Feast of the Holy Trinity _ Athanasian Creed (LSB, p.
319)
Zion Lutheran Church, Dexter, Iowa & St. John’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church U.A.C., Casey, Iowa
The Revd Jeffrey M. Keuning
Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from
the Lord Jesus Christ. [Amen.]
To-day is Trinity Sunday, and every Lutheran knows what that
means: it’s the day we recite that long creed with the funny name. Please turn
in your hymnals to the Athanasian Creed on page 319.
It’s not uncommon for people to groan or roll their eyes
when they think of this creed—maybe you’re one of them, groaning inwardly even
now. Why do people have this attitude? Well, people think:
• it’s long
• it’s got a strange name that’s hard to remember how to pronounce
• it’s repetitive
• it’s confusing
Let’s dispel those ideas this morning, and talk about why
the Athanasian Creed was written, why we confess it, what it confesses, and why
we ought to know it better than we do. Martin Luther thought highly of the
Athanasian Creed. He said of it: I doubt whether, since the time of the
Apostles in the New Testament Church, a more important and glorious creed has
been written. (W 6:2315) High praise, indeed. So, let’s take a more careful
look.
First, it’s length. To be sure, it is longer than either of
the other two creeds we use—the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. However, you’ll spend
more time watching commercials during a half-hour television program than you
will confessing the Athanasian Creed. And, by the way, Hey Jude by the Beatles
lasts a full three minutes longer than the time it takes to confess the
Athanasian Creed.
The Athanasian Creed. What is a creed, anyhow? And why
confess a creed? Some churches say they have no creed. Why do we?
Every church has a creed. Every person has a creed. A creed
is simply a statement of what one believes. It comes, as many things in the Church
do, from the Latin. The Latin word credo means “I believe.” In their Latin
forms, the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds start out with the word credo: Credo in
Deum Patrem omnipotentum. I believe in God the Father Almighty. So a creed is
simply a statement of what we believe. It points out the distinction between
those who hold the true faith and unbelievers.
There are creeds in the Bible—a number of them. Deuteronomy
6 records the creed of the Israelites: Hear, O Israel, the LORD, our God, is
one Lord. In his first letter to the church at Corinth, St Paul writes: I
brought to you what I received—something very important: that Christ died for our
sins in accordance with the Scriptures, he was buried, he was raised on the
third day in accordance with the Scriptures (1 Cor15:3–4). It sounds an awful
lot like a portion of the creeds we’re familiar with, doesn’t it?
Even churches that say they have no creeds really do. They
might not subscribe to any formal creed, like we do. They say, We believe the Bible.
And if you press them: What do you believe about the Bible?, you’ll often find
out that they have a list of the Ten Most Important Teachings of the Bible, or
something like that. Well, that’s nothing more than a creed. But it’s a creed
that only their congregation or maybe their denomination confesses.
We subscribe to what are called the three Ecumenical Creeds.
That is, creeds that were at one time confessed by the whole Christian Church and
still are confessed by the majority of the Christian Church.
Next, we see that it’s called the Athanasian Creed. What’s
with the weird name? It’s named after a man named Athanasius, who was one of
the key figures at the Council of Nicaea in 325. This council was convened by
the emperor Constantine, where all the leaders in the Church, all the bishops,
came together to answer a question that was plaguing the Church and causing
unrest in his empire: who is Jesus?
A man named Arius had been teaching that the Son of God was a
god, but not the God. He was not eternal, Arius said; He was created. He was
not fully equal with the Father, according to Arius; but subordinate to Him.
Athanasius, not even yet a bishop, but only the assistant to the bishop of
Alexandria, became one of the great defenders of the faith. He was a small,
dark-skinned man whom his opponents called the Black Dwarf, but he was a giant
of a theologian, and contended for the biblical doctrine against the Arian
majority.
Athanasius prevailed, and the Christian Church confesses the
biblical teaching to this day in a creed formulated at Nicaea in 325: the Nicene
Creed. Athanasius and his contention for the truth are the reasons you confess
that Jesus is ‘God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not
made’ and, most importantly, for this was the very area of contention, ‘being
of one substance with the Father.’
By the way, the Arian heresy didn’t go away. Jehovah’s
Witnesses are probably the most prominent Arian heretics in our day. So, this
creed we confess to-day is named for Athanasius, though it was not written by
him. It dates to the fifth century, in the Roman province of Gaul, what is
to-day France. The barbarian invaders—the Goths—held to the Arian heresy, and
this creed was written to combat their false theology.
By the eighth century, the emperor Charlemagne decreed that
all churchmen had to learn it. At a synod in Rheims in 852, an ordinance was
passed requiring the clergy to memorize it, grasp its meaning, and be able to
expound it in popular language.
Having a better understanding of the name of the creed,
let’s look at its content. We’ll use the numbers the hymnal has helpfully
provided.
Let’s read together paragraph 1:
1 Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the
catholic faith.
The first thing that leaps out at us is that word catholic.
