← Back to sermon library

were written in the first five centuries they're often referred to as ecumenical Creeds meaning that they are universally accepted by the churches and they are the Apostles Creed the nyine Creed the Caledonian definition and the athanasian Creed and I'll have some things to say about each one of them now what they're trying to do is in addition to responding to heresies and we'll talk about some of those heresies along the way they're trying to express for us and Define what might be called the Catholic faith once again without reference to Rome at all Catholic simply means Universal what is it that Christians believe and you may know the the vincentian Canon which is one of my favorite uh statements from the early Church Vincent of lauron was a theologian who lived on a island South of what is now France it was then Gaul and he was asking the question in a work that he wrote called the konor what is the Catholic faith and the answer that he gives a fascinating answer that's picked up after the Reformation by many reformed theologians and English Puritans is that the Catholic faith is that which has always everywhere and by all been believed that's a great statement everywhere Always by all and it doesn't exactly work in every way because not all of the things that are contained in these Creed s have been accepted by everyone but I think generally speaking it's a very helpful way to approach the foundational issues of Christian theology to say these are what Christians have believed for centuries and we join with them in confessing these things so let me walk through these four Creeds we'll see how far we get um I have to keep tapping my phone to keep track of time um let's start with the Apostles Creed now the Apostles Creed seems to have been a baptismal Creed which was the norm in the early church the person being baptized would recite a Creed at baptism and they based this uh practice on Romans 1089 verses we've already noted uh today if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead you will be saved it was believed that that confession was to be made at baptism but it wasn't simply saying Jesus is Lord rather it was acknowledging the fullness of truth that is expressed in the word of God and confessed by the apostles themselves now the Apostles Creed is ancient was used predominantly if not exclusively in the western or Latin speaking Church the Greek speaking the Orthodox Church doesn't really recognize the importance of the Apostles Creed so it's an ecumenical Creed for the West rather than the west and the East the form that we know that you may have memorized at some point in your life seems to be from the 8th Century though there's much evidence that its teaching was widespread beforehand and there are earlier versions that we know probably going all the way back into the 2 century and it became the dominant form of Christian profession prior to the Reformation especially at baptisms and it continueed to be employed by Reformation churches its words are used by the Lutheran book of Concord by the post-reformation church of England and by most of the re reformed churches of Europe and some of its structure as we'll see is present in chapters 2 and chapter 8 of the Westminster Confession of faith and our own second London Confession of Faith now this is how it goes um I remember learning this when I was 12 years old I believe in God God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and Earth and in Jesus Christ his only begotten son our Lord who is conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under pontious pilate was crucified dead and buried he descended into hell the third day he rose again from the dead he ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty from then he shall come to judge the living and the dead I believe in the Holy Ghost I believe in the Holy Catholic Church the communion of saints the Forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life Everlasting amen now the best way that the Apostles Creed is divided if you were to outline it is to say that there are three sections the first speaks to us about the father section uh lines 2 through 7 speak to us about the son and his work and then the final five lines speak to us about the Holy Spirit now it's interesting to notice that there are 12 statements in the Apostles Creed and many have argued that this is proof of its origin among the apostles the idea was each one of the 12 contributed a statement making it their United statement of faith and this idea seems to stem from the late 4th century and even as late as the 17th century among some it was an accepted idea in fact Richard Baxter believed that this was the statement of the TW Apostles and surprisingly he argued that there was better textual evidence for the apostolic origin of this Creed than of any of the books of the New Testament Baxter was wrong no it there's no evidence that it came from the apostles themselves it seems to be only a matter of can I say the word coincidence that there are 12 lines in 12 Apostles the Apostles Creed seems to have developed in the 3rd or 4th century and it has no drink direct link no drink um with Jesus Apostles now listen to the words of paragraph 4 of chapter 8 of our confession of Faith very similar to the Westminster Confession of Faith chapter 8 is titled of Christ the mediator so listen to this and notice how it follows the order of the middle portion of the Apostles Creed it goes like this this office the office of mediator the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake which that he might discharge he was made under the law and did perfectly fulfill it and underwent The Punishment Due to us which we should have borne and suffered being made sin and a curse for us here we go enduring most Grievous sorrows in his soul and most painful sufferings in his body was crucified and died and remained in the state of the Dead Yet saw no corruption on the third day he rose from the dead with the same body in which he suffered with which he also ascended into heaven and there sth at the right hand of his father making intercession and shall return to judge men and angels at the end of the world now that's not expressed exactly as the Apostles Creed expresses the doctrine but it is the same thing and follows the same order as that which is expressed in the Apostles Creed um the the Westminster assembly was reluctant to incorporate the Apostles Creed line for line into its confession now that was the and so they used the ideas and the expressions and put them into a paragraph rather into a s rather than into a series of propositions interestingly enough uh a particular Baptist pastor named Hercules Collins I like to say he was a mighty man of God um Hercules Collins adapted the heidleberg catechism in 1680 and when he did so publishing it under the title an orthodox catechism