The Basic Catechism in Scripture - The First Article of the Nicene Creed

 

FrSteven Clark

Jesus is not our "personal" Lord and Saviour. He is the Saviour of the world and the bridegroom of the Church. The idea of a "personal" saviour is an attempt to baptise our culture of individualism with a parody of Christ.

This Basic Catechism of the Orthodox Christian Faith is based upon the Nicene Creed which was begun at the first "Megas Ecclesia" meeting (ecumenical council - council of the families of churches "oikos" of the house of God) in 325 AD and the second council in Constantinople in 381 AD.  The composition of this creed is living proof that the early Roman Church, East and West was thoroughly Orthodox and that the Holy Spirit inspired and guided it.


What is a Creed?

The word creed means a statement of belief.  The Nicene Creed is the summary of the faith once and for all delivered unto the saints.
2Jn 1:8  Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
2Jn 1:9  Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
2Jn 1:10  If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
2Jn 1:11  For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

How is the Creed Stated?

It is stated in twelve parts, or articles, which are as follows:

1 I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible;

2 And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-begotten, Begotten of the Father before all worlds, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, Begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father, by whom all things were made.

3 Who for us men and for our salvation came down from Heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and was made man;

4 And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried;

5 And the third day He rose again, according to the scriptures.

6 And ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father;

7 and He shall some again with glory to judge the living and the dead, Whose Kingdom shall have no end.

8 And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, Who spoke by the prophets;

9 And I believe in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church

10 And I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins.

11  I look for the resurrection of the dead.

12  And the life of the world to come.  Amen.

THE FIRST ARTICLE OF THE CREED:

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and earth, and of all things, visible and invisible;

Why must we believe in God?

Since we are created by God, and are meant to live in communion (fellowship) with God from the beginning, belief in God is essential to our salvation.

Heb 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
Heb 10:39  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

Mat 16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
Mat 16:26  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Mat 16:27  For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

Mat 10:28  And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

2Th 1:5  Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
2Th 1:6  Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
2Th 1:7  And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
2Th 1:8  In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
2Th 1:9  Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
2Th 1:10  When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

Which God?  Of what God do we speak?  Doesn't the Hebrew Scriptures say there are many gods?

God is a generic term, in Greek Theos and in Hebrew Elohim, these are generic terms. This is why the God of the Christians is defined clearly in the Nicene Creed "The Father Almighty maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible."

The essence of God is beyond knowing, though His qualities and His creation can be known.  He is the Creator of all things everywhere.

  Exo 33:20  And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

Job 36:26  Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out. 

1Timothy 6:16  Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen. 

Deu 4:35  Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.
Deu 4:36  Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.
Deu 4:37  And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;

Psa 111:6  He hath shewed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen.

 2Pe 1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Why is there but one God?

God is supremely perfect and infinite, and cannot have an equal.

Deu 4:39  Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.

Isa 45:5  I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.

Mar 12:32  And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: ( For you Michael Heiser fans, this statement about one God was made by a Second Temple Sadducee, called scribes sometimes in the New Testament. So the Second Temple mindset, about which Heiser has written many books, was not a consciousness of many God, but of ONE.) 

What do we learn of God's perfection from His divine revelation?

From scripture we learn that

God is Spirit: Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 

God is eternal:  He is without beginning and without end, existing forever, and forever unchanging. 

Psa 90:1  A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
Psa 90:2  Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Deu 32:39  See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
Deu 32:40  For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.  (Shoots a hole in Heiser's Council of Gods)

Jas 1:17  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

God is everywhere and knows all things, even our innermost secrets.
Psa 139:7  Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
Psa 139:8  If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
Psa 139:9  If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Psa 139:10  Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
Psa 139:11  If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
Psa 139:12  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Heb 4:13  Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

God can do all things; nothing is too difficult or impossible for Him; He is Almighty.
Jer 32:17  Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:
Jer 32:18  Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name, 

Mat 19:26  But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

God is self-sufficient in His infinite perfection.
Exo 3:14  And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. 

Deu 32:4  He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. 

God is all-perfect, all-holy, all-good, all-just and all-merciful.

Isaiah's Vision of the Lord
Isa 6:1  In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Isa 6:2  Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
Isa 6:3  And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

Psa 86:5  For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. 

Psa 89:14  Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face. 

Lam 3:22  It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 

God is love.
1Jn 4:8  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
1Jn 4:9  In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
1Jn 4:10  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

What is the Most Holy Trinity?

God is three divine Persons and yet one God:  God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
Mat 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

1Co 12:4  Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
1Co 12:5  And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
1Co 12:6  And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.

2Co 13:14  The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

Eph 4:4  There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
Eph 4:5  One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
Eph 4:6  One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Without the knowledge of the Holy Trinity the three statements of faith above from scripture would be strange and have no context.

Are the three divine Persons equal in all things?
The three divine Persons are equal in all things, and share one and the same divine nature and essence.
Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.  (And this is a dialog within the Holy Trinity and not as the heretic Michael Heiser posits, Yahweh speaking with a "Divine Council" of so-called gods, who are exposed to be fallen angels.) 

 Deu 6:4  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

  Joh 14:23  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

What is the origin of each of the three divine Persons of the Most Holy Trinity?

The Holy Trinity exists from all eternity and is uncreated:  God the Father neither comes nor proceeds from any other person; God the Son comes from the Father; God the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. All have no beginning nor end, and are one God.  (This is also called the Monarchy of the Father.)
Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2  The same was in the beginning with God. 

Joh 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 

1Jn 4:9  In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

What is meant by the phrase, "Maker of Heaven and earth , and of all things visible and invisible"?
God made all things, and nothing can exist without God.
Gen 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Gen 1:2  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 

Psa 33:6  By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. 

Isa 45:18  For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else. 

Job 34:14  If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath;
Job 34:15  All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust. 

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2  The same was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Joh 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 

What are "things visible and invisible"?
The "things visible" make up the material world we see around us and the material aspects of the microscopic/molecular/atomic world of matter and material energy and the macro visible heavens; the "things invisible" make up the spiritual world that is hidden from our eyes, and which God created first. Angels belong to this spiritual and invisible world.
Heb 1:1  God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 

Deu 29:29  The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. 

Gen 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 

Gen 2:1  Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 

Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:  (Again a refutation of Heiser's claim that "Yahweh was a member of the pantheon of Gods.")

What are angles?
Angels are spiritual beings created by God to be His messangers and servants.  He has given them intelligence, will and power.
Heb 1:13  But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?
Heb 1:14  Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

Psa 103:19  The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.
Psa 103:20  Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.
Psa 103:21  Bless ye the LORD, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.
Psa 103:22  Bless the LORD, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the LORD, O my soul.

1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. 

2Pe 2:11  Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. 

Jud 1:6  And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 

Are all angels good and helpful?
Originally, yes - God created everything to be good; some angels disobeyed God and fell away from Him. They are called devils or demons. They deceive men and try to persuade them to do evil.
Rev 12:7  And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Rev 12:8  And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 

Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
2Co 11:15  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. 

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 

1Jn 2:18  Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. 

1Jn 4:3  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

Deu 13:1  If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
Deu 13:2  And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
Deu 13:3  Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 

1Ti 4:1  Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
1Ti 4:2  Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
1Ti 4:3  Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.