II. The Three Ecumenical or Universal Symbols.
8.
Ecumenical Symbols.
The
Ecumenical (general, universal) Symbols were embodied in the Book of
Concord
primarily for apologetic reasons. Carpzov writes: "The sole
reason
why our Church appealed to these symbols was to declare her
agreement
with the ancient Church in so far as the faith of the latter
was laid
down in these symbols, to refute also the calumniations and the
accusations
of the opponents, and to evince the fact that she preaches
no new
doctrine and in no wise deviates from the Church Catholic."
(_Isagoge,_
37.) For like reasons Article I of the Augsburg Confession
declares
its adherence to the Nicene Creed, and the first part of the
Smalcald
Articles, to the Apostles' and Athanasian Creeds. The oath
introduced
by Luther in 1535, and required of the candidates for the
degree of
Doctor of Divinity, also contained a pledge on the Ecumenical
Symbols.
In 1538 Luther published a tract entitled, "The Three Symbols
or
Confessions of the Faith of Christ Unanimously Used in the Church,"
containing
the Apostles' Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the Te Deum of
Ambrose
and Augustine. To these was appended the Nicene Creed.
In the
opening sentences of this tract, Luther remarks: "Whereas I have
previously
taught and written quite a bit concerning faith, showing both
what
faith is and what faith does, and have also published my Confession
[1528],
setting forth both what I believe and what position I intend to
maintain;
and whereas the devil continues to seek new intrigues against
me, I
have decided, by way of supererogation, to publish conjointly, in
the
German tongue, the three so-called Symbols, or Confessions, which
have
hitherto been received, read, and chanted throughout the Church. I
would
thereby reaffirm the fact that I side with the true Christian
Church,
which has adhered to these Symbols, or Confessions, to the
present
day, and not with the false, vainglorious church, which in
reality
is the worst enemy of the true Church, having introduced much
idolatry
beside these beautiful confessions." (St. L. 10, 993; Erl. 23,
252.)
Luther's translation of the Ecumenical Symbols, together with the
captions
which appeared in his tract, were embodied in the Book of
Concord.
The superscription, "Tria Symbola Catholica seu Oecumenica,"
occurs
for the first time in Selneccer's edition of the Book of Concord
of 1580.
Before this, 1575, he had written: "Quot sunt Symbola fidei
Christianae
in Ecclesia? Tria sunt praecipua quae nominantur oecumenica,
sive
universalia et authentica, id est, habentia auctoritatem et non
indigentia
demonstratione aut probatione, videlicet Symbolum
Apostolicum,
Nicaenum et Athanasianum." (Schmauk, _Confessional
Principle,_
834.)
9. The
Apostles' Creed.
The
foundation of the Apostles' Creed was, in a way, laid by Christ
Himself
when He commissioned His disciples, saying, Matt. 28, 19. 20:
"Go
ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the
Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe
all
things whatsoever I have commanded you." The formula of Baptism here
prescribed,
"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost,"
briefly indicates what Christ wants Christians to be taught, to
believe,
and to confess. And the Apostles' Creed, both as to its form
and
contents, is evidently but an amplification of the trinitarian
formula
of Baptism. Theo. Zahn remarks: "It has been said, and not
without a
good basis either, that Christ Himself has ordained the
baptismal
confession. For the profession of the Triune God made by the
candidates
for Baptism is indeed the echo of His missionary and
baptismal
command reechoing through all lands and times in many thousand
voices."
(_Skizzen aus dem Leben der Kirche,_ 252.)
