the apostles’ creed – part x

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.

The forgiveness of sins…

This is the point towards which the creed has been building, namely, our reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ. Here we find hope and life because into our fallenness, brokenness, neediness has come redemption, healing, and restoration. As mentioned, “God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth” has not abandoned the creation that rejected and abandoned Him. The same God that created all that is comes again in an act of reconciliation and re-creation. “God himself has in Jesus Christ stepped into man’s place…accomplishing in our place what we cannot accomplish.”[1] Christ has come and transformed our present reality, making the way where there was none; bringing light where there was only darkness; giving hope where there was despair. Humanity has failed innumerable times to live up to the ideal God intended. As such, we do not see humanity fulfilling their God-designed purpose and destiny, but we do see Jesus, Immanuel, who has come and fulfilled the human ideal so as to bring about redemption, “the forgiveness of sins.”[2] As G.K. Chesterton once put it: “Once Heaven came upon the earth with a power or a seal called the image of God, whereby man took command of Nature; and once again (when in empire after empire men had been found wanting) Heaven came to save mankind in the awful shape of a man.”[3]

As a result, those who choose to accept and follow Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior find forgiveness of sins. It is these who have been forgiven—viz. have found reconciliation with God—who are the “holy catholic church, the communion of saints.”[4] It is here that we find the creed describing those who comprise the holy catholic church; the communion of saints. The Church is not a gathering of those who were accepted because of their righteousness or holiness. Precisely the opposite proves to be reality. It is only those who recognize their sinfulness, their brokenness, their need who find forgiveness and are welcomed into the Church, the communion of saints. Jesus came and associated with sinners whom the “righteous” religious leadership scorned. He proclaimed that “it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” and that He came “not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mk 2.17; cf. Mt 9.9-13; Lk 5.32). In other words, He revealed that the one who finds forgiveness is the one who cries out with the tax collector, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (Lk 18.13). This is “the lovely irony of confession: The one who actually confesses gets out of prison…and gets to go free.”[5] It is here that the Church proclaims most fully the extravagant grace and mercy of God almighty, precisely because it is the gathering of sinners who have found “forgiveness of sins” by admitting their brokenness, their sinfulness, their need; thereby becoming a holy communion of saints.

We have seen that in revealing God the Father, Christ shows us God’s grace and mercy, in that while we were yet sinners He died for us, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (Rom 5.8; Jn 3.16). Christ has brought redemption, therefore we have hope. But then this: “Go and do likewise” (Lk 10.37). Such is the call of Jesus through His life and ministry. Just as God came near in Christ—laying down His life for ours—we are called to go and do the same. The grace of God is not a gift to be horded, but one to be shared with the world. As such, it must be stressed once more that forgiveness of sins comes freely, yet it is not without responsibility and obligation. It is Gospel—the Good News of great joy—which is both gift and task. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is “the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Heb 1.3). In other words, Christ shows us precisely who God is and what He desires. Therein lies both grace (gift) and responsibility (task).

Jesus reveals God with us and for us, near and involved—getting His hands dirty (so to speak)— associating with the outcasts; the sick, diseased, and disabled; the poor and rich; the Jews, Gentiles, and Samaritans; the religious leaders; the sinners and tax collectors; the demon-possessed. God came near to us in our sinful state to redeem us, but in so doing, He calls all who follow Him to do the same. “What distinguishes the Christian man is that he stands in this cone of light which proceeds from Christ…not [for] a selfish purpose, [but] in order to be a light himself.”[6] This call forces us get our hands dirty as well—not by embracing, accepting, or falling into sin—but by going to those in need with a message of hope and life. It means that Christianity is not about cloistering ourselves from the world; rather, it is a call into the world, to love all and serve all, joining with God to redeem and restore the weary and broken ones, for such is how He has treated us. As such, we can no longer harbor prejudices; we can no longer tolerate or ignore social injustice; we can no longer keep others at arms length; we can no longer love only our friends while hating our enemies; we can no longer say to those in need, “go, I wish you well, be warm and well-fed” but never do anything about their needs, hurts, diseases, sickness (cf. James 2.14-16); we can no longer say to the different, socially awkward or outcast, the scorned or shunned, “go, have friends, be happy, be loved,” but never actually befriend or talk to them or show love for them. Christ comes near, proclaiming that here is love, hope, life, grace, mercy—viz. “the forgiveness of sins”—and then He calls all who follow to “go, and do likewise.”

The resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting…

Finally, the creed comes to a close by proclaiming the culmination of Christian hope. The “holy catholic church” and the “communion of saints” are those who have experienced “the forgiveness of sins” and will ultimately experience “the resurrection of the body; and life everlasting.” Because of the forgiveness of sins in and through Christ Jesus, there is hope for here and hereafter. As the apostle Paul proclaimed, “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor 15.19), and the creed boldly proclaims that death is not the end but only the beginning.[7] “The Christian hope is the seed of eternal life;”[8] whereby we come to know and profess by faith that “at the end of the world, as at the beginning, there is not nothingness but God.”[9]

In the final clauses the creed again declares the “already, but not yet full” reality of the Kingdom of God. A cursory view of the evening news would be ample evidence that this world is in need of redemption. Thus, we find the creed proclaiming the Christian hope of the Kingdom of God, which is here, but not yet fully manifest.[10] What we do see is wars and rumors of war, earthquakes, tsunamis, famine, poverty, disease. What we do not see is “the wolf dwell [ing] with the lamb, and the leopard [lying] down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy lead[ing] them” (Isa 11.6). As such, those who have been forgiven comprise the Church, the Kingdom of God here and now, which will find its ultimate redemption and revelation at the Parousia. Here the creed has proclaimed “the present dawn of the future life in communion with God.”[11] Therefore, by faith we can live with hope in this time between the times precisely because we know that the here and now does not speak the final word. For now we live by faith in the promises of God which have come in Christ and look forward to the coming of the fullness of the Kingdom of God. We live by a “great evangelical ‘nevertheless’”[12] “in anticipation of the eschaton, when God will be all in all.”[13]

In closing, the creed rejects the Platonic notions prevailing in the days of the early church—and some theology today—by revealing that the Christian proclamation is not one of resurrection in which the soul lives on apart from the body.[14] Rather, the biblical teaching is that the whole person—body, soul, mind—is unified and will be raised to new, transformed life.[15] It is a bodily resurrection that has both continuity and discontinuity with our present life (cf. Mt 28; Lk 24; Jn 20.11-21.25). As such, we find that “the resurrection of the body” denotes the Christian proclamation of a holistic redemption. When the creed proclaims the coming “resurrection of the body;” it reveals, not simply “the continuation of this life, but life’s completion.”[16]

As Paul so eloquently proclaimed: “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed…the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality…Then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death is your sting?’” (1 Cor 15.51-55). This is our hope; this is our confidence—that the proclamation first spoken as judgment (cf. Hosea 13.14) has been transformed by Jesus Christ; whereby it is now proclaimed as the Christian hope in “a new life in the unimaginable dimensions of God beyond our time and space.”[17]

In closing this look at the Apostles’ Creed, I find the words of G.K. Chesterton regarding the creeds and the Gospel of Christianity fitting.

In answer to the historical query of why it was accepted, and is accepted, I answer for millions of others in my reply; because it fits the lock; because it is like life. It is one among many stories; only it happens to be a true story. It is one among many philosophies; only it happens to be the truth. We accept it; and the ground is solid under our feet and the road is open before us. It does not imprison us in a dream of destiny or a consciousness of the universal delusion. It opens to us not only incredible heavens, but what seems to some an equally incredible earth, and makes it credible. This is the sort of truth that is hard to explain because it is a fact; but it is a fact to which we can call witnesses. We are Christians and Catholics not because we worship a key, but because we have passed a door; and felt the wind that is the trumpet of liberty blow over the land of the living.[18]

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.[19]

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[1] Barth, 151; cf. Pannenberg, 161, 165

[2] cf. Heb. 2.5-18; Barth, Dogmatics, 152; Küng, Credo, 145

[3] G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1995 reprint), 152.

[4] cf. Pannenberg, The Apostles’ Creed, 160: “If the communion of saints is to be understood as being originally participation in the holy, then this formula must be deeply related to the forgiveness of sins. For forgiveness of sins characterizes Christian participation in salvation.”

[5] Mark Buchanan, Your God is Too Safe, 174.

