The Apostles Creed is made up of three short paragraphs, one each for each ‘person’ of the Trinity. So what does the Creed have to say about the Trinity?
First it identifies the three ‘persons’: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (or Holy Spirit, which is a more easily-understood term for modern ears). Christians do not worship three gods — far from it. We worship one God with three… aspects, so to speak, or three ‘persons’ as the theologians put it.
So who are the three ‘persons’ the Creed talks about?
First, the Father: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” God is a God who reveals Himself as Father: He cares about us, tends to our needs, listens to our concerns, is strong, wise, compassionate, loving. This can be a difficult concept for those who have had less-than-ideal human fathers. This Father is a true father who is always near, will never leave, and will always love. He wants — and works for — the best in each person.
God is also a Father in the sense of producing new life: He is Jesus’ father, and He is spiritual father to all who believe in Him. Jesus taught His followers to address Him as “Abba,” a Hebrew word for “Dad” — intimate and personal, not someone distant.
At the same time God is also ‘almighty,’ meaning worthy ruler of all. And rightfully so — being Creator of all. Whatever one may believe about the origins of the universe, it is not unreasonable to think of the universe as being the result of a mind and heart far greater than our own.
Second, the Son: “I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.” Jesus’ parents were Mary, a teenager and virgin, and God. He was born into the Jewish tribe of Judah and adopted by Joseph, a carpenter. Joseph, a descendant of the great King David, was (however distantly) in line to the throne of David, and therefore so was Jesus. Having both human and divine origin, Jesus is both fully human and fully God.
“Christ” is a Greek word meaning Messiah — it is a word to describe Jesus’ mission, and is not and was never intended to be Jesus’ last name! Lord is an old-fashioned word basically meaning one with ownership and power, one who is to be obeyed, and one who takes responsibility for those under him.
Jesus’ life ended in his early 30s when He was tortured and nailed to a cross, giving up His life to pay for the sins of all people and to open the door to eternal life for everyone who chooses to walk through it. Three days later He walked out of the grave alive, proving that everything He had said about God was true, and also proving that love — God’s love — is stronger than death.
Third, the Holy Spirit: “I believe in the Holy Spirit…” The Spirit is ‘God within us,’ the aspect of God that lives inside believers. He guides people into God’s wisdom and truth and consistently points the focus onto Jesus and to God. The Nicene Creed adds these thoughts on the Spirit, which I find helpful in describing Him: “the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets…”
Any questions or thoughts?
i believe in god the father allmighty creator of heaven and earth and in jesus christ his only begoton son our lord who was conceeved by the holey ghost born of the virgin mary sufferd under pontis pilot was crucified died and was burried. the third day he rose from the dead he ascended to heaven where he sits at the right hand of god the father allmighty from thence he will come to judge the living and the dead. i believe in the holey ghost the holey catholic church the blesed trinity the communeion of saints the forgivnes of sins the resurection of the body and life everlasting amen
this is the correct creed befor the vatican 2 changes
with the belief of the trinity
Hi Kerry,
Thanks for your comment. I’ve never heard of “I believe in the blessed trinity” being part of the Apostles Creed before. In fact if I remember history correctly, the Apostles Creed was written before the doctrine of the Trinity had been formulated. (Of course the Trinity has existed since the beginning of time… it just took people awhile to figure it out and write it down.)
Do you have any documentation to support your statement, or your suggestion that Vatican II changed the Creed?
i put the trinity in the creed by mastake because while i was writing it the apostles creed professes the fact of the trinity the creeds origin came directly from the holey ghost to each of the 12 apostles the whole creed itself points to the trinity. and needs no further proof because it came directly from the holey ghost. in other words i firmly believe in its truths and dont need scripture as proof as the neicen creed points to scripture for proof. the same creed says begoten not made of one substance with the father and thats wrong because the trinity is god the father the son and the holey ghost all three are apart from the other as one of the three yet all three are as one. and it says jesus was incarinated which is wrong jesis as god the son was conceeved by the holey ghost as jesus and born of the virgin mary as jesus who is god the son and became man. as jesus that other creed says jesus was incarinated into a namless new born and took the role of that new born and became flesh. thaTS wrong. jesus is real and not from another relm or demension.
Hi Kerry,
I agree with you that the creeds were written by the apostles who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. The creeds were written during a time when false teachers were trying to deceive God’s people, and they were written to teach people what is true. The creeds are meant to teach the basic truths of the faith, to defend Scripture, and to point people to Scripture as God’s Word.
I think sometimes Christians can use different words and mean the same thing. For example “being of one substance with the Father” and “one of the three and yet all three are one” basically mean the same thing: all three members of the Trinity are God. Or as another example “Jesus was incarnated” and “Jesus as God the Son was conceived by the Holy Ghost as Jesus and born of the Virgin Mary” mean exactly the same thing.
One of the things the false teachers were saying back in the apostles’ day was that Jesus was not real, or at least never really came as a flesh-and-blood human being. The creeds – both the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed – were written (in part) as an argument against that false teaching. So when you say Jesus “became flesh” and “Jesus is real” you are agreeing exactly with what the writers of the creeds were trying to get people to understand.
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