But when
and by whom was the formula of Baptism thus amplified?--During
the
Medieval Ages the Apostles' Creed was commonly known as "The Twelve
Articles,"
because it was generally believed that the twelve apostles,
assembled
in joint session before they were separated, soon after
Pentecost
drafted this Creed, each contributing a clause. But, though
retained
in the Catechismus Romanus, this is a legend which originated
in Italy
or Gaul in the sixth or seventh (according to Zahn, toward the
end of
the fourth) century and was unknown before this date. Yet, though
it may
seem more probable that the Apostles' Creed was the result of a
silent
growth and very gradual formation corresponding to the
ever-changing
environments and needs of the Christian congregations,
especially
over against the heretics, there is no sufficient reason why
the
apostles themselves should not have been instrumental in its
formulation,
nor why, with the exception of a number of minor later
additions
its original form should not have been essentially what it is
to-day.
Nathanael
confessed: "Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King
of
Israel," John 1, 49, the apostles confessed: "Thou art the Christ,
the Son
of the living God," Matt. 16, 16; Peter confessed: "We believe
and are
sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God," John
6, 69;
Thomas confessed: "My Lord and my God," John 20, 28. These and
similar
confessions of the truth concerning Himself were not merely
approved
of, but solicited and demanded by, Christ. For He declares most
solemnly:
"Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I
confess
also before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall
deny Me
before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in
heaven,"
Matt. 10, 32. 33. The same duty of confessing their faith,
_i.e._,
the truths concerning Christ, is enjoined upon all Christians by
the
Apostle Paul when he writes: "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord
Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him
from the
dead, thou shalt be saved," Rom. 10, 9.
In the
light of these and similar passages, the trinitarian baptismal
formula
prescribed by Christ evidently required from the candidate for
Baptism a
definite statement of what he believed concerning the Father,
Son and
Holy Ghost, especially concerning Jesus Christ the Savior. And
that such
a confession of faith was in vogue even in the days of the
apostles
appears from the Bible itself. Of Timothy it is said that he
had
"professed a good profession before many witnesses," 1 Tim. 6, 12.
Heb. 4,
14 we read: "Let us hold fast our profession." Heb. 10, 23: "Let
us hold
fast the profession of our faith without wavering." Jude urges
the Christians
that they "should earnestly contend for the faith which
was once
delivered unto the saints," and build up themselves on their
"most
holy faith," Jude 3. 20. Compare also 1 Cor. 15, 3. 4; 1 Tim. 3,
16; Titus
1, 13; 3, 4-7.
10.
Apostles' Creed and Early Christian Writers.
The
Christian writers of the first three centuries, furthermore, furnish
ample
proof for the following facts: that from the very beginning of the
Christian
Church the candidates for Baptism everywhere were required to
make a
confession of their faith; that from the beginning there was
existing
in all the Christian congregations a formulated confession
which
they called the rule of faith, the rule of truth, etc.; that this
rule was
identical with the confession required of the candidates for
Baptism;
that it was declared to be of apostolic origin; that the
summaries
and explanations of this rule of truth, given by these
writers,
tally with the contents and in part, also with the phraseology
of the
Apostles' Creed; that the scattered Christian congregations, then
still
autonomous, regarded the adoption of this rule, of faith as the
only
necessary condition of Christian unity and fellowship.
The
manner in which Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin, Aristides, and
other
early Christian writers present the Christian truth frequently
reminds
us of the Apostles' Creed and suggests its existence. Thus
Justin
Martyr, who died 165, says in his first Apology, which was
written
about 140: "Our teacher of these things is Jesus Christ, who
also was
born for this purpose and was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
procurator
of Judea, that we reasonably worship Him, having learned that
He is the
Son of the true God Himself, and holding Him in the second
place,
and the prophetic Spirit in the third." "Eternal praise to the
Father of
all, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
Similar
strains, sounding like echoes of the Second Article, may be
found in
the Epistles to the Trallians and to the Christians at Smyrna
written
by Ignatius, the famous martyr and bishop of Antioch, who died
107.
Irenaeus,
who died 189, remarks: Every Christian "who retains immovable
in
himself the rule of the truth which he received through Baptism (_ho
ton
kanona tes altheias akline en eauto katechon, hon dia tou
baptismatos
eilephe_)" is able to see through the deceit of all
heresies.
