----------------------------------------------------------
Historical Introductions
to the Symbolical books
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
by F. Bente

Published in:
_Triglot Concordia:
The Symbolical Books of the Ev. Lutheran Church_.
(St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921)
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II. The Three Ecumenical or Universal Symbols.

8. Ecumenical Symbols.

The Ecumenical (general, universal) Symbols were embodied in the
Book of Concord primarily for apologetic reasons. Carpzov writes:
"The sole reason why our Church appealed to these symbols was to
declare her agreement with the ancient Church in so far as the faith
of the latter was laid down in these symbols, to refute also the
calumniations and the accusations of the opponents, and to evince the
fact that she preaches no new doctrine and in no wise deviates from
the Church Catholic." (_Isagoge_, 37.) For like reasons Article I of
the Augsburg Confession declares its adherence to the Nicene Creed,
and the first part of the Smalcald Articles, to the Apostles' and
Athanasian Creeds. The oath introduced by Luther in 1535, and required
of the candidates for the degree of Doctor of Divinity, also contained
a pledge on the Ecumenical Symbols. In 1538 Lther published a tract
entitled, "The Three Symbols or Confessions of the Faith of Christ
Unanimously Used in the Church," containing the Apostles' Creed, the
Athanasian Creed, and the Te Deum of Ambrose and Augustine. To these
was appended the Nicene Creed.

In the opening sentences of this tract, Luther remarks: "Whereas I
have previously taught and written quite a bit concerning faith,
showing both what faith is and what faith does, and have also published
my Confession [1528], setting forth both what I believe and what
position I intend to maintain; and whereas the devil continues to seek
new intrigues against me, I have decided, by way of supererogation, to
publish conjointly, in the German tongue, the three so-called Symbols,
or Confessions, which have hitherto been received, read, and chanted
throughout the Church. I would thereby reaffirm the fact that I side
with the true Christian Church, which has adhered to these Symbols, or
Confessions, to the present day, and not with the false, vainglorious
church, which in reality is the worst enemy of the true Church, having
introduced much idolatry beside these beautiful confessions." (St. L.
10, 993; Erl. 23, 252.) Luther's translation of the Ecumenical Symbols,
together with the captions which apeared in his tract, were embodied
in the Book of Concord. The superscription "Tria Symbola Catholica seu
Oecumenica," occurs for the first time in Selneccer's edition of the
Book of Concord of 1580. Before this, 1575, he had written: "Quot sunt
Symbola fidei Christianae in Ecelesia? Tria sunt praecipua, quae
nominantur oecumenica, sive universalia et authentica, id est,
habentia auctoritatem et non indigentia demonstratione aut probatione
videlicet Symbolum Apostolicum, Nicaenum et Athanasianum." (Schmauk,
Confessional Principle, 834.)

9. The Apostles' Creed.

The foundation of the Apostles' Creed was, in a way, laid by Christ
Himself when He commissioned His disciples, saying, Matt. 28, 19. 20:
"Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." The formula of
Baptism here prescribed, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost," briefly indicates what Christ wants Christians
to be taught, to believe, and to confess. And the Apostles' Creed,
both as to its form and contents, is evidently but an amplification of
the trinitarian formula of Baptism. Theo. Zahn remarks: "It has been
said, and not without a good basis either, that Christ Himself has
ordained the baptismal confession. For the profession of the Triune
God made by the candidates for Baptism is indeed the echo of His
missionary and baptismal command reechoing through all lands and times
in many thousand voices." (_Skizzen atts dem Leben der Kirche_, 252.)
But when and by whom was the formula of Baptism thus amplified? -
During the Medieval Ages the Apostles' Creed was commonly known as
"The Twelve Articles," because it was generally believed that the
twelve apostles, assembled in joint session before they were separated,
soon after Pentecost, drafted this Creed, each contributing a clause.
But, though retained in the Catechismus Romanus, this is a legend
which originated in Italy or Gaul in the sixth or seventh (according
to Zahn, toward the end of the fourth) century and was unknown before
this date. Yet, though it may seem more probable that the Apostles'
Creed was the result of a silent growth and very gradual formation
corresponding to the ever-changing environments and needs of the
Christian congregations, especially over against the heretics, there
is no sufficient reason why the apostles themselves should not have
been instrumental in it's formulation, nor why with the exception of a
number of minor later additions, its original form should not have
been essentially what it is to-day.

