Introduction

The Athanasian Creed arose as a defense of the biblical doctrine of the Trinity over against ancient trinitarian and Christological heresies, particularly Arianism (which denied the full divinity of Christ) and Nestorianism (which improperly divided Christ’s two natures). I explained the ancient heresy of Arianism in the previous article in connection with the Nicene Creed. Although the Athanasian Creed is named after Athanasius of Alexandria, it is very unlikely that he had any part in writing the creed. The Athanasian Creed was likely created in the Western Church, with Athanasius’ name added later due to the creed’s firm support of the doctrine of the holy Trinity.

We receive the Athanasian Creed and the other ecumenical creeds as settled and binding not simply because the church formally adopted them as such but also because in them is contained the truth that may be known of God, “which except a man believe faithfully and firmly he cannot be saved” (Art. 44, in Confessions and Church Order, 15). This is also the context in which the Belgic Confession in article 9 mentions the Athanasian Creed along with the other ecumenical creeds of the early church:

Therefore, in this point [that is, in connection with the doctrine of the Holy Trinity] we do willingly receive the three creeds, namely, that of the Apostles, of Nicea, and of Athanasius; likewise that which, conformable thereunto, is agreed upon by the ancient fathers. (Confessions and Church Order, 31)

History and Significance

The exact date and authorship of the Athanasian Creed is unknown. It is unlikely that Athanasius ever saw the creed, much less had a part in its being written. Although Athanasius played a crucial role in the formulation of the original Nicene Creed (AD 325), there is no verifiable evidence that he had anything to do with the writing of the Athanasian Creed, despite its being named after him. What little historical data we have on the Athanasian Creed leads us to believe that it may have arisen out of southern Gaul in the school of Augustine. However, this is merely speculation. The oldest surviving manuscripts of the Athanasian Creed date from the late eighth century, and it is unclear who actually wrote the creed. Furthermore, the creed addressed theological concerns that were not developed until after Athanasius had died, including the filioque, an issue that largely developed in the Western Church and was largely denied by the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Due to its almost melodic cadences, the Athanasian Creed is believed to have been introduced into the public worship of the church for use as a song or chant. This is an opinion that I personally find fascinating because it makes the words of the Athanasian Creed something more than letters on a page. The biblical doctrine of the Trinity is a lively doctrine that inspires the heart that has been renewed by the Holy Ghost to spiritual adoration and reverence. There is no greater and no more glorious consideration for the human soul than to consider the truth of the triune God. The Athanasian Creed, therefore, is a lovely confession.

The Athanasian Creed has its unique place among the minor confessions not merely because of its melodic cadences and unique format, but also because the creed makes developments in certain fundamental areas of Christian doctrine, including the relationship that exists between the three persons in the Godhead, the distinct personal property of each of the three persons of the Godhead respectively, the procession of the Holy Spirit from both the Father and the Son, and the union of the human and divine natures in Christ.

The first twenty-eight articles develop the biblical doctrine of the holy Trinity. We might consider the theme of the first portion of the creed to be “Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity” (Art. 27, in Confessions and Church Order, 13). That little phrase summarizes the whole doctrine of the Trinity as confessed by true believers in the early church and summarized in her earliest confessions. This same doctrine of the Trinity was adopted by the Reformation churches and is defended by every true church of Jesus Christ today. The importance of these articles cannot be overstated.

Originally the Council of Nicaea (AD 325) appended to the Nicene Creed a series of anathemas against those who taught and believed doctrine contrary to the testimony of the creed. This section of anathemas was dropped in later editions of the creed and does not appear in the version printed in Confessions and Church Order. I prefer that the anathemas would have been left in our edition of the Nicene Creed. But I digress. What is important to note, however, is that similar language to the anathemas in the original Nicene Creed was used later in the Athanasian Creed and still remains in our edition. The articles to which I refer read as follows:

1. Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith;

2. Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

44. This is the catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully and firmly he cannot be saved. (Confessions and Church Order, 13, 15)

“The catholic faith” is a reference to the faith of the Christian religion taught in the sacred scriptures and summarized in the Christian confessions. As Reformed people we might refer to the faith more concisely as that which is necessary for a Christian to believe unto salvation, or the doctrinal content of faith. True faith, or the faith that saves, as opposed to all forms of false faith, believes the truth of God as he has revealed himself in the sacred scriptures and rejects all heresies repugnant thereto. All forms of false faith, which is unbelief, deny the truth of God and instead fashion a god after the thoughts and imaginations of man’s totally depraved heart.

