Trinity Sunday is coming up, this year it lands on Father’s Day, on June 15th. This is the day of the year when we take a deeper look at how God is triune in the Trinity. This is also the one Sunday of the year when many churches recite the Athanasian Creed, which is… long. 

According to the Small Catechism “The English word ‘creed’ comes from the Latin word ‘credo’ — “I believe.” A creed is a statement of faith, a statement of what I believe.” The three creeds – Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian – profess or summarize what Scripture teaches. So, why were the three creeds written and what is being professed in each of them?

Why were the creeds written?

The Apostle’s Creed is the very basic, and most early, confession of what the true church believes, the faith into which we baptize. It  summarizes all of God’s work in creation and human history as taught in the Bible. It was written very early in church history, in response to the need to have a standard confession that all believers could use as their foundation. The form we still use today was solidified in the 5th Century. 

The Nicene Creed was prepared in response to heresies (false doctrines/teachings) that appeared shortly after the creation of the Apostle’s Creed. People were quickly being led astray as prominent teachers created new explanations for the faith that were not in line with what Scripture teaches. So in 325 AD, the first ecumenical council met and clarified the Christian teachings on who God is – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The Athanasian Creed was written in the late 5th Century. It was written in response to false teachings in order to clarify the true Christian doctrine, primarily: Arius’ teaching that Jesus was not actually divine and Nestorius’ teaching which tried to separate Jesus’ humanity and divinity. Therefore, the primary emphasis of the Athanasian Creed is that God is three persons and yet one united God only, and that Jesus is both fully God and fully Man. According to the Small Catechism, the word Trinity “means three in one. The Church has used the word Trinity to maintain the Bible’s witness that the Father, Son, and Spirit are three distinct persons and yet are one God. This is the greatest mystery of the Christian faith.”

Do all Christians profess and agree with these creeds?

The emergence of false teachings remind us today of the importance of verifying we are growing in faith according to the Bible, not according to the words of a popular preacher or best-selling book. How do you check if you’re learning according to what Scripture teaches? Ask your pastor, study the Bible and fact check what you learn against the Scriptures, or review your Luther’s Small Catechism with explanation to see what it says about that topic.

Not all denominations that are often labeled ‘Christian’ confess these three creeds. If they do not confess the Apostle’s Creed or the Nicene Creed, it is difficult to say they are actually Christian, because they cannot boldly confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and paid the full price for our sins and that we have done no work to earn the salvation gifted to us by Jesus’ death on the cross. 

An additional benefit of these confessions is that visitors to a church can know very clearly whether they are in agreement of faith with those around them. So, if you attend another church while on vacation this summer, pay attention to how they speak about God, about who Jesus is, and what confessions they use. And, if something doesn’t sit right with you, take those questions to Scripture or to your church staff!