because the heidleberg incorporates the Apostles Creed Collins Incorporated the Apostles Creed word for word into his own Orthodox catechism again an attempt by a particular Baptist to express a common doctrine that was held in the church well let's move on secondly to the nyine Creed this one is a fascinating study if you a Christian Living in the port city of Alexandria Egypt in the year 320 your life likely would have been full of excitement less than 10 years before the great emperor Constantine had defeated his enemies ended Roman persecution of Christians and granted Christianity the status of a favored religion no longer was there fear of arrest torture or imprisonment simply because you were a believer in Christ the the the the fresh air of Freedom had come in one of the most important centers of Christianity the churches and the Believers were emerging from the only life they had ever known fear of opposition and enjoying the fresh air of Freedom the city was F famous for its Rich tradition of Christian thinkers and now more than ever people were considering and expressing their faith now you would even if you were the humblest disciple in the city know something of the debates that were beginning to swirl inside the believing Community a highly respected preser a mature and seasoned man an able preacher and a popular Pastor was beginning to have a serious conflict with the bishop of the city this don't think Roman Catholic when you hear the word Bishop this disagreement was doctrinal and it had everything to do with the person and work of Christ the preser was named Aras and he used his popularity and his abilities to spread his Doctrine through the Christian population and it went far and wide now interestingly one of the methods used among the people was a series of of short choruses sung or chanted by young and old expressing the particular doctrine of this man and it was a brilliant method the scripture says that we're to teach one another in Psalms hymns and spiritual songs and this is exactly what the followers of Aras did now let me give you an illustration of how their choruses went and I'm going to break a rule that I tell my students not to do I'm going to read you a little bit of Greek but I do this on purpose so that you can hear it so listen to the the the the words and the structure and the rhyme of these words of course remember that Greek was the main language of the eastern part of the Empire so in Alexandria Egypt you'd have Greek spoken now this little phrase this chorus consists of five words and only seven syllables it's a perfect chorus just like when I was a little boy and we'd go to Sunday school and we sing these little Christian dides that's basically what this was the first word and the last word rhyme with each other or actually are the same with each other and the second and third words rhyme so you have a word at the beginning and a word at the end that are the same then two words that rhyme and then one more word in the middle five words here it goes a poot a you hear the a at the beginning and the end same word you hear the poot the rhyming there then UK in the middle means not we have to ask the question what what does this mean one author says that it was chanted over and over again in church and daily in the streets of the City by those who believed its doctrines now it's somewhat difficult to render exactly into English and most of the attempts to do so I think missed the point because they render it or most commonly it's rendered there was a time when he was not but that's not exactly what it says it actually says there was when he was was not the idea of time is not there now that's really important there was when he was not over and over again in church and in the city the huge community of the followers of Aras chanted this and similar choruses to teach and promote and strengthen their views but we ask again what does it mean there was when he was not who is he and what does this say about him well that he is Jesus Christ there so let me change the words there was when Christ was not this little change in wording makes the chorus a little bit more startling and perhaps easier for us to understand you see these words aot a were an attempt to express a very important point in the doctrinal system of Aras and his followers Jesus Christ as great as he may be and they confess that he was great nevertheless is a created being who is brought into existence by the power of the one true God he's the firstborn of all creation he's greater than all the rest for sure but still he's a created being which means he is not deity there was when he was not meaning at some point in eternity now there's a problem with the whole concept of Eternity as expressed in Aries his Doctrine because eternity is timeless there was when he was not at some point in eternity God created the second person God created the son and he came into being and this chorus was a teaching tool or propaganda for aras's Doctrine now this teaching grew and itead and it was opposed by the bishop of Alexandria anybody want to guess what his name was how about Alexander Alexander of Alexandria it' be like me being James of Jamestown I guess pardon me I've been a long time before midnight told you he'd be he's a Heckler Alexander understood the seriousness of this teaching and its implications and he held a public inquiry into the matter which resulted in the suspension of Aras from his ministry but this was only the beginning of trouble because because it would last for another 70 years Aras had powerful friends outside of Alexandria and these friends came to his defense in 324 Constantine became sole ruler of West and East and he sought to develop favorable relationships with Christian leaders from the eastern part of the Empire and among them were aras's greatest supporters who appealed to the emperor to intervene and restore Aras to his position in the alexandrian church there's never been a good relationship between where the church and the state merged together it's never been good feelings throughout the Empire ran high there was great debate political maneuvering ecclesiastical disorder Constantine called a council to be held at NAA in the year 325 under his personal control about 220 Bishops attended what has been called the first great Council of the church and through great debate 218 of the 220 adopted a thoroughly Orthodox Creed and it seemed that aryanism was defeated and know there were two versions of the nyine Creed a shorter one and a longer one the shorter one comes from the Council of NAA in the year 325 the revised and expanded version which is the more common Creed today it may be the one that you use in your church is from the Council of Constantinople in 381 and I can never say it right the Nino constantinopolitan Creed that's a mouthful I got it right there didn't I yeah may but that's