This year, I plan to go line-by-line through the Athanasian Creed on the blog, illuminating and explaining each line from Scripture.

I’m doing this because, sadly, it seems that much of the Christian church—especially in the West—are reliving what St. Paul once said of his Jewish brethren: I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge (Romans 10:2 ESV). Or again, what he said of certain slippery religious enthusiasts: having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power (2 Timothy 3:5 ESV).

We have reached a crisis point where many Christians cannot articulate the basics of their faith.

This sad state of affairs has arisen in large part because loving the Lord with our mind has been replaced with a hollow biblicism that declares: Deeds over creeds; or, No creed but Christ, no book but the Bible. The irony of course is, first, that both of those statements are creeds; and second, that those who are most prone to saying such things rely on scads of books by their favorite religious authors—most of which are disposable pulp theology.

Job rebuked his friends’ errant theology, saying: No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you (Job 12:2 ESV). When we detach ourselves from the proven truths that have securely anchored the saints for centuries, it is not for liberation. Rather, it is a sign of arrogance. We suppose we can create a superior Christianity using only the materials of our own ideas—never stopping to consider how impoverished our own thinking and imagination is. We believe that we are “the people,” and wisdom ends with us. Which is why it seems that Christianity in America curiously reinvents itself every generation; and indeed, on any given Sunday, preachers stand on stages and reinvent the faith ad hoc, week to week.

The only way forward is backwards. Not to some imagined golden age of primitive Christianity; but back to what is sure and true and has sustained actual believers throughout the ages. This is the humility required to cure our terminal case of what C.S. Lewis termed “chronological snobbery.” Lewis defined this as: the uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate of our own age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that count discredited.

Many Christians today have been discipled by the efficiency experts posing as pastors and teachers to believe that precise discussions of doctrines like the Trinity; or the two natures of Christ; are fussy and impractical, and irrelevant to the actual business of Christianity, which is the busyness of doing things. This betrays the underlying cancer: They believe that we are saved by our own doing. By grace, through faith (Ephesians 2:8) is for many entrepreneurial revivalists simply the toll you pay to get in. But you stay in by your doings.

This means the gospel of Christ has itself been displaced. Because the throbbing heartbeat of Christianity has always been that we are not saved by what we do, or even by what we believe; but in Whom we have believed. Jesus the Life Coach may be an even bigger letdown than the Jesus stripped of His divinity Athanasius fought against. In our day, as in Athanasius’, the very gospel that saves sinners is at stake.

The Athanasian Creed was probably composed in the mid-5th century A.D. Although not written by him (d. A.D. 373), it does preserve intact the theological commitments of Athanasius of Alexandria. Athanasius was a powerful defender of orthodox Christianity against the heresy of the Arians, who taught that Christ was the first and greatest of God’s creations, but not actually God.

Athanasius was a stalwart champion of the historic Christian faith, even when the majority of the church had embraced the errors of Arius. When he died, the epitaph on his tombstone read: Athanasius against the world. This is a powerful encouragement for Christians today. Jesus promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church (Matthew 16:18). This is in large part due to God, in every generation, preserving a faithful remnant who will not bow to the unbelief of the age. May our Lord give us grace to persevere in faith, and virtue, and knowledge of the truth, like Athanasius.

Lesson from the Creed

Whoever desires to be saved should above all hold to the catholic* faith. [1] Anyone who does not keep it whole and unbroken will doubtless perish eternally. [2]

Athanasian Creed, 1-2

* The word catholic here doesn’t refer to the Roman Catholic Church. Notice the small letter c. Rather, it means “universal”—meaning what Christians everywhere have always believed. This word is used frequently throughout the Athanasian Creed. Don’t be afraid of it. Athanasius was simply warning that we must believe the truths about God and Christ that the church has always confessed if we would be saved.

Supporting Scriptures

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture is from the English Standard Version (ESV)

[1] And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭6‬‬‬)

… I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. (Jude‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John‬ ‭14‬:‭6‬)

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts‬ ‭4‬:‭12‬)

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. (Romans‬ ‭3‬:‭23‬-‭25‬)

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭13‬)

[2] And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark‬ ‭16‬:‭15‬-‭16‬)

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians‬ ‭1‬:‭18‬)

For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Galatians‬ ‭3‬:‭10‬-‭11‬)

He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. (Romans‬ ‭2‬:‭6‬-‭8‬)

… in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might (2 Thessalonians‬ ‭1‬:‭8‬-‭9‬).

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. (Revelation‬ ‭21‬:‭8‬)

Explanation

Lines 1-2 declare two essential truths: First, there is an established faith that all Christians have believed since the beginning of the Church; and second, to share in this faith means salvation; but to despise and reject it is to be damned.

This much is plain from Scripture. Jude, the brother of our Lord, spoke of the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3), which believers must be diligent not only to believe, but to defend. There is the faith—not many wildly varying, heterogeneous versions of it; and it is once for all delivered. It was known and taught and believed from the beginning.

The substance of this faith is that all have sinned, and none of us can be saved from God’s judgment by our own efforts. We must instead rely fully on Christ, through whom God has fully atoned for human sin (Romans 3:23-25; Galatians 3:10-11). The righteous shall live by faith.

That is the gospel, the good news about Christ. God has offered Him as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith (Romans 3:24). If you believe in Him, your sins are forgiven.

Now, that faith that saves is a particular kind of faith. It’s not just believing those facts—though of course, you must believe them. It’s believing that they’re true in your case. In other words, that what Christ did wasn’t just for hypothetical sinners out there; but for you, a real sinner.

The gospel of Christ is rooted in objective facts that are outside of us; and as I said—we must believe those facts. The Athanasian Creed will go on to spell out those facts about the Triune God; and Christ, who is the second Person of the Trinity, who is both truly God and truly man.

Hebrews 11:6 says whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists; and Acts 4:12 states that there is salvation in no one else but Jesus Christ alone. Now, if we believe that God exists in a way that is at odds with how He has revealed Himself to us in Scripture; and if we have believed in some version of Jesus other than who the Scriptures declare Him to be, then our faith has been in vain, and we are lost. We shall be found to have been worshiping false gods, and speaking blasphemies.

So you see, these doctrines like the Trinity, are not fussy or irrelevant at all. Rather, they’re absolutely essential to believing the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). So, while it is true that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13); we must actually be calling upon the Lord as He has made Himself known, and not according to our own logic or imaginations.

Now, many will argue here: But doesn’t this just amount to being saved by knowledge, instead of faith? After all, it’s not like the thief on the cross (Luke 23:39-43) had a fully-orbed doctrine of the Trinity.

I sympathize with the concern, and agree that we are not saved by the precision of our doctrinal knowledge. After all, we all stumble in many ways (James 3:2), and our theological beliefs are not immune to that.

However, there’s a difference between not yet knowing or understanding the truth; and despising and rejecting the truth. Athanasius, after all, was addressing people who had been instructed correctly, but who made a conscious decision to reject what they had been taught, and even mock it.

Do you see the difference there? We teach those who are young in the faith the truth about who God is, as they are able to handle it. And we expect them to mature, all other things being equal, from the milk of the Word to solid food (Hebrews 5:11–4). Now, rejecting the truth you have been taught is not maturity, but apostasy.

So the Athanasian Creed is not saying: You must have all your theology correctly sorted out before you can be saved. Rather, it is saying: To willfully reject the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints will lead to condemnation. And this no Christian should doubt.