TOS056 Basics of Faith IV: Basics of the Creed For audio TOS056: Basics of Faith IV – Basics of the Creed – Truth of the Spirit (podcast) | Listen Notes

Join Patti Brunner and Truth of the Spirit to explore Basics of Faith with the Basics of the Creed. Professions of faith are called creeds from the Latin word ‘credo’ that translates to “I believe”. We are Christians because we believe. Continuing the series on the basics of the Catholic faith, this episode examines the use of statements of belief known as Creeds to keep us on track about the truth. Much of our faith is rather mystical such as ‘One God yet three persons of the Trinity’, and the truth of Jesus being ‘true God and true man’. The Creed specifically points out some of these doctrines that could not be known apart from divine Revelation to the Church. Patti Brunner goes through the main articles of Nicene Creed, to help you understand their basic profession.

Learn this Creed and next time someone asks you, “What do you believe as a Catholic?” You’ll have an answer, one that you have professed every Sunday in the public worship of the Mass.

Blog:
You are listening to Truth of the Spirit. My name is Patti Brunner and I have been sharing my faith with others for the past 40 years. Believing and professing a creed is important for the community of believers—we are not single believers but part of the Church also known as the Body of Christ. As a Christian we share common beliefs in faith.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that “Faith is man’s response to God who reveals himself to Man.” [CCC #26] Although there are many statements of belief in Holy Scripture, it is the Church who has defined the specifics of our common creed. Paragraph #187 explains that “Professions of faith are called creeds from their first words in Latin: ‘Credo’ means ‘I believe’.”

We are Christians because we believe. “‘Believing’ is a human act, conscious and free, corresponding with the dignity of the human person.” [CCC #180]
“The Creed gives us a common language of faith; “uniting us all in the same confession [or declaration] of faith.” [CCC #185]

All Christians hold these truths: One faith, one baptism. These truths were set “in stone” and into the very foundation of the Church by the Holy Spirit. Christians are the ‘living stones’ of the Church built on the foundation of faith. At times, some Christians get off track and are confused and begin teaching their own ideas about things. This is one reason why the denominations of non-Catholics have escalated to thousands. Those who restrict themselves to “Sola Scriptura” would do well for themselves to investigate how these truths were set “in stone”—into the very foundation of the Church by the Holy Spirit.

In my last episode I spoke a little about the Arian heresy where a lot of Christians jumped on board of an idea that seemed more pleasing than what the Church taught. At this time and various other times the Church came together, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to clarify our beliefs. Believing and professing a creed is important for the community of believers. The Creed we use in the Liturgy of the Mass was fine-tuned by the Church in the year 325. Much of our faith is rather mystical such as ‘One God yet three persons of the Trinity’, and the truth of Jesus being ‘true God and true man’. These doctrines could not be known apart from divine Revelation.

Our creed is not the totality of Christian faith. It contains a summary of things taught by the Catholic Church. We can see professions of faith and statements of belief in the Bible. For example, the reading about the woman at the well, who was evangelized by Jesus and then gave her testimony about her belief in Jesus as the Messiah to the town, who then gave their statements of belief, too, in the Gospel of John chapter 4: “39 Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me everything I have done.” 41 Many more began to believe in him because of his word, 42 and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.””
We know that we know—we believe!

The Church asks you to profess your faith when you are baptized. When baptism takes place within a Eucharistic Liturgy, the whole Church joins with them to renew their own baptismal promises. The baptismal promises correspond to the Apostle’s Creed. Just as Jesus asked the woman at the well questions, the Church will ask you questions about your belief of faith. Now, the priest will not read the whole Catechism to you and ask your belief, but he will ask you some key things in the Renewal of Baptismal Promises: “Do you reject Satan? And all his works? And all his empty promises?” Since Satan is the father of lies, the Church wants to help you to know truth by first setting aside his lies. Then you profess your answer to these things: “Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth? Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father? Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?” Baptismal vows are a wonderful and simple profession of faith.

