“The One, True catholic Faith”
Text: Genesis 1:1—2:4a
5-31-2026
In the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen. Well, I did it again. I intentionally chose a sermon title that will surely tweak the curiosity of some of you. I don’t do that to be cute. No, I’m hoping it will help you remember the content of the sermon. So, did you catch the sermon title in the bulletin? “The One, True catholic Faith.” And more than one of you is thinking, “Uh-oh! Pastor is going to bash the Roman Catholics today.” If you think that then consider yourself tweaked. Because the exact opposite is true. We’re going to examine the Athanasian Creed this morning, which explains the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. And that’s something which Lutherans and Roman Catholics agree upon.
Actually, I got the idea for that title from the Athanasian Creed itself. I’d like you to turn to it on page 319 in your hymnals. The opening 2 lines say, “Whoever desires to be saved must above all, hold the catholic faith. Whoever does not keep it whole and undefiled will without doubt perish eternally.” Please notice that the word catholic has a small letter “c” there. Used in this way, catholic simply means “universal.” In other words, the Athanasian Creed describes the common confession of the whole Christian Church of all time. Before we delve into that confession, it would be helpful to give you a brief history of how this Creed came about.
Back in the early 300's A.D. there was a Pastor named Arius who was in charge of several churches in Alexandria, Egypt. He was quite popular and very influential. The problem is, he was a heretic! As he pondered the whole concept of the Trinity, he determined that it was too confusing and therefore too hard to believe. He figured that if he couldn’t grasp it logically then it must not be true. So, he set out to define the Triune God in a way that made sense to him. Folks, beware. It’s always dangerous to allow human reason to override the Word of God.
What Arius came up with was a god that looked like this: The Father is the only, one true God. The Son of God was just a created, spiritual being, sort of like a super-angel. The Son came to earth and lived, died, and rose again. When He ascended into heaven, the Father rewarded the Son by making Him “junior god.” But He was in no way equal to the Father. And the Holy Spirit? Well, Arius decided that He wasn’t a person at all. He was just an energy force, kind of like electricity. And through this energy force, the Father accomplishes His will.
The leaders of the Christian Church recognized that this denial of the Trinity was a denial of the true God who had revealed Himself in the Scriptures. If you embraced Arius’ false god, then you were not embracing the true God. And if you don’t have the true God, then you can’t receive His salvation. Souls were in danger. So, the Church fathers held a Council at Nicaea where they discussed the problem. The result was a clear statement of faith which we call the Nicene Creed. It spells out the doctrine of the Trinity. Athanasius was one of the Church leaders who fought tooth and nail against the lies of Arius. But Arius was quite influential. As a result, Athanasius {the good guy} was sent into exile 7 different times for standing up for the truth. You see, even back then, boldly defending the truth was not popular.
Well, false doctrine like the teachings of Arius doesn’t simply go away. It morphs and mutates over time. And in a further response to this continuing heresy, the Church produced a very detailed confession of faith some years later in the 5th century. It became known as the Athanasian Creed. Athanasius didn’t write it, but it certainly was a concise summary of the truth he had fought so hard for. It’s a precious gem passed on through the generations in the Christian Church. So, why don’t we use it more often then? I suspect it’s because we don’t understand it. All that repetition and detail tend to lose us. Therefore, we only trot it out once a year simply because we feel we ought to. That’s a shame because the Athanasian Creed is a treasure trove of doctrine on the Trinity. Considering all the false doctrines about God that are very much still alive today, it would serve us well to examine and hopefully better understand this beautiful statement of faith.
To do that, I’d like you to read this Creed along with me in chunks and we’ll pause to analyze it as we go. Let’s start by reading lines 3-10. {Read} I know, I know, that sounds like unnecessary repetition. But it’s not. Remember the false teaching of Arius? This is designed to dismantle it. Notice it says that we worship the Triune God while “neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance.” In other words, we confess that there are 3 distinct persons and yet 1, undivided God. This also is meant to destroy another ancient heresy called modalism. Modalism says that there’s only one God, but He appears in different “modes” in history. Kind of like Clark Kent and Superman. Same guy, just different outfits. The Creed makes it clear that this is false. There are 3 persons in 1 God.