Irenaeus here identifies the baptismal confession with what he
calls the
"rule of truth, _kanon tes eiltheias_" _i.e._, the truth which
is the
rule for everything claiming to be Christian. Apparently, this
"rule
of truth" was the sum of doctrines which every Christian received
and
confessed at his baptism. The very phrase "rule of truth" implies
that it
was a concise and definite formulation of the chief Christian
truths.
For "canon, rule," was the term employed by the ancient Church
to
designate such brief sentences as were adopted by synods for the
practise
of the Church. And this "rule of truth" is declared by Irenaeus
to be
"the old tradition," "the old tradition of the apostles":
he te
apo ton
apostolon en te ekklesia paradosis. (Zahn, _l.c._, 379f.)
Irenaeus
was the pupil of Polycarp the Martyr; and what he had learned
from him,
Polycarp had received from the Apostle John. Polycarp, says
Irenaeus,
"taught the things which he had learned from the apostles, and
which the
Church has handed down, and which alone are true." According
to
Irenaeus, then, the "rule of truth" received and confessed by every
Christian
at his baptism was transmitted by the apostles. The contents
of this
rule of truth received from the apostles are repeatedly set
forth by
Irenaeus. In his _Contra Haereses_ (I, 10, 1) one of these
summaries
reads as follows: "The Church dispersed through the whole
world, to
the ends of the earth has received from the apostles and their
disciples
the faith in one God, the Father Almighty, who has made heaven
and earth
and the sea and all things that are in them, and in one Jesus
Christ,
the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in
the Holy
Spirit, who has proclaimed through the prophets the
dispensations,
and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the
passion,
and the resurrection from the dead, and the bodily assumption
into
heaven of the beloved Christ Jesus our Lord, and His manifestation
from
heaven in the glory of the Father." It thus appears that the "rule
of
truth" as Irenaeus knew it, the formulated sum of doctrines mediated
by
Baptism, which he, in accordance with the testimony of his teacher
Polycarp,
believed to have been received from the apostles, at least
approaches
our present Apostolic Creed.
11.
Tertullian and Cyprian on Apostles' Creed.
A similar
result is obtained from the writings of Tertullian, Cyprian,
Novatian,
Origen and others. "When we step into the water of Baptism,"
says
Tertullian, who died about 220, "we confess the Christian faith
according
to the words of its law," _i.e._, according to the law of
faith or
the rule of faith. Tertullian, therefore, identifies the
confession
to which the candidates for Baptism were pledged with the
brief
formulation of the chief Christian doctrines which he variously
designates
as "the law of faith," "the rule of faith," frequently also
as
_tessara,_ watchword and _sacramentum,_ a term then signifying the
military
oath of allegiance. This Law or Rule of Faith was, according to
Tertullian,
the confession adopted by Christians everywhere, which
distinguished
them from unbelievers and heretics. The unity of the
congregations,
the granting of the greeting of peace, of the name
brother,
and of mutual hospitality,--these and similar Christian rights
and
privileges, says Tertullian, "depend on no other condition than the
similar
tradition of the same oath of allegiance," _i.e._, the adoption
of the
same baptismal rule of faith. (Zahn, 250.)
At the
same time Tertullian most emphatically claims, "that this rule of
faith was
established by the apostles, aye, by Christ Himself," inasmuch
as He had
commanded to baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and
of the Holy Ghost." (Zahn, 252.) In his book _Adversus
Praxeam,_
Tertullian concludes an epitome which he gives of "the rule of
faith"
as follows: "That this rule has come down from the beginning of
the
Gospel, even before the earlier heretics, and so, of course before
the
Praxeas of yesterday, is proved both by the lateness of all heretics
and by
the novelty of this Praxeas of yesterday." (Schaff, _Creeds of
Christendom,_
2, 18.) The following form is taken from Tertullian's _De
Virginibus
Velandis:_ "For the rule of faith is altogether one, alone
(_sola_),
immovable, and irreformable, namely, believing in one God
omnipotent
the Maker of the world, and in His Son Jesus Christ, born of
the
Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, raised from the dead
the third
day, received into the heavens, sitting now at the right hand
of the
Father who shall come to judge the living and the dead, also
through
the resurrection of the flesh." Cyprian the Martyr, bishop of
Carthage,
who died 257, and who was the first one to apply the term
_symbolum_
to the baptismal creed, in his Epistle to Magnus and to
Januarius,
as well as to other Numidian bishops, gives the following as
the
answer of the candidate for Baptism to the question, "Do you
believe?":
"I believe in God the Father, in His Son Christ, in the Holy
Spirit. I
believe the remission of sins, and the life eternal through
the holy
Church."
