Nicene Creed

The scriptures referred to are in the text.

There are those who say it doesn't matter what you believe so long as you are sincere. Apparently these people never heard of the so-called “Aryan Christians” who sincerely believe that non-Caucasians, as well Roman Catholics and Jews, are inferior to whites. What about terrorists who sincerely believe that God wants them to kill people who disagree with them? Sincerity of belief does not mean that belief is true or helpful or even harmless.

Obviously the content of your belief system is important. Otherwise there would be ecumenical talks going on between, say, Nazis and Quakers. As Christians, our belief system is derived from the Bible. But as a mission statement it is a rather unwieldy thing to give to an inquirer who wants to know the basics. So from the beginning Christians have sought to summarize the essential features of the faith into creeds. The word creed comes from the Latin “Credo” which means “I believe.” We have what look like proto-creeds in the book of Acts (Acts 2:22-36) and the letters of Paul (Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:15-20). Gradually creeds were developed as concise statements of essential and distinctive beliefs, for use in worship and as outlines for teaching the faith. The best known are the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed. The Apostles Creed was not developed by the apostles but it does bring together the basics of the apostolic faith. Though it reached its final form around 700 AD, it seems to have been based on the Old Roman Creed, which dates back to the second century. We still use it at baptisms.

The Nicene Creed is actually older than the final form of the Apostles Creed. But it is not exactly the creed that came out of the Council of Nicea. If you read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code you might think you know something about this Council. Sadly, while Brown gets an A in thriller-writing, he gets a D in church and art history. Constantine, upon becoming emperor, made Christianity first a tolerated, that is, legal religion and later a favored one. Like the pagan emperors before him, Constantine hoped to make religion the cement of his vast empire. So he was unhappy to find out that a huge controversy over the divinity of Christ was dividing the church. And when his representative, Bishop Hosius of Cordoba, was unable to negotiate a reconciliation of the two sides, the emperor convened the first churchwide council in 325 AD. As many as 300 bishops came together to debate and decide the matter. The result was a statement of the faith that closely resembles our present day Nicene Creed, right down to the part that says, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” That section was expanded later after a controversy about the divinity of the Holy Spirit. By the late 400s AD, the Nicene Creed, pretty much in its current form, was being used at the Eucharist and it spread throughout the church in the West and, with one difference, in the East.

The suggestion I drew from the sermon suggestion box did not ask for a lecture on the creed, however, but a sermon. And it is important to realize that what we have here is not a dry formula of ancient Greek theology but something akin to the constitution of the church. Each article has direct and vital implications for how we should see God and act towards him and the world. So let's look at each section.

“We believe...” In the original Greek, the word for “I believe” is pisteuo. It means more than just “I believe this to be true.” It means “I put my trust in this,” “I rely on this,” “I bet my life on this.” Biblical faith is not an intellectual exercise, played out in the head. It is a heartfelt relationship with God, played out in one's life, day by day. We see such faith in Abraham, leaving his father and family behind to follow God's call to a new land. We see it in Moses, reluctantly returning to Egypt, trusting that God would keep his promise to liberate his people from slavery. We see it in Paul, abandoning his career as a prominent rabbi to face persecution, beatings and imprisonment as an apostle to the Gentiles whom he used to despise. We see it in Francis of Assisi, stripping off the rich clothes his merchant father gave him to become a poor monk and a preacher of the gospel. We see it in Christians who risked their lives and those of their families to hide Jews from the Gestapo or those who led Southern slaves to freedom on the underground railroad. We see it in Jesus in Gethsemane, asking his Father to spare him from the cross if possible but saying, “Not my will but your will be done.”

And we say “we believe” rather than “I believe” because the church isn't a loose association of Lone Rangers, each doing his own thing. We are a community, the body of Christ, each with different gifts and functions, but all working for the benefit of each other out of love. As the 3 musketeers said, we are “all for one and one for all.” But we'd be fools to put our trust in someone untrustworthy. So in whom have we put our faith?

