Why Use the Athanasian Creed?
Today is Trinity Sunday, a day in the church year devoted to reminding us who the true God of the Bible is, over against the many false concepts and ideas about God that have been held at various times and in various places.
The Athanasian Creed, which we use on Trinity Sunday each year, is a confession of the true Christian Faith against the errors of those who confounded or rejected the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity or of the Person of Jesus Christ.
Early in the fourth century, a north African pastor named Arius taught that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was not true God in the sense of being eternal and equal to the Father but that He was created or begotten by God the Father at some point before the foundation of the world. Thus, his followers in North Africa and elsewhere did not believe the Son to be eternal or coequal with the Father or that Jesus is true God in the same sense as the Father is God.
And, sad to say, the errors of Arius which troubled the true Christian Church in the fourth century and afterward continue to plague “churches” today, with some denying the Trinity outright and others introducing subtle errors which make the Son less than or inferior to the Father in some way and often denying entirely the Person of the Holy Spirit.
One common misconception of the Trinity often expressed today is the ancient heresy of Modal Monarchianism — that God is one God who comes to us and deals with us in three different ways: sometimes as a loving heavenly father, sometimes as a son of God and our brother, and other times as a gentle and guiding spirit. A common illustration used is that of water which sometimes is solid, sometimes liquid and sometimes steam or vapor. This view holds to the unity of God but denies the trinity of persons.
The early church responded to the Arian heresies decisively in AD 325 at the Council of Nicea (the first ecumenical council) with the Creed of Nicea and again at the Council of Constantinople (the second ecumenical council) in 381 with the Nicene Creed (a statement of faith we still use in our Sunday services today to confess that Jesus is, in fact, not only true man but also true God, with the Father).
Thus, in the Nicene Creed, we confess of the Son: “And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father, before all worlds, 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, who for us men, and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. And the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead: whose kingdom shall have no end.”
In the Nicene Creed, we also confess of the Holy Spirit: “And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spake by the prophets.”
And, toward the end of the fifth century, another creed was written that further defined the mystery of the Trinity revealed in the Bible. Though credited to Athanasius, a leading fourth-century opponent of Arius, the creed itself appears to have come later in the debate because it was written in Latin rather than Greek (the language of Athanasius) and doesn’t appear to have been used in the churches until well after the time of Athanasius.
The Athanasian Creed declares that its teachings concerning the Holy Trinity and our Lord’s incarnation are “the Catholic Faith.” In other words, this is what the true Church of all times and in all places has confessed. And, more than 15 centuries later, the true Church continues to confess these same Scriptural truths.
The creed also claims that one must hold to this true doctrine to be saved, adding also that those who reject these truths will be condemned eternally. For this reason, we count those who reject this doctrine to be outside the pale of Christianity.
And what does the Bible teach about the true God and who He is? Consider first what it says of the God who made us and all things.
“Who is the true God and our Maker?”
The Bible, which is God’s inspired Word, tells us: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
But who is this God of the Bible? Who is the Creator of the heavens and the earth? Who is the One who formed all of us in our mothers’ wombs and gave us life (Psalm 139:13-16)?
The Hebrew word Elohim in Genesis 1:1 is the plural form of God and is the name used to describe our Creator (cf. Gen. 1:26-27). He is also called by the name Jehovah or Yehovah (some pronounce the Hebrew name Yahweh), and it is often translated as LORD (with all uppercase letters) in our English Bibles.
“These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God [Yehovah Elohim] made the earth and the heavens …” (Gen. 2:4).
The Bible further defines God, when it says: “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him” (1 Cor. 8:6). Thus we see that all things were created by God the Father through Jesus Christ, who gave us life.
God’s creation account also tells us that, in the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:2). And so we see that the Holy Spirit, too, was active in the creation of all things.
The opening verses of St. John’s Gospel tell us: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:1-4). We learn that the Word, Jesus Christ, identified in verse 14 as God Himself in the flesh and the only-begotten Son of the Father, already was in the beginning, that He was and is God, that He created all things and is the giver of life, both physical and spiritual.
In St. Paul’s letter to the Colossians, the inspired Scriptures say of Christ Jesus, that He “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Col. 1:15-17).
So, who is the Creator? Who is the true God? It is God, the God the Scriptures identify for us as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Though God is one Being — “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD” (Deut. 6:4) — God is also three Persons — thus, Jesus’ command to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matt. 28:19). This is why the God of the Bible is often called the Triune (three/one) God; He is one God and yet three distinct Persons. The Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God. Yet, there are not three Gods, but one God.