The faith of the Athanasian Creed concerns the revelation of the one true God and our Lord Jesus Christ. More specifically, the faith of the Athanasian Creed concerns the reality that God is three distinct, divine persons subsisting within the one divine essence or being of God and that Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully man, united in the one person of the Son of God. These two truths stand and fall together and therefore cannot be separated. That faith is the foundation of the whole of Christendom. Apart from that faith, man cannot be saved. Holding firmly to that faith, the church is saved. For that is the only faith that saves. Because in that faith God is God, and man is not God; in that faith Jesus is a complete savior, and man is nothing in salvation. There is no true, saving knowledge of God except through the faith of Jesus Christ. It is the faith that has God—God as he has revealed himself through Jesus Christ—as its only object. That faith is the faith that saves because that faith at its essence is union with Jesus Christ.

In the creed salvation is confessed as utterly the work of God and not at all the work of man. That is the meaning of the first few words of the creed in articles 1 and 2: “Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith; which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly” (Confessions and Church Order, 13). Implied here is the reality that there is indeed false faith. False faith does not have the triune God as its object but has man as its object. False faith always denies that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, and therefore that in him—both perfect God and perfect man—there is perfect salvation. In this way false faith shows itself to be antichristian (1 John 4:2–3). Not so with true faith. True faith here is set over against all false faith.

The faith of the Athanasian Creed is not only believed, but it is also confessed. In that confession the church not only defends and promotes the truth, but she also condemns every lie and false doctrine that militate against that truth. The Athanasian Creed is a sort of battle cry or hymn of the church. The creed is a beautiful song with beautiful lyrics. Contained in those lyrics are the words of the church’s spiritual warfare as she stands antithetically over against all God’s enemies. Those enemies are many, but they all have in common that they deny the only object of the church’s faith, which is the one true God as he has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. Concerning the confession of that God, we briefly consider the Athanasian Creed in this article.

One God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity

The articles of the Athanasian Creed read like verses of a song and use a great deal of repetition. Repetition helps to firmly instill something in one’s mind and heart. The first section of the creed clearly demonstrates this point. Articles 7 through 20 use repetition to emphasize God’s fundamental oneness by applying several of God’s attributes indiscriminately to each of the three persons of the Godhead:

7. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.

8. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Ghost uncreated.

9. The Father infinite, the Son infinite, and the Holy Ghost infinite.

10. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal.

11. And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal.

12. As also there are not three uncreated nor three infinites, but one uncreated and one infinite.

13. So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Ghost almighty.

14. And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty.

15. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God.

16. And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.

17. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord.

18. And yet not three Lords, but one Lord.

19. For like as we are compelled by the Christian truth to acknowledge every person by Himself to be God and Lord:

20. So are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say, There are three Gods or three Lords. (Confessions and Church Order, 13–14)

Early on, the Christian church had to contend with those who charged the biblical doctrine of the Trinity with teaching tritheism (the worship of three gods). Those opponents insisted that to teach that God is three is to deny God’s simplicity and would result in tritheism. That is a very serious charge. The Athanasian Creed admits to the seriousness of that charge when it says that we are forbidden by the catholic religion to say that there are three Gods or three Lords. There are not three Gods, but there is only one God. This is also the confession of the Belgic Confession in article 8: “According to this truth and this Word of God, we believe in one only God, who is one single essence” (Confessions and Church Order, 28).

