Vineyard Evensong Part 7

The next component of Vineyard Evensong up for discussion are the creeds. In our liturgies we use the three major creeds of the Christian faith; The Apostles’ Creed, The Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.
A creed is a statement of belief, or a statement of faith that describes the beliefs shared by a religious community. The word “creed” is derived from the Latin “credo”, which means “I believe”. Both the Nicene Creed and the Apostles’ Creed start with this word “credo”. A creed is not meant to be comprehensive, but to be a summary of core beliefs.
The Apostles’ Creed
The Apostles’ creed was written to deal with the false teaching of “Gnosticism” which denies that Jesus was truly Man. It is the oldest and most popular creed of the church and has influenced other creeds and confessions written throughout church history. The Apostles’ Creed was not written by the apostles themselves, but is called the Apostles’ Creed because it was the early church’s attempt to give a summary of apostolic teaching. It provides a summary of the essentials of the Christian faith that all believers ought to affirm, meditate upon and attempt to live by.
The Apostles’ Creed we have today is slightly different from the original creed. The creed was first known as the the Old Roman Creed. It can be traced back in Greek to around 140 AD. It shows up in Latin around 390 AD. One of the differences between the Old Roman Creed and the Apostles’ Creed we have today is the line “He descended into hell” which is placed right after “was crucified, dead, and buried”. This line has been the source of some controversy since it was added to the creed somewhere around the middle of the third century. Did Jesus actually descend into hell?
The proof text for those who believe that Jesus actually descended into hell is 1 Peter 3:18-19.
1 Peter 3:18-19
18 Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 19 in which he also went and preached to the spirits in prison,
They believe that He descends to hell to liberate those spirits who have been held in prison previous to His incarnation. His task in hell then is to liberate Old Testament saints.
1 Peter 3:19 leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Peter doesn’t tell us who the lost spirits in prison are or where the prison is. The lost spirits in prison could easily be referring to lost people in this world. For this reason I have chosen to replace the line “He descended into hell” with an asterisk (*) in Vineyard Liturgy. Depending on where you stand on the issue, please feel free to include the line as you read, recite, and mediate on the Apostles’ creed.
The Nicene Creed
The Nicene creed can be traced back to the First Council of Nicea in AD 325. This council was convened by Constantine to deal with a theological issue in the church concerning the deity of Jesus Christ. Arius, who was a presbyter in the church in Alexandria, believed and taught that Jesus was created by God before the beginning of time and therefore inferior to God the Father. This teaching is known as “Arianism” and it is conflict with traditional Trinitarian doctrine. “Arianism” denies that Jesus was truly God. Arius was opposed by the bishop Alexander and his associate and successor, Athanasius. They affirmed that the divinity of Christ, the Son, is of the same substance as the divinity of God, the Father. To believe otherwise opens the doors to polytheism and implies that the knowledge of God in Christ was not final knowledge of God.
A creed reflecting the position of Alexander and Athanasius was written and signed by a majority of the bishops at the council in AD 325. The controversy continued for some years until a second council was convened in 381 AD in Constantinople. This council adopted a revised and expanded form of the A.D. 325 creed, which is now known as the Nicene Creed.
The Athanasian Creed
The Athanasian Creed is focused on the Trinity. It is the first creed in which the equality of the three persons of the Trinity is explicitly stated.
The actual origin of the Athanasian Creed is not known. While the creed bears the name of Athanasius, whom we discussed when we talked about the Nicene Creed, it is not believed to have been written by him. Athanasius died in 373 AD and there is no evidence in the historical writings of the church that acknowledges the Creed until sometime later. Luther said that the Athanasian Creed was “the most important and glorious composition since the days of the apostles.” It is believed that the Athanasian Creed was originally intended to be set to music which would allow it to be used as a dynamic teaching resource for new converts.
One final note about the creeds as we use them in Vineyard liturgy. The word “catholic” (which actually means “universal”) has been changed to “universal” in the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, and to “Christian” in the Athanasian Creed. When the meaning of a word has changed or narrowed over time (in this case, “catholic” now means “The Roman Catholic Church” to most people), it is difficult to use it in its old or broader sense without having to constantly explain it. If you are more comfortable using the word “catholic” in your reciting of the Creeds, please feel free to do so.