Christmas Creeds

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