“We believe in God, the Father, the Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.” We have chosen to rely on the God who made everything—as Eucharistic Prayer C puts it, “the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home.” Notice that the creed doesn't specify how God created everything, that is, it doesn't give any scientific explanation. Because just as in Genesis 1, the mechanics of creation are not important; the purpose of creation is. And the purpose is love. God is love (1 John 4:8) and creation is both an expression of God's love and a means of sharing that love. We don't believe in an impersonal creator but one we can call “Father” because he made us in his image out of love. (Genesis 1:27) He is “Almighty” so nothing can separate us from his love. Nothing, that is, except our own stubbornness. We can choose not to return his love. We can choose to love the creation more than the creator. We can choose to love the things we create more than him. Nevertheless he has provided a way to bring us back to him.

And so “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God...” This was the crux of why the Council of Nicea was called. When we are dealing with Jesus, are we dealing with God or someone else? A popular preacher named Arius was teaching that Christ was a lesser being than God. He said Christ was created first, before everything else, but he was not truly God. That way you didn't have to wrap your head about that tricky Trinity. But that also meant that our salvation, the sacrifice that brings us back to God, was a job delegated to someone less than God. Why do presidents make trips to disaster areas? Because people want to know that their wellbeing is important to the person in charge and was not fobbed off on some flunky. For God so loved the world that he didn't send a secretary or, God forbid, a congressional committee, to save us. He sent his son, who is as divine as he is: “...God from God, light from light...” Just as the light of one candle is indistinguishable from that of the candle that lit it, so is the power of Jesus Christ equal to that of God his Father. When we are dealing with Jesus, we are dealing with God, not some vice president. It's hard to understand but good to know.

“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.” There is a story about a little boy who runs to his mother every time lightning strikes during a thunderstorm one night. The mother keeps reassuring him that he is safe in his room. She says, “God is always with you and he loves you.” “I know,” says the boy. “But I want love with skin on.” Jesus is God's love with skin on. Christ came to show us what God is like in terms we can understand: a human personality in a human body, subject to the same conditions we are. Not only does he reveal God's holy and loving nature to us, he also shows us what we can be—if we trustingly open ourselves to his Spirit. Jesus shows us that a lot of our limitations are of our own making—our fears and desires and lack of trust. Studies have shown that trusting your doctor is just as important to your healing as following his instructions. Jesus shows us that we can be like him if we really put our trust in him.

“For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.” If you think the troubles of the world are merely the result of ignorance and misunderstandings, then you don't see the need for a savior. But if you see the cruelty and abuse and greed and lust and rage in this world as symptoms of something wrong which goes a lot deeper into humanity, then you might see why God himself had to come down and deal with it. And while the creed doesn't tell us exactly how he did it, we can begin to understand why Jesus, the embodiment of God's love, could only defeat evil in the way that he did. He didn't do it through the destruction of sinful people; that's evil's method of dealing with things. He did it instead by absorbing the evil people did to him and transforming it into something good. So he took the torture and execution of God triggered by a friend's personal betrayal, a kangeroo court of religious leaders, a politician's cowardice and the ruthless display of power by an occupying military force and transformed all that into the salvation of us harmful humans.

“On the third day, he rose again...” Christianity is not about another dead martyr to the truth; it is about the paradoxical triumph over death by the one who is the source of life. If death is the absolute end for us, then Jesus, who was poor and died bare, beaten and bleeding was a loser. And Hitler, who was powerful and died by his own choice and his own hand before he could be held responsible for the deaths of millions, was a winner. But if death is not the end of our existence, then, and only then, does justice exist. And if Jesus rose, then we need not fear death, and we need not let it deter us from following his example of comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. And if he rose, we know that living for the sake of others, regardless of the cost, is never done in vain.

“He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.” Having represented God to us, Jesus now represents us before God in heaven. We have an advocate in the presence of the Most High, a high priest who understands our weakness, a God who understands our pain. (Luke 22:69; 1 John 2:1-2; Hebrew 4:15-16)

“He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.” The current period on earth is not a sign that nothing has changed since Jesus came. Rather it is an opportunity to put into practice what Jesus has taught us. Do we simply carry on with our lives doing business as usual? Or do we live by a radically different standard, where people take priority over things and where the end never justifies the means? How we do things must be as noble as the goals we are trying to accomplish. Jesus didn't die so that we can continue to harm one another with impunity. He will judge us, not as someone removed from human life but as one who was immersed in it, who knows well our strengths and weaknesses, and who understands our capacity for evil and for good firsthand. Every second we breathe is a second chance to change. But the offer has an expiration date.

