Linger in July with the history of the Creed

I listened intently to the sermon, nodding in agreement throughout.

I was taught that saying the ‘Creed’ before receiving Holy Communion was imperative in order to understand our baptismal covenant, understand what we believed before we received.

The more we understand the history behind the Creed, the better we understand how important it is that we believe every word.  The following discussion may be complex but it is important for us to dig deep into our roots in order to understand the importance of our continued growth in the Christian faith.  Discussion of passages in scripture with other Christians is a very important part of our growth in Christ.  We are not called to be alone in our quest to know Jesus and make Him known.  We are called to Ask, Seek, and Knock . . . in fellowship with others who are doing the same.  We will then find answers, grow in our faith and help to lead others into the kingdom of God.  Knowing, and articulating, what we believe is the first step.

I was reminded of Arius, a priest from Alexandria, Egypt, who was gifted in rhetoric, a showman of sorts.  He argued against the divinity of Christ and managed not only to

persuade priests but also bishops that Jesus was not divine, not begotten but created . . .  made!  This influence, of course, assimilated into the Christian culture of the day.

I’ll go into the history in a minute but, in fact, this Arian influence permeated translations of scripture.  Proverbs was written in Hebrew.  Yet, Proverbs was translated into the ‘language of the day’, Greek, when the Septuagint became the only source used for most translations.  The Greek mistook the word, ‘created’ [bara] in Genesis 1 to be the same word used in Proverbs 8:22a.  Wisdom, in Proverbs, was not ‘created’ [bara] but was already ‘with’ God, ‘begotten’ by God [qana].

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-23  [A book of Wisdom]

1   Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice?

2  On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand;

3  Beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out:

4a  "To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all that live.

22   The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago.

23  Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

Arians, not believing in the divinity of Jesus, insisted that Proverbs 8’s discussion of wisdom being ‘created’ by God was the same as Jesus being ‘created’ by God.

First, this Wisdom literature is about Wisdom and in no way refers to Jesus.

Wisdom was not ‘created’ but was already a part of creation . . . not a part of God but was ‘begotten’ by God to be part of creation.

According to the New Interpreter’s Bible [NIB], Vol. V, p.98-99, the Arian heresy stated that, “Christ, as wisdom, was the first creation of God. . . . Christ was not God in the same way that the Father was God.”   Orthodoxy through the centuries, fighting against the Arian heresy, translated the word “create” in Proverbs 8:22a as ‘possess’ which is evident in the New American Standard Bible translation.  However, scholars used the Greek translation instead of returning to the original Hebrew.  

The best translation, as in the Nicene Creed of 351 is ‘beget’ or ‘begotten.’   NIB states,  “To understand Christ is the hidden reality underlying and fulfilling the cosmic and personal imagery of Wisdom in Proverbs 8, without positing a direct one-to-one correspondence in all particulars.” 

By 313, the church had been given great liberty since Constantine had become emperor.  By 323 the Arian movement was in full swing.  Fortunately, Bishop Alexander of Alexandria demanded clarification of Arius’ views.   An overwhelming number of clergy called Arius a

heretic and demanded that he and eleven other like-minded priests and deacons be deposed.  This did not stop Arius.  He managed to flee to Caesarea where he was free to preach his heretical doctrine.  Amazingly, the Syrian bishops seemed to agree.

Emperor Constantine saw that this Arian heresy was dividing his vast Empire both politically and theologically so he called forth the first ecumenical council in church history in Nicea, in Asia minor, in 325.

The most famous definition to emerge from this council declared Jesus Christ to be HOMOOUSIOS, meaning he is CONSUBSTANTIAL and COETERNAL with God, the Father.  The council of Nicea declared formally what had always been the faith of the church.  Unfortunately, the Council of Nicea merely condemned the Arian heresy but could not stop it.  This powerful doctrine swirls in and out of different ‘Christian’ sects to this day.

The greatest development from the Nicene Council, besides defining homoousius, was the creation of a CREED, to be said before anyone received Holy Communion.  

The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven

and earth,

    of all that is, seen and unseen.

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 with the Father.  Through him all things were made.  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 man.  For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.  On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

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 worshiped and glorified.

He has spoken through the Prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.  We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.  We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.  [Book of Common Prayer p. 358]

Bishop Alexander of Alexandria brought his astute ‘secretary’

with him, Athanasius.  Having worked with Bishop Alexander for seven years, Athanasius was a well known scholar.  Born in 297, he was already well versed in legal studies, philosophy, theology rhetoric bringing him into the ranks of the highly esteemed.  In his late twenties, Athanasius became Bishop of Alexandria after Bishop Alexander’s death.  

Athanasius was determined not to be in communion with anyone who believed the Arian heresy.  This was dividing the empire.  He was neither diplomat nor scholar but a harsh “apologist.”  Arianism was so popular that Athanasius was exiled five times in his forty-six years as bishop.  However, in that time, he wrote the “Athanasiun Creed”, a longer, more complex version of the Creed we know today.  [Book of Common Prayer p. 864]   He was a great influence in his time, especially in the life of Augustine of Hippo in Africa.  Athanasius died during a peaceful era, May 2, 373.

Augustine, well versed in rhetoric, as was expected of leaders in that day, was so filled with grace that he was an even more convincing defender of the Christian faith. 

Heresies continued to this day.  However, great theologians like Alexander, Constantine, Athenasius, Augustine and so many more, not only stood firm in their Christian faith but were willing to be exiled or martyred to maintain right Christian doctrine.  We may choose not to learn about these great defenders of the faith but it is because of them that Christ Jesus still reigns in this world in spite of heresies that persist to this day.