Heads-up! Athanasian Creed coming up this weekend!

Whoever desires to be saved must above all…

This Sunday, we’ll celebrate Trinity Sunday, as we confess that our Lord has revealed Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Each year, the Church recites the Athanasian Creed, confessing who the true God is in contrast to false gods.  To confess “truth” today is unpopular, but that’s what the Christian is called to do. Jesus is THE Way, THE Truth, and THE Life. There is no other. Thus, we confess our God as He has revealed Himself to us, especially in contrast to the false teachings about God we find in the world.

One of the false teachers in the history of the church was Arius, who taught that Jesus was not true God along with the Father. Thus, for Arius, Jesus didn’t save mankind by being true God and true man, suffering and dying in both natures. This would mean that the blood of Jesus did not pay for all sins of all people for all time.  Salvation itself was at stake! Arianism attempted to remove the Gospel from Christians, so by the 4th and 5th centuries, the Church equipped Christian families with the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds—that Christians would be taught rightly to confess God in Trinity and Jesus as true God and true man.

Why do we confess the Athanasian Creed today, over 1500 years after Arius was rejected? Because the Church still faces challenges to the teachings of the Trinity and the natures of Jesus. For example, we see the outlines of Arianism in the man-made religions of the Muslims, the Mormons, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. All of them speak well of Jesus, calling him a good man and great teacher—but none allow him to be the True God. Thus, the Muslims, the Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses cannot confess in the words of the Athanasian Creed: The Godhead of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one: the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.

We still find Arianism today, so we teach our families to confess the One true God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and to reject false teachings that would rob us of salvation. We join our voices with Christians across the world, in many languages, all of us speaking the intentional and careful words of a Creed crafted over 1500 years ago.  

As we confess the Creed, we confess the faith of the  “catholic church.” That is, the universal church (as catholic rightly means “according to the whole”).  The catholic faith is the faith of the true Christian church located throughout the world, wherever the Word of God is taught in its purity and the sacraments are administered according to the Lord’s institution.  Thus, we confess, “Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith. Whoever does not keep it whole and undefiled will without doubt perish eternally. And the catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity and trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance… This is the catholic faith; whoever does not believe it faithfully and firmly cannot be saved.”

These clear words might sound judgmental to today’s world with its demand for tolerance in all things.  However, we want the clear Gospel of Jesus to ring out uncompromised, undiminished, and in full blast comfort. If we confess a God other than the Trinity, we remove ourselves from the saving Truth of the Scriptures. If we confess a Jesus other than true God and true man, we cut ourselves off from the Gospel as our Lord gives it.  We confess His truth in a world of tolerance—for it is the truth of the Gospel that saves sinners like us, our families, and all who believe.

In Christ,

Pastor Clemmer