Nathanael confessed: "Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the
King of Israel," John 1, 49; the apostles confessed: "Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God," Matt. 16,16; Peter confessed: "We
believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living
God," John 6, 69; Thomas confessed: "My Lord and my God," John 20, 28.
These and similar confessions of the truth concerning Himself were not
merely approved of, but solicited and demanded by, Christ. For He
declares most solemnly: "Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before
men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven. But
whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My
Father which is in heaven," Matt. 10, 32. 33. The same duty of
confessing their faith, i. e., the truths concerning Christ, is
enjoined upon all Christians by the Apostle Paul when he writes: "If
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in
thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved," Rom. 10, 9.

In the light of these and similar passages, the trinitarian
baptismal formula prescribed by Christ evidently required from the
candidate for Baptism a definite statement of what he believed
concerning the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, especially concerning Jesus
Christ the Savior. And that such a confession of faith was in vogue
even in the days of the apostles appears from the Bible itself. Of
Timothy it is said that he had "professed a good profession before
many witnesses," I Tim. 6, 12. Heb. 4, 14 we read: "Let us hold fast
our profession." Heb. 10, 23: "Let us hold fast the profession of our
faith without wavering." Jude urges the Christians that they "should
earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered iinto the
saints," and build up themselves on their "most holy faith," vv. 3. 20.
Compare also I Cor. 15, 3. 4; 1 Tim. 3, 16; Titus 1, 13; 3, 4-7.

10. Apostles' Creed and Early Christian Writers.

The Christian writers of the first three centuries, furthermore,
furnish ample proof for the following facts: that from the very
beginning of the Christian Church the candidates for Baptism everywhere
were required to make a confession of their faith; that from the
beginning there was existing in all the Christian congregations a
formulated confession, which they called the rule of faith, the rule
of truth, etc.; that this rule was identical with the confession
required of the candidates for Baptism; that it was declared to be of
apostolic origin; that the summaries and explanations of this rule of
truth, given by these writers, tally with the contents and, in part,
also with the phraseology of the Apostles' Creed; that the scattered
Christian congregations, then still autonomous, regarded the adoption
of this rule of faith as the only necessary condition of Christian
unity and fellowship.

The manner in which Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin, Aristides,
and other early Christian writers present the Christian truth
frequently reminds us of the Apostles' Creed and suggests its
existence. Thus Justin Martyr, who died 165, says in his first
Apology, which was written about 140: "Our teacher of these things is
Jesus Christ, who also was born for this purpose and was crucified
under Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea, that we reasonably worship
Him, having learned that He is the Son of the true God Himself, and
holding Him in the second place, and the prophetic Spirit in the
third." "Eternal praise to the Father of all, through the name of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit." Similar strains, sounding like echoes of
the Second Article, may be found in the Epistles to the Trallians and
to the Christians at Smyrna, written by Ignatius, the famous martyr
and bishop of Antioch, who died 107.

Irenaeus, who died 189, remarks: Every Christian "who retains
immovable in himself the rule of the truth which he received through
Baptism (ho ton kanona tehs alehtheias aklineh en heautoh katechohn,
hon dia tou baptismatos eilehfe)" is able to see through the deceit of
all heresies. Irenaeus here identifies the baptismal confession with
what he calls the "rule of truth, kanohn tehj alehtheias." i. e., the
truth which is the rule for everything claiming to be Christian.
Apparently, this "rule of truth" was the sum of doctrines which every
Christian received and confessed at his baptism. The very pohrase
"rule of truth" implies that it was a concise and definite formulation
of the chief Christian truths. For "canon, rule," was the term
employed by the ancient Church to designate such brief sentences as
were adopted by synods for the practise of the Church. And this "rule
of truth" is declared by Irenaeus to be "the old tradition ... .. the
old tradition of the apostles": heh te apo tohn apostolohn en teh
ekklehsia paradosis. (Zahn, 1. c., 379 f.) Irenaeus was the pupil of
Polycarp the Martyr; and what he had learned from him, Polycarp had
received from the Apostle John. Polycarp, says Irenaeus, "taught the
things which he had learned from the apostles, and which the Church
has handed down, and which alone are true." According to Irenaeus,
then, the "rule of truth" received and confessed by every Christian at
his baptism was transmitted by the apostles.

