The Holy Trinity

One God - Three Persons

Today in the Lutheran Church (WELS) we celebrated “Trinity Sunday”. It is the Sunday we honor the Triune God as the only true God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The concept of the Trinity is something our human minds cannot conceive, but we believe by faith. We believe it because God tells us about it in His word.

Today, in honor of the Holy Trinity, we read the Athanasian Creed. The Athanasian Creed states the sum and total of true Christian Doctrine and it reflects the faith of true Believers.  It is not the most familiar creed. The creeds most of us are familiar with are the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed.

I would like to honor the Holy Trinity today by printing the Athanasian Creed for all who are interested, to read. It sums up who God is and what His purpose is for us as told in His Word, beginning in the Book of Genesis and ending in the book of Revelation.

Before I begin the creed, I would like to print a little history about the man who wrote the creed, St Athanasius as printed in my Hymnal – Christian Worship, a Lutheran Hymnal. It reads as follows:

This creed is named after St. Athanasius, a staunch defender of the Christian faith in the fourth century. It was prepared to assist the Church in combating two errors that undermined Bible teaching. One error denied that God’s Son and the Holy Spirit are of one being or Godhead with the Father. The other error denied that Jesus Christ is true God and true man in one person. The Athanasian Creed continues to serve the Christian Church as a standard of the truth. It declares that whoever rejects the doctrine of the Trinity and the doctrine of Christ is without the saving faith. (Christian Worship, pg. 132)

The Athanasian Creed

Whoever wishes to be saved must, above all else, hold to the true Christian faith.

Whoever does not keep this faith pure in all points will certainly perish forever.

Now this is the true Christian faith:

We worship one God in three persons and three persons in one God, without mixing the persons or dividing the divine being.

For each person-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit-is distinct,

but the deity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory and coeternal in majesty.

What the Father is, so is the Son, and so is the Holy Spirit.

The Father is uncreated, the Son uncreated, the Holy Spirit uncreated;

The Father is infinite the Son infinite, the Holy Spirit infinite;

The Father is eternal, the Son eternal, the Holy Spirit eternal;

Yet they are not three who are eternal, but there is one who is eternal,

Just as they are not three who are uncreated, nor three who are infinite, but there is one who is uncreated and one who is infinite.

In the same way the Father is almighty, the Son is almighty, and the Holy Spirit is almighty;

yet they are not three who are almighty, but there is one who is almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God;     

            Yet they are not three Gods, but on God.

So the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord;

            Yet they are not three Lords, but one Lord.

For just as Christian truth compels us to confess each person individually to be God and Lord,

So the true Christian faith forbids us to speak of three Gods or three Lords.

The Father is neither made nor created nor begotten of anyone.

The Son is neither made nor created, but is begotten of the Father alone.

The Holy Spirit is neither made nor created nor begotten, but proceeds from the Father and the Son.

So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.

And within this Trinity none comes before or after; none is greater or inferior,

but all three persons are coequal and coeternal,

so that in every way, as stated before, all three persons are to be worshiped as one God and one God worshiped as three persons.

            Whoever wishes to be saved must have this conviction of the Trinity.

It is furthermore necessary for eternal salvation truly to believe that our Lord Jesus Christ also took on human flesh.

Now this is the true Christian faith:

We believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is both God and man.

He is God, eternally begotten from the nature of the Father, and he is man, born in time from the nature of his mother, fully God, fully man, with rational soul and human flesh,           

Equal to the Father as to his deity, less than the Father as to his humanity;

And though he is both God and man, Christ is not two persons but one,

One, not by changing the deity into flesh, but by taking the humanity into God;

One, indeed, not by mixture of the natures, but by unity in one person;

For just as the rational soul and flesh are one human being, so God and man are one Christ.

He suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose the third day from the dead.

He ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty, and from there will come to judge the living and the dead.

At His coming all people will rise with their own bodies to answer for their personal deeds.

            Those who have done good will enter eternal life,

            But those who have done evil will go into eternal fire.

This is the true Christian faith.

            Whoever does not faithfully and firmly believe this cannot be saved.

(Christian Worship, pg. 132)

Keep in mind that the phrase, those who have done good, refers to those who have done good in the Lord, or those who have faith in Him. We are not saved by our own means or how good we are, but by faith.

Those who have done evil refers to those who have not lived in the faith and who have rejected God.

There are some big words in this creed which may make it hard for some to understand, especially those who have not been brought up in the church. If, after reading this you have questions or concerns please feel free to contact me. I will gladly do my best to help you understand.

To God be the Glory!