In the traditional Prayer Book Catechism, we have the
following credal affirmations.
Catechist. Rehearse
the Articles of thy Belief.
Answer. I believe
in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:
And in Jesus Christ
his only Son our Lord: Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin
Mary: Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He
descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead: He ascended
into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty: From
thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost:
The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints: The Forgiveness of sins: The
Resurrection of the body: And the Life everlasting. Amen.
Comment: Throughout
the Scriptures, especially in the New Testament, there are summaries of things
that God’s people should believe. In the Acts of the Apostles,
there are several notable summaries of beliefs about Christ in sermons and at Baptisms. There
are also passages such as I Timothy 3:16, “And without controversy great is
the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the
Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world,
received up into glory. “
During the second and third centuries, various local
baptismal creeds developed. They were usually in three parts (Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit). Although local versions were slightly different, they covered the same
basic points. One of these summaries of basic Christian belief developed at
Rome in Latin and became known as the
Apostles' Creed. Although not literally composed by the Apostles in the first
century, it summarizes their preaching and teaching contained in the book of
Acts and the New Testament epistles.
In the year 325, the bishops at the First Council of Nicea
took a similar Eastern baptismal creed (maybe from Jerusalem) and added words
to be clear about Christ’s divinity. In 381, the bishops at the council of
Constantinople added details about the divinity of Christ and the Holy
Spirit. With these modifications, the creed we know as the Nicene Creed
developed. Later, the Western church added that the Holy Spirit proceeds “from
the Son.” From 1549, English Prayer
Books omitted “holy” before “catholic” in the Nicene Creed (but not in the
Apostles’ Creed). Some have suggested a printer’s error, but research also
shows its omission in some medieval Latin texts.
Now let us notice the short summary in the next Catechism
question.
Question. What dost
thou chiefly learn in these Articles of thy Belief?
Answer. First, I learn
to believe in God the Father, who hath made me, and all the world. Secondly, in
God the Son, who hath redeemed me, and all mankind. Thirdly, in God the Holy
Ghost, who sanctifieth me, and all the people of God.
Comment: The Apostles' Creed like many Christian statements
of faith and acts of worship has a three-part form, a Trinitarian structure.
The first part of the Creed is about God the Father, the Creator. All of
Scripture and much in nature teaches us about Him.
God’s creation is basically good because He is good. One
good part of His creation is freedom for higher creatures such as angels and
human beings. Unfortunately, a heavenly creature, Lucifer or Satan, rebelled,
was cast out of heaven and pursued his rebellion on earth. And the first human
creatures succumbed to temptation and also rebelled against the holy Creator.
This Fall into sin disrupted the relationship between God and His creation, but it did not destroy the Creator’s love. So God reached out with a series of
promises and demands called covenants. An important example was the covenant
with Abraham and his descendants. The early covenants are recorded in the
Scriptures we call the Old Testament, and they were designed to prepare human beings
for the great new and final covenant through Jesus Christ.
Although nature and Scripture teach us much about the
Creator, this part of the Creed is short. It seems to assume that most human
beings acknowledge a Creator and some kind of moral law, and it moves quickly to the
beliefs that are more uniquely Christian.
The second part of the Creed is about God the Son, Jesus the
Christ. Our beliefs about Jesus are what characterize us as Christians. This part of the Creed summarizes the Gospels and many other parts of the New Testament. We believe that Jesus Christ is the only and unique Son of God, of one essence with the Father; He was
conceived by the Spirit of God and born of the Virgin Mary. Thus, He is true man and true God. He came to
earth to reveal God in the Incarnation, to redeem or save us from our sins, and to offer us eternal life in God's presence.
Among the many things that He did during His life on earth, the Creed stresses the central events which are His death on the Cross for our sins, and His
resurrection to offer us new life. He was a real man who, at a particular
moment in history (under the Roman governor Pilate), truly suffered, died, and descended to the dead. He freely gave
Himself and paid the debt that a fallen humanity was incapable of paying. Because He was both innocent man and true God,
death could not hold Him, and He rose from the dead in bodily form. This is the
source of Christian hope; without it, His story would be meaningless and our
hope futile. After His resurrection, He appeared forty days to His disciples, and then He ascended into heaven to pray for us and to watch over us.
And at the end of earthly history, He will come again to take up the role of
judge of all.
The third part of the Creed is about God the Holy Ghost or
the Holy Spirit. Not only did God create the universe and come to earth in the
man Jesus, He continues to reach out and work in the world in invisible but
powerful spiritual ways. As He works in the world, He sanctifies or makes holy.
He works through each individual believer. There are several aspects of this
spiritual work in individual lives.
It is the Spirit that reaches out through Baptism and
proclamation of the Gospel to redeem fallen human beings. When the Spirit
starts this process of redemption, it is called regeneration. When the
individual responds by faith in Christ, we speak of justification, and when the
Spirit helps one grow in holiness, we speak of sanctification.
As is shown in the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit also works in a special way through the fellowship or communion of believers, the
Church. There is only one Church. Despite human failings, this
Church is holy because it belongs to God. It is also catholic or universal. It
extends across languages, races, cultures, political boundaries, and time. It
holds to the same basic beliefs and moral standards everywhere- in this world
and beyond. The Church is apostolic because it is based on the teaching and
ministry of the Apostles. The Spirit makes the Church a communion of saints, a
fellowship of those made holy by the grace of God in Christ.
The basic visible foundation of the Church is Christian Baptism.
Wherever there are baptized persons who profess the faith into which
they have been baptized, the Church exists in a basic way. The Church also exists as an institution that continues through history. Into the Church and the lives of its members, the Holy
Spirit brings blessings such as the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness is related to Baptism, the proclamation of the Gospel, and in various ways to all the rites of the Church. The Holy Spirit will also be active in the future
resurrection of the body for judgment and in eternal life in God's presence. We end with
“Amen,” which implies both "it is true" and “so be it”
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