The contents of this rule of truth received from the apostles are
repeatedly set forth by Irenaeus. In his _Contra Haereses_ (1, 10, 1)
one of these summaries reads as follows: "The Church dispersed through
the whole world, to the ends of the earth, has received from the
apostles and their disciples the faith in one God, the Father Almighty,
who has made heaven and earth and the sea and all things that are in
them; and in one Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became incarnate
for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who has proclaimed through
the prophets the dispensations, and the advents, and the birth from a
virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the
bodily assumption into heaven of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord,
and His manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father." It thus
appears that the "rule of truth" as Irenaeus knew it, the formulated sum
of doctrines mediated by Baptism, which he, in accordance with the
testimony of his teacher Polyearp, believed to have been received from
the apostles, at least approaches our present Apostolic Creed.

11. Tertullian and Cyprian on Apostles' Creed.

A similar result is obtained from the writings of Tertullian, Cyprian,
Novatian, Origen, and others. "When we step into the water of Baptism,"
says Tertullian, who died about 220, "we confess the Christian faith
according to the words of its law," i. e., according to the law of
faith or the rule of faith. Tertullian, therefore, identifies the
confession to which the candidates for Baptism were pledged with the
brief formulation of the chief Christian doctrines which he variously
designates as "the law of faith," "the rule of faith," frequently also
as _tessara_, watchword, and _sacramentum_, a term then signifying the
military oath of allegiance. This Law or Rule of Faith was, according
to Tertullian, the confession adopted by Christians everywhere, which
distinguished them from unbelievers and heretics. The unity of the con-
gregations, the granting of the greeting of peace, of the name brother,
and of mutual hospitality, - these and similar Christian rights and
privileges, says Tertullian, "depend on no other condition than the
similar tradition of the same oath of allegiance," i. e., the adoption
of the same baptismal rule of faith. (Zahn, 250.)

At the same time Tertullian most emphatieally claims, "that this rule
of faith was established by the apostles, aye, by Christ Himself,"
inasmuch as He had commanded to baptize "in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." (Zahn, 252.) In his book
_Adversus Praxeam_, Tertullian concludes, an epitome which he gives of
"the rule of faith" as follows: "That this rule has come down from the
beginning of the Gospel, even before the earlier heretics, and so, of
course, before the Praxeas of yesterday, is proved both by the
lateness of all heretics and by the novelty of this Praxeas of
yesterday." (Schaff, _Creeds of Christendom_, 2, 18.) The following
form is taken from Tertullian's _De Virginibus Velandis_: "For the
rule of faith is altogether one, alone (sola), immovable, and irreform-
able, namely, believing in one God omnipotent, the Maker of the world,
and in His Son Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified under
Pontius Pilate, raised from the dead the third day, received into the
heavens, sitting now at the right band of the Father, who shall come
to judge the living and the dead, also through the resurrection of the
flesh." Cyprian the Martyr, bishop of Carthage, who died 257, and who
was the first one to apply the term symbolum to the baptismal creed,
in his Epistle to Magnus and to Januarius, as well as to other
Numidian bishops, gives the following as the answer of the candidate
for Baptism to the question, "Do you believe?": "I believe in God the
Father, in His Son Christ, in the Holy Spirit. I believe the remission
of sins, and the life eternal through the holy Church."

12. Variations of the Apostles' Creed.

While there can be no reasonable doubt either that the Christian
churches from the very beginning were in possession of a definite and
formulated symbol, or that this symbol was an amplification of the
trinitarian formula of Baptism, yet we are unable to ascertain with
any degree of certainty what its exact original wording was. There has
not been found in the early Christian writers a single passage
recording the precise form of the baptismal confession or the rule of
truth and faith as used in the earliest churches. This lack of
contemporal written records is accounted for by the fact that the
early Christians and Christian churches refused on principle to impart
and transmit their confession in any other manner than by word of
mouth. Such was their attitude, not because they believed in keeping
their creed secret, but because they viewed the exclusively oral
method of impartation as the most appropriate in a matter which they
regarded, as an affair of deepest concern of their hearts.

