Unfolding the Creed: I believe in ONE God

Lucas Cranach the Younger
1515-1586
Elijah and the Priests of Baal 1545

“I believe in one God…”

One of my favorite stories in the Old Testament is the story of Elijah and his contest with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. On the one side you have the present culture, the way things are done now, and on the other side you have the sacred past, the heritage of what should be. One side has strength in numbers and political support, the other is rogue and relying on a personal revelation. It is an epic duel of the divine, not the petty squabbling of individuals clamoring on the internet or TV.

In this story, the prophet Elijah has come out of hiding after cursing the land with a severe drought for three years. The reason for this was the king and people of Israel had forsaken Yahweh, the God of their forefathers, for the gods of Canaanites and neighboring kingdoms like Sidon. The most notable deity was Baal who was the god of the sky, storms, and fertility (see here and here). Besides being a rival deity, Baal required his followers to follow liturgical practices with the God of Israel despised: child sacrifice and religious prostitution. Since the drought had failed to correct these grievous errors (I Kings 18:3-4 suggests Jezebel used the time to commit further crimes), Elijah came forward to directly and publicly challenge Baal and his prophets. The rules were simple: call upon your deity to ignite and consume a sacrifice without any earthly assistance (i.e. the prophets could not light the sacrifice themselves). As the image above illustrates, the Yahweh heard and responded favorably to Elijah by incinerating his sacrifice. The prophets of Baal, however, were left unanswered. And the people of Israel, who stood by watching all this took place, unanimously declared, “Yahweh, He is God! Yahweh, He is God!” (I Kings 18).

As Christians, we often take for granted that we worship one deity. We even go so far as to ignore the fact that the world has for the most part been polytheistic and continues to be so. Verses such as Deut. 4:35, 32:39, Nehemiah 9:6, Ps. 86:10, James 2:19, and others will support this. Also the rise and advances in scientific discovery tend to make the old myths sound superstitious and fairy tale nonsense.

Yet, we must not be hasty is assuming no other gods exist at all. No one has a contest with something that does not exist. One cannot be God of gods, Lord of lords, or even the Most High God if there are no others (Deut. 10:17, Josh. 22:22, Gen. 14:18-22, Psalm 50:14, Psalm 78:35). Not to mention there is biblical and patristic evidence showing people believed something real existed behind the ancients idols that were worshipped (Josh. 24:14-15, Ps. 86:8, I Cor. 8:5, St. Justin the Martyr). Even in today’s society, we have gods which are no less real including the gods of Self-actualization, Race, and Economic Status. We may call these things demons or fallen spirits, but those terms do not exclude them from being called gods.

So how does this reconcile with the creed?

I argue the word for “believe” in the creed is not an assertion of fact like I believe the sky is blue and the grass is green. Rather, to believe in one God when there are many gods is to say, “I put my trust/allegiance/hope in one God.” Per the creed, to be Christian is to abandon any hope or faith one might have in anything else whether that be Zeus, Baal, your job, or your current belief in self-identity. God alone is now your sole object of devotion and trust. To do otherwise is to commit perjury within the first five words of the creed. And oddly enough, the first five books of the Bible attempt to establish this doctrine. The historical books of the Old Testament that follow after show what happens when you don’t adhere to this statement of faith.

Unfolding the Creed: a Layman’s Perspective

Sometimes, it becomes necessary to reflect and study one’s beliefs and values. Perhaps some external action prompts you to question and re-examine a long held belief because new evidence or another perspective has appeared. Other times it might be an honest self-assessment of what you do believe. So often we are handed down our beliefs and values that we rarely stop to ask, “Is this what I truly believe? Or is this what I agree to because of ‘X’?” In both cases, this reflection will help us grow in our understanding of ourselves and what we believe is really real.

Another form of reflection, and the one I’ll attempt to use for the next few posts, is what the Romans would call commemoro or “I recall/remember.” As you might guess, this is the Latin root for commemorate and it is a perfect for my upcoming post series because we often commemorate those things most dear to us. Every 4th of July, millions of Americans commemorate their country’s declared independence from Britain. At least once a year, we commemorate the day of our birth, our marriages, and sadly even the passing of loved ones. Commemorations force us to pause and reflect not on what might or might not be true or what we’d like to be true but what we know is true.