The Bible tells us, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one” (1 John 5:7).
Though beyond our ability to comprehend, this is how God has revealed Himself to us — it is His account and His word. And it is this God who has created all things and has given us life. This is the God Bible-believing Christians worship and serve. It is the God confessed in the ancient creeds of the church — the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.
And any who do not worship and serve this true God (the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit) through faith in the Son do not worship and serve the true God who created us and gave us life, who redeemed us in the Son and who gives eternal life to all who believe in His name (cf. 1 John 5:11-12).
Jesus said in John 5:23: “All men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.”
Jesus also said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by” Him (John 14:6; cf. Act 4:12).
And, Who provided for our salvation?
And who is our Savior? We see from our Gospel today (John 3:1-17) that the Triune God was at work in accomplishing our salvation.
The Father sent the Son to redeem us. We read in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
The Son took on human flesh and blood and was lifted up for us. John 3:14-15 says: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
Or, in 1 John 2:1-2: “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
The Spirit works through Word and Sacrament to regenerate us and bring us to faith and preserve us in faith in Christ Jesus.
In John 3:3-8, we read: “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”
And, Baptism is called a “washing of water by the word” (Eph. 5:26) and a “washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Tit. 3:5-7).
Therefore, it is the LORD God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — who has both created us and provided for us eternal salvation in the Son. He is the God in whom we and all believers place our trust. He is the God we worship and serve. And, He is the God we confess and profess today!
O LORD God, our Creator and Redeemer, one God, yet three Persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — we give You thanks for revealing Yourself and all You have done for us and our salvation in Your Word. Grant that we trust in You and honor You through faith in the Son and His innocent sufferings and death for us upon the cross. Amen.
Athanasian Creed
Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic [TRUE CHRISTIAN] faith, which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
And the Catholic [TRUE CHRISTIAN] 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 coeternal. 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 there are not three uncreated, nor three incomprehensibles: 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 God and Lord; So are we forbidden by the Catholic [CHRISTIAN] 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 before, or after other: none is greater, or less than another; but the whole three Persons are coeternal together, and coequal: so that in all things, as is aforesaid: the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshiped. He therefore that will be saved must thus think 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 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 on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty: from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming, all men shall 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 [TRUE CHRISTIAN] faith: which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.
God the Father, be our Stay
1 God the Father, be our Stay;
Oh, let us perish never!
Cleanse us from our sins, we pray,
And grant us life forever.
Keep us from the Evil One;
Uphold our faith most holy,
Grant us to trust Thee solely
With humble hearts and lowly.
Let us put God’s armor on,
With all true Christian running
Our heav’nly race and shunning
The devil’s wiles and cunning.
Amen, amen, this be done;
So sing we, Hallelujah!
2 Jesus Christ, be Thou our Stay;
Oh, let us perish never!
Cleanse us from our sins, we pray,
And grant us life forever.
Keep us from the Evil One;
Uphold our faith most holy,
Grant us to trust Thee solely
With humble hearts and lowly.
Let us put God’s armor on,
With all true Christian running
Our heav’nly race and shunning
The devil’s wiles and cunning.
Amen, amen, this be done;
So sing we, Hallelujah!
3 Holy Ghost, be Thou our Stay;
Oh, let us perish never!
Cleanse us from our sins, we pray,
And grant us life forever.
Keep us from the Evil One;
Uphold our faith most holy,
Grant us to trust Thee solely
With humble hearts and lowly.
Let us put God’s armor on,
With all true Christian running
Our heav’nly race and shunning
The devil’s wiles and cunning.
Amen, amen, this be done;
So sing we, Hallelujah! Amen.
Title: God, the Father, Be Our Stay
German Title: Gott der Vater wohn’ uns bei
Translator: Richard Massie (1854, alt.)
Author: Unknown (c. 1400)
GOSPEL: John 3:1-15
THERE was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him. How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee. We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen: and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Notes and History
Origen (185-254) answers Modalism with Persons in the Godhead but with degrees of divinity (i.e., Christ was God but less divine than the Father, and the Holy Spirit less divine than the Son — perhaps influenced by gnostic philosophy about emanations or reflections of God becoming less and less pure as one moves away from the center, which would be God the Father ).