It is universally admitted, even by those who believe that the
apostles were instrumental in formulating the early Christian Creed,
that the wording of it was not absolutely identical in all Christian
congregations, and that in the course of time various changes and
additions were made. "Tradition," says Tertullian with respect to the
baptismal confession, received from the apostles, "has enlarged it,
custom has confirmed it, faith observes and preserves it." (Zahn, 252.
381.) When, therefore, Tertullian and other ancient writers declare
that the rule of faith received from the apostles is "altogether one,
immovable, and irreformable," they do not at all mean to say that the
phraseology of this symbol was alike everywhere, and that in this
respect no changes whatever had been made, nor that any clauses had
been added. Such variations, additions, and alterations, however,
involved a doctrinal change of the confession no more than the Apology
of the Augsburg Confession implies a doctrinal departure from this
symbol. It remained the same Apostolic Creed, the changes and
additions merely bringing out more fully and clearly its true,
original meaning. And this is the sense in which Tertullian and others
emphasize that the rule of faith is "one, immovable, and irreformable."

The oldest known form of the Apostles' Creed, according to A. Harnack,
is the one used in the church at Rome, even prior to 150 A. D. It was,
however, as late as 337 or 338, when this Creed, which, as the church
at Rome claimed, was brought thither by Peter himself, was for the
first time quoted as a whole by Bishop Mareellus of Ancyra in a letter
to Bishop Julius of Rome, for the Purpose of vindicating his orthodoxy.
During the long period intervening, some changes, however, may have
been, and probably were, made also in this Old Roman Symbol, which
reads as follows: -

Pisteuoh eis theon patera pantokratora: kai eis Christon Iehsoun
[ton] huion autou ton monogeneh, ton kuron hehmohn, ton gennehthenta
ek pneumatos hagiou kai Marias tehs parthenou, ton epi Pontiou
Pilatou staurohthenta kai taphenta, teh triteh hehmera anastanta ek
[tohn] nekrohn, anabanta eis tous ouranous, kathehmenon en deksia
tou patros, hothen erchetai krinai zohntas kai nekrous: kai eis
pneuma hagion, hagian ekklehsian, aphesin hamartiohn, sarkos anatasin.
(Herzog, R. E. 11 744.)

13. Present Form of Creed and Its Contents.

The complete form of the present _textus receptus_ of the Apostles'
Creed, evidently the result of a comparison and combination of the
various preexisting forms of this symbol, may be traced to the end of
the fifth century and is first found in a sermon by Cesarius of Arles
in France, about 500. - In his translation, Luther substituted
"Christiand the only
infallible rule and norm of all doctrines, teachers, and symbols. In
accordance herewith the Lutheran Church receives the Apostles' Creed,
as also the two other ecumenical confessions, not as _per se_ divine
and authoritative, but because its doctrine is taken from, and well
grounded in, the prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New
Testaments. (Conc. Trigl., 851, 4.)

14. The Nicene Creed.

As to its contents, the Apostles' Creed is a positive statement of
the essential facts of Christianity. The Second Article, says Zahn,
is a compend of the Evangelical history, including even external
details." (264.) Yet some of the clauses of this Creed were probably
inserted in opposition to prevailing, notably Gnostic, heresies of the
first centuries. It was the first Christian symbol and, as Tertullian
and others declare, the bond of unity and fellowship of the early
Christian congregations everywhere. It must not, however, be regarded
as inspired, much less as superior even to the Holy Scriptures; for,
as stated above, it cannot even, in any of its existing forms, be
traced to the apostles. Hence it must be subjected to, and tested and
judged by, the Holy Scriptures, the inspired Word of God and the only
infallible rule and norm of all doctrines, teachers, and symbols. In
accordance herewith the Lutheran Church receives the Apostles' Creed,
as also the two other ecumenical confessions, not as _per se_ divine
and authoritative, but because its doctrine is taken from, and well
grounded in, the prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New
Testaments. (Conc. Trigl., 851, 4.)