probably the only time tonight I'll get it right I Stumble over it every time now here's the nyine Creed proper no I'm going to skip that let me get to the nyine uh yeah the long one that I can't say let me get to that and read it to you we believe in one God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and Earth and of all things visible and Invisible by the way notice the the clear Echoes of the Apostles Creed it basically basically they took the Apostles Creed and expanded it so it begins with a statement about the father next and in one Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God begotten of the father before all worlds 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 by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man he was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate and suffered and was buried in the third day he rose again according to the scriptures and ascended into heaven and sth on the right hand of the father from then he shall come again with the G with come again with glory to judge the quick and the dead whose kingdom shall have no end and in the Holy Ghost the Lord and Giver of Life who proceedeth from the father who with the father and the son together is worshiped and glor glorified who spake by the prophets in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic church we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come amen now if you are paying close attention and you know the n and Creed that we use there's a phrase that's missing there but I'll talk about it in just a moment this is the most universal of all Christian Creeds it's accepted by all branches of Christianity its Doctrine are considered definitive that is you must believe these doctrines in order to be considered recognized as a Christian now the original form of the Creed was intended to guard the deity of Christ the second and expanded version speaks more directly to the person and work of the Holy Spirit now if we had had the time in our previous session we would have noted How Deeply rooted in scripture is the text of this Creed the authors of the nyine Creed were committed to the authority of the word of God and they sought to mine its depths and express its Doctrine carefully now the phrase that is that missing from what I just read to you is what is called the or the so-called filio clause and the son the Holy Spirit proceeds from the father and the son filio this Clause was added to the text of the Creed in ad. 589 at the Council of too in Spain so the western church the Latin speaking Church adopted it that's why it's in Latin filio and the Eastern Church rejects it not so much because of the doctrine it teaches but rather in protest of the fact that the Council of Toledo was not an ecumenical C Council and had no right to amend the Creed you can't do that so we won't accept what You' said but the statement is orthodox and the statement is important because it strengthens the trinitarian doctrine when the Great sism took place in 1054 the separation between East and West this addition the fili oake laws was prominently mentioned by the representatives of the Eastern church now what is it that the nyine Creed teaches and it's important to keep these things in our mind because as we move forward we'll notice how this language is brought into our confessions I've I've laid it out in 10 points what the n Creed teaches first there is one God who is Almighty and creator of all two Jesus Christ is truly God in the fullest sense of the term he's the Eternal Creator he is truly human conceived by the Holy Spirit In the Womb of the Virgin Mary is one person with two Natures though and that's only in concept not in expression yet that comes in the next Creed thirdly these matters about the father and the son are essential IAL for our Salvation likewise the historical facts of the Gospel death burial Resurrection Ascension and being seated at the right hand of the father or what's called The Heavenly session of Christ fifthly it teaches us about his glorious return then in the next section of the Creed it speaks of the Holy Spirit who is truly God and who is the author of scripture it speaks of one church under Christ like the Apostles Creed it recognizes the importance of confession of faith in baptism it speaks to the resurrection of the body and of eternal life all of these fundamental issues of the Christian faith but that leads us to the next Creed which we have to consider in The Next Century in the fifth century new ideas were being promoted and controversy erupted especially two specific ideas very similar that there are subtle differences between them but in essence they both argue that Jesus Christ only had one nature not two so they refus to confess true deity true Humanity United forever in one person right and this is this leads to a council that was held in Caledon in the year 451 and it's called the calcedonian definition now the two problems the first one the first heresy that erupted is called utian ISM it comes from the name uis who was an advocate utian ISM mixes or confounds the human nature and the divine nature in Christ and it teaches an absorption of the human into the Divine so the uans use phrases such as God is born God has suffered God is crucified God died Etc they Illustrated this by saying something like this his human nature is absorbed into the divine nature in the same way that a sugar cube is absorbed into hot liquid right I'm sure many of you drink coffee in the morning and probably a lot of you put some sugar into your coffee well what happens you have a spoon and you have sugar on it white crystals you drop that into the hot coffee you stir it a little bit and those white crystals are gone now you may be able to taste the sweetness that comes but you never again will be able to recover those crystals because they've been dissolved into the coffee and that was the idea Jesus human nature was absorbed into the Divine so in a sense he no longer has a human nature that is distinct from the divine nature they have been brought together so the utian mixed or confounded the human nature of Christ they they diminished his human nature the second heresy that appeared is called monophysitism which translated into English means one nature mono one fusus fites nature the monophysites though they rejected the utian theory of absorption nevertheless taught only one composite nature of Christ making his Humanity a mere accident of the immutable Divine substance and both of these errors were considered so serious because they undermine the true Humanity of Jesus you know what the result of that is we don't have a mediator we don't have a redeemer if he's not like us in every way apart from sin and Sins not inherit to human nature if he's not like us we do not have a mediator the calcedonian definition is not really a Creed in the classical sense but in uh in