12.
Variations of the Apostles' Creed.
While
there can be no reasonable doubt either that the Christian
churches
from the very beginning were in possession of a definite and
formulated
symbol, or that this symbol was an amplification of the
trinitarian
formula of Baptism, yet we are unable to ascertain with any
degree of
certainty what its exact original wording was. There has not
been
found in the early Christian writers a single passage recording the
precise
form of the baptismal confession or the rule of truth and faith
as used
in the earliest churches. This lack of contemporal written
records
is accounted for by the fact that the early Christians and
Christian
churches refused on principle to impart and transmit their
confession
in any other manner than by word of mouth. Such was their
attitude,
not because they believed in keeping their creed secret, but
because
they viewed the exclusively oral method of impartation as the
most
appropriate in a matter which they regarded as an affair of deepest
concern
of their hearts.
It is
universally admitted, even by those who believe that the apostles
were
instrumental in formulating the early Christian Creed, that the
wording
of it was not absolutely identical in all Christian
congregations,
and that in the course of time various changes and
additions
were made. "Tradition," says Tertullian with respect to the
baptismal
confession, received from the apostles, "has enlarged it,
custom
has confirmed it, faith observes and preserves it." (Zahn, 252.
381.)
When, therefore, Tertullian and other ancient writers declare that
the rule
of faith received from the apostles is "altogether one,
immovable,
and irreformable," they do not at all mean to say that the
phraseology
of this symbol was alike everywhere, and that in this
respect
no changes whatever had been made, nor that any clauses had been
added.
Such variations, additions, and alterations, however, involved a
doctrinal
change of the confession no more than the Apology of the
Augsburg
Confession implies a doctrinal departure from this symbol. It
remained
the same Apostolic Creed, the changes and additions merely
bringing
out more fully and clearly its true, original meaning. And this
is the
sense in which Tertullian and others emphasize that the rule of
faith is
"one, immovable, and irreformable."
The
oldest known form of the Apostles' Creed, according to A. Harnack,
is the
one used in the church at Rome, even prior to 150 A.D. It was,
however, as
late as 337 or 338, when this Creed, which, as the church at
Rome
claimed, was brought thither by Peter himself, was for the first
time
quoted as a whole by Bishop Marcellus of Ancyra in a letter to
Bishop
Julius of Rome, for the purpose of vindicating his orthodoxy.
During
the long period intervening, some changes, however, may have
been, and
probably were, made also in this Old Roman Symbol, which reads
as
follows:--
_Pisteuo
eis theon patera pantokratora; kai eis Christon Iesoun [ton]
huion
autou ton monogene, ton kupion hemon, ton gennethenta ek
pneumatos
hagiou kai Marias tes parthenou, ton epi Pontiou Pilatou
staurothenta
kai taphenta, te trite hemera anastanta ek [ton] nekron,
anabanta
eis tous ouranous, kathemenon en dexia tou patros, hothen
erchetai
krinai zontas kai nekrous; kai eis pneuma hagion, hagian
ekklesian
aphesin hamartion, sapkos anastasin._ (Herzog, _R. E._ 1,
744.)
13.
Present Form of Creed and Its Contents.