14. The Nicene Creed.

In the year 325 Emperor Constantine the Great convened the First
Ecumenical Council at Nicaea, in Bithynia, for the purpose of settling
the controversy precipitated by, the teaching of Arius, who denied the
true divinity of Christ. The council was attended by 318 bishops and
their assistants, among whom the young deacon Athanasius of Alexandria
gained special prominence as a theologian of great elmber, resolved
that the faith of themost valiant champion against the Arians," as he
was called, Athanasius turned the tide of victory in favor of the
Homoousians, who believed that the essence of the Father and of the
Son is identical. The discussions were based upon the symbol of
Eusebius of Caesarea, which by changes and the insertion of Homoousian
phrases (such as ek tehs ousias tou patros; gennehtheis, ou poiehtheis;
homoousios toh patri) was amended into an unequivocal, clean-cut, anti-
Arian confession. Two Egyptian bishops who refused to sign the symbol
were banished, together with Arius, to Illyria. The text of the
original Nicene Creed reads as follows: -

Pisteuomen eis hena theon, patera pantokratora, pantohn oratohn te
kai aoratohn poehtehn. Kai eis hena kurion Iehsoun Christon, ton
huion tou theou, gennehthenta ek tou patros monogeneh, toutestin ek
tehs ousias tou patros, theon ek theou, phohs ek phohtos, theon
alehthinon ek theou alehthinou, gennehthenta, ou poiehthenta,
homoousion toh patri, di' ou ta panta egeneto, ta te en toh ouranoh
kai ta epi tehs hehs: ton di' hehmas tous anthrohpous kai dia tehn
hehmeteran sohtehrian katelthonta kai sarkohthenta kai
enanthrohpehsanta, pathonta, kai anastanta teh triteh hehmera, kai
anelthonta eis tous ouranous, kai erchomenon palin krinai zohntas kai
nekrous. Kai eis to pneuma to hagion. Tous de leis hena kurion Iehsoun
Christon ton huion tou theou ton monogeneh, ton ek tou patros
gennehthenat pro pantohn tohn aiohnohn, phohs ek phohtos; theon
alehthinon ek theou alehtinou, gennehthenta, ou poiehthenta,
homoousion toh patri, di' hou ta panta egeneto, ton di' hehmas tous
anthrohpous kai dia tehn hehmeteran sohtehrian katelthonta ek tohn
ouranohn, kai sarkohthenta ek pneumatos hagiou kai Marias tehs
parthenou, kai enanthrohpehsanta, staurohthenta te huper humohn epi
Pontiou Pilatou, kai pathonta, kai taphenta, kai anastanta teh
triteh hehmera kata tas graphas, kai anelthonta eis Nicene Fathers must ever remain firm and
unchanged, and that its opponents, the Eunomians, Anomoeans, Arians,
Eudoxians, Semi-Arians, Sabellians, Marcellians, Photinians, and
Apollinarians, must be rejected. At this council also Macedonius was
condemned, who taught that the Holy Spirit is not God: elege gar auto
meh einai theon, alla tehs theotehtos tou patros allotrion. (Mansi, 3,
558. 566. 573. 577. 600.) By omissions, alterations, and additions (in
particular concerning the Holy Spirit) this council gave to the Nicene
Creed its present form. Hence it is also known as the Niceno-
Constantinopolitan Creed. The Third Ecumenical Council, which
assembled at Toledo, Spain, in 589, inserted the word "Filioque," an
addition which the Greek Church has never sanctioned, and which later
contributed towards bringing about the great Eastern Schism. A.
Harnack considers the Constantinopolitanum (CPanum), the creed adopted
at Constantinople, to be the baptismal confession of the Church of
Jerusalem, which, he says, was revised between 362 and 373 and
amplified by the Nicene formulas and a rule of faith concerning the
Holy Ghost. (Herzog, _R. E._, 11, 19 f.) Following is the text of the
CPanum according to Mansi: -

Pisteuomen eis hena theon patera, pantokratora, poiehtehn ouranou kai
gehs, horatohn te pantohn kai aoratohn. Kai eis hena kurion Iehsoun
Christon ton huion tou theou ton monogeneh, ton ek tou patros
gennehthenat pro pantohn tohn aiohnohn, phohs ek phohtos; theon
alehthinon ek theou alehtinou, gennehthenta, ou poiehthenta,
homoousion toh patri, di' hou ta panta egeneto, ton di' hehmas tous
anthrohpous kai dia tehn hehmeteran sohtehrian katelthonta ek tohn
ouranohn, kai sarkohthenta ek pneumatos hagiou kai Marias tehs
parthenou, kai enanthrohpehsanta, staurohthenta te huper humohn epi
Pontiou Pilatou, kai pathonta, kai taphenta, kai anastanta teh
triteh hehmera kata tas graphas, kai anelthonta eis tous ouranous, kai
kathezomenon ek dekxiohn tou patros, kai palin erchomenon meta
doksehs krinai zohtas kai nekrous: hou tehs basileias ouk estai telos.
Kai eis to pneuma to hagion, to kurion, to zohopoion, to ek tou patros
ekporeuomenon, to sun patri kai huioh sumproskunoumenon kai
sundokxazomenon, to lalehsan dia tohn prophetohn, eis mian hagian
katholikehn kai apostolikehn ekklehsian. Homologoumen hen baptisma
eis aphesin hamartiohn: prosdokohmen dnastasin nekrohn, kai zohehn
tou mellontos aiohnos. Amehn. (3, 565.)

