Christmas Creed
The
word Creed often gets a bad rap. The Church of the Brethren is a non-creedal
church meaning that we don’t believe a creed can summarize the life of Jesus.
It takes the whole Bible to fully understand who Jesus really is. But there is
a purpose to creeds, and Christmas may just help us to understand their
significance. Jesus asked a question of the disciples at the foothills of Mount
Hermon. Jesus inquired of the disciples, “Who do the people say that I am?” It
is a question that men have been asking for generations and one that has
received a thousand answers.
Whatever the view of Jesus has been, the church
throughout the ages has affirmed the words of Peter who said, “You are the
Christ, the son of the living God.” In many ways that statement is an early
creed that became scripture. But is that statement enough or do we need a
little more information? Or, take for example the virgin birth. Is it enough
for you to know that Jesus was born of a virgin or have you ever wondered how
deep the significance of that event really is? You see, the creeds of the faith
were developed to deepen our understanding of Jesus becoming flesh. The term
for God becoming human is incarnation. How well do we understand the
incarnation of Jesus?
During
the Imperial Age of the church, the emperors pressed Christian leaders to form
statements accurately expressing who Jesus is. But this was not the first
attempt to deepen our understanding of the Christ. Paul quotes a hymn of the
faith in Philippians 2:6-7. Paul says, “Who being in very nature God, did not
consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being
found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to death
even death on a cross!” This may be one of the first Christological statements
on the incarnation of the Word. Paul was quoting someone else when he pinned
those words. It is easy to see that the early church was interested in the
development of a deeper understanding of Jesus being fully man and Jesus being
fully God. Statements in the creeds would be written to clarify these
positions.
There
are many creeds that have influenced the Christian belief concerning Jesus. One
of the most famous Christmas Creeds is the Apostles’ Creed. The Apostle’s Creed
signifies a Christology that begins with Jesus’ birth and moves toward his
divinity. But did Jesus’ existence begin at his birth? No! At the council of
Niceae in 325, another Christmas creed surfaces that again tries to deepen our
understanding of Christ. At the end of the meeting, a statement of faith was
developed and adopted that says, “I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the
only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God,
Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one
substance with the Father, by whom all things were made…” This statement was
viewed as a way to deepen our understanding of Jesus and let us know that Jesus
has always been God even before his birth in Bethlehem.
Another creed that
deserves some attention is called the Athanasian Creed. It takes the teaching
of the Apostles and the Council of Niceae and deepens once again our
understanding of Jesus. Part of the Athanasian Creed states, “The Father is
uncreated, the Son is uncreated, and the Holy Spirit is uncreated… So the
Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; and yet they are not
three Gods but one God…” Athanasius takes our understanding of Jesus to the
next level and moves it to a deeper understanding of the babe born in a manger.
My friends, it is
Christmas time. Many will come together in the coming weeks and talk about a baby
that was born in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago. Can I say that the statement of
a Christ child born in Bethlehem to be the Savior of the world is completely
true yet so lacking? There is so much more to this baby than one blog
article can explain. So let’s come together in the month of December, study about the Christ Child, and deepen
our understanding of a God who became flesh.
In His Love,
Pastor Aaron