Arius (256-336), a preacher and bishop from Libya, rejected degrees of divinity, saying one is either God or not God, Creator or Creature. Arius taught that the Father is 100% God and the Creator. But Arius said the Son was begotten or created by the Father before the heavens and earth were created and that the Father then created the heavens and earth by means of the Son. He denied that the Son of God was uncreated or eternal. The Holy Spirit was viewed more as the means by which God worked rather than a person in the Godhead (bearing many similarities with Jehovah’s Witnesses today). And the Arian heresy spread because of civil rulers (“Christian” emperors) who supported the views of Arius.
Athanasius (296-373), bishop of Alexandria, led in the fight against Arianism, arguing that Christ is “homoousious” (of the same essence or substance) with the Father. He had on his tombstone: “Athanasius contra mundum” or “Athanasius against the world.” He was exiled and in hiding numerous times because of his profession to the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity.
At the Council of Nicea in 325 (the first ecumenical council — of believers from all the inhabited earth), the Creed of Nicea (not the Nicene Creed) was adopted which asserted that the Son was of the same substance with the Father, a statement Arius could not accept because he did not believe the Son was equal and of the same divine essence as the Father. But even though Arius was rebuked for his error and defrocked, he continued to defend his false beliefs and was supported in his views by rulers.
The controversy was resolved at the Council of Constantinople in 381 (the second ecumenical council) made possible by Emperor Theodosius. It was at this council that the Nicene Creed was formulated and adopted. The Nicene Creed is an expansion of the Creed of Nicea and the Cappadocian Fathers — Basil of Caesarea (330-379), Gregory of Nyssa (335-394) and Gregory of Nazianzus (330-390) — built upon the work of Athanasius to use ousia of the divine nature and hypostasis to speak of the reality of the divine Persons in the Godhead.
Filioque (“and from the Son”) was added by the Western Church in the Latin form of the Creed to reject Arianism in the late sixth century. This was used as a reason for the split between the churches of the East and the churches of the West in 1094.
The Athanasian Creed (often attributed to Athanasius) was likely formulated in the fifth century or later, based on a lack of references or usage prior to the fifth century and written in Latin rather than Greek (the language of Athanasius). It answers not only the Arian errors but the later errors of the monophysitism (which reduced the Person of Christ to one nature, a God-man nature which was neither purely divine nor purely human) and Nestorianism (which tried to maintain the two natures but taught that Christ was two persons, one human and one divine). Both of these heresies were clearly condemned at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 where it was stated that Jesus Christ is true God and true man and that the two natures existed in one Person without mixing, confusing, separating or dividing the two natures.
The Athanasian Creed reaffirms the statements and distinctions made at Chalcedon and affirms that Christ is fully God and fully man and that all three Persons of the Trinity are uncreated and eternal and that they are each God and yet only one God. Also affirmed is the doctrine that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and from the Son.
So, why do we confess the Nicene and the Athanasian Creeds? Isn’t the Apostles’ Creed good enough?
The Apostles’ Creed (based on the teaching of the apostles as recorded in the New Testament but probably not formulated until later) doesn’t specifically address the heresies which tore apart the church in the third through the fifth centuries. It appears to have been used in connection with baptisms and the instruction of new converts (as we do today in our catechetical studies).
Why do we teach Unity and Trinity of God?
Unity — Deut. 6:4; 1 Cor. 8:4; Psalm 50:1; Isa. 37:16; 44:8
Trinity — Matt. 20:19; Gen. 1:1ff.; John 1:1ff.; Numbers 6:24ff.; 2 Cor. 13:14; Isa. 48:16f.; 1 Peter 1:3-5
Jesus Divine and human — John 1:1ff.; Matthew 1:18ff.; Luke 2:1-11; John 8:58; 10:30-33; 20:24-29; Rom. 1:3-4; Heb. 1:1ff.; Psalm 2; Psalm 110; Jer. 23:1ff.; 1 Tim. 2:5; Gal. 4:4ff.; Isa. 7:14; 9:6; Col. 1:15-16; 2:9; Tit. 2:13-14;
Why is this important?
To worship the true God who has revealed Himself to us in the Bible and not an image or concept of God of our own making (Ex. 20:2ff.)
Necessary for Christ to be true man, the Seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15; Gal 4:4-6; Heb. 2:14ff.) to take our place under the Law and redeem us.
Necessary for Him to be true God for His sacrifice to be sufficient to make atonement for all our sins (Psalm 49:7f.)
[Scripture is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.]