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What are Creeds?
“Who do you say that I am?” Christ asks His Disciples. This question appears in the Gospels of Matthew (16:13), Mark (8:27), and Luke (9:18). Too, the answers given as recorded by each of the Evangelists describe the confusion surrounding the Person of Jesus Christ. It appears some people thought he was a great prophet or teacher, but it is only St. Peter who correctly professes the Truth when He says, “You are the Christ.” What would have been an interesting exercise was to round up all the people who had formed an opinion of Jesus and asked the question, “Do you know Who Jesus is?” What you would have found was everyone nodding their head in affirmation, although in reality nobody agreed, despite all appearances. It is what I call agreement-without-consensus.
Confusion is very likely to occur between people in one of two conditions: when the subject matter is deep and mysterious; or when relativism abounds. Unfortunately, when discussing Jesus Christ in the modern day, both of these conditions are met. The only way around these two conditions lies in our being specific in what we are saying and using precise language when we say it. That is the lesson of St. Peter’s profession. It simply is not enough to say, “Jesus is a good teacher,” although He is.; or that “Jesus is a neat prophet,” although He is. The fact is, that while He is both of those things, He is actually much, much more. That is the beauty and awesomeness encapsulated in the word, “Christ,” that St. Peter uses. By using the most perfect word, St. Peter captures as best as language can, the Person of Jesus Christ.
Creeds are developed by the Church to operate just like St. Peter’s profession of Faith—they are precise formulations that capture as best as language can what the Church holds to be the One True Faith. They are meant to combat relativism and ambiguity by articulating positive statements about what Catholics believe, while at the same time being simple and succinct enough for all believers to make a common profession of Faith. When it comes to our Faith, we must hold fast to specificity and Truth (with a capital ‘T’). If we are truly pouring all our hopes and dedicating our lives to that Faith, we better be as certain as possible about what it is. The greatest threat to Faith is doubt, and doubt is caused by confusion and uncertainty. Such confusion and uncertainty are precisely the elements that comprise what Pope Benedict XVI calls the “Dictatorship of Relativism;” when everything is cast into doubt because everything is questioned because there exists no definition. Creeds mean to push back against ambiguity by offering specificity. They begin to hedge against uncertainty by setting a definite and firm foundation. As always, where there is a need, the Church delivers. Her Creeds, like St. Peter’s profession, are meant to exemplify how to answer when we are asked the ever-critical question, “What do you believe?”
Professing a Creed
Professing seems a very personal thing—in fact, you use the first person pronoun, “I,” as you say the creed. Creed is a word that derives from the Latin for “I believe,” which is “credo.” What is probably most amazing about the Creeds, though, is that although you are saying, “I believe,” you are saying it at the same time countless other Faithful are saying exactly the same thing. Quickly, this seemingly personal profession takes on its ultimate significance—a communal profession. “We believe.”
The Catholic Church is a majestic institution whose buildings are just the surface of Her mighty depths. The impressive stones upon which She is supported are not the bricks and mortar of the Church walls, but they are the living stones, you and I, supported by the living stones of the Communion of Saints, the Church hierarchy, and, of course, the Cornerstone, Jesus Christ. Of all the Church’s many attributes that demand reverence and awe, perhaps one of the most profound is Her many members moving together, believing together, thinking together, indeed, professing together.
Faith is not a personal matter, as any good Catholic is aware. It is a community issue. Our Faith, like our unity within the One True Catholic and Apostolic Church, derives from on-going support from the many other living stones. A brick in-and-of-itself, is really no better than a rock…maybe just more well-formed. But it can’t do anything more than a rock. However, its potential is greater. And when it is placed together with other bricks, assembled in a network which demands they support others as they themselves are supported by others, a magnificent achievement occurs—a towering height. Suddenly what was condemned to the ground and the clutches of gravity has transcended to remarkable realms. But not as a loner; not as an “I,” but as a “We.”
“It is not good for man to be alone…” (Gen. 2:18). We need helpers in life. Perhaps most of all we need helpers in Faith—our brothers and sisters, the Church, the Saints, and the Holy Spirit. Together we can reach Heaven—our ladder is Our Communion. This Unity begins by our common profession in the Faith. We say “I” because we believe what we are saying, but we believe it not as our personal interpretations, but as a collective knowledge handed to us by the Church…which just so happens to be one of the things we all say we believe in: “I believe in…the holy catholic Church…” (cf Apostles’ Creed).