The
complete form of the present _textus receptus_ of the Apostles'
Creed,
evidently the result of a comparison and combination of the
various
preexisting forms of this symbol, may be traced to the end of
the fifth
century and is first found in a sermon by Caesarius of Arles
in
France, about 500.--In his translation, Luther substituted
"Christian"
for "catholic" in the Third Article. He regarded the two
expressions
as equivalent in substance, as appears from the Smalcald
Articles,
where he identifies these terms, saying: "Sic enim orant
pueri:
Credo sanctam ecclesiam catholicam sive Christianam." (472, 5;
498, 3.)
The form, "I believe a holy Christian Church," however, is met
with even
before Luther's time. (Carpzov, _Isagoge,_ 46.)--In the Greek
version
the received form of the Apostles' Creed reads as follows:--
_Pisteuo
eis theon patera, pantokratora, poieten ouranou kai ges. Kai
eis
Iesoun Christon, huion autou ton monogene, ton kurion hemon, ton
sullephthenta
ek pneumatos hagiou, gennethenta ek Marias tes parthenou,
pathonta
epi Pontiou Pilatou, staurothenta, thanonta, kai taphenta,
anastanta
apo ton nekron, anelthonta eis tous ouranous, kathezomenon en
dexia
theou patros pantodunamou, ekeithen erchomenon krinai zontas kai
nekrous.
Pisteuo eis to pneuma to hagion, hagian ekklesian, hagion
koinonian,
aphesin hamartion sarkos anastasin, zoen aionion, Amen._
As to its
contents, the Apostles' Creed is a positive statement of the
essential
facts of Christianity. The Second Article, says Zahn, is "a
compend
of the Evangelical history, including even external details."
(264.)
Yet some of the clauses of this Creed were probably inserted in
opposition
to prevailing, notably Gnostic, heresies of the first
centuries.
It was the first Christian symbol and, as Tertullian and
others
declare, the bond of unity and fellowship of the early Christian
congregations
everywhere. It must not, however, be regarded as inspired,
much less
as superior even to the Holy Scriptures; for, as stated above,
it cannot
even, in any of its existing forms, be traced to the apostles.
Hence it
must be subjected to, and tested and judged by, the Holy
Scriptures,
the inspired Word of God and the only infallible rule and
norm of
all doctrines, teachers, and symbols. In accordance herewith the
Lutheran
Church receives the Apostles' Creed, as also the two other
ecumenical
confessions, not as _per se_ divine and authoritative, but
because
its doctrine is taken from, and well grounded in, the prophetic
and
apostolic writings of the Old and New Testaments. (CONC. TRIGL. 851,
4.)
14. The
Nicene Creed.
In the
year 325 Emperor Constantine the Great convened the First
Ecumenical
Council at Nicaea, in Bithynia, for the purpose of settling
the
controversy precipitated by the teaching of Arius, who denied the
true
divinity of Christ. The council was attended by 318 bishops and
their
assistants, among whom the young deacon Athanasius of Alexandria
gained
special prominence as a theologian of great eloquence, acumen,
and
learning. "The most valiant champion against the Arians," as he was
called,
Athanasius turned the tide of victory in favor of the
Homoousians,
who believed that the essence of the Father and of the Son
is
identical. The discussions were based upon the symbol of Eusebius of
Caesarea,
which by changes and the insertion of Homoousian phrases (such
as _ek
tes ousias tou patrous; gennetheis, ou poietheis; homoousios to
patri_)
was amended into an unequivocal clean-cut, anti-Arian
confession.
Two Egyptian bishops who refused to sign the symbol were
banished,
together with Arius, to Illyria. The text of the original
Nicene
Creed reads as follows:--
_Pisteuomen
eis hena theon, patera pantokratora, panton oraton te kai
aoraton
poieten. Kai eis hena kurion Iesoun Christon, ton huion tou
theou,
gennethenta ek tou patros monogene, toutestin ek tes ousias tou
patros,
theon ek theou, phos ek photos, theon alethinon ek theou
alethinou,
gennethenta, ou poiethenta, homoousion to patri, di' ou ta
panta
egeneto, ta te en to ourano kaita epi tes ges; ton di' hemas tous
anthropous
kai dia ten hemeteran soterian katelthonta kai sarkothenta
kai
enanthropesanta, pathonta, kai anastanta te trite hemera, kai
anelthonta
eis tous ouranous, kai erchomenon palin krinai zontas kai
nekrous.
