Last week, we highlighted the life of church father Athanasius with a brief biography. As one reader pointed out, Athanasius is the man that was used by God to produce what is today known as the Athanasian Creed.
On Blue Letter Bible’s FAQ page, Don Stewart addresses the role this great creed, among others, played in the early church’s confession and celebration of the Trinity:
The Great Creeds Acknowledge The Trinity
Church creeds are statements of belief that were formulated to express what Christians believe. They were usually written in response to some false teaching that arose. The creed clarified the truth about the faith. While the creeds are not to be considered as equal to Scripture they do provide insight for us about what the early Christians believed. There are three great creeds to which western Christianity confesses – the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.
The Apostles’ Creed
The Apostles’ Creed, which is the earliest statement of Christian beliefs, does not mention the Trinity. It is a very compact formula. If this was the only creed written one might assume that the Father alone is God and that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are lesser in character for only the Father is referred to as divine in the Apostles’ Creed. However, the creed was not anti-Trinitarian. The issue was simply not covered.
The Nicene Creed
The Nicene Creed was written in A.D. 325 and added to in A.D. 381. It is clearly Trinitarian in outlook. It states that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all divine and of one substance or essence.
The Athanasian Creed
The Athanasian Creed came centuries later. It was named after the fourth-century defender of the Trinity – Athanasius. It is even stronger with its statement about the Trinity. The Creed says, “So the Father is God; the Son is God; and the Holy Spirit is God. And yet there are not three Gods but one God.
The Athanasian Creed
1. Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic1 faith;
2. Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
3. And the catholic1 faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity;
4. Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance.
5. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit.
6. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.
7. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit.
8. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated.
9. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible.
10. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal.
11. And yet They are not three eternals but one eternal.
12. As also there are not three uncreated nor three incomprehensible, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible.
13. So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty.
14. And yet They are not three almighties, but one almighty.
15. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God;
16. And yet They are not three Gods, but one God.
17. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord;
18. And yet They are not three Lords but one Lord.
19. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord;
20. So are we forbidden by the catholic1 religion to say; There are three Gods or three Lords.
21. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten.
22. The Son is of the Father alone; not made nor created, but begotten.
23. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
24. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.
25. And in this Trinity none is afore or after another; none is greater or less than another.
26. But the whole three persons are coeternal, and coequal.
27. So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
28. He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.
29. Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
30. For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man.
31. God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man of substance of His mother, born in the world.
32. Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.
33. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood.
34. Who, although He is God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ.
35. One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of that manhood into God.
36. One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person.
37. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ;
38. Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead;
39. He ascended into heaven, He sits on the right hand of the Father, God, Almighty;
40. From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
41. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies;
42. and shall give account of their own works.
43. And They that have done good shall go into life everlasting and They that have done evil into everlasting fire.
44. This is the catholic1 faith, which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved.
1 “catholic” meaning the universal Christian church, not the Roman Catholic (capital “C”) church
Corey says
February 18, 2011 at 5:04 pmAMEN. PRAISE FATHER SON AND HOLY GHOST.
LLM says
February 18, 2011 at 6:00 pmThanks for this focus on church history and the early creeds. This year (2011) me and my spouse have been trying to read the Nicene/Constantinople Creed together before meals. It is a great reminder of our beliefs.
Chris Poblete says
February 22, 2011 at 9:21 amThat’s awesome. Thank you for sharing that!
Nate says
February 20, 2011 at 2:41 pmthese are great. i’m personally learning a lot!
TM Batterson says
February 22, 2011 at 3:39 amRev 22:18 KJV – For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
It would seem that these creeds and doctrines do just that – add unto the things in this book (The Holy Bible).
This ‘creed’ does not even pretend to be explaining specific scripture. No scripture is mentioned. In most western churches they are taught in ADDITION to scripture.
Chris Poblete says
February 22, 2011 at 9:13 amQuite the contrary, TM. The three early creeds of the church pull truths from Scripture in opposition to those that were, as you pointed out, “adding unto these things.”
Biblical creeds do not add to Scripture, as you claim. They systematically declare truth that is already found in Scripture as it pertains to a particular subject or context.
Please visit a href=”http://blb.sc/0000AH”>http://blb.sc/0000AH for more information on the Scriptural basis for the doctrine of the Trinity.
Yahawadah says
February 22, 2011 at 7:02 pmThe trinity is not in scripture, the most high and his son are not one and the same. Who you ignorantly call Jesus Christ is not the most high, he is the holy spirit though.
Bring me scriptual evidence of the trinity if it’s taken from scripture. I don’t buy it.
Chris Poblete says
February 23, 2011 at 9:06 amYahawadah,
Blessings and grace to you, my friend.
Please remember that you are a guest here.