Also notice in line 6 that it specifically says that the 3 persons of the Godhead are coequal and coeternal. What’s true of one is true of the other 2. All 3 are “uncreated, infinite, and eternal.” Infinite simply means that they are not restricted by space and time. And of course, eternal means they have no beginning and no end.
Let’s read on. Lines 11-19. {Read} This answers the false charge that “Trinitarian Christians” worship 3 Gods. Not true. Each person is equally God, and yet there is only one God. I know, that’s hard for our puny minds to grasp. And that’s precisely the point where Arius decided he had to concoct his own explanation of God. By the way, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have adopted this age-old heresy today. They say that God is not the God of confusion, and since the concept of the Trinity is confusing to me, then it can’t be true. That’s a dangerous premise to live by. Once you diminish the equality of the 3 persons of the Trinity you are no longer embracing the true God of the Scriptures, but rather a false god. If you’re waiting to fully understand the Trinity before you’ll believe it, then you’ll be waiting forever. This is where faith must kick in and accept the mysteries of God.
Let’s read lines 20-26. {Read} This section highlights the fact that there is a distinct difference between the 3 persons of the Trinity. Now unless you packed your lunch, I don’t think we have time here in the sermon to explain what it means to say the Son is “begotten of the Father” and the Holy Spirit “proceeds” from the Father and the Son. I’ll make you a deal though. Bring it up in Bible Class sometime and we’ll take a crack at it. Anyway, please notice in line 24 the emphasis is on the equality of the 3 Persons, even though they are different. As it says, “none is greater or less than the other.”
Now let’s read lines 27-37. {Read} Obviously this section was meant to deal with any false doctrines about the God-man, Jesus Christ. You see, there were those who said that the Son of God did come down to earth, but He only lived in the shell of the man we know as Jesus. The Creed makes it clear this is false. Jesus had two natures: Divine and human. And there was a complete union of the 2 natures from the moment the Christ child was conceived in the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit. How is this possible? Line 35 attempts to give an illustration. In the same way that your soul and body are united within one person, so it is with the Divine and human natures of Jesus. And yet, the 2 natures of Christ don’t blend together and become one nature. No. Jesus is 100% God and 100% human at the same time. Mind boggling, huh? Here again, we can only accept this by faith.
There’s much more we could talk about concerning Jesus and His work of salvation as described in the Creed. But let’s move on to the last section. Lines 38-40. {Read} Believe it or not, over the years this is the part of the Athanasian Creed that generates the most questions and concerns. That’s because to our Lutheran ears it sounds like a theology of salvation by works which is what Luther fought against in the Reformation. We almost choke on those words about being judged by our deeds. Rest assured, this statement in the Creed is not encouraging us to believe in works-righteousness. Rather, it’s pointing to the good works which are produced by faith. Jesus Himself says that we can judge a tree by its fruit. In other words, good works are the fruit of an active faith. If those works are evil, then true faith must not be alive in that person.
Well, that’s a brief explanation of the Athanasian Creed. Don’t think for a minute that this ancient confession of faith isn’t useful for us. Sadly, similar attacks on the doctrine of the Trinity continue on today. I’ll give you a couple contemporary examples. Some of you won’t like hearing this but Oprah Winfrey has outright denied the Triune God. In her own, personally-created theology she honestly believes that she is a god. You see, according to her and a host of her friends, God is not a distinct being. Oh no, each of us has a bit of divine essence within us. And Jesus? Well, He was just a wise philosopher, but certainly not the true God. Tom Cruise confidently promotes the Church of Scientology. You honestly have to believe in space aliens rather than the Trinity in order to accept what his religion teaches. You laugh, but thousands of people have bought into it.
I could go on and on. The point is that the doctrine of the Trinity has been, and will continue to be, attacked. And the souls that accept those lies are in danger of eternal damnation. That’s why the Athanasian Creed is so precious to us. It can be both a teaching tool as well as a firm declaration of our faith in the Triune God. And it’s important to us because it deals with the essence of our Christian faith. This “one, true catholic faith” is necessary for salvation. This side of heaven, we’ll never be able to fully grasp every aspect of the Holy Trinity. But by God’s grace, through faith, we can accept and confess the mystery of our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!