that its form is more of a theological statement of fact but has been viewed in the western churches as definitive and most of the Eastern churches likewise accept it and some of its language is purposely included in the Westminster Confession in the seavoy Declaration and the second London Confession this Cate met at the town of caldan in Asia Minor turkey in the year 451 and it affirms the that Creed that long named name that I have a hard time saying nyine constantinopolitan Creed oh I did it right again and it argues that the nyine constantinopolitan if I practice enough I can say it it argues that it teaches the same doctrine that they assert about the Lord Jesus Christ and so they argue that their Creed is a clarification of the earlier Creed when they identify the errors they're refuting they say this the sinid that is the meaning of these uh theologians in 451 the sinid opposes those who would Ren The Mystery of the dispensation into a or the mystery of the Incarnation into a doad of sons it repels from the sacred assembly those who dare to say that the godhead of the only begotten is capable of suffering it resists those who imagine a mixture or confusion of the two Natures of Christ it drives away those who fancy his form of a servant is of in heavenly or some other substance other than that which was taken of us and it anathematized those who foolishly talk of two Natures of Our Lord before the union conceiving that after the union there was only one H that sounds sort of like some of the errors that we've already seen today doesn't it that they're refuting and then they State the doctrine following the holy fathers we teach with one voice that the Son of God and our Lord Jesus Christ is to be confessed as one and the same person person that is perfect in Godhead and perfect in manhood very God and very man of a reasonable soul and human body consisting consubstantial with the father as touching his godhead and consubstantial with us as touching his manhood make made in all things like unto us sin only accepted begotten of the father before the worlds according to his godhead but in these last days for us men and for our Salvation Born Into the world of the Virgin Mary the Mother of God according to his manhood this one and the same Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God must be confessed to be in two Natures unconfused immutability immutably indivisibly inseparably United remember those four words we will see them again soon and that without the distinction of natures being taken away by such Union all right you hear what they're saying two Natures brought together in one person neither nature lose is that was which is essential to itself in its existence so the nature the divine nature is always the divine nature the human nature is always the human nature they are united together in one person back to this but without that without the distinction of nature is being taken away by such Union but rather The Peculiar property of each nature being preserved and being united in one person and subsistence not separated or divided into two persons but one in the same son and only begotten God the word our Lord Jesus Christ as the prophets of old time have spoken concerning him and as the Lord Jesus Christ hath taught us and as the Creed of the fathers hath delivered to us can I make a personal comment this is deeply moving to me th this is deep theology but it tells us something about the glory and greatness of our savior and I read these words and my heart is deeply moved as I think about him truly God everything that may be said about God may be said about him everything in Chapter 2 of the confessions that speak to the nature of God they're talking about Christ and everything that can be said about you and I as humans apart from our sin can be said about him everything so he is just like us and this is why the book of Hebrews can say that we have a high priest who's able to sympathize with with us in our weaknesses because he's just like us when you go through diff and I'm just going to start preaching when when you you go through when you have temptations and trials at the right hand of the Father in Heaven you have a high priest who knows what it's like to be tempted and to face trials and is able to sympathize with you isn't that the most comforting thing you can imagine and and that's what this High futin theology is teaching us PE people sometimes say you know Ah that's just deep theology we don't need that I want to say yes you do you need it far more than you know and if you begin to work with it and understand it it is going to be the Bedrock of your life now this statement is important in many ways so I'll stop preaching again now hope you don't mind that first we notice the unusual language of a doad of sons which is denied this seems to refer to a doctrine of two christs one Divine and one human there are not two persons next we see that the CID affirms the doctrine of divine impassibility clearly and plainly then it speaks against the the mixture or confusion of the two Natures condemns those who deny that he took on true human nature and flesh and those who assert some kind of pre-existence of the human nature so there's there are other errors that are being resisted here one's called dotism it comes from the Greek verb Doo which means it seems that is he only seemed to be a true human if you saw him walk by he would look like a carpenter but in a sense it was an illusion because did wasn't really human in the way that we are human and wasn't a carpenter like this the the the Senate of caladan rejects that says no that's not the case he is like us more positively the Caledonian definition articulates one of the most important doctrines of the Christian faith I've said it many times that Christ has two true Natures joined together in one person forever he is truly God in the fullest sense of that term and truly man in all that that means and these two Natures were joined together in the Incarnation in the womb of the Virgin Mary and this must be confessed the natures are joined here's those four words again unconfused immutably indivisibly and Inseparable inseparably so that he is truly God and truly man in one person neither nature loses any inherent quality but maintains the divine and the human character now this anticipates another question and it's the question of what's called monothelitism here's a quiz question for you how many Wills does the Incarnate Christ have Dr godfre used to ask that in his church history class at Westminster Seminary and he'd say okay how I'm not going to ask you to do this so don't do this but don't want to embarrass any of you he'd say all of you who think he has one will raise your hand all of you who think that he has two Wills raise your hand if you raise your hand for one will you're a heretic you you can probably understand why if he's