Catechism paragraph #197 tells us “to say the Credo”–remember “Credo” means “I believe”– “To say the Credo with faith is to enter into communion with God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and also with the whole Church which transmits the faith to us and in whose midst we believe: [St. Ambrose said,] “This Creed is the spiritual seal, our heart’s meditation and an ever-present guardian; it is, unquestionably, the treasure of our soul.” Let’s spend a little time going through the treasure chest and take hold of the major sections of the Nicene Creed. If you recall, the Truth in the Spirit podcast on the Catechism told you that one of the 4 sections of the Catechism is on the Creed. If you have a Catechism handy, turn to Paragraph 184 and on the next couple of pages you will see the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. We generally pray The Apostles’ Creed as part of the Rosary. Compared to the Nicene Creed, The Apostles’ Creed is significantly shorter and less detailed; it is based upon the most ancient formula used by the Church in Rome. The Nicene Creed was written in 325 during the Church’s Council of Nicaea. The “Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, that was written in 381, is the best English translation of the Latin translation of the Nicene Creed that Catholics use in Mass around the world.

Now, let’s examine the main articles of the Creed:
• I believe in one God –Believing in one God sets us apart from pagans who believe in many gods. This confession of belief in one God also sets the stage for the belief in the Trinity as three persons in one God.
• The Father almighty, –Our God is almighty, omnipotent, able to do all things. He is our Father, our daddy, and we are his adopted children.
• Maker of heaven and earth, –we believe that God created everything out of nothing.
• Of all things visible and invisible. –we believe God created not just material things but also angels and spirits and those creatures like microbes that are too small for us to see without a microscope. The Hubble telescope has discovered countless star systems; we believe God created them too.
• I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, –Calling Jesus Lord here, signifies that Jesus is God; –‘Jesus’ in Hebrew means ‘God Saves’; –‘Christ’ is the Greek translation of ‘Messiah’ and means ‘anointed one’; Kings, priests and prophets were anointed; Jesus is anointed by the Holy Spirit.
• The Only Begotten Son of God,–‘Only Son’ sets us apart as Christians. Both Jews and Muslims believe in one God but we are the only people who also believe that Jesus is the Father’s only son and is God.
• Born of the Father before all ages –Even though the human body of Jesus was born on that first Christmas day, Jesus, truly God, always was.
• God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, –Catechism #464 explains that Jesus Christ is not part God and part man, …He became truly man while remaining truly God. Jesus Christ is true God and true man. During the first centuries, the Church had to defend and clarify this truth of faith against the heresies that falsified it. [Heresy is the formal denial of a core doctrine of the Christian faith. It involves willful and persistent adherence to an error in matters of faith] Such as the heresy that Jesus was only a holy man. Or heresy that Jesus was God and only appeared as a man.
• Begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; –The word ‘consubstantial’ means that Jesus is of the same substance as God.
• Through him all things were made. –Often times we call God the Father our creator, but this Creed helps us to remember that Jesus the Son –and the Holy Spirit—are also our creator. Catechism paragraph #316 says, “though the work of creation is attributed to the Father in particular, it is equally a truth of faith that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit together are the one, indivisible principle of creation.
• For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, –“For our salvation”; you see, we had the need for salvation due to loss of original holiness through the sin of disobedience by man [Adam & Eve]. CCC #399 We lost the grace of original holiness. The first or original sin is that Adam failed to trust God. Adam’s disobedience was through pride. He wanted to be like God. At mass we bow at this next important statement of faith!
• And by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. –Although it is beyond our capability to comprehend, we believe that Jesus came forth from God and took human form as he was conceived through the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary. This is the Incarnation. In the Gospel of John chapter 1 verse 14 we are told the “Word became flesh”. We also believe that Jesus is the “new Adam” and that Mary, the new Eve, was conceived without original sin and is ever-virgin.
• For our sake he was crucified. –Sinners of the whole world of all time were the authors and the ministers of all the sufferings that the divine Redeemer endured.” We all condemned him. God had warned Adam “you sin you die”. Jesus’ sacrifice paid for the consequence of sin: death for all of us. In unity with whole human race all men are implicated in Adam’s sin as all are implicated in Christ’s justice.
• Under Pontius Pilate, –Sharing the name of the governor who passed judgment sets the truth that Jesus really existed in history.
• he suffered death and was buried, —-again proving that Jesus was truly human. The human body of Jesus died and his soul separated just like ours does at death. In the Creed we truly profess that Jesus died. And if we relate that to our own lives, we truly die. However, we can truly live in him.
