"The Triune God" 3/19/25

Dear Brothers & Sisters,

Last week I wrote to you briefly about the Athanasian creed, which sets out to explain the central truths of the catholic (i.e. universal Christian, not Roman Catholic) faith. 

I want to be clear from the beginning that this creed is not the Bible. The Athanasian creed is not the Scriptures, inspired or breathed out by God. The mark of faith in Jesus is not adherence to a creed. However, as elders at CCF, Kelly and I believe it is a helpful summary of some of the key truths found in Scripture. [Note: I’ll only be addressing the first half of the creed, in this blog. In the future, I will touch on the second half].

The first two lines of the Athanasian Creed express the importance of its teaching:

"Whoever desires to be saved should above all hold to the catholic faith. Anyone who does not keep it whole and unbroken will doubtless perish eternally."

Those are serious claims, according to this, eternal destinies are on the line. Perhaps you wonder about the strong language.

When the author(s) of the Athanasian creed say “Anyone who does not keep it (the faith) whole and broken will doubtless perish” they were referring to someone who has been taught the truth, but does not continue holding onto what they have received. One cannot keep what they have not been given.

This is similar to Paul’s language in 1 Corinthians 15:1-2,

1  Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you – unless you believed in vain.

Paul emphasizes the facts of the gospel: Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.

The early creeds, such as the Athanasian creed, were concerned with the person of Christ.

They took seriously the apostle John’s teaching: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God” (1Jn4:1-3).

What the creed is not saying

A person does NOT need to know or grasp every detail of this creed in order to be saved. Paul told the Philippian jailor "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved" (Acts 16:31), he didn't say "be sure you can recite the three creeds of the early church". 

As Christians we should be quick to sing,

"My faith has found a resting place not in device or creed.

I trust the ever-living one, His wounds for me shall plead"

Our faith is not in a creed, but in a person. A creed is only useful as far as it points us to Jesus. But the very purpose for which many of the early creeds were written was to guard the truth of who Christ is. To “believe in Jesus” one must know who Jesus is and what He has done for us”. Many call Jesus Lord and even God, but they mean something other than what the Word of God plainly teaches. Such ‘belief’ is not true saving faith. Neither is the kind of faith that knows the truth of God and yet refuses to submit to God. As James said "even the demons believe and tremble."

So what is this universal Christian faith the Athanasian Creed speaks of?

"Now this is the catholic (universal, not Roman Catholic) faith: 

That we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity, neither blending their persons nor dividing their essence. 

The first portion of the Athanasian creed is focussed on this truth, the truth that there is one God who eternally exists in three persons (trinity).

What does the Bible say?

According to the Bible, there is one God. This is absolutely clear in the Scriptures. The LORD God spoke to the prophet Isaiah saying:

“Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.” (Isaiah 43:10)

and again he said

“I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god,”

so also he declared

“I am the LORD and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:18b, 22b).

Monotheism (the belief in one God) is ground zero of Christian teaching, to confess otherwise is to make a mockery of what God has revealed concerning Himself.

Yet, the Bible also clearly teaches that both the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit are each equally and fully God, so for example we have statements like “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus) and the Word was with God and the Word was God” (John 1:1) and “for in Him (Jesus) the whole fullness of deity dwells" (Colossians 2:9). Such statements clearly attribute deity to Jesus. Therefore, we speak of one BEING who is God, who eternally exists in three PERSONS, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit who are co-equal. We speak in this way because we are compelled to, by the Holy Scriptures which were breathed out by God (2 Timothy 3:16).

What about the part about blending their persons or dividing their essence? This statement corrects two errors, false teachings, about God.

The first error is to ‘blend their persons’. In other words, to confuse the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are distinct. The Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Father, etc. We see a marvellous example of this truth in Matthew 3:16 when Jesus is baptized. In the same time, at the same place, God the Father spoke from Heaven and the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove to rest upon Jesus Christ, who is God the Son. Notice that each person is distinct from the other. Any ‘blending of the persons’ distorts the truth about the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

The second error is to divide their essence. The view that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are separate beings or gods is one example of dividing their essence. Another is when the God is the Son is viewed as a created being, a subordinate or lesser god. Such teachings contradict the Scripture’s teaching that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit share the same essence or nature. They are one God equal in power and glory.

The rest of the creed (see below) is essentially unpacking this statement, going back and forth between truths the Bible affirms

(e.g. “the Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, the Holy Spirit is eternal.” – see Deuteronomy 33:17, Psalm 90:2, John 1:1, Hebrews 9:14)

and claims the Bible denies

(e.g. “And yet there are not three eternal beings; there is but one eternal being.” – see Isaiah 43:10, 44:6, Isaiah 45:5).

For the person of the Father is a distinct person, the person of the Son is another, and that of the Holy Spirit still another. 

But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one their glory equal, their majesty coeternal. 

What quality the Father has, the Son has, and the Holy Spirit has. 

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

The Father is immeasurable, the Son is immeasurable, the Holy Spirit is immeasurable. 

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

 And yet there are not three eternal beings; there is but one eternal being. 

So too there are not three uncreated or immeasurable beings there is but one uncreated and immeasurable being. 

Similarly, the Father is almighty, the Son is almighty, the Holy Spirit is almighty. 

Yet there are not three almighty beings; there is but one almighty being. 

Thus the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. Yet there are not three gods, there is but one God. 

Thus the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord. Yet there are not three lords; there is but one Lord. 

Just as Christian truth compels us to confess each person individually as both God and Lord so catholic religion forbids us to say that there are three gods or lords.

The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten from anyone. 

The Son was neither made nor created; he was begotten from the Father alone. 

The Holy Spirit was neither made nor created nor begotten; he proceeds from the Father and the Son. 

Accordingly there is one Father, not three fathers; there is one Son, not three sons; there is one Holy Spirit, not three holy spirits. 

Nothing in this trinity is before or after, nothing is greater or smaller, in their entirety the three persons are coeternal and coequal with each other. 

So in everything, as was said earlier, we must worship their trinity in their unity and their unity in their trinity. 

Anyone who desires to be saved should think thus about the trinity."

(Source: CCF’s Constitution & Bylaws)

Some of you may be thinking “this is all just a bit too confusing and complicated for me”.

I understand the sentiment. One of the difficulties we face, whenever we consider the nature of God, is that God is completely unique. There is no one like Him, no one you can compare Him with. The infinite cannot be fully grasped by the finite, BUT that does not mean that we cannot understand and accept what God has revealed about Himself.

Apologist James White writes,

“The Trinity is a truth that tests our dedication to the principle that God is smarter than we are. As strange as that may sound, I truly believe that in most instances where a religious group denies the Trinity, the reason can be traced back to the founder’s unwillingness to admit the simple reality that God is bigger than we can ever imagine. That is really what Christians have always meant when they use the term “mystery” of the Trinity. The term has never meant that the Trinity is an inherently irrational thing. Instead, it simply means that we realize thatGod is completely unique in the way He exists, and there are elements of His being that are simply beyond our meager mental capacity to comphrehend.”

God is beyond us, but He has graciously revealed Himself to us. The Christian’s task is to seek to form our understanding of God by the Word of God with the help of the Spirit of God.

May God bless you as you seek to know and love Him more firmly and faithfully.

Note: I’ve attached an infographic below, from Wesley Huff, that you may find helpful.

Your brother in Christ,

Matt

P.S. All Scripture References, unless otherwise noted, are from the English Standard Version (ESV).