truly God he must have a Divine will if he's truly man he must have a human will and so Orthodox christology professes that our savior is truly God and truly man thus has two Wills this problem of monothelitism oneillism appeared in the 7th Century around 625 arguing that the he has two Natures but only one will now listen to how our confession of Faith picks up the language of NAA this comes out of Westminster uh it's a common uh Christian doctrine of English puritanism the Son of God being the second person in the Holy Trinity being very and eternal God the brightness of the father's Glory of one substance and equal with him that's language from cidan who made the world who upholdeth and govern all things he hath made sounds a lot like NAA doesn't it did when the fullness of time was come take unto him man's nature with all the essential properties the will is an essential property of humanity with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof yet without sin being conceived by the Holy Spirit In the Womb of the Virgin Mary the Holy Spirit coming down upon her and the power of the most high overshadowing her and so was made of a woman of the tribe of Judah of the Seed of Abraham and David according to the scriptures now listen to this remember those four words I mentioned so that two whole perfect and distinct Natures were inseparably there's the first one inseparably joined together in one person without conversion composition or confusion which person is very God and very man yet one Christ the only mediator between God and man now now once again it's not a repetition of the of the calcedonian statement in its exact terminology but it picks up the key terms and confesses them about our lord Jesus when we look at the three confessions of the English Puritans in the 17th century they're all completely Orthodox in what they say and confess about our lord Jesus we may speak of him in his uni personality we deny utian ISM we deny monophysitism we Den monothelitism we believe that our savior is God and man inseparably joined forever one person two Natures the hypothetic union the fourth Creed that I want to mention is the athanasian Creed which I find a fascinating study and to be honest with you it's my favorite of them all it's great now couple of things to say almost certainly it wasn't written by athanasius it was it seems to have been about 100 or maybe 150 years after him we don't know its precise origin which is debated although remember I mentioned Vincent of lauron always everywhere and by everyone well he wrote this book called The konor and if you read the konor which is itself a fascinating piece much of the language of the athanasian Creed is incorporated into what he wrote so it could be that he composed the athonian Creed or else that he employed the recently composed athanasian greed in his book The the athanasian Creed is almost universally accepted in the western churches Roman Catholics lutherans all of the reformed churches the methodists don't but everybody else does It's a Wonderful document it clearly expresses the truth of scripture the repetition of phrases clarifies so that truth may not be mistaken in fact it draws very clear lines If you deny the truth you cannot be saved genuine faith is based upon propositional truths we've been saying this today it is important to note that the focus of this Creed is on the conscious rejection of its doctrines it's not so much asserting that a thorough knowledge of these doctrines is necessary for salvation only that the rejection of them evidences a lack of true faith for such a rejection undermines the system of redemption in Jesus Christ it consists of 44 lines it's clearly divided into two sections the first speak about the Trinity using the language of NAA Constantinople and also of Augustine of Hippo the second section from 29-44 addresses the doctrine of Christ and it uses the ideas of calcidin so we may say that the athanasian Creed is a summary of these previous documents and it shows how Orthodox trinitarianism and christology were received and expressed in Christ Church Church our confession of Faith makes clear it it makes a clear reference to the athanasian Creed in Chapter 2 paragraph 3 of the Holy Trinity when it says this in this Divine and infinite being there are three subsisten the Father the word or Son and the Holy Spirit of one substance power and Eternity each having the whole Divine Essence yet the essence undivided the father is of none neither begotten nor proceeding the son is eternally begotten of the Father the Holy Spirit proceeding from the father and the son Philly oqu all infinite without beginning therefore but one God who is not to be divided in nature and being but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties and personal relations again nice seeing in Caledonian language and then I love this last statement you know the doctrine of the Trinity is probably the most challenging doctrine of the Christian faith we will never be able to comprehend it but we must confess it but well listen to what our father said at the end of this statement about the Trinity which doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God and comfortable dependence upon him your communion with God is founded on the doctrine of the Trinity and your comfortable dependence upon Him in all the trials of life is dependent on the doctrine of the Trinity this is why we as preachers must preach the doctrine of the Trinity why you as God's people must strive to seek as best as you're able to do so to apprehend what the doctrine of the Trinity is about but let me read to you the athanasian Creed and I'll make some comments along the way whosoever will be saved before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith once again nothing to do with Rome which faith Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled without doubt He Shall Perish everlastingly puts this into a pretty heavy category doesn't it this is an interesting statement and basically what they're saying is this pay attention if you would be saved pay attention and the Catholic faith is this that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in unity in these next lines the unique Christian doctrine of God is asserted they probably have several groups in mind pagans Heretics and unbelieving Jews all groups that fail to confess the sublime mystery of God back to the confession I'll have a comment to make on many of the statements neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance and this prepares us for what follows a detailed description of the Trinity the idea is to provide Believers with a clear understanding of a mystery for there is one person of the father another of the son and other of the Holy Spirit my comment is there are three persons but the godhead of the father of the son and of the holy spirit is all one the glory equal