What Is the Athanasian Creed, and Why Does It Matter?

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:03]What is the Aanasian creed and why do we confess it? Hi, my name is Kale Keith and today I'm joined by a fellow of 1517. He writes, he podcasts for us, he's spoken at conferences and that's doctor. Even though he's wearing his uh golf hat today, he's doctor on >> I'm moving furniture today. So >> yeah, he's doing he's doing vocational work.

[00:00:30]um today, but we're going to talk about the Aanasian creed. Trying to time this with Trinity Sunday, which in uh Lutheran churches and kind of creedle churches around the world is going to be the most common time that this is um that we recite this in public or in unity together. And I think there probably are every year as this comes up in churches questions about uh what is the Athanasian creed? Why do we have this third creed that we don't say, you know, extraordinarily frequently together in church? Why did we retain it? And I think that people also when they say it think there's a couple things in here that sound a little weird or maybe sound different from the other two creeds. John, I I picked you because as far as I know, you're a resident expert on the Trinity. Um, your doctoral work was on trinitarian theology. Um, and your parish pastor who I know has dealt with questions from parishioners about the Athanasian creed >> as well. So, can you help us figure out what what is the Aanasian creed first of all? Um, what are the ecumenical creeds?

[00:01:43]Maybe we should mention the other two, the apostles and the nyine creed, and give some context about their use in church history, their inclusion in the Lutheran confessions. and uh and why they're used or when they're used in particular worship settings.

[00:01:59]>> So the first of the creeds um is the uh apostles creed which originates in Rome um in the second century. It underwent much development uh over several hundred years but um by the time say the fall of the Roman Empire that's a pretty universally acknowledged creed of the church especially in the west. Um, so that's the Apostles Creed. You'll find that one in the small catechism. Uh, the Nyine Creed 3:25.

[00:02:29]Um, so, uh, you know, we just celebrated an anniversary of, uh, of that creed, which was, uh, put together by an ecumenical council of the church to address the problem of Aryanism, which questions the full deity of Jesus Christ. And there was a controversy later in the 4th century around the full deity of the Holy Spirit. And uh that was brought to uh a close in 381 with the affirmation that the father, the son and the holy spirit are one god, three persons. So they share a single essence and their uh their uh personal relations are how we distinguish them.

[00:03:16]That's in a nutshell what the Nyine creed articulates and the Aphanasian creed um is uh basically expanding upon that um and also addressing some issues related to the full humanity and full deity of Christ. So if you want to think of it in in this way the Nying creed clarifies the full deity of Jesus Christ.

[00:03:42]The Aanasian creed, one of its purposes is to clarify the full humanity of Jesus Christ.

[00:03:51]So people will be, as you said, familiar where these pop up in different locations. In um our tradition, in the Lutheran tradition, these creeds all appear um at the beginning of our first confession at the Augsburg confession, at least included in an affirmation that we confess these creeds. But why is confessing the creeds a norm or important for Christians? And maybe for Christians who watch this channel, are familiar with 1517, aren't part of a confessional group, um who maybe, you know, see or have heard that creeds are like an add-on to scripture? Um what what is their role uh for Christian churches that still use them today?

[00:04:39]>> Yeah, I think the way that I would put that briefly is that scripture is clear.

[00:04:43]It is authoritative, inspired, inherent, but I am not clear and I am not authoritative in divine matters. Uh I'm not inspired and I'm not inherent. And so what creeds do are they're there to clarify um what it is I believe scripture says.

[00:05:07]So scripture can speak on its own, but oftentimes sinful human beings uh in the church need help echoing back what it is scripture says to the world uh in uh evangelism and to each other.

[00:05:22]>> Okay.

[00:05:24]>> Do you want to add anything to that? I that might be too cute. I don't know.

[00:05:26]>> I mean I I think they help I think you're right. It helps to put the uh the preaching of Christ um and him crucified and the the truth of the ways in which God works uh united as uh three persons, one God into our lips um whenever we speak. So it helps give it helps give us words to uh receive into our own ears and to preach communally as the church to one another and also helps us define something that I think you and I have seen is becoming more important which is to ask the question who is the god of Christianity and more and more that is getting blurred uh especially in sort of the resurgence of different types of anti Christian apologetics today to say, "Oh, Christians don't really understand or know who the God of Christianity is.

[00:06:25]They don't know their own Bible or something like that." The creed, the creed is meant to unify Christians in answering this question, who is the God of of Christianity? It isn't a an additive um on top of scripture, but is is us saying this is our united reading of scripture as as Christians. Um understanding that yeah, we are fallible and that people can walk away from the text and say all sorts of weird things and have throughout history um including denying the divinity of Christ. um you know saying that the God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the New Testament uh you know that the Holy Spirit is is a different entity or a different being from the father or something like that. These have all been repeated and the creeds are simply Christians coming together with one voice to say this is our God.

