The Nicene Creed – Part II

Last week, we began a 3-week series exploring the Nicene Creed. Click here for last week’s blog post: The Nicene Creed: Part I.

This week, Vicar Dan Petrak explores the second article of the Nicene Creed…

 

The second article of the Nicene Creed is about Jesus Christ. Using Scripture, the Creed was written to disprove false teachings about Jesus.

(I believe…)

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,

the only-begotten Son of God,

begotten of His Father before all worlds,

God of God, Light of Light,

very God of very God,

begotten, not made,

being of one substance with the Father,

by whom all things were made;

who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven

and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary

and was made man;

and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.

He suffered and was buried.

And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven

and sits at the right hand of the Father.

And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead,

whose kingdom will have no end.

Some theologians in the early church, in their human thinking, thought Jesus was a god but not part of the Trinity. Logically, it did not make sense to them that God was all man and all God at the same time. It didn’t seem dignified that God would humble Himself and come to this world as a human to die. So, in trying to protect God’s image, these theologians separated the second person from the Trinity, minimizing Jesus as Savior.

Taking Jesus out of the Triune God erases our salvation. So, the second article was written to directly correct this false teaching, stating that God did come down from heaven and live among God’s creation as a human—fully man and fully God. Jesus was crucified and died in our place. He was buried and conquered death when, on the third day, He rose from the grave. With Scripture fulfilled, He ascended into heaven, where He sits at the right hand of the Father.

During Jesus’ life on Earth, His followers saw glimpses of His divine nature through His miracles and authoritative teachings, but it is through Jesus’ resurrection and glorious place at the right hand of God where we see Jesus’ full power and majesty. Now, we anxiously await His triumphant return on the Last Day when He will judge the living and the dead, and His Kingdom will have no end.

 

Dan Petrak, Vicar

Gloria Dei Lutheran Church

The Nicene Creed – Part I

Last weekend, we began a 3-week sermon series on the Nicene Creed. To go with the sermon series, we asked Vicar Dan Petrak to help us better understand each of the three articles of the Creed. Below you’ll find Dan’s thoughts and teaching on the first article…

 

Why do we have creeds or confessions? Why did these words get written down by the church, and are they regarded at the same level as Scripture?

As I have been finding out through my seminary training, many of the writings and teachings of the church from the three Creeds (Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian) to the Augsburg Confession were written out of a response to false teachings.  In this 3-week blog series, I will take a look specifically at the Nicene Creed.

The Nicene Creed was written to help Christians better understand and confess the second person of the Trinity—Jesus Christ. There were controversies about the Person and two natures of Christ (divine and human).  As a result, the divinity of Christ was in question, and so also, the work of Christ on the cross. The first version of the Nicene Creed was written at the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD and then revised at the First Council of Constantinople in 381 AD.

Let’s take a look at the first article of the Nicene Creed…

“I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.”

The first article is short, but is says a lot in one sentence. It points toward the first commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods.” and is further explained in Luther’s Small Catechism as “We should fear and love and trust in God above all things.” On this one article and command is where everything else resides, but just like the 10 commandments, we know we can’t humanly follow them completely. If we could, we wouldn’t need a Savior.

This first article also reminds us that God is the God of everything. There is nothing hidden or beyond Him. God spoke everything into existence and God’s Word is active. This first article only names the first Person of the Trinity, but this follows the same order in which God revealed himself to his creation.  We will never know everything about God, but He has revealed himself enough in His Word to know Him and to receive salvation. Honestly, even this is more than we can grasp.

The creeds are not equal to Scripture, but they serve a great purpose in teaching us who God is. And as we read Scripture and study God’s Word, we also learn who we are. God defines us—His children who were set apart from the rest of creation to be in a relationship with Him, now and for eternity. This love for his children is why He went to reckless lengths to regain this lost relationship, and we will look at how God did this through his Son in the next post.

 

Dan Petrak, Vicar

Gloria Dei Lutheran Church