[6] Barth, Dogmatics, 149; cf. Küng, Credo, 147, 149. Here Küng reiterates Barth’s point, asserting that “the forgiveness received by God is to be passed on to others” (147), looking at Jesus’ statement that we must forgive our neighbor if we are to be forgiven by God. Though this discussion about Jesus’ words can range far and wide, Küng notes that “divine forgiveness is bound up with forgiveness between human beings! Human beings cannot receives God’s great forgiveness and then refuse lesser forgiveness to fellow human beings” (149). The point here, and the central point of Jesus’ parable, seems to be to raise the rhetorical question of ‘how can we possibly withhold forgiveness from others in light of the extravagant grace of God revealed and given in Christ Jesus, our Lord?’ We certainly cannot do so in our own strength, but by the grace of God which has redeemed us and continues to transform us, we can forgive even our greatest enemies. The story of Corrie Ten Boom comes to mind, who, after being arrested by the Nazi Gestapo and sent through numerous prison camps with her sister Betsy (who died just before the war ended), was still able to proclaim that “there is no pit that God’s love is not deeper still,” and “God will give us the love to be able to forgive our enemies” (Corrie Ten Boom Foundation, The. “History.” Corrie ten Boom Foundation, E. Smith, 2002-2007. [database on-line]; available from http://www.corrietenboom.com/history.htm; Internet).

[7] cf. C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle, (New York: HarperCollins, 2001 reprint), 767. In closing out his series, Lewis proclaims the Christian hope that death is only the beginning. “Now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

[8] Barth, Dogmatics, 155. Here Barth speaks specifically of the proclamation of the Lord’s Supper. In our partaking we do not participate in “a mourning or funeral meal, but [in] the anticipation of the marriage feast of the Lamb.” This is part of the Church’s proclamation of the Gospel. In gathering together to take Communion, we are a witness to (and are witnessed to by) the transforming grace of God and the ultimate redemption that is to come. As such, “the Supper is a joyous meal…We are guests at His table and so no longer separated from Himself….It tells us, you shall not die but live, and proclaim the Lord’s work!…The man who believes that is already beginning here and now to live the complete life,” all of which anticipates the coming Kingdom when “God will be all in all” (155).

[9] Kung, Credo, 166.

[10] cf. Pannenberg, The Apostles’ Creed, 173-174. Here Pannenberg touches upon the connection of time and eternity regarding the future Kingdom of God—the coming resurrection and life everlasting—that is here yet still to come. He suggests that “the continuity of our present life with the future life of the resurrection of the dead must not be sought in the linear sequence of time, but that it lies in the hiddenness of the eternal God, whose future is now already present for our lives” (174). He feels that the timeless view of God and eternity has negative implications for our lives here and now, because they lead to the conclusion that “whatever happens or does not happen in time would have no meaning on eternity, because everything that is still future in time would already have been decided in eternity” (173-174). He argues that our actions now are of importance to God, and thus are of decisive importance for eternity—or, as the character of Maximus put it in the movie Gladiator, “what we do in life echoes in eternity” ( David Franzoni, writer. Gladiator. 2000. Produced by DreamWorks. Directed by Ridley Scott. [database online]. Available from IMDB:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172495/quotes; Internet).

[11] Pannenberg, 170.

[12] Walter Brueggemann. Spirituality of the Psalms. (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2001), 25-26.

[13] Barth, Dogmatics, 155.

[14] cf. Pannenberg, 171. “The stress on the identity of the body in spite of its transformation [referencing 1 Cor15.53] is directed against the Platonic idea of the rebirth of the soul in a different body.”

[15] cf. Ratzinger, Introduction, 349-350, 354. Here Ratzinger contrasts the Hellenistic and biblical notions of life beyond death. His idea of “a ‘dialogic’ immortality (=awakening!)” is very interesting and thought provoking (350).

[16] Barth, Dogmatics, 154.

[17] Kung, Credo, 183.

[18] G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man, 248-249. The reference to the “key” was made in an earlier chapter. Chesterton referred to the Christian creed as a key for three reasons. “First, a key is above all things a thing with a shape. It is a thing that depends entirely upon keeping its shape…Second, the shape of a key is in itself a rather fantastic shape…It either fits the lock or it does not…And thirdly, as the key is necessarily a thing with a pattern, so this was one having in some ways an elaborate pattern” (214-215). What he argues is that the Christian faith, proclaimed in the creeds, makes sense of our world and experiences—in his words, “it opened the door” (215).

[19] 1 Timothy 1.17