[00:07:24]>> Yeah. Yeah. And that's the difference between creeds and confessions and say the Book of Mormon which is set alongside of scripture as authoritative by uh the LDS uh by Latter-day Saints and in fact really above scripture. Uh so when we when we say we subscribe to confess creeds and confessions um we're not adding to scripture. We're articulating ourselves collectively as the church as to what scripture teaches.

[00:07:53]Yep. Um, so this creed, the long creed, it's a long one. Uh, named after So, and uh, Aanis of Alexandria, but did he did he write it? What's the what's the significance of the naming?

[00:08:11]>> Yeah, it's it's kind of conventionally attributed to him. Athanasius was a famous um theologian of the early church who is probably most famous for taking the right side on the question of Christ's true uh divinity during the Aryan controversy leading up to the Nyian creed.

[00:08:35]So it's it's attributed to him kind of uh historically but really he did not write it. Um it was written a couple of centuries later probably in France by someone who very much admired uh Athanasius. And so it took up this name uh the Aanasian creed as a kind of uh an honor to him or uh uh kind of a tribute.

[00:09:04]And what's its uh connection to Christian worship? when did it make its way into uh you know divine service or or the liturgies of of common Christians?

[00:09:18]>> Yeah, I mean that's kind of a difficult question to answer. Historically on some level it takes a while for these things to kind of be fully disseminated and recognized particularly in a world without mass media. But by the time of the Middle Ages, this um had become a creed associated with Holy Trinity Sunday, the Sunday following Pentecost.

[00:09:40]Um so by the time of the Reformation, this is simply what you do on Holy Trinity Sunday, and there isn't really a question about it.

[00:09:50]Um okay, so let's just get into uh the content. You said there's a distinction here um from the Nyine creed essentially an expansion on the truth there. What kind of um expansion are we talking about? Uh what differentiates this from the Nyian creed but still keeps it in line with the other two creeds.

[00:10:14]>> Yeah. So following the uh uh Aryan controversy and the controversy over the full deity of the Holy Spirit, then Christians started debating what does it mean for Jesus to be fully divine and fully human at once?

[00:10:31]Um do we say that he is uh two persons, a divine person and a human person?

[00:10:39]Uh do we say that uh uh well I could go into it. There's several different heresies that show up um but they all kind of map onto a spectrum of either confusing the divinity and humanity of Jesus or separating them too much.

[00:10:55]And so uh the definition of calcedon uh they got together and defined uh the doctrine of the deity of or of the deity and humanity of Christ.

[00:11:09]um so as to say that Christ is one person in two natures. And so the Aphanasian creed is kind of uh has additional content clarifying this truth.

[00:11:21]And Holy Trinity Sunday is a a time for the um whole church to confess this.

[00:11:31]There's uh two lines in here which uh I think you and I have. It's the same line twice, but um that you and I have talked about before can sometimes stump people or make them ask the question, do I have to understand um this entire creed and every line in it to be saved? And that is uh this opening line, whoever desires to be saved must above all hold the Catholic faith. And then it goes on to say that this creed describes the Catholic faith.

[00:12:00]And then it says it uh one more time here. Uh, therefore, whoever desires to be saved must think thus about the Trinity, must think thus about the Trinity. Um, those two lines, do people who have never heard of the Aanasian creed or confessed it uh do they fall themselves outside of uh salvation? And what about people who um can't uh understand or what about children or young adults or I mean it could be anybody. It could be the mentally impaired who um uh are not wrapping their head around this and not even the mentally impaired but not everybody um you know possesses the same gifts of intellect or something.

[00:12:43]>> Yeah, I get this question probably every year. Usually what I say is this. The Aanasian creed identifies which god you trust that is the true god rather than a false one. So if you worship someone who is not the father, the son and the holy spirit, Jesus Christ truly man and truly god, then uh you have the wrong you have the wrong address for uh your faith.

[00:13:12]Whatever level of understanding that you have of the creed, um it's not your intellect that saves you, it's identifying who it is that has saved you.

[00:13:25]And so that's why trinitarian theology is important.

[00:13:29]But uh lest I you know you know confuse anyone.

[00:13:36]Look I I study this stuff for a living and I don't understand trinitarian theology exhaustively in any sense.

[00:13:44]But I know the true God and trust in that true God who has revealed himself in scripture. And so I confess the creed and the truths in it.

[00:13:55]not with exhaustive understanding, but with faith and trust in Jesus Christ, my savior. So, that's usually kind of how I explain it. Yeah, I think that's great. You're you're saying here this isn't a faith in the right faith itself, and it's not a faith in proper knowledge that saves. It's a uh faith in Jesus Christ. And this creed is a tool and a confession about who that god is.

[00:14:28]And so, um, if people are worried about, I don't know, believing something against this, I think what you're saying is is, you know, if you're if you're really attempting to make a confession about a different god or to construct God uh otherwise than this, then try.

