The Son (The Creed)

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,

The only Begotten Son of God,

Born of the Father before all ages.

God from God, Light from Light,

True God from true God,

Begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father;

Through Him all things were made.

 

 

When Jesus explained the Mystery of His passion and the Eucharist after the multiplication of the loaves, His disciples complained. "This teaching is hard; who can accept it?" (John 6:60) Though they were talking about transfiguration, they could have just as easily been speaking of the doctrine of the Son.

 

Belief in the Son is indeed "hard." It is what separates Christians from Jews and Gentiles alike. Christ is a definitive truth. He is a decisive truth. In the book of Revelation, we read of the "stamped image" of the Beast that identifies servants of the apostate (Revelation 13:16.) The Teaching of Christ is so decisive that a mark "on their right hand or their foreheads" separates unbelievers from the believers. This Truth divides the "wheat" from the "chaff" (Matthew 3:12.) The "wise" from the "foolish" (Matthew 25:2.)

 

It is believed that the revelation of the Son caused the Fall of Lucifer and his rebel angels. The Devil could not accept the hypostasis of God and man because of his damning pride. Instead, he said "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God" (Isaiah 14:2.) Satan rejected God's reign because of the difficulty of this doctrine. How much more decisive will it be among men?

 

Perhaps one way to measure the importance of a truth is to see how many errors try to pervert it. And indeed there are many heresies that spread lies about the Son.

 

That is why we need the Creed, to separate truth from untruth.

 

Jesus is "the only Begotten Son of God." Through adoption, because of the Passion, we are all "children of God" (Galatians 3:26.) But we are also the creation of God's hands. A father does not mold his child out of clay or paint him into existence. But this is part of our relationship with God, Maker and Made. Not so with the Son. He was "begotten, not made." The child is the fruit of his parent's love. The Son is the fruit of the Father's love.

 

Furthermore, it is important to understand that the union of the Father and the Son is timeless. The idea that the Father exist4ed before the Son is heretical. "In the beginning was the Word: and the Word was with God: and the Word was God" (John 1:1.) This eternal relationship and unity of the paternal and filial persons of the Trinity is so important that John begins his Gospel by expounding it.

 

The Catechism tells us that "Christians are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: not in their names." (CCC 233)

 

This "teaching" is indeed "hard." Our mortal and limited intelligences cannot comprehend this transcendental metaphysical reality. How can One Being be Father and Son at the same time? Relying purely on human intelligence will only lead us astray.

 

We accept this teaching as an article of faith. Faith is believing in that which the senses cannot perceive. It does not take faith to believe that the sky is blue or that the sun will rise in the morning. These things we have physical evidence of. It takes faith to believe in the Holy Trinity, One God. Augustine tells us that "faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe."

 

Brothers and sisters, believe in the Son. It is not enough to simply profess a vague spiritual Being in the sky that might possibly judge the things that we do. Have faith in the Son, Jesus Christ. Have faith and you will receive "the reward of this faith," everlasting life.

 

One of the disputes between Catholics and Protestants is over the respective necessities of faith and works. The Protestants claim that faith alone is necessary for salvation. They look to St. Paul when he writes "a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law." (Romans 3:28) But they are arguing a moot point. St. Paul was not inspired by the Holy Spirit to write about a faith that is impotent and inactive. "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:20.) St. Paul wrote about a living, expressed faith.

 

Believing in the Son is more than checking off a list of doctrines that you profess with your lips because you have to. You must profess the Truth with your life. If you truly believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, your life will be changed. You will not be content with living in sin. You will not be able to see a fellow man suffering without seeing the suffering of Christ mirrored within them.

 

All too often we see examples of dead faith! People who thank God with their lips while doing the Devil's work with their hands. Abortionists who pray for the fruit of their professions. Clergy who support same-sex marriage. Politicians who "make wicked laws" that "oppress the poor in judgement and do violence to the cause of the humble" (Isaiah 10:1-2.) Faith in the Son is incompatible faith.

 

Faith in Jesus Christ does not tolerate sin.

 

So be like the Saints who lived their faith in the world, in persecution, in martyrdom.

 

May your faith be alive and well. May it bear great fruit.

 

DEUS VULT!

God the Father (The Creed)

I believe in one God,

The Father Almighty

Maker of Heaven and Earth

Of all things visible and invisible.

The Nicene Creed begins with our most essential belief. We believe in God. One God. Our faith rejects the senseless abyss of atheism and the pantheon of foolish gods. We believe in a Creator God, a God who existed when “the earth was void and empty,” (Genesis 1:2) a God who willed the Universe into existence, the Architect “of all things visible and invisible.

Furthermore, we do not believe in the impotent Watchmaker of Deism. God does not sit back and watch human history as if it were a soap opera, He takes an active role. “Are not my words as a fire, saith the Lord: as a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29)

The work of God began with Creation, which culminated in the making of man. “”God created man to his own image.” (Genesis 1:27) We owe to God every breath that we take, knowing that it is His will that sustains us.