Note that the Apostles Creed says at this point that Jesus descended into hell. “Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, “hell”—Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek—because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God.” [CCC #633] Such is the case for all the dead, evil or righteous while they await the redeemer. “Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.” [CCC #633] “”The gospel was preached even to the dead.” The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfillment. This is the last phase of Jesus’ messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ’s redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption.” [CCC #634]
• And rose again –The soul and body of Jesus reunited in the glorious state, and many witnesses saw him. He conquered death once and for all. “The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ, a faith believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community; handed on as fundamental by Tradition; established by the documents of the New Testament; and preached as an essential part of the Paschal mystery along with the cross.” [CCC #638]
• He rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. –“Scriptures foretold the divine plan of salvation through the putting to death of “the righteous one”; … “In particular Jesus’ redemptive death fulfills Isaiah’s Suffering Servant prophecies.” [CCC #601] Proving that the life, death and resurrection was God’s plan of salvation, he sent his prophets to reveal the plan. Other disciples didn’t put it all together until Jesus appeared to two of them on the way to Emmaus after his resurrection and explained it, and then to the apostles in the locked room.
• He ascended into heaven –Jesus returned to heaven to prepare a place for us. He show us the way to our real home for all eternity. For the first time since Adam’s sin, a man had full access to God.
• And is seated at the right hand of the Father. — “By the ‘Father’s right hand’ we understand the glory and honor of divinity, where he who exists as Son of God before all ages, indeed as God, of one being with the Father, is seated bodily after he became incarnate and his flesh was glorified.” [CCC #663] “Being seated at the Father’s right hand signifies the inauguration of the Messiah’s kingdom.” [CCC #664] “Jesus Christ, having entered the sanctuary of heaven once and for all, intercedes constantly for us as the mediator who assures us of the permanent outpouring of the Holy Spirit.” [CCC 667]
• He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end. –Christ already reigns through the Church. As Lord, Christ is also head of the Church, which is his body. Christ dwells on earth in his Church. This reign is still under attack by the evil powers, even though they have been defeated definitively by Christ’s Passover. Scripture tells us that “Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers.” [CCC #675; Cf. Lk 18:8; Mt 24:12]. “When he comes at the end of time to judge the living and the dead, the glorious Christ will reveal the secret disposition of hearts and will render to each man according to his works and according to his acceptance or refusal of grace.” [CCC #682] “By rejecting grace in this life, one already judges oneself, receives according to one’s works, and can even condemn oneself for all eternity by rejecting the Spirit of love.” [CCC #679] Nevertheless, God’s plan is to be fulfilled “with power and great glory” by the kings’ return to earth where a new heaven and a new earth in which justice dwells will be realized and all things are subject to him.
• I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, –“On the day of Pentecost the Holy Trinity is fully revealed.” [CCC #732] As the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, dwells among us and grants us a clearer vision of himself, the Nicene Creed expands greatly the profession of belief in God the Holy Spirit from the earlier Apostles’ Creed. “No one can say “Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” [CCC #683] “The One whom the Father has sent into our hearts, the Spirit of his Son, is truly God. Consubstantial with the Father and the Son, the Spirit is inseparable from them, in both the inner life of the Trinity and his gift of love for the world.” [CCC #689]
• The giver of life, –“Jesus is Christ, “anointed,” because the Holy Spirit is his anointing.” [CCC #690] “The Spirit [thus] filled Christ and the power of the Spirit went out from him in his acts of healing and of saving. It was the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead.” [CCC #695] Now, fully established as “Christ” in his humanity victorious over death, Jesus pours out the Holy Spirit abundantly. In this way we are given life! Through Baptism the Holy Spirit dwells within us and gives us life abundantly.
• Who proceeds from the Father and the Son,– “When the Father sends his Word, he always sends his Breath. The Holy Spirit is consubstantial with the Father and the Son and is inseparable from them in both the inner life of the Trinity and his gift of love for the world.” [CCC #689]
• Who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. –
CCC #688 The Church is the place where we know the Holy Spirit:
— in the Scriptures he inspired;
— in the Tradition, to which the Church Fathers are always timely witnesses;
— in the Church’s Magisterium, which the Holy Spirit assists;
— in the sacramental liturgy, through its words and symbols, in which the Holy Spirit puts us into communion with Christ;
— in prayer, wherein the Holy Spirit intercedes for us;
— in the charisms and ministries by which the Church is built up; — in the signs of apostolic and missionary life;
— in the witness of saints through whom the Holy Spirit manifests his holiness and continues the work of salvation.”