the Majesty co-eternal so there are three persons but the godhead is one we're beginning to work our way through the doctrine such as the father is such is the Son and such is the holy spirit meaning each person is truly God the Father uncreated the Son uncreated the Holy Spirit uncreated the father incomprehensible the son incomprehensible the Holy Spirit incomprehensible the father Eternal the son Eternal and the Holy Spirit Eternal and yet they are not three eternals but one Eternal mystery of the Trinity not three eternals but but one Eternal my comment is beware tritheism don't let your trinitarianism become tritheism as also there are not three uncreated nor three incomprehensible but one un uncreated and one incomprehensible so likewise the father is Almighty the son Almighty and the Holy Spirit Almighty and yet they are not three almighties but one Almighty that's why I love this it's so clear so the father is is God the son is God and the Holy Spirit is God and yet there are not three Gods but one God again beware tritheism so likewise the father is Lord the son Lord and the Holy Spirit Lord and yet they are not three Lords but one Lord let me say it again beware tritheism for like as we are compelled by the Christian Verity to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord so we are forbidden by the Catholic religion to say there are three gods or three LW Lords the father is made of none neither created nor begotten and now they begin to talk about the personal relations and peculiar relative properties so first they speak of that which belongs to the Father which is paternity or unbegotten the son is of the father alone not made nor created but begotten so the personal property and the personal relation or the peculiar relative property of the son is begotten this the holy spirit is of the father and of the son neither made nor created nor begotten but proceeding so the personal peculiar relative property of the holy spirit is procession but listen how they go on so there is one father not three fathers one son not three sons one Holy Spirit not three holy spirits and in this Trinity none is before or after another none is greater or less than another but the whole three persons are co-eternal and co-equal so that in all things as before said the unity in Trinity and the trinity in unity is to be worship he therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity end of the first section that would be worth memorizing those 28 lines because they so clearly State the truth 29 furthermore it is necessary to Everlasting salvation that he also Al believe rightly in the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ for the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ the son of God is God and man that's the icing Creed god of the substance of the father begotten before the world's and man of the substance of his mother born in the world truly God truly man I guess that's the next statement perfect God and perfect man of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting equal to the father as touching his godhead and inferior to the father as touching his manhood when he says my father is greater than I he's speaking as a mediator he's speaking of his manhood not of his deity who although he is God and man yet he is not two but one Christ one not by conversion of the godhead into flesh but by taking that manhood into God and notice the language of caladan here and in the next one one all together not by conf confusion of substance but by unity of the person for as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man so God and man is one Christ who suffered for our Salvation descended into Hell Rose again the Third Day from the dead language of the Apostles Creed and the nine creed he ascended into heaven he sits on the right hand of the Father God Almighty from then he shall come to judge the quick and the dead at whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall give account of their own works and they that have done good shall go into life Everlasting and they that have done evil into Everlasting fire this is the Catholic faith which except a man believe Faithfully he cannot be saved wow I think that that's just a great statement comprehensive straightforward frightening frightening if you don't believe it you can't be saved but comforting if you do believe it eternal life is yours it's a wonderful statement it's it's often neglected in churches today it's it's kind of long to read as a confession of Faith In Worship but it articulates the foundational principles of the faith beautifully and I I do believe that our churches ought to know it that it ought to be something that is brought to the attention of our people well let's see how we doing on time okay I have about 20 more pages here but I won't go through them all what about from the athanasian Creed then to the Reformation well from when the athanasian Creed or or the the um yeah the athanasian Creed uh was written to the Reformation there were no significant developments apart from maybe the Council of Toledo which added the filio Clause but there were no significant Creeds written or adopted for Thousand Years at in the around the year 1050 the Eastern Church and the western church split they split over language they Latin and Greek they spoke over geography West and East they split over the claims of the Pope who was making noise that he was the universal father of the church they split over unilateral theological decisions like the incorporation of the filio claw by the west and even the date of Easter observance maybe you've noticed that the Orthodox Churches observe Easter often on a different Lord's day than the West churches do all of these things split they took the church apart and as a result there wasn't any real significant theological progress that were made was made although there were many great theologians and many Christians during that era so we come very quickly to the Reformation how much was lost what what is it that was recovered well that's a great question you know Anthony Lane in his book John Calvin student of the church father which is an outstanding book has suggested that the Reformation was a battle over the proper interpretation of the fathers and the Creeds of the church the the reformers argued that Rome had left the path and that all they were trying to do the reformers was recover what the church was in its early centuries and expressed by many of the fine theologians of the med evil era and all you have to do is read the reformers on this because they all accepted these Creeds this was the common doctrine of the lutherans of the reformed of the English churches all of them accepted these four Creeds that's why they're so important and that's what helps us to recognize what we have in common not just in the 21st century but since the Reformation when all of the