God saved Noah from the flood. He established the covenant with Abraham, “I will make my covenant with thee: and I will multiply thee exceedingly,” (Genesis 17:2) and He established the Law with Moses, “I will give thee tables of stone, and the law, and the commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.” (Exodus 24:12)

These mighty deeds were in the aspect of the First Person of the Holy Trinity, which is affirmed in the Creed. God the Father is truly almighty: “Thy right hand, O Lord, is magnified in strength.” (Exodus 15:2) This was the prayer of the Israelites after being delivered from the hands of Pharaoh and the Egyptians by the parting and then the returning waters of the Red Sea.

I think that the Father portion of the Trinity is overlooked too easily today. We prefer Jesus, the social justice worker, to Jesus, Son of the Father. We have overlooked the Lord who “is a jealous God.” (Nahum 1:2)

The first commandment given to Moses affirmed the identity of God. “I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.” (Exodus 20:2-3) The Creed tells us that we believe in “one God.” As I have written many times, idolatry is one of the most prevalent sins. We like to think that the worshipping of idols is a sin that only the ancients committed. Just because only the few and the insane worship statues of Beelzebub or Baal, does not mean that we do not have our own “graven images.”  How many have set up altars to their own popularity, iPhones, careers, relationships or bodies? Anything that you love more than God is an idol. It is not a question of time, but rather of priority. If you would deny God or reject the teachings of the Church for the sake of the things of the world, you are engaged in idolatry. This is not without its consequences. God the Father loves his people so much that he is “jealous” with his love. He cannot stand anything coming between us and His love.

“And I will throw down your altars, and your idols shall be broken in pieces.” (Ezekiel 6:4)

God punished the people of Israel for their fickleness. Their hearts were divided (Hosea 10:2) between the covenant God made with Abraham and the popularity of local gods. In His infinite justice, He exiled them from their promised land, forcing them to live among strangers. “Our inheritance is turned to aliens: our houses to strangers.” (Lamentations 5:1)  All of this was to show them the wrongness of their way.

One of the characteristics of the Father is His justice, the justice that brought the Flood, the justice that alienated the Israelites from their home, the justice that merited the Death of the Son on a Cross.

The Father is also majestic. He appeared to Moses in burning flame as “the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” (Exodus 3:6) as “I am who am.” (Exodus 3:14). The majesty of the Father was such that “Moses hid his face.”

Like Moses, we need to bow down in humility before our Lord. The Creed begins where it ought to, with the First Person of the Trinity. Our human nature is at once eclipsed by God the Father’s might, by He who “is with me as a strong warrior.” (Jeremiah 20:11)

DEUS VOLT!

The Creed

We recite it at every Mass. It is the product of two Councils of the Catholic Church. It contains the summary of our faith, the truth.

If we were playing Jeopardy, answer would be: What is the Nicene Creed?

Now though the Creed is said at every Mass, repetition does not always coincide with understanding. It is easy to say the same words every week without truly taking those words to heart. In the Creed, we find the substance, the meat of our faith.

How well do you know the Creed? Your answer determines how well you know the faith.

The next several posts will focus on the Truth contained within the Creed. This first post will review the history behind the Creed.

Though we know it as the Nicene Creed, its correct name is the Nicene-Constantinople Creed. The formula of the creed originated from the Council of Nicaea and was finalized through the Council of Constantinople.

The Council of Nicaea was the first ecumenical council of the Catholic Church and was invoked in 325 AD to counter the dangers of the Arian heresy. The first form of the Nicene Creed appeared in the Profession of Faith which began the text of the Council. It was meant to clearly enumerate the beliefs of the Catholic Church. The early form of the Creed was followed by a specific denouncement of the Arian heresy.

"And those who say 'there once was when He was not,' and 'before He was begotten He was not,' and that He came to be from things that were not, or from another hypostasis or substance, affirming that the Son of God is subject to change or alteration, these the Catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes."

In short, the Church refuted the claims of the Arians that Jesus was not "consubstantial with the Father." They defended the nature of the hypostasis, the union of Divine and human natures in Christ, against the attacks of the heretics. The Creed originated as a defense of the Truth.

The Council of Constantinople in 381 finalized the Nicene Creed. Surviving records of the Council
begin with an affirmation of the truth found in the Creed.

"The profession of faith of the holy fathers who gathered in Nicaea in Bithynia is not to be abrogated, but is to remain in force. Every heresy is to be anathematized...."

The Creed is a shield. It is a guide. It is the Truth.

We live in an age that reduces the Truth to opinion. The lie of relativism tells you that you can believe whatever you want to. It teaches that lies can be the Truth, if only you want them to be. But in the Creed, there is no relativism. There is no lie.

We find in the Creed the beautiful Truth of God, the Truth of our faith. I hope that you will enjoy the next several posts which will examine the Creed in detail in order to promote a greater understanding of what we as Catholics believe.



DEUS VOLT!