In the Orthodox Church, there are commemorations nearly every day. This is in large part due to our liturgical calendar which celebrates the lives of nearly two or more saints each day of the year. Even each day of the week has its own focus to remind the faithful. Sunday, of course, commemorates the Resurrection of Christ; Monday is for archangels, angels, and all the bodiless powers who currently make up the council of God; Tuesday is John the Baptist; etc. And of course there are the hours of prayer each day and the liturgical seasons such as Great and Holy Lent and Christmas.

But one commemoration I want to focus on is the Nicene Creed.

It is repeated every Sunday during the liturgy as well as every major feast day. If a priest is elevated to the rank of bishop, he must give a confession of faith often surrounding this important statement of faith. And it was one of the many points of contention leading to the Great Schism of 1054.

Unfortunately, I often find myself reciting the Creed without much thought. Perhaps my attention span is used up and I’m too busy fighting distracting thoughts when this point in the service is reached. Or perhaps the monotone and hypnotic rhythm of the whole parish’s recital clashes with the rhythm I’ve developed during COVID lockdowns. Whatever the reason, I think that’s a poor way to commemorate something which summarizes the Faith taught by Christ and his apostles and handed down through the generations.

So I propose to spend the next few posts giving the Creed my utmost attention and sharing my reflections. I should not that this won’t be an apology or defense of Orthodoxy. Or more accurately, I’m not interested in creating persuasive arguments of why Orthodoxy is true based on the Creed. That’s not what commemoration is about. However, I will try to provide a basis for my thoughts so others can do the research for themselves and make their own decisions from there.

To start, I’d like to give a brief historical overview of the Creed as I feel most Christians don’t know where or when it originated.

As the name would suggest, the Nicene Creed is the result of the First Council of Nicaea. Unlike what pop-culture and bad internet research will tell you, the Council of Nicaea was not where Christianity began, Christ received his divinity, or the books of the Bible were canonized. Sources such as Tacitus, Josephus, Pliny the Younger, as well as the gospels, and the book of Acts provide evidence Christianity existed during the 1st and 2nd centuries. These early sources also indicate the belief in Christ’s divine nature. Even the 4th century Arius, who will be a prominent figure in this series, did not deny Christ’s elevated nature above men though he did not name him as the Original Creator. And while it would be too great a task for a blog post, the canon of the New and Old Testaments had been more or less codified by the time of the council (see here and here for what some early Christian leaders believed to be the NT).

Rather, the Council of Nicaea’s purpose was to resolve a number of different controversies within the Church. These included when to observe Easter, what to do with those Christians who had denied their faith in face of persecution, and the nature of Jesus. It is this last one which will be in the forefront of everyone’s minds at the Council. The Egyptian priest, Arius, was the start of this controversy as he taught that Christ was not fully God and uncreated, but an elevated creature. The reasoning was that Jesus was declared to be God’s son. And since the common belief, among pagans and Christians alike, was that the first and supreme deity could not be begotten or have originated from another, Jesus was therefore not the supreme deity (see here).

This, unsurprisingly, upset a great many people. If Jesus was not God, then was his sacrifice really sufficient for their salvation? And given that the Church had undergone much of its existence in persecution because her testimony about Christ, this was not a question to be easily or quickly dismissed. This naturally drew in the attention of Emperor Constantine who was trying to reunify and maintain the peace of a formerly divided empire. As a new supporter, if not already an adherent, to this newly legalized faith, Constantine wanted to resolve the matter quickly and invited numerous bishops, priests, deacons, and laity to attend.

After much debating, arguing, and a possible fist fight, the Council of Nicaea ended in upholding the historical faith, condemning Arius, and providing an official groundwork of current day Christianity. The creed, by far the most important results of this meeting, was to be a unifying statement of faith for all believers. If there was any doubt of a person’s faith, that individual was expected to uphold the tenets of the creed. If he did, he was to be seen as a true believer. If not, then he wasn’t.

However, it should be noted that the authors of the creed did not make it exhaustive. The creed does not enumerate a set list of writings to be considered Scripture. The creed does not lay down a framework for worship, how to baptize, or how to handle the Nestorian heresy and the growing divide between Latin West and Greek East which led to the Great Schism. These were not yet obstacles to the Church and so could not be reckoned with in AD 325. Yet, as I am unpacking the creed, it should be clear that the fullness of the Faith is still encapsulated in the creed.

I welcome you on this journey, and I’m excited to see where it leads!