The oneness of God was announced to Israel at Sinai: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord” (Deut. 6:4). God revealed his oneness in his name Jehovah, or i am (Ex. 3:14). He is

the one who exists of and by himself, the being of beings, the unchangeable, the eternal, the infinite God, the incomparable Holy One of Israel. He, therefore, is God alone. Two or more independent beings, each possessing infinite properties, would imply a contradiction in terms.¹

There are not three Gods but one God. There are not three infinites but one infinite.

We all believe with the heart, and confess with the mouth, that there is one only simple and spiritual Being, which we call God; and that He is eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, immutable, infinite, almighty, perfectly wise, just, good, and the overflowing fountain of all good. (Belgic Confession 1, in Confessions and Church Order, 23)

There is only one God, whom we worship and serve. That one God is all his perfections, and all his perfections are one in him. God is his virtues. God is love, truth, holiness, righteousness, goodness, and wisdom. And in God those virtues are one in him, so that his love is his holiness, his goodness is his righteousness, his holiness is his grace, and so on.

Yet God also reveals himself as subsisting in three distinct persons. The Athanasian Creed insists upon this reality too when it says that we are compelled by the Christian truth to acknowledge every person in the Trinity by himself to be God and Lord. The fact that there is a plurality of persons within the Godhead is revealed in the very first chapter of the Bible when God said, “Let us make man after our image” (Gen. 1:26).

Without proceeding any further, you must see the necessity of the plurality of persons in God from the fact that God speaks to himself. God counsels within himself. A God of one person cannot counsel within himself. That much should be obvious. And as if to make that point crystal clear, God said, “Let us make man” (Gen. 1:26). God, who calls the things that are not as though they were and raises the dead, unto whom all glory belongs, for the whole creation is his, reveals himself as “us.” More striking, then, is what comes immediately afterward when verse 27 says that “God created.” God’s name in the very descriptive Hebrew is most often given in the plural form: Elohim. That is the same word that is translated as “God” in verse 27. We read in Belgic Confession article 9, “From this saying, Let us make man in our image, it appears that there are more persons than one in the Godhead; and when He saith God created, He signifies the unity” (Confessions and Church Order, 30).

This plurality of persons is further demonstrated by the Angel-of-Jehovah passages in the Old Testament, in which the Angel of Jehovah speaks as God and is worshiped as God (Gen. 16:10, 13; 19:24). God reveals his threeness most clearly in Psalm 33:6, which teaches that “by the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth,” and where the word “breath” can be translated as spirit. Belgic Confession article 9 says, “It is true that He [God] doth not say how many persons there are, but that which appears somewhat obscure in the Old Testament is made very plain in the new” (Confessions and Church Order, 30). This is evident from John 1:1–2: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God”; the baptism formula in Matthew 28:19: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”; and 1 John 5:7: “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” On the basis of these passages and many others in the sacred scriptures, we have the confession of the Athanasian Creed, which teaches that the object of our faith and worship is one God “in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity.”

The biblical doctrine of the Trinity is unique in the sense that it can be taught in such a way that our covenant children can understand it, and yet the doctrine transcends our understanding as finite creatures of the dust. That the Reformed fathers understood this is clear from Belgic Confession article 9:

Although this doctrine far surpasses all human understanding, nevertheless we now believe it by means of the Word of God, but expect hereafter to enjoy the perfect knowledge and benefit thereof in heaven. (Confessions and Church Order, 30)

This saying must also determine how we understand the economy of the Trinity, that is, the relationship of the three persons in the Godhead to each other. We are bound in our understanding to the word of God. That is why we may not go around in the creation looking for proof that God is triune any more than we may look around in the creation for proof that God created all things in the beginning. Some attempt to do this, and they call their interpretations a social doctrine of the Trinity. They try to explain the relationship of the three persons of the Godhead to one another by various earthly examples. They compare the relationship of the Father and the Son to the relationship between the husband, who is the head of his wife, and the wife, who submits to the headship of her husband. But God’s unity is not like any earthly unity. God’s fellowship is not like any earthly fellowship. The comparison is erroneous on the face of it because it teaches that there is subordination in God, not to mention the fact that the vital relationship of the Holy Spirit within the Godhead often is overlooked in such comparisons. The reality is that there can be no subordination in God. This much is clear from the confession of the Athanasian Creed when it teaches in articles 25 and 26, “In this Trinity none is before or after; none is greater or less. But the whole three persons are coequal and coeternal” (Confessions and Church Order, 14).