Kai eis to pneuma to hagion. Tous de legontas, hoti pote hote
ouk en,
kai hoti ex ouk onton egeneto, en ex heteras hupostaseos e
ousias
phaskontas einai, e ktiston, e alloioton, e trepton ton huion
tou
theou, toutous anathematizei he katholike kai apostolike ekklesia._
(Mansi,
_Amplissima Collectio,_ 2, 665 sq.)
15.
Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.
In order
to suppress Arianism, which still continued to flourish,
Emperor
Theodosius convened the Second Ecumenical Council, in 381 at
Constantinople.
The bishops here assembled, 150 in number, resolved that
the faith
of the Nicene Fathers must ever remain firm and unchanged, and
that its
opponents, the Eunomians, Anomoeans, Arians, Eudoxians,
Semi-Arians,
Sabellians, Marcellians, Photinians, and Apollinarians,
must be
rejected. At this council also Macedonius was condemned, who
taught
that the Holy Spirit is not God: _elege gar auto me einai theon,
alla tes
theontos tou patros allotrion._ (Mansi, 3, 568. 566. 573. 577.
600.) By
omissions, alterations, and additions (in particular concerning
the Holy
Spirit) this council gave to the Nicene Creed its present form.
Hence it
is also known as the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. The Third
Ecumenical
Council, which assembled at Toledo, Spain, in 589, inserted
the word
"Filioque," an addition which the Greek Church has never
sanctioned,
and which later contributed towards bringing about the great
Eastern
Schism. A. Harnack considers the Constantinopolitanum (CPanum),
the creed
adopted at Constantinople, to be the baptismal confession of
the
Church of Jerusalem, which, he says, was revised between 362 and 373
and
amplified by the Nicene formulas and a rule of faith concerning the
Holy
Ghost. (Herzog, _R. E._, 11, 19f.) Following is the text of the
CPanum
according to Mansi:
_Pisteuomen
eis hena theon patera, pantokratora, poieten ouranou kai ges,
oratwn te
pantwn kai aoratwn. Kai eis hena kurion Iesoun Christon ton
huion tou
theou ton monogene, ton ek tou patros gennethenta pro panton
ton
aionon, phos ek photos, theon alethinon ek theou alethinou,
gennethevta,
ou poiethenta, homoousion to patri, di' ou ta panta
egeneto,
ton di' hemas tous anthropous kai dia ten hemeteran soterian
katelthovnta
ek tov ouranon, kai sarkothenta ek pneumatos hagiou kai
Marias
tes parthenou, kai enanthropesanta, staurothenta te huper hemon
epi
Pontiou Pilatou, kai pathonta, kai taphenta, kai anastanta te trite
hemera
kata tas gpaphas, kai anelthonta eis tous ouranous, kai
kathezomenon
ek dexion tou patros, kai palin erchomenon meta doxes
krinai
zontas kai nekrous; ou tes basileias ouk estai telos. Kai eis
pneuma to
hagion, to kurion, to zoopoion, to ek tou patros
ekporeuomenon,
to sun patri kai huio sumproskunoumenon kai
sundoxazovmenon,
to lalesan dia ton propheton, eis mian hagian
katholiken
kai apostoliken ekklesian. Homologoumen hen baptisma eis
aphesin
hamartion; prosdokomen anastasin nekron, kai zwen tou mellontos
aionos.
Amen._ (3, 565.)
16. The
Athanasian Creed.
From its
opening word this Creed is also called Symbolum Quicunque.