churches that come from the Reformation have been able to confess these things but after the Reformation we begin to see an explosion I use that in the positive sense of confessionalism most of the local churches and by local I mean churches in a particular location City Town section region of a country most of them develop their own confessions to reflect um the the needs of their own congregations to to draw them together in terms of historic doctrines but also to reflect unique circumstances that may have Arisen in various places Luther recognize the importance of Creeds and catechisms in 1529 he published a small catechism and then a larger catechism which simply takes the doctrines of the smaller one and opens them up in 1530 Luther was involved in the publication of the alburg confession which had 28 articles it begins like this our churches with common consent do teach that the decree of the Council of NAA concerning the unity of the Divine Essence and concerning the three persons is true and to be believed without doubting and they go on and uh in 1580 the Lutheran compiled a book of Concord and it begins with the three Chief symbols as they're called the Apostles Creed the nyine Creed and the athanasian Creed followed by the Augsburg confession that's their book of Concord but let's move on to the reformed Creeds there were many of them as I said most cities most jurisdictions produce them Zurich Geneva Baron Switzerland we can only mention a few if you've seen James Dennison's four volume set reformed confessions of the 16th and 17th centuries in English translation you get a sense of how common it was for churches to adopt and publish their own Creeds 1536 Dr barcelos read from the first htic confession already which spoke about the scope of scripture this was intended to unite the churches of Switzerland in 1553 the Church of England adopted a document that was called the 42 articles was later reduced to 39 articles it still technically is the confession of faith of the Church of England that though almost no one in the Church of England believes it anymore very sadly in 1561 the belgic confession was published written by Guido de breze in the face of Spanish and Roman persecution it contains 37 articles and it's one of the three forms of unity deze was executed for his religious views by the Spaniards in 1567 in 1562 the 39 articles of the Church of England were published after Queen Mary Bloody Mary uh died and many of the Protestants who had fled to the continent were returned to England they were able to revise the 42 articles into 39 it is clearly a predestinarian document in fact JC riy the famous JC riy referring to the 39 articles of the Church of England called his church the Reformed Church of England because that confession uh in his mind reflected uh a reformed uh commitment 1562 and 63 the heidleberg catechism is published it's a confession in the form of a catechism question and answer format these things are essentially the same in content the only difference is the method method of appropriation and maybe the heidleberg catechism is the best loved confessional statement of the 16th century it's loved by the reformed churches it's loved by Presbyterians it's loved by Baptists because it has so much good theology expressed in a way that warms the heart and draws us closer to the Lord in 1566 in Switzerland the second helvetic confession uh James Dennison said this it's the most widely received of the 16 Century reformed confessions in 1619 the Cannons of the Senate of Dort were published convened in the Netherlands to attempt to resolve the growing problem of the influence of the Theology of James arminius in the churches the result was the the Cannons of the Senate of Dort another great great statement of Christian faith that we love and appreciate but let's fast forward to England there was a conflict between the King and Parliament the King was effectively driven out of London he made his uh his dwelling in Oxford and Parliament was able to begin the process of further Reformation of the Church of England and they called an assembly of divines that was to meet at Westminster it began on July the 1st of 1643 and officially convened for 6 years their task originally was to revise the 39 articles of the Church of England they proceeded they were able to get through 15 but then some changes mostly due to the influence of Scotland and the need for Scottish support in the war that was going on with the king um a demand was made that they put aside the work on the 39 articles and begin aresh a confession of Faith the result of that is what we know as the Westminster Confession of Faith first published for the sake of Parliament and the members of the assembly on December the 4th 1646 the par parliamentarians demanded that scripture proofs be added and so it was published again in April of 1647 but it is certainly along with a Shorter Catechism the most famous production of the Westminster assembly it included 33 chapters but it becomes the basis of two further confessions of faith that need to be mentioned in 1658 now this is right at the end of the power of Oliver CR well just before he died um a group of congregationalists met together at a place in London called the SEO and their purpose of meeting was to develop a a confession of faith that would suit the congregational practice of these churches as opposed to the presbyterianism that's present in the Westminster assembly among those who met in the seavoy were such famous men as Thomas Goodwin John Owen John how and and Philip NY Owen was the only one who had not been present at the Westminster assembly but because of the fact that Cromwell had just died the confession of faith that they produced never really had any influence in England interestingly enough it was adopted in New England and became important for the congregational churches in the new world even though it was neglected in the old world but it is a revision of the Westminster Confession of faith made suitable for congregational churches to be able to confess well that leads us to what happens about 19 years later and you'll remember what I said in the first session today there were problems with a man named Thomas Collier there were the problems of Matthew caffin remember they needed to be decaffeinated um all of those problems and so it was necessary for the baptized congregations that's what they called themselves to join together and to confess their faith and so they did what every good uh group before them did they took previous documents and they adapted them and used them for good so what you have when you look at these common Puritan confessions Westminster seavoy second London is the language of the Apostles Creed the nine creed nyine constantinopolitan creed o I did it again the C Caledonian statement I'm getting good at that I've never been able to do it like that