16. The Athanasian Creed.

From its opening word this Creed is also called Symbolum Quicunque.
Roman tradition has it that Athanasius, who died 373, made this
confession before Pope Julius when the latter summoned him "to submit
himself to him [the Pope], as to the ecumenical bishop and supreme
arbiter of matters ecclesiastical (_ut ei, seu episcopo occumenico et
supremo rerum ecclesiasticarum arbitro, sese submitteoret_)." However,
Athanasius is not even the author of this confession, as appears from
the following facts: 1. The Creed was originally written in Latin. 2.
It is mentioned neither by Athanasius himself nor by his Greek
eulogists. 3. It was unknown to the Greek Church till about 1200, and
has never been accorded official recognition by this Church nor its
"orthodox" sister churches. 4. It presupposes the post-Athanasian
Trinitarian and Christological controversies. - Up to the present day
it has been impossible to reach a final verdict concerning the author
of the Quicunque and the time and place of its origin. Koellner's
_Symbolik_ allocates it to Gaul. Loofs inclines to the same opinion
and ventures the conjecture that the source of this symbol must be
sought in Southern Gaul between 450 and 600. (Herzog, _R. E._, 2,
177.) Gieseler and others look to Spain for its origin.

Paragraphs 1, 2, and 40 of the Athanasian Creed have given offense
not only to theologians who advocate an undogmatic Christianity, but
to many thoughtless Christians as well. Loofs declares: The Quicunque
is unevangelical and cannot be received, because its very first
sentence confounds _fides_ with _expositio fidei._ (H., _R. E._, 2,
194.) However, the charge is gratuitous, since the Athanasian Creed
deals with the most fundamental Christian truths: concerning the
Trinity, the divinity of Christ, and His work of redemption, without
the knowledge of which saving faith is impossible. The paragraphs in
question merely express the clear doctrine of such passages of the
Scriptures as Acts 4, 12: "Neither is there salvation in any other;
for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we
must be saved"; John 8,21: "If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall
die in your sins"; John 14, 6: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way,
the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me." In
complete agreement with the impugned statements of the Athanasian
Creed, the Apology of the Augsburg Corifession closes its article "Of
God" as follows: "Therefore we do freely conclude that they are all
idolatrous, blasphemers, and outside of the Church of Christ who hold
or teach otherwise." (102.)

In the early part of the Middle Ages the Quicunque had already
received a place in the order of public worship. The Council of Vavre
resolved, 1368: "Proinde Symboliim Apostolorum silenter et secrete
dicitur quotidie in Completorio et in Prima, quia fuit editum tempore,
quo nondum erat fides catholica propalata. Alia autem duo publice in
diebus Dominicis et festivis, quando maior ad ecelesiam congregator
populus, decantantur, quia fuere edita tempore fidei propalatae. Sym-
bolum quidem Nicaenum post evangelium cantatur in Missa quasi
evangelicae fidei expositio. Symbolum Athanasii de mane solum cantatur
in Prima, quia fuit editum tempore, quo maxime fuerunt depulsa et
detecta nox atra et tenebrae haeresium et errorum." (Mansi, 26, 487.)
Luther says: "The first symbol, that of the apostles, is indeed the
best of all, because it contains a concise, correct, and splendid
presentation of the articles of faith and is easily learned by
children and the common people. The second, the Athanasian Creed, is
longer . . . and practically amounts to an apology of the first
symbol." "'I do not know of any more important document of the New
Testament Church since the days of the apostles" [than the Athanasian
Creed]. (St. L. 10, 994; 6, 1576; E. 23, 253.)

