Apostle's Creed Nicene Creed 1. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, 1. We believe in one God the Father, the Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, and of all that is, seen and unseen. 2. And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, 2. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being [substance] with the Father. Through him all things were made. 3. Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, 3. 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 truly human. 4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into hell. 4. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. 5. The third day he rose again from the dead; 5. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; 6. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. 6. he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. 7. From there he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. 7. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. 8. I believe in the Holy Spirit, 8. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father [and the Son]. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. 9. I believe in the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, 9. We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. 10. The forgiveness of sins, 10. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. 11. The resurrection of the body, 11. We look for the resurrection of the dead, 12. And the life everlasting. Amen. 12. and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
a great way to summarize
The words are old, and in some cases I think we might be able to say it more clearly in our own language than in the translation of this--but these abiding and widespread agreements ("ecumenical creeds") about what "Christian" means are well worth keeping in mind.
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5 comments:
This is something that bugs me every time I go to a Catholic baptism where they say a shortened version of the Creed as the statement of faith. Saying "I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church" isn't the same as saying "I believe in the catholic church." The first is a plea for unity and an acknowledgement that we should all be one; the second is a redundancy -- at least while standing in a Catholic parish.
But yes, your point about the creed being a great way to summarize our faith is a good one. We Orthodox are often looked at quizzically and asked to clarify what be believe, and we point straight to the Nicene Creed. There's no other way to say it.
:-) Understood. If only church history didn't involve so many people "gaming" the meaning of the words of Scripture and sound creeds like these, we might actually be able to get by on that. But, no, we have complex systematic theologies because without it we have a hard time hedging out error. Not that I am convinced this is all bad, nor that other hedges might not be equally useful on this or that patch.
But I like to go back to things like these to build starting-points, once in a while. The Protestant theological trap is mistaking that narrow pass in the mountains Leonidas was guarding for the entire Turkish front of World War I--that is, forgetting what place this or that particular truth (which should be defended as truth) has in the larger Gospel work of Christ, and in the life of His Body.
Nice hearing from you, BTW. Hope all's well.
oh, and I should also point out that, as a member of a tradition dissenting *from* the Protestant denominations, and a relatively nonconformist member at that--I find myself feeling very "in for a penny, in for a pound" in regards to the catholicity of the Body of Christ.
One can believe in the microcosm/macrocosm nature of the local bodies as each Body of Christ and yet together being built into the Body of Christ assembled from all times and places on the last day--one can believe Christ is ubiquitous and really present many different places--without for a moment conceding that division is acceptable. It is sad that divisions have arisen--both on account of hierarchies that contend for lordship over God's heritage, and on account of seeming members who cut themselves off from the body, "that we might know they are not of us."
I absolutely agree with you. It's an odd thing to believe fully in the One-ness of Christ's body and yet be reminded of the division of our churches every day. Perhaps what is really important is the unity of Christian people, and not just social, political, moral, or philosophical unity, but real unity of the heart. To look upon our fellow Christians (which is sometimes more difficult than the rest of mankind) with the pure joy that comes from love must be the goal of all of our prayerfulness or we're probably not doing much good for anyone. But how to get there?
Well, my best guess in the right direction--aside from a prayerful and confessional affirmation of the eschatological unity--might best be expressed in this context by parsing this bit of your last:
Perhaps what is really important is the unity of Christian people, and not just social, political, moral, or philosophical unity, but real unity of the heart.
I suspect that "the heart" is transformed in, and is seen to be transformed in, the equivocal body/Body life of Christ in/among Christians. Dropping my favorite lit-crit-ish jargon, though....
I'm not sure "my heart" can be meaningfully changed by my self, in either the sense of "by myself" (alone) or "by my own action." I need Christ to change my heart to see others the way He does (an expression of this I find pleasing is in C. S. Lewis's The Weight Of Glory, though MacDonald's Lilith [universalism warning!] is good imagination-tuning, too). I think He does that, here and now, through the actual life of the body.
So, first we enter into the body locally, and living in our own bodies we learn what it is to be members. We in turn teach and urge the body locally to be unified, to so focus on Christ that He becomes the great standard for all our differences. The discipline of the local church, then, ought to lead to cooperation among local churches, in like spirit, with shared teaching and sharing of resources and members as best serves the cause of Christ.
Personally, I have no hope that I can do this autonomously; I have no hope that it can be imposed top-down. I have great hope that the eschaton will arrive soon enough to invalidate my feeble efforts, anyway. That would validate my feeble efforts.
Such is the paradox of living towards the end. :-)
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