before and the athanasian Creed all of that language the the theology that is there is present with them so we can look at them and see what they have in common and say this is historic Orthodoxy this is what Christians have believed and so together with Westminster and seavoy and second London we see the faith that was once delivered to the Saints now I I think that this is it to me it's a great encouragement you know for 20 years I taught at Westminster Seminary in California you say how could a Baptist teach at a presbyterian school well I wasn't a regular faculty member but they did hire me to teach a couple of courses for them and I taught the Baptist students a variety of courses why could that work for 20 years the reason it could work for 20 years is because we had so much in common because that the men at Westminster recognized that we confessed the same fundamental truths that they confessed and so we were able to work together so very closely and wonderfully now we're not there anymore and the reason is not because we were unhappy there it's because the opportunity came before us in the in the purposes of God to move to Texas and to develop a full-blown Seminary we were just an Institute when we were in California but I am so thankful to God for those Presbyterian men and for the men from the the United reform church the three forms of unity churches that welcomed me into their midst um gave me and our students opportunities um Mike's a graduate of our program from Escondido remember how great it was to be there it really was first rate but it's because we have so much in common and brothers and sisters that's the truth we have our differences but the fact that we have things in common allows us to join together in many areas they knew that on on certain ecclesiological issues I would be teaching something different to what they would be teaching but we respected each other we knew that we had so much in agreement that on those minor areas of differences we could work together for the good and the glory of Christ Church so we can say we can say truthfully that we confess a faith that has been known by Christians for Millennia and that since the Reformation has jointly been been confessed on the continent among all the reformed churches in England among the the best of the Church of England the Puritans who held the Westminster assembly the seavoy theologians who met in 1658 and then finally in 1677 the the representatives of the baptized churches in London I hope that that's an encouragement to you because we We Are One in faith and one day we'll all stand around the throne and we will praise God God for the Redemption that we have in Jesus Christ and forever and ever we will share together the denominational differences will be gone and we will be able to join together to the glory of God thank you very much let's pray oh Lord we give you thanks for your holy word for 20 centuries of people who have wrestled with the B who have been able to understand its truth to refute error to craft words in such a way that they reflect what the word of God teaches and have passed on that deposit to us we humbly receive it we don't deserve any of your mercies we are we are the recipients of Grace that we did not earn we are sinners we were your enemies and you gave us life and you've given to us these great doctrines a God who is one and a God who is three Father Son and Holy Spirit a savior who is truly God and a savior who is truly man like us you've given to us the doctrine of justification by faith alone you've given to us adoption into your family and sanctification by which we are set aside for your purpose you've granted us faith and repentance we do good works by your spirit we enjoy the benefit of assurance we persevere in the faith we seek though we fail often we seek to obey your holy law and to dedicate Our Lives to you Lord knit our hearts together more and more and glorify yourself on Earth as we demonstrate the Oneness of the Christian faith we ask in Jesus name amen amen it's good to have this common Heritage well you can turn in your book to page 28 we'll end our session this evening with Psalm 134 we'll stand as we sing together page 28 a very familiar tune [Music] GL faithful Ser of the Lord in his house to stand by [Music] God him [Music] your to this sary high oh bless the Lord he his and worship him [Music] with bless [Music] you high in his [Music] God Earth be his great and holy [Applause] [Music] amen please be seated I just want to take a moment to thank Pastor John cman and the Saints here at free reform church please convey our our heartfelt gratitude for a wonderful meal and for all the kindness and the hospitality you've shown us we're very appreciative and I think a good expression of what we just heard [Applause] and desell if anybody is staying over for the weekend just to give you a bit of a a update on our schedule for the Lord's day at our church in chillak Pastor barcelos will be preaching in the morning Dr renahan will be going to the Siri reform Baptist Church pastored by Mike KK Patrick I think he's going to give a report there from the 9:30 to 10:30 hour on the the work of the Seminary preach the morning service and then he'll be back at our church on Sunday night we've try to fill up their schedules as much as we can so he'll preach for us that Sunday evening so Dr barcelos in our church in the morning Dr renahan in the evening then I've asked a couple of men that are visiting to give reports in our 9:30 hour uh here in chillak so I would encourage our people for sure but if you're interested in meeting some of the guys that we're in talks with in terms of Association uh the 9:30 hour we're going to hear from three of them so again be back at 8:30 I'll just close us now with a word of Prayer Our Father we do thank you for our common confession we thank you for the the the blessedness of of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ thank you for this very excellent reminder of what we do have in common thank you for this as well reminder of what we have in these great Creeds and confessions of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ positive statements to instruct the people of God but as well statements to to repel those wolves that would try to come in and devour your Saints we we give you praise for your truth we acknowledge that you are the Lord God of truth that Jesus is the way the truth and the life that the spirit is the spirit of Truth and yet not three truths one truth we confess your glory your majesty and Your Excellence and we pray that you would go with us now grant us safe travel grant us a good night of rest grant us another blessed day tomorrow and especially on the Lord's day as your people gather for public worship may you may you be in the midst of the Saints of Christ and we ask in his Most Blessed name amen all right good night