Obedience, Freedom and Creeds
Obedience is an out-of-fashion word in our modern times. It seems to strike at the heart of our sense of freedom. Yet, our senses of freedom and obedience have been confused by modernity. Suffice it to say, those professing Creeds are actually freely submitting to a defined set of notions and understandings. Obedience and freedom are essential (not antithetical) elements to any creedal statement.
Have you ever memorized something and were asked to recite it and simply hum-drummingly regurgitate the words? Many of us do this with our prayers, responses during the Mass and even the Creeds, but every now and then we are seized by attentiveness and concentration, and ponder the words we say. Very likely we are mesmerized by the profound implications we utter, but at other times we are left wondering what in the world am I saying? What do I mean when I say “consubstantial,” or “incarnate,” or any other weird word in the Creed?!
Creeds, as discussed before, try to put into language some of the deepest mysteries of our Faith. Language is often insufficient, as is human reason, to grasp many of the most fundamental tenets of our Faith. However, the Holy Spirit can guide our hearts to fathoming what the mind is incapable of reasoning. It is this Spirit that has guided the Church since Her birthday on Pentecost. Filling the Apostles with Truth and zeal, the Spirit enables the Church to not only know the Truth, but to teach the Truth.
When you don’t know something, you ask. You humble yourself to being guided, informed, taught. To be ‘educated’ means, literally, “to be lead forth.” But that means you have to be lead, you have to trust a teacher, to submit to them, in a sense. Obedience is too often shunned because we equate it with slavery. Obeying, however, simply means listening, trusting, being attentive to an authority. When you are taught something by a teacher, when you are educated, you are liberated. Knowledge is power, after all. By being obedient to the Church’s teaching, we are made free.
Creeds are full of mystery, words we don’t understand, concepts we’re not sure about. But we say them. We should hope they mean something, and they do, in fact. It is the Church, however, and not personal interpretation that can shed light on these profound mysteries. If it is freedom we seek, we must submit ourselves to being taught. We must be docile to the Church and profess things we don’t understand, not because we find value in rattling off nonsense, but because we have Faith that we will be guided in Truth, by the Holy Spirit, through Mother Church. It redounds to the merits of our faith to say something we don’t totally understand simply because our teachers said it. In time, we will come to know the meaning of our words. Instead of being discouraged, however, instead of personally interpreting them, let the befuddling utterances cause you to thirst, to hunger for more—let the mysteries you speak, yet know not, draw you closer to the Church and the Person of Jesus Christ, who, lest we forget was referred to as, “Teacher” (John 20:16).
Symbols of Faith
We all have likely heard someone say something very simple and think, “They are really onto something.” Think of a proverb—it says something very brief, and usually particular, yet it can be expounded upon for pages and used in a variety of circumstances. The Creeds, like proverbs, are snippets of much more to discover. The Catechism tells us that they were originally written to state the most basic understanding for the sake of baptismal candidates in the Ancient Church (CCC 186). They were a beginning, not an end; a primer, if you will. St. Cyril of Jerusalem compared the Creeds to “mustard seeds [that] contain a great number of branches in a tiny grain.”
Creeds are symbols. Symbols are only part of the whole story, a sign of something greater. Literally the word means ‘token,’ which are things exchanged for larger, more necessary things. The Creeds open the door. They point us toward something more. Think of the Creed as reading the back of a book or a movie—they set the stage to attract you to the greater events that will revealed by taking the time to watch the whole picture or read the whole story.
The whole story of the Christian Faith is wrapped up in the Holy Trinity—an inexhaustible and unfathomable Reality and Communion that the Church describes as “the central mystery of Christian faith and life.” It is not surprising, then, that the Creeds are divided into three parts, or articles—the first article concerning the Father, the second concerning the Son, the third concerning the Holy Spirit. This threefold organization is the articulated foundational symbol that points us to the inexpressible holiness and perfection of the Trinity. It the first step we take in what becomes our path toward sanctity—embracing that mystery of the Trinity by being in communion with God.
The Creeds as symbols are the most basic catechetical tools, standards of teaching, that to help point others to the greater mysteries. Yet, these symbols, the Creeds, serve as effective prayers, as well. The Faithful may sometimes take these utterances for granted, once we have them memorized we, oddly enough, forget what we are saying. Yet as St. Ambrose writes, “the Creed is the spiritual seal, our heart’s meditation and an ever-present guardian; it is, unquestionably, the treasure of our soul.