(Explain meaning of catholic. Maybe translation sequence?
Viz.: καθολικος –> catholicam –> kristliche –> christian [Ap, Nic]) καθολικος
–> catholicam –> catholic [Ath])
Let’s read again, 1 and 2:
1 Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the
catholic faith.
2 Whoever does not keep it whole and undefiled will without doubt
perish eternally.
Why? Why is this so important? Because it’s necessary to
believe in the true God. There is only one God and He does not tolerate false gods.
He says in Isaiah: I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols (Isa 42:8).
Well, what is the substance of this saving faith in the true
God? It’s summarized in 3–4:
3 And the catholic faith is this,
4 that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity,
neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance.
Heresy in the Church generally comes in two forms: attacks
on the Trinity or attacks on the person of Jesus Christ. The first part of the Athanasian
Creed is going to deal with the Trinity. Notice that this summary negotiates a
path between two ditches of heresy on either side:
• confusing the persons; that is, failing to distinguish
between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and
• splitting up the Godhead, so that there are three Gods
(this is, by the way, what the Muslims accuse Christians of)
Notice how 5 & 6 develop this central path of truth
further:
5 For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the
Holy Spirit is another.
6 But the Godhead of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit is one: the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.
The next portion of the creed is going to explain in detail,
that God is one, and that each of the persons of the Trinity is fully God. Let
us read 7–18.
7 Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the
Holy Spirit:
8 the Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, the Holy Spirit uncreated;
9 the Father infinite, the Son infinite, the Holy Spirit
infinite;
10 the Father eternal, the Son eternal, the Holy Spirit
eternal.
11 And yet there are not three Eternals, but one Eternal,
12 just as there are not three Uncreated or three Infinites,
but one Uncreated and one Infinite.
13 In the same way, the Father is almighty, the Son
almighty, the Holy Spirit almighty;
14 and yet there are not three Almighties, but one Almighty.
15 So the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is
God;
16 and yet there are not three Gods, but one God.
17 So the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit
is Lord;
18 and yet there are not three Lords, but one Lord.
Why the repetitiousness? It seems tedious. It’s written this
way to smoke out heretics. It’s designed so that heretics cannot weasel their way
around the true biblical doctrine.
The section we just read confessed the unity of the Godhead,
and the fact that all three persons of the Godhead are truly God. You might guess
that the following section would show how the three Persons are distinguished.
And you would be right.
19 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.
20 The Father is not made nor created nor begotten by
anyone.
21 The Son is neither made nor created, but begotten of the
Father alone.
22 The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son, neither
made nor created nor begotten, but proceeding.
23 Thus, there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son,
not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.
24 And in this Trinity none is before or after another; none
is greater or less than another;
25 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.
Note that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinguished
from one another, but not separated.
Finally, this section of the creed is once again summarized:
26 Therefore, whoever desires to be saved must think thus
about the Trinity.
But, it’s not enough just to believe the Trinity. You are
saved by the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus Himself says in
John 14: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father
except through Me. I said earlier, that heresy comes in two basic forms:
attacks on the Trinity or attacks on the person of Jesus Christ. And so, the
next portion of the Athanasian Creed deals with Jesus. Remember, this section
was written against heretics, false teachers, who taught either:
• that Jesus was not truly God, or
• that He was not really a man.
This section of the creed sounds more familiar, more like
what we know from the other creeds, with a bit more explanation of the incarnation:
27 But it is also necessary for everlasting salvation that
one faithfully believe the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
28 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.
29 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:
30 perfect God and perfect man, composed of a rational soul
and human flesh;
31 equal to the Father with respect to His divinity, less
than the Father with respect to His humanity.
32 Although He is God and man, He is not two, but one
Christ:
33 one, however, not by the conversion of the divinity into
flesh, but by the assumption of the humanity into God;
34 one altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by
unity of person.
35 For as the rational soul and flesh is one man, so God and
man is one Christ,
36 who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose
again the third day from the dead,
37 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.
38 At His coming all people will rise again with their
bodies and give an account concerning their own deeds.
39 And those who have done good will enter into eternal
life, and those who have done evil into eternal fire.
Ooh, that part rankles a bit, doesn’t it? After all, we are
Lutherans, we don’t believe in salvation by works. What is meant here?
John 6 records that, when the crowds came to Jesus, they
asked Him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them,
“This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” Faith in
Christ is counted for a good work in the eyes of God.
Lastly, another section that may raise some eyebrows:
40 This is the catholic faith; whoever does not believe it
faithfully and firmly cannot be saved.
The negative statements are called ‘Damnatory Clauses,’ and
are similar to those of St Paul in Galatians 1:8-9—But even if we or an angel
from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to
you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone
is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be
accursed.
Why have creeds?
They confess the true God, the One who made us and redeemed
us. More here: redemption by the cross, etc.
Proper confession is necessary, so that we can be certain
that all our sins are forgiven, in the Name of the Father, and of the T Son,
and ofthe Holy Ghost. [Amen.]
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. [Amen.]
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