the apostles’ creed – part V

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. AMEN.

Suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, dead and buried, descended to the dead…

“He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief…He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.  Surely our sickness He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried” (Isa 53.3-4).  Suffered.  This is the first word that follows the birth of Jesus in the creed.  Though Isaiah’s message pertained to his immediate context, his words find application to Jesus as well, thus revealing that Jesus is the Servant whose suffering redeems the suffering.  In Jesus the Christ we have found Immanuel-God with us, who humbles Himself to bring reconciliation and atonement to rebellious humanity.[1] Yet “here there is an unveiling of man’s rebellion against God” as God the Son is despised and forsaken even as He takes upon Himself the sickness, the suffering, the sorrow of humanity.[2] Even so, there is redemption in His sufferings, for “by His stripes we are healed” (Isa 53.5).  His life culminates in the cross, but out of darkness light shall shine.  Night is dispelled by the dawn of redemption, “suffering is overcome by suffering, and wounds are healed by wounds.”[3]

With the words “under Pontius Pilate” the creed reveals the historical context of Christ “crucified, dead and buried,” substantiating the historicity of the once for all sacrifice.  First, we do not find Pilate or the Jews exalted as a scapegoat for the guilt of Jesus’ death, but rather we find a call to examine ourselves to see “whether we are not still crucifying Jesus by our behavior.”[4] Secondly, we find a declaration of specificity and singleness,[5] as the creed proclaims the particularity and uniqueness of the life, death, and resurrection of this man.  Instead of the dying and rising gods of pagan myth or the yearly Temple sacrifices of Judaism, we find the once for all sacrifice at this time and in this place (Heb 9-10; 1 Pet 3.18).[6] “He cannot be turned into an eternally dying and rising cultic god.  He is not drawn into the cycle of ‘the eternal return of the like’…but breaks out of the compulsive repetition of the cult.”[7]

It is here that the proclamation of Christianity becomes even more radical as the creed proclaims that God in Christ not only became flesh and suffered under Pontius Pilate, but that he was crucified, dead, and buried. “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (Jn 1.10-11).  Nowhere is the validity of this statement more clearly seen than in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Son of God, our Lord.[8] While humanity is wallowing in sin and death, God comes near to bring life and hope.[9] Yet the way is cruciform, as it is through the death of God the Son that redemption is effected.[10] “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all” (1 Tim 1.15).  Paul’s statement becomes ours when we become Christians, as we come to see both God and ourselves in Christ’s redemptive act.[11] The issue of how Christ’s life, death, and resurrection atone for human sin, however, is a matter of debate, and “all theories of reconciliation can be but pointers.”[12] Regardless of the atonement model,[13] we can and must affirm that Christ died for all, yet his atoning death is efficient only for those who yield to God’s grace.  And here we find the greatest mystery and tragedy: “God so full of mercy that He becomes man and dies by torture to aver that final ruin from His creatures, and Who yet, where that heroic remedy fails, seems unwilling, or even unable, to arrest the ruin by a mere act of power…And here is the real problem: so much mercy, yet still there is Hell.”[14]

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[1] cf. Barth, Dogmatics in Outline, 103ff; Ratzinger, Introduction, 282-283. [2] Barth, 104, 116. [3] Jürgen Moltmann, The Crucified God, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993), 46. [4] Küng, Credo, 83 [5] cf. Küng, 81.  He notes that the phrase “crucified under Pontius Pilate” demonstrates “the historicity of the event.”  As such, the Christian faith and message makes a sharp, distinct departure from all of the other myths of dying and rising gods.  It happened to this man, Jesus of Nazareth (hailed by many as Messiah, King of the Jews) during this time (the rule of Pontius Pilate). [6] cf. Barth, 109; Pannenberg, The Apostles’ Creed, 78.  Barth and Pannenberg assert the same idea as Küng regarding the historicity of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection; however, Barth develops more fully the implications of the mention of Pontius Pilate (cf. 108-113). [7] Jürgen Moltmann, The Crucified God, 43-44. [8] G.K. Chesterton puts forth a probing thought, demonstrating the depths of the mystery of the Christian proclamation of Incarnation, death, and resurrection.  “There were solitudes beyond where none shall follow.  There were secrets in the inmost and invisible part of that drama that have no symbol in speech…And if there be any sound that can produce a silence, we may surely be silent about the end and the extremity; when a cry was driven out of that darkness in words dreadfully unintelligible, which man shall never understand in all the eternity they have purchased for him; and for one annihilating instant an abyss that is not for our thoughts had opened even in the unity of the absolute; and God had been forsaken of God” (The Everlasting Man, 212, emphasis added). [9] cf. Ratzinger, Introduction, 282-283.  Ratzinger rightly emphasizes that the initiative in redemption is all on the side of God (cf. 1 Jn 4).  “God does not wait until the guilty come to be reconciled; he goes to meet them and reconciles them.  Here we can see the true direction of the Incarnation of the Cross” (283). [10] cf. Barth, Dogmatics, 116; Pannenberg, 78.  The explanation of how Christ’s death and resurrection wrought redemption is not explained by the creed but only proclaimed as hope and life.  Barth, therefore, makes a much needed statement to any who try to explain exactly how and why this took place.  “Reconciliation means God taking man’s place,” but as to the how he prudently adds this: “Do not confuse my theory [and I would add, any other theory] of the reconciliation with the thing itself.  All theories of reconciliation can be but pointers” (116).  As such, in the end it would seem prudent simply to proclaim with the hymn writer: “My faith has found a resting place, not in device or creed; I trust the ever living one, whose wounds for me shall plead.  I need no other argument, I need no other plea.  It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me” (Eliza E. Hewitt, “My Faith Has Found a Resting Place.”  1891.  [database online].  Available from http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/m/y/myfaithh.htm; Internet). [11] Ratzinger, 292; Barth, 105-106. [12] Barth, 116. [13] cf. Berger, Questions of Faith, 85-86; Ratzinger, Introduction, 281-293. (see also note 54 above). [14] C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, 121.