We can have a personal relationship with Jesus through the gifts of the Holy Spirit! I invite you to listen to my personal testimony about how my relationship with the Holy Spirit began. It’s on episode #4 of Truth of the Spirit, “A Witness of Life in the Spirit” .
Back to the Creed:
• I believe in one, — “The Church is one because of her source.” [CCC #813]
“What the soul is to the human body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the Church.” The Holy Spirit makes the Church “the temple of the living God” [CCC #797. “The Church” is the People that God gathers in the whole world. The whole universal community of believers exists in local communities and is made real as a liturgical and Eucharistic assembly.” [CCC #752] When we participate in the Mass, the entire Church, in all time and places, are one in the one sacrifice offered by Jesus.
• Holy, –We are holy because Christ is holy. Christ is the head of the Church and we are his body. “United with Christ, the Church is sanctified by him; through him and with him she becomes sanctifying.” [CCC #824]
• catholic –“The word ‘Catholic’ means universal” [CCC #830] Our separated brothers and sisters continue to use this term with us when saying the Apostle’s Creed; there is one baptism, one faith, one God, one Lord of all. [CCC #172]
• And apostolic Church. –The Catholic Church began when the Holy Spirit filled the apostles at the first Pentecost. The apostles, the original leaders of the Church, have then passed their faith to us. There is an historical line of faith as the Church has chosen and ordained successors for 2000 years. The word “apostle” means the one who is sent. Christ sends us out into the world to share the Good News
• I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins – “Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of forgiveness of sins because it unites us with Christ, who died for our sins and rose for our justification.” [CCC #977] “Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation. Given once for all, Baptism cannot be repeated.” [CCC #1272] “Jesus told his apostles: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”” [CCC #976] We are also able to have our sins forgiven by Jesus through the sacrament of Reconciliation.
• And I look forward to the resurrection of the dead – “We firmly believe, and hence we hope that, just as Christ is truly risen from the dead and lives forever, so after death the righteous will live forever with the risen Christ and he will raise them up on the last day. Our resurrection, like his own, will be the work of the Most Holy Trinity” [CCC #989]
• And the life of the world to come. –“Those who die in God’s grace and friendship and are perfectly purified live forever with Christ.” [CCC #1023] “This perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity—this communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed—is called “heaven.” Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness.” [CCC #1024]
• Amen. –So be it. Like the great Amen after the consecration during the Mass, our Amen testifies to this great confession of faith. It’s a final “I Believe It!”
“The Creed, like the last book of the Bible, [Rev. 22:21] ends with the Hebrew word ‘amen’.” [CCC #1061] It confirms the “I believe”; it “expresses solidity, trustworthiness, faithfulness.” [CCC #1062] Paul in Sacred Scriptures says Jesus is the Amen. “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God.” [CCC #1065]

So, what do you think? Can you say “Yes, I believe”? You’ve been listening to Truth of the Spirit, and I’m Patti Brunner. You can listen to other of the podcasts or you can look on my website, PatriarchMinistries.com to find the written details and to access the videos of Truth of the Spirit. Remember, there’s more, with the Holy Spirit, there is always more! May the Lord bless you and keep you. Amen!