By Rev. Ronald Jansen
Last Sunday we confessed our faith in the annual trek through the Athanasian Creed. Some churches bail out on this ancient creed because it’s too long or convoluted or people don’t like it. I ask what does any of that have to do with anything?
We begin the creed by declaring that, “Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith.” In other words, what the creed says about the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the birth of the Son into the flesh is the catholic faith. This is the truth that the true church confesses in all times and in all places.
We not only confess, but we do it in the setting of worship, “we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity.” We do not mix together the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. On the other hand we do not divide God into three parts either. “So the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God; and yet, (that “and yet” is critical) there are not three Gods, but one God.”
We only had one confirmand at St. Paul’s, Otto this year. I sat across the conference table from Ben. There were a total of 11 people present, including his family. One of the questions I asked was to fully explain the Trinity. There was a period of silence as we all waited. Then Ben said, almost under his breath, “I don’t know.” I said, “That’s right.” It was the best answer he gave all evening.
Thus the creed ends not with an intellectual statement but with a faith statement, “This is the catholic faith; whoever does not BELIEVE it faithfully and firmly cannot be saved.”
I should add that Athanasius did not write the creed named after him. He lived in the fourth century and spoke Greek and lived in Egypt. The creed was written in the fifth century in Latin most likely in the south of France. But it does reflect the importance Athanasius .put on the mystery of the Trinity
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