However, this is not to suggest that God reveals nothing about himself in his creation. That would be untrue. The whole creation declares the glory of God; the firmament shows forth his handiwork. “Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge” (Ps. 19:2). And we also know that God makes known in the creation his eternal power and Godhead, so that all men are left without an excuse before the judgment of God (Rom. 1:20). What may be known of God from the creation is that God is a God of fellowship.

When God created the animals, he created them after their kinds, both male and female. When God created man, God created male and female. And God said to the man, that is, to the male and the female (married), “Be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28). The structure of relationships that exist in the world, even as that world is fallen in Adam and lying under the curse, testifies concerning the reality that the God who created all things in the beginning is a God of fellowship. All the societies, communities, and institutions, which are intrinsic to the creation, are revelatory that God is a God of fellowship.

God did not need to create anything to be the God of fellowship, but God is the God of fellowship within his own being—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When we speak of God’s fellowship, we speak of God’s covenant. God is a covenant God, not first because he establishes his covenant with his elect but because God is a covenant God in himself. God’s life is a life of blessed covenant fellowship. It is a life that God lives in himself, out of himself, and unto himself. That life in God is as eternal as God is eternal, as infinite as God is infinite, and as majestic as God is majestic. It is a life that cannot be possessed by a God of one person. Just as there can be no fellowship in the world in solitude, there can be no fellowship in a God who subsists in only one person. The scriptures know nothing of a god of one person but instead teach that God is one in being and three in persons.

If there is no subordination among the three persons of the Godhead, how then are we to understand their distinction from each other? The Athanasian Creed emphasizes that the three persons in God are indeed distinct from each other. However, the explanation of this distinction must be one that neither confounds the persons nor divides the essence. In articles 21 through 24, the Athanasian Creed gives an explanation that strikes the perfect balance of beauty and simplicity:

21. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten.

22. The Son is of the Father alone, not made nor created, but begotten.

23. The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son, neither made, nor created, but proceeding.

24. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts. (Confessions and Church Order, 14)

The explanation is that the distinction is not one of essence, for God is one in essence. Rather, it is a distinction of personal properties, or characteristics. These personal properties refer to the distinct characteristics that differentiate the three persons of the Godhead. According to Herman Hoeksema,

when we assert, according to the doctrine of the Trinity, that there are three persons in the Godhead, we mean that in the one spiritual nature of God there are three subjects, three who say “I,” distinct from one another in personal properties, but subsisting in the same divine essence and eternally remaining the same in their distinct subsistence.²

First, there is the personal property of the Father. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten but is begetting. God the Father eternally begets, or generates, the Son. Unlike human generation the Father’s generation of the Son is simple, so that it is eternally without division or separation of essence. This divine generation implies that the Father eternally begets the Son out of the being of the Father. The Father eternally reproduces himself in the Son. We must say of the Father, therefore, that he takes perfect delight in generating the Son. For God the Father to reproduce himself in the Son is for the Father to make manifest that which is truly expressive of his nature, essence, and all his virtues that he possesses as coequal and coeternal God with the Son and the Holy Ghost. God the Father therefore eternally beholds the Son as the object of his delight and eternally enters into fellowship with his Son in the Holy Spirit.

