I’ve always thought of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day as a “trilogy” of holidays, as we move from one to another and then quickly to the next. There is also a “trilogy” of Christian holidays that come in quick succession but are much less well known or celebrated: Ascension Day, Pentecost Sunday, and Trinity Sunday. Having spent the last couple of weeks looking at the Ascension and Pentecost, it seems natural to think about Trinity Sunday in this post.
Unlike the other two days, Trinity Sunday does not mark a specific event in the life of Christ and the church. Rather, it came about as a day to remember the truth that we worship a Triune God; this is at the heart of our faith but still controversial and confusing as some people reject this mysterious truth and others misunderstand it. A common practice in some Christian traditions has been to recite the Athanasian Creed on Trinity Sunday. This is probably the least well-known creed of the three “ecumenical” creeds adopted not only by Reformed churches but also other church branches like the Lutherans and Anglicans (the other “ecumencial” creeds are the Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed). This lack of attention to the Athanasian Creed is a bit unfortunate as it is one of the best places to look to understand what Christians believe about the Trinity; therefore, I thought the week of Trinity Sunday would be a good week to explore this ancient creed.
What is the Athanasian Creed?
Because it’s called the “Athanasian Creed,” one may think that it was written by Athanasius, a fourth century church leader. He lived in Alexandria in Egypt and was a key figure in debates about Jesus’s divinity. Athanasius defended the position that Jesus was fully God and fully man at the time a popular belief that Jesus was distinct from and lower than God was taught by a man named Arius. However, it does not appear that Athanasius was directly involved in writing this creed. One reason is because the text was originally written in Latin, and Athanasian spoke and wrote in Greek. In addition, the concepts and known use of this creed points to it being written towards the end of the fifth century or beginning of the sixth century, long after Athanasian had passed away. It probably was composed in Gaul (modern day southern France), as the false teaching that Arius had spread many years earlier continued to be popular, especially in that area. Because this creed reflects ideas earlier taught by Athanaisus against the same false teaching, it became associated with him. He is not the author, but in some ways the inspiration for this creed – it served as a teaching tool for people to understand essential (but difficult and disputed) truths of the Christian faith.
The creed itself essentially consists of 42 verses. The first two verses and the last verse create a frame that shows the importance of these beliefs, as one must believe these things in order to “be saved.” The body of the creed (verses 3-41) focuses on two issues: the Trinity (3-27) and the person of Jesus, including his death, resurrection, and ascension (30-41). Between these two discussions is a transitional section that reiterates the importance of these truths for our salvation (28-29).
What Does it Teach Us About the Trinity?
The concept of the Trinity appears in the Trinitarian structure of the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed (sections on the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and the Nicene Creed’s statements about the divinity of the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Athanasian Creed, however, goes further than these creeds in offering an explanation rather than just an affirmation of this belief. That said, it is not an exhaustive explanation of the Trinity, in part because it does not defend the truth against potential objections. Its explanation also does not solve all the mystery of this doctrine, but offers a framework in which to understand this mystery.
In particular, this creed affirms that there is one God in three distinct persons. The unity of God is apparent as it says “we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity.” Thus, it is not three different gods we worship, but one God (11-20). We are forbidden to say there are three Gods or three lords (20) but should say that there is one God (16) and one Lord (20). At the same time, it is not one God in three forms – the Father, Son, and Spirit are three distinct persons who should neither be confused nor divided (4). But what does that mean?
Not to confuse them means that we need to keep them distinct from each other. This means that one is Father, one is Son, and one is Holy Spirit (5); there are not three Fathers, three Sons, or three Holy Spirits (24). The names reflect something of their person, with the Father “neither created nor begotten” (21), the Son “not made, nor created, but begotten” (22), and the Holy Spirit “not made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding” (23). They stand distinct from each other, but this distinction should not lead to us thinking of them as separate beings.
Much of the creed focuses on this idea that they are different but should not be divided from each other. Their unity is found in the fact that they share the same attributes and titles, being equal in glory and having a co-eternal majesty (6). All three persons are thus uncreated (8), incomprehensible (9), eternal (10), or almighty (13). Thus, all three are God (15, 19) and Lord (17, 19), and one is not greater or less than the others (25). Once again, we see the idea that there is one God, not three.
As we can see from this summary, the explanation of the Trinity found in this creed does not get into precise details. Rather, it focuses on the big picture of what we discover in the Bible. God is one (Deuteronomy 6:4), so we should never think of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as being three different gods or worship three gods. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are intimately connected and also differentiated from each other (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14), so we should not view them as different manifestations but as different persons who stand in relationship with each other from eternity past, share attributes, and work together. The creed clarifies the boundaries that we must never cross when considering the mystery that is our God. We should never divide the one God into three persons but also never confuse the three gods as one person.
This creed may seem very heady, but we should not overlook the fact that its goal is not that we understand exactly how the Trinity works, but rather that we worship this God who has revealed himself to be Trinity. Thus, we must remember “the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshiped” (27). The fact that we cannot fully understand this truth should not cause us frustration, but lead us to awe and wonder, and lead us to worship, praising Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as one God, not three gods.
For More On This Creed…..
I’ve only touched on part of the creed in this post, so we’ll return to it in the coming posts. If interested in studying the creed more, I would recommend The Athanasian Creed by Martin Davie (London: Latimer Trust, 2019) as I have found this book a helpful introduction to its background and teaching and drew upon it in my research for this post.
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