Roman
tradition has it that Athanasius, who died 373, made this
confession
before Pope Julius when the latter summoned him "to submit
himself
to him [the Pope], as to the ecumenical bishop and Supreme
arbiter
of matters ecclesiastical (_ut ei, seu episcopo oecumica et
supremo
rerum ecclesiasticarum arbitro, sese submitteret_)." However,
Athanasius
is not even the author of this confession, as appears from
the
following facts: 1. The Creed was originally written in Latin. 2.
It is
mentioned neither by Athanasius himself nor by his Greek
eulogists.
3. It was unknown to the Greek Church till about 1200, and
has never
been accorded official recognition by this Church nor its
"orthodox"
sister churches. 4. It presupposes the post-Athanasian
Trinitarian
and Christological controversies.--Up to the present day it
has been
impossible to reach a final verdict concerning the author of
the Quicunque
and the time and place of its origin. Koellner's
_Symbolik_
allocates it to Gaul. Loofs inclines to the same opinion and
ventures
the conjecture that the source of this symbol must be sought in
Southern
Gaul between 450 and 600. (Herzog, _R. E._, 2, 177.) Gieseler
and
others look to Spain for its origin.
Paragraphs
1, 2, and 40 of the Athanasian Creed have given offense not
only to
theologians who advocate an undogmatic Christianity, but to many
thoughtless
Christians as well. Loofs declares: The Quicunque is
unevangelical
and cannot be received because its very first sentence
confounds
_fides_ with _expositio fidei._ (H., _R. E._, 2, 194.)
However,
the charge is gratuitous, since the Athanasian Creed deals with
the most
fundamental Christian truths: concerning the Trinity, the
divinity
of Christ, and His work of redemption, without the knowledge of
which
saving faith is impossible. The paragraphs in question merely
express
the clear doctrine of such passages of the Scriptures as Acts 4,
12:
"Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other
name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved;" John 8, 21:
"If
ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins"; John 14, 6:
"Jesus
saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man
cometh
unto the Father but by Me." In complete agreement with the
impugned
statements of the Athanasian Creed, the Apology of the Augsburg
Confession
closes its article "Of God" as follows: "Therefore we do
freely
conclude that they are all idolatrous, blasphemers, and outside
of the
Church of Christ who hold or teach otherwise." (103)
In the
early part of the Middle Ages the Quicunque had already received
a place
in the order of public worship. The Council of Vavre resolved,
1368:
"Proinde Symbolum Apostolorum silenter et secrete dicitur quotidie
in
Completorio et in Prima, quia fuit editum tempore, quo nondum erat
fides
catholica propalata. Alia autem duo publice in diebus Dominicis et
festivis,
quando maior ad ecclesiam congregatur populus, decantantur,
quia
fuere edita tempore fidei propalatae. Symbolum quidem Nicaenum post
evangelium
cantatur in Missa quasi evangelicae fidei expositio. Symbolum
Athanasii
de mane solum cantatur in Prima, quia fuit editum tempore quo
maxime
fuerunt depulsa et detecta nox atra et tenebrae haeresium et
errorum."
(Mansi, 26, 487.) Luther says: "The first symbol, that of the
apostles,
is indeed the best of all, because it contains a concise,
correct
and splendid presentation of the articles of faith and is easily
learned
by children and the common people. The second, the Athanasian
Creed, is
longer ... and practically amounts to an apology of the first
symbol."
"I do not know of any more important document of the New
Testament
Church since the days of the apostles" [than the Athanasian
Creed].
(St. L. 10, 994; 6, 1576; E. 23, 253.)
17.
Luther on Ecumenical Creeds.
The
central theme of the Three Ecumenical Symbols is Christ's person and
work, the
paramount importance of which Luther extols as follows in his
tract of
1538: "In all the histories of the entire Christendom I have
found and
experienced that all who had and held the chief article
concerning
Jesus Christ correctly remained safe and sound in the true
Christian
faith. And even though they erred and sinned in other points,
they
nevertheless were finally preserved." "For it has been decreed,
says
Paul, Col. 2, 9, that in Christ should dwell all the fulness of the
Godhead
bodily, or personally, so that he who does not find or receive
God in
Christ shall never have nor find Him anywhere outside of Christ,
even
though he ascend above heaven, descend below hell, or go beyond the
world."
