In the early centuries of its existence, the Christian Church formulated creeds in order to pull together biblical teachings, particularly about the Holy Trinity and the person of Jesus Christ. This was also done to confess Biblical truth in opposition to various heresies which arose during those same early years. The most famous of these early confessions are the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed, regularly confessed by Christians at worship to this day, and the lesser known Athanasian Creed.
We at Hope regularly confess our Christian faith in the words of these three ecumenical creeds. "Creed" is from the Latin word "credo" meaning "I believe." To call these three creeds "ecumenical" means that the teachings they express are accepted and confessed by Christians the world over, regardless of denomination.
The Apostles Creed is a concise statement of the apostles' teaching, and is commonly used during the Sacrament of Holy Baptism by Western Christians (Eastern Christians use the Nicene Creed) and during corporate worship when the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds are not used. The Creed itself consists of three sections. The first section deals with God the Father and His work of creation. The second section deals with God the Son and His work of redemption. The third section deals with God the Holy Spirit and His work of sanctification.
Roman Emperor Constantine requested a meeting of Christian theologians to draft a unified response to those who opposed the Christian teachings about the divinity of Jesus and the Triune God. The result of that request was the Nicene (nigh SEEN) Creed drafted by the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. In 381 AD the Council of Constantinople refined and expanded the Nicene Creed. This Niceno-Constanopolitan Creed was reaffirmed by the Council of Ephesus (431 AD) and the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD). The Nicene Creed, as it is now known, is commonly confessed in services where the Sacrament of Holy Communion is celebrated and at Festival services.
This confession takes its name from Athanasius, the great theologian of the fourth century, under whose influence it was supposedly prepared, although it is more likely that this Creed was prepared during the fifth century. It was written to combat those who denied that God's Son and the Holy Spirit are of one being with the Father and who denied that Jesus is true God and true man in one person. It explicitly states that whoever rejects these teachings of the Trinity and of Jesus Christ cannot be saved. While it is not accepted by the Eastern Church, except for the Russian Orthodox, the Athanasian (ath uh NAY see un) Creed is confessed by Western Christians at the divine service on Trinity Sunday.