Calling others ignorant when asking for scriptural evidence is neither respectful nor charitable. Please see our comments policy in the left sidebar.
I am more than happy to provide you with scriptural evidence of the Trinity if you truly want to dialogue, discuss, and learn what our ministry holds as a biblical position of God’s personhood.
And as Jeremy noted below, you can find a wealth of information on this blog and at BLB.
Stewart Bell says
February 26, 2011 at 6:23 pmThe term trinity is simply a term used to refer to the threefold presence of God. It is shown in the following scriptures:
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word and the word was with God and the word was God. All things were made by Him and without Him nothing was made that has been made. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory face to face.
It is clear from the gospels that Word was Jesus but the word also is God so Jesus is God.
Now Jesus referred to God as being a spirit in John 4:24 “God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth”
Now, friend if God is a spirit and God is Holy “Be ye holy as I am holy” then God must be a Holy Spirit”
So then, God is Jesus, is the Holy Spirit … three in one.
Friend, Paul the apostle also says ” …know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have from God? and ye are not your own”
Yes Yahawadah, we are supposed to be like Him. The new agers are only partially right. and at the same time completely wrong … we are made like Him, as we grow in Him, daily, by His grace. We do not work to obtain this. It is freely given to us as we freely receive.
As a man’s child grows up reflecting it’s parents so we are to reflect God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. As the chorus says “Jesus be Jesus in me, no longer me but thee”
Yes, friend, each born again christian has the trinity in Him, the fullness of the Godhead … Father, Son and Holy Ghost. How well do we reflect Him to the unsaved world? I tremble when I think derelict we are, ho derelict I am, in this.
As the former leader from India once said, “Oh you Christians why are you you so unlike your Christ?” (M.Gandhi)
He saw and understood what we were to be” Unfortunately, it is never recorded that he ever became a Christian.
I hope that this helps your dispel the darkness of your unbelief.
My God bless you as you consider this and the offering of Chris Poblete.
in Jesus name and in His service
a brother in Christ
Jeremy Morris says
February 23, 2011 at 9:06 amYahawadah, The BLB team as well as many other widely available commentaries, books, etc. has firmly established the scriptural rational for the doctrine of the trinity. It would be redundant to repeat all those scriptures here. I would first suggest that you take advantage of some of those resources from respected scholars and theologians. The BLB has many of those resources available on the website.
Next I would highly recommend that you firmly establish your reasoned defensed based on scripture to say that Jesus is the Holy Spirit. If you let the scripture speak for itself you will see that there is no rational for believing that statement.
Richard says
August 11, 2011 at 1:41 pmIt is fact that trinity is not in the Bible. The doctrine of the Trinity is man’s attempt to provide an explanation of the relationship between God our Father, Jesus our Lord, and the Holy Spirit our personal councilor. I personally shy away from man’s explanations as I rely on the Holy Spirit for my guidance, wisdom and personal revelation. Here is why:
1 Corinthians 2:12-14(NIV) “What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.”
And:
1 John 2:27 “As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him”.
And:
Galatians 1:8
“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!”
Now consider these Bible facts:
1. The most frequently used Hebrew word for God is “Elohiym” and according to my 2001 edition of Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance, I quote, “Elohiym, Plural of Elowahh; gods is the ordinary sense but specifically used of the supreme God”. Elohiym, this plural form of Elowahh, is translated 2,346 times as “God” and 246 times as gods in the KJV. The singular form, Elowahh is used 52 times for God of which 40 times is in the book of Job. When Moses declared to the people in Deuteronomy 6:4,”Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” He used Elohiym, the plural form of the word God. This is the same word God himself used when he talked to his prophets and first occurs in Genesis 1:1, which of course was given to Moses by God. God himself used Elohiym when he spoke to 600,000+ people at Mount Sinai in Exodus 20:1-3, “And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am YHWH your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.”
The same word, Elohiym, is translated into both God and gods. Now remember Jesus, God’s Son, was not relieved to the people in the old testament, but we know that he existed because of John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”
Now also of interest here is the phrase in John 1:1, “the Word was God” For this phrase I will quote Strong’s again, “To translate it literary ‘a God was the Word’ is entirely misleading”
This literal translation of God’s Word is misleading only for those who insist on the Trinity doctrine. As we read further down to John 1:18 “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only,[e][f] who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” Footnotes: (e) Or the Only Begotten (f) Some manuscripts but the only (or only begotten) Son.
Further reading we see Jesus himself explain his revelation that he and the Father are one in John 17:20-23, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me”.
So we know that in the beginning there was God, the Word who became God’s Son, and the Holy Spirit. And we also know that according to Hebrews 1:3 “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.”
We also know from Philipians 2:6-7 “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,7 but made himself nothing,taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”
That is good enough for me, even though Jesus is an exact representation of God, he did not consider himself equal with God and neither do I.