17. Luther on Ecumenical Creeds.

The central theme of the three Ecumenical Symbols is Christ's person
and work, the paramount importance of which Luther extols as follows
in his tract of 1538: "In all the histories of the entire Christendom
I have found and experienced that all who had and held the chief
article concerning Jesus Christ correctly remained safe and sound in
the true Christian faith. And even though they erred and sinned in
other points, they nevertheless were finally preserved." "For it has
been decreed, says Paul, Col. 2, 9, that in Christ should dwell all
the fulness of the Godhead bodily, or personally, so that he who does
not find or receive God in Christ shall never have nor find Him
anywhere outside of Christ, even though he ascend above heaven,
descend below hell, or go beyond the world." "On the other hand, I
have also observed that all errors, heresies, idolatries, offenses,
abuses, and ungodliness within the Church originally resulted from the
fact that this article of faith concerning Jesus Christ was despised
or lost. And viewed clearly and rightly, all heresies militate against
the precious article of Jesus Christ, as Simeon says concerning Him,
Luke 2, 34, that He is set for the falling and the rising of many in
Israel and for a sign which is spoken against;ictions, yet it must be entire and
not false. Weakness im as 'a stone of stumbling and a
rock of offense."' "And we, in the Papacy, the last and greatest of
saints, what have we done? We have confessed that He [Christ] is God
and man; but that He is our Savior, who died and rose for us, etc.,
this we bave denied and persecuted with might and main" (those who
taught this). "And even now those who claim to be the best Christians
and boast that they are the Holy Church, who burn the others and wade
in innocent blood, regard as the best doctrine [that which teaches]
that we obtain graee and salvation through our own works. Christ is to
be accorded no other honor with regard to our salvation than that He
made the beginning, while we are the heroes who complete it with our
merit."

Luther continues: "This is the way the devil goes to work. He attacks
Christ with three storm-columns. One will not suffer Him to be God;
the other will not suffer Him to be man; the third denies that He has
merited salvation for us. Each of the three endeavors to destroy
Christ. For what does it avail that you confess Him to be God if you
do not also believe that He is man? For then you have not the entire
and the true Christ, but a phantom of the devil. What does it avail
you to confess that He is true man if you do not also believe that He
is true God? What does it avail you to confess that He is God and man
if you do not also believe that whatever He became and whatever He did
was done for you?" "Surely, all three parts must be believed, namely,
that He is God, also, that He is man, and that He became such a man for
us, that is, as the first symbol savs: conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary, suffered, was crucified, died, and rose again,
etc. If one small part is lacking, then all parts are lacking. For
faith shall and must be complete in every particular. While it may
indeed be weak and subject to afflictions, yet it must be entire and
not false. Weakness [of faith] does not work the harm, but false
faith -that is eternal death." (St. L. 10, 998; E. 23, 258.)

Concerning the mystery involved in the doctrine of the Holy Trinity,
the chief topic of the Ecumenical Creeds, Luther remarks in the same
tract: "Now, to be sure, we Christians dare not so utterly devoid of
all reason and sense as the Jews consider us, who take us to be
nothing but crazy geese and ducks, unable to perceive or notice what
folly it is to believe that God is man, and that in one Godhead there
are three distinct persons. No, praise God, we perceive indeed that
this doctrine cannot and will not be received by reason. Nor are we in
need of any sublime Jewish reasoning to demonstrate this to us. We
believe it knowingly and willingly. We confess and also experience
that, where the Holy Spirit does not, surpassing reason, shine into
the heart, it is impossible to grasp, or to believe, and abide by,
such article; moreover, there must remain in it [the heart] a Jewish,
proud, and supercilious reason deriding and ridiculing such article,
and thus setting up itself as judge and master of the Divine Being,
whom it has never seen nor is able to see, and hence does not know
what it is passing judgment on, nor whereof it thinks or speaks. For
God dwells in a 'light which no man can approach unto,' I Tim. 6, 16.
He must come to us, yet hidden in the lantern, and as it is written,
John 1, 18: 'No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son,
which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him,' and as
Moses said before this, Ex. 33: 'There shall no man see Me [God] and
live."' (St. L. 10, 1007; E. 23, 568.)

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Rev. Robert E. Smith
Walther Library
Concordia Theological Seminary

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