[00:14:49]Um, yeah, you have you have the wrong god. Uh, you're knock you're knocking on the door of the wrong god. Um and that is enough even with something as long or complex as the Athanasian creed. Um it is saying that it is enough to to uh believe in the triune God and trust in Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection for your salvation.

[00:15:10]>> Yeah. Exactly. I I totally agree. And um I think that especially in this day and age where um you know faith in some ways is making a comeback but there's a lot of kind of general faith out there like in a sort of force that undergirds the universe or um is infused in kind of everything and everyone. Um there's a kind of cultural Christianity on the rise and you know with uh with these kinds of movements it's often very very nebulous what it is people really believe. They know they have a need for religion but beyond that getting specific about identifying who uh God is and what the Christian message is you know it's important for us to be able to confess that >> before the world.

[00:16:01]>> Yeah. I think one of the things that is changing in the world today is exactly what you said which is when you look at people's responses to things not to say that there aren't people with these reasons still but that a lot of the reason in the past the the sort of rationalist reasons to uh abandon faith in God was human suffering and um and the sort of like the meaning the dark meaning that might be behind some people suffering and some people not um and things like that in the rise of a new western spirituality in the absence of Christianity this is actually the reason people give for having spirituality of some sort believing in a force or believing in in he like something I think it's close to 80% of Americans believe in heaven even though it's now like teetering on 50% of them are Christians like in regular church attending settings so um you know a lot of a lot of non-believers believe in heaven or eternal life or uh a positive spiritual force. And when asked, most of them say it's how they deal with the problem of suffering. It's how they deal with that things are hard in this life, but there's got to be a purpose. Um for Christians, the the creeds work to again um make sure that God is not a nebulous force, >> right? or just >> or some sort of guarantee of, you know, something good on the other side of the hill, you know.

[00:17:31]>> Yeah, exactly. Is there anything else we want to say about this? I know there's >> I I I have one more thing. I know we need to wrap up, but I can do it briefly.

[00:17:38]>> Yeah.

[00:17:39]>> At the uh uh at the end, I believe, of the creed, um there's a a statement about those who do good inheriting eternal life, those who do evil inheriting eternal death.

[00:17:52]>> Mhm. That that's another one that people ask me about. They're like, "Wait a second."

[00:17:55]>> 39. If somebody's reading it, >> okay.

[00:17:59]Um I get the question like, "Hey, aren't we saved by Christ and trusting in him?"

[00:18:05]Um and not by works. And that that's a question I get every year, I think, or almost every year. And the thing that I usually say is, first of all, Jesus speaks this way. Um and so there's nothing inherently wrong with speaking the way that Jesus does.

[00:18:24]And then the second thing is that um who does good? Ask yourself that question.

[00:18:30]Who does good? Where does good come from? Well, it comes from justifying faith ultimately. Um, you know, there's all kinds of proximate goods out in the world, but uh only God can bestow truly good works and uh therefore only from faith and faith alone do truly good works come. And so it's descriptive of who at the last day is going to be saved, not telling you how you are saved.

[00:19:02]>> Yeah, I I think that's I think that's a great explanation. those who have done good and those who have done evil is uh the way it is phrased. And I think for a lot of Christians, our mind goes to every external um alignment of something that we might call good uh being good um works behaved out of coercion of natural law or the knowledge of the natural law um being good. But the scripture is clear and we can confidently say this and and thus Lutheran uh with an extremely strong doctrine of justification that uh you know does not allow works anywhere into that article. Um >> you keep it as far away as possible.

[00:19:46]>> Yeah. uh can in fact confess this because we know what true goodness like actual goodness is and it is not just external works that look good to our eyes and our ears but it is true goodness is only possessed by being in Christ. Um one can only have done good um by being in Christ otherwise all my deeds are sin even the ones that correspond to the law. Yeah. And and at the last day, this is actually the confidence of the believer because what is what is uh the father going to see when he sees you raised from the dead at the last day? Someone who never sinned and only ever did good.

[00:20:28]>> Yeah.

[00:20:28]>> Only on account of Christ.

[00:20:30]>> Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. That's great. I think that's that's fantastic.

[00:20:35]Well, thank you, John. I hope um I hope many of you are uh able to confess this creed this Trinity Sunday. Uh I this video should come up uh the day before for people. So maybe you're watching it on the day of or maybe watching a little bit after. Um you can find the Athanasian Creed free online if uh you don't have access to it. If you're in uh a Lutheran church, it's in your himnil uh as well. You can find it in various ones. If you use LSP, it's in 319. I'm not sure.

[00:21:06]>> It's not in the LCA himnil anymore.

[00:21:08]>> No. Oh, no.

[00:21:09]>> Cut that out.

[00:21:11]>> Uh well, if you're in a Missouri cinned church or a church that uses LSB, um it's in your it's in your himnil. Uh and it's in the book of Concord. You can find it at the the front of the book of Concord as well. But again, free online if you'd like to uh read it and follow online. All right. Thanks for watching.

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[00:21:49]Thanks for watching. Catch you next time. Bye.