“We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life...” There's that messy Trinity again. But here we are saying that the Spirit within us is not a pale imitation of the Spirit of God, like the spirit of adventure that briefly inspires us after seeing an exciting movie. The Holy Spirit is the real thing, the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:17) If we are to be like Jesus, we need to be filled with his Spirit. (Luke 4:1; Ephesians 5:18) By being united to Jesus in his death and resurrection we are given new life, his divine life. (1 John 5:11) He is the light of the world and we are lit with his light. (John 8:12; Matthew 5:14)

And how do we know that we are being led by the Spirit rather than by our own passions? “He has spoken through the prophets.” There is no end of people claiming to speak for God and yet contradicting what God has said in the Bible. These false prophets tend to tell people what they want to hear. They also make exceptions to the commandments for themselves and their followers, especially regarding the commandments not to kill, not to commit adultery and not to worship anything or anyone other than God. A real knowledge of the Spirit-breathed scriptures refutes those like Jim Jones and David Koresh and the other self-appointed prophets who prey on people. It brings us back to the original Spirit of holiness and love that is embodied in and speaks to us through the written word of God and the living Word of God, Jesus.

“We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.” “Catholic” here simply means “universal.” This is not an endorsement of any denomination but rather stating the belief that those who truly follow the faith proclaimed by the apostles are found all over the world. It is also a statement that if we proclaim love as the highest goal, we must practice it in community. (1 Corinthians 13) Getting along with people of different personalities, races, talents and flaws is one of the hardest things our faith demands of us, right after trusting God with our lives. It's so hard we often fail. And it's why we must always be ready to ask for forgiveness and to forgive others. As G.K. Chesterton said, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.”

“We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.” In Jesus' day only a Gentile convert to Judaism would be baptized. He was then considered a new person, making a new start in life as one of God's people. That's why it was so radical for Jews to offer themselves to be baptized by John or later by Jesus' disciples. Paul also saw in baptism, with its immersion into a physical element and resurfacing, a connection with Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. In baptism we proclaim ourselves to be joined to Christ and so he makes us citizens of the kingdom of God. (Romans 6:3-4)

The kingdom of God and new life is not merely future but begins here and now, growing within us and changing us. (Luke 17:21) C.S. Lewis pointed out that if you only live 70 or 80 years, then from an eternal perspective it doesn't much matter what kind of person you are. But if you are going to live forever, then the person you are and who you are becoming are crucial. Eternal life would be hell if you are all wrapped up in yourself. You see this sometimes in older people who do nothing but relive old wrongs and let themselves be eaten up by them. They are shriveled souls, full of bitterness, resentment and regrets. But eternal life is a blessing if it is centered on God's love. You can also see this in some older people, who do not live in the past but in the present with an eye to a better future. They are becoming larger souls: open, generous and peaceful.

“We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” The Greek philosophers thought we are spirits imprisoned in bodies. So they despised the body and the physical world, not seeing the blessings of creation. We Christians believe that ultimately we will once more live as whole persons, both body and spirit united. And just as we affirm that God created the world and pronounced it good, we look in hope to its redemption as well as ours. God will resurrect the earth as the paradise it was always intended to be and fill it with his people. We look for a new heaven and a new earth, in which pain and mourning and death is no more, and where God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. (Revelation 21:1-4)

We say that we believe these things with our lips every Sunday. Do we show that we believe them with our lives? The world thinks we are merely murmuring words of hypocritical comfort to ourselves. The only way we can prove otherwise is if we show every day that we stake our lives on the belief that God made everyone we meet, that Jesus died to redeem each one, and that he has bestowed his Spirit on us that we might, each in our own way, reveal what the world is afraid to hope for but desperately wants to believe: that there is a God, that he loves us and is willing to forgive us and that he has the power to make us more than we are and help us become all that we can be.