Second, there is the personal property of the Son. The Son is of the Father alone, not created nor made but begotten. The Athanasian Creed rejects the false doctrine of the Arians, who taught that there was a time when the Son was not. The Son is not a creature of time and called out of nothing, but the Son is eternally begotten of the Father alone. If there were such a time when the Son was not, then the Son would not be coequal and coeternal God with the Father and the Holy Ghost, the Father would be deprived of the eternity of his Fatherhood, and thus the Father would be subject to change, seeing that the basis of calling him Father would not be eternally present in his nature but would have taken place in time. Instead, the creed establishes the truth that the Son is eternally begotten of the Father. This means that the Son is the eternal expression of the divine fullness. That is what John 1:1–3 means when it calls the second person of the Trinity “the Word.” Within the being of God as holy family, it means that the Son eternally enters into fellowship with the Father in the Holy Spirit.

Third, there is the personal property of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is of the Father and the Son, neither made nor created but proceeding. At this point the Athanasian Creed shows itself as a creed of the Western Church and distances itself from the Eastern Orthodox Church, which taught that the Son and the Spirit both can be traced to the Father as one single cause. It was and is still to this day the position of the Eastern Orthodox Church that the Son is begotten of the Father and that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone. The fruit of that position is the mysticism that has predominated the teachings of the Eastern Orthodox Church for centuries. Augustine led the Western Church in viewing the three persons as relations in the one single Godhead, and therefore the Holy Spirit is related not only to the Father but also to the Son.³

The personal property of the Holy Spirit is indicated already from his name Spirit or Breath. The Spirit is not called holy because he is without sin but because the Spirit is living consecration in God. The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son and consecrates Father to Son and Son to Father. The Spirit as consecration in God is also called Breath. The Spirit, who consecrates Father to Son and Son to Father, is the intimate union and fellowship of the other two persons of the Godhead. It is not merely that the Spirit creates that union, but the Spirit himself is the union. That is why Augustine referred to the Spirit simply as “love.” Love. That is who the Spirit is in God.

The Lord Jesus Christ is Perfect God and Perfect Man

The Athanasian Creed teaches us the necessity of believing not only the truth concerning the triune God but also the real incarnation of Jesus Christ. More specifically, the Athanasian Creed teaches us that Jesus Christ is really God and really man united in one person. I will keep this section brief because I am running short in my allotted space; however, it is important to note some of the key points in the last half of the creed. There in article 31 is the altogether lovely phrase concerning the second person, that he is “God, of the essence of the Father.” “Essence” refers to the divine being of God. Jesus Christ as to his person is divine, “begotten [of the Father] before all worlds; and man, of the substance of His mother, born in the world” (Confessions and Church Order, 14).

It is important to understand that the human and the divine are two substances that can never be mingled. It is an utter impossibility. Yet in order for man to be delivered from his sin and misery, it is necessary that there be one able to satisfy for us who is himself both fully God and fully man. That is what article 32 is getting at when it teaches that Jesus Christ is “perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and flesh subsisting,” where the word “perfect” can be understood as complete. Jesus Christ is completely God and completely man. Jesus Christ possesses all the qualities and powers that make God God, and Jesus Christ possesses all the qualities and powers that make man man. This is needed for our salvation.

However, the question becomes, how is this possible? If the two natures in Christ are distinct from one another, what explains the unity? The unity is “not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God” (Art. 35, in Confessions and Church Order, 14). The word translated as “taking” comes from the Latin word from which we derive the English word assumption. Positively, this means that when God the Son became a man, he added, or assumed, to himself a human nature. Negatively, this means that God the Son did not have to forfeit any of his divine attributes or qualities by becoming a man.

Article 36 gets to the heart of the union when it says that the two natures are “one altogether, not by confusion of essence, but by unity of person” (Confessions and Church Order, 15). The two natures of Jesus Christ are united in one person. This was important to emphasize over against the heresy of the Nestorians, who taught that Jesus Christ was not one person but two. The necessity of the union being in the one divine person of the Son of God is because “only in this way could he stand outside of the imputation of the original guilt of sin.”⁴

More on the unity of the divine person in Christ is expounded by the Creed of Chalcedon (AD 451), a creed that is not mentioned specifically in any of the three forms of unity, but the doctrine of which is clearly taught in article 19 of the Belgic Confession. I will consider that in the next article, the Lord willing.