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.

The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate.
The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible,
and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.
The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal.

And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal.
As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated,
but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.

So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty,
and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not three
Almighties, but one Almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son is God,
and the Holy Ghost is God.
And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord,
and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not three Lords, but one Lord.

For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge
every Person by himself to be both God and Lord,
So are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion to say,
There be three Gods, or three Lords.
The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten.
The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten.
The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son,
neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons;
one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.
And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other;
none is greater, or less than another; But the whole three Persons
are co-eternal together and co-equal.
So that in all things, as is aforesaid,
the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
He therefore that will be saved is must think thus of the Trinity.

Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also
believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess,
that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man;
God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds;
and Man of the substance of his Mother, born in the world;
Perfect God and perfect Man,
of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.

Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead; and inferior to the
Father, as touching his manhood; Who, although he be God and Man,
yet he is not two, but one Christ;
One, not by conversion of the Godhead
into flesh but by taking of the Manhood into God;
One altogether; not by confusion of Substance,
but by unity of Person. For as the reasonable 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.
He ascended into heaven, he sitteth at the right hand of the Father,
God Almighty, from whence he will come
to judge the quick and the dead.
At whose coming all men will rise again with their bodies
and shall give account for their own works.
And they that have done good shall go into life
everlasting; and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.

This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully,
he cannot be saved.

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