Both the Epistle and the Gospel for this Eleventh Sunday after Trinity are powerful passages in differing ways. We always need to be reminded of the message in the Gospel from St. Luke 18:9-14. In the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Jesus reminds us of the proper human attitude in prayer and in life. All are sinners in some respect, and all of us need to turn to God's mercy in humble repentance and faith, not in pride, self-righteousness, or self-justification.
As important as today's Gospel is, this time, I would emphasize the Epistle from I Corinthians 15:1-11. These verses constitute one of several New Testament passages which have been characterized as early Christian creeds. Here St. Paul emphasizes the core message preached by all the apostles. Jesus Christ really suffered, died, was buried, and rose again on the third day. He was seen alive by many witnesses. Christ our Lord did these things to save those who believe in Him from sin and to offer them new and eternal life.
In I Corinthians 15:1, Paul calls this core Christian message the gospel or the good news, to evangelion. Later in 15:11, he uses the verb kerysso, which means proclaim or preach. This message derived from the life and teaching of Jesus Christ is shared by the whole apostolic Church. It has specific content about Christ and His redeeming work. Although a person's attitude, thoughts, and feelings about the message are personally important, the message itself claims to be objectively true. Christians are expected to profess and really believe these teachings or doctrines. In other words, from the beginning, Christianity is by nature a creedal religion.
As time went on the ancient Church faced various challenges to biblical beliefs. These challenges led to the formulation of early baptismal creeds affirmed by those being baptized and by their Christian sponsors. The core of these creeds affirmed beliefs about Christ such as those found in I Corinthians 15. These creeds were not contrary to Scripture; rather they summarized and defended biblical faith. In different forms, two ancient baptismal creeds have come down to the Church through the centuries. One is the Apostles' Creed which developed from simple baptismal affirmations in the Western or Latin church. The other is the Nicene Creed which took Eastern or Greek baptismal creeds and added phrases to clarify true Christian beliefs in light of fourth-century un-biblical challenges. Later, a third creed, the so-called Athanasian Creed, was accepted in the Western Church as a longer statement defending the doctrine of the Trinity. Although theologically important, its use in popular Christian worship and instruction has been less frequent.
These three ancient and ecumenical/catholic creeds reflect Scripture and have become basic expressions of Christian doctrine. It is absurd for someone to claim that he/she has no creed but the Bible. Every person and every congregation has some kind of creed, explicit or implicit. Each of us may have our private summaries or paraphrases, but we are on much sounder ground to acknowledge and affirm the ancient Creeds. They reflect Scripture, apostolic preaching, and the wisdom of generations of faithful Christians. Ignoring or rejecting them is at best stubborn pride and at worst unbelief or heresy. May God guide us in His truth!
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