"On the other hand, I have also observed that all errors,
heresies,
idolatries, offenses, abuses, and ungodliness within the
Church
originally resulted from the fact that this article of faith
concerning
Jesus Christ was despised or lost. And viewed clearly and
rightly,
all heresies militate against the precious article of Jesus
Christ,
as Simeon says concerning Him, Luke 2, 34, that He is set for
the
falling and the rising of many in Israel and for a sign which is
spoken
against; and long before this, Isaiah, chapter 8, 14, spoke of
Him as 'a
stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.'" "And we in the
Papacy,
the last and greatest of saints, what have we done? We have
confessed
that He [Christ] is God and man; but that He is our Savior,
who died
and rose for us, etc., this we have denied and persecuted with
might and
main" (those who taught this). "And even now those who claim
to be the
best Christians and boast that they are the Holy Church, who
burn the
others and wade in innocent blood, regard as the best doctrine
[that
which teaches] that we obtain grace and salvation through our own
works.
Christ is to be accorded no other honor with regard to our
salvation
than that He made the beginning, while we are the heroes who
complete
it with our merit."
Luther
continues: "This is the way the devil goes to work. He attacks
Christ
with three storm-columns. One will not suffer Him to be God; the
other
will not suffer Him to be man, the third denies that He has
merited
salvation for us. Each of the three endeavors to destroy Christ.
For what
does it avail that you confess Him to be God if you do not also
believe
that He is man? For then you have not the entire and the true
Christ,
but a phantom of the devil. What does it avail you to confess
that He
is true man if you do not also believe that He is true God? What
does it
avail you to confess that He is God and man if you do not also
believe
that whatever He became and whatever He did was done for you?"
"Surely,
all three parts must be believed, namely, that He is God, also,
that He
is man, and that He became such a man for us, that is, as the
first
symbol says: conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered,
was crucified, died, and rose again, etc. If one small part is
lacking,
then all parts are lacking. For faith shall and must be
complete
in every particular. While it may indeed be weak and subject to
afflictions,
yet it must be entire and not false. Weakness [of faith]
does not
work the harm but false faith--that is eternal death." (St. L.
10, 998;
E. 23, 258.)
Concerning
the mystery involved in the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the
chief
topic of the Ecumenical Creeds, Luther remarks in the same tract:
"Now,
to be sure, we Christians are not so utterly devoid of all reason
and sense
as the Jews consider us, who take us to be nothing but crazy
geese and
ducks, unable to perceive or notice what folly it is to
believe
that God is man, and that in one Godhead there are three
distinct
persons. No, praise God, we perceive indeed that this doctrine
cannot
and will not be received by reason. Nor are we in need of any
sublime
Jewish reasoning to demonstrate this to us. We believe it
knowingly
and willingly. We confess and also experience that, where the
Holy
Spirit does not, surpassing reason, shine into the heart, it is
impossible
to grasp, or to believe, and abide by, such article;
moreover,
there must remain in it [the heart] a Jewish, proud, and
supercilious
reason deriding and ridiculing such article, and thus
setting
up itself as judge and master of the Divine Being whom it has
never
seen nor is able to see and hence does not know what it is passing
judgment
on, nor whereof it thinks or speaks. For God dwells in a 'light
which no
man can approach unto,' 1 Tim. 6, 16. He must come to us, yet
hidden in
the lantern, and as it is written, John 1, 18: 'No man hath
seen God
at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of
the
Father, He hath declared Him,' and as Moses said before this, Ex.
33:
'There shall no man see Me [God] and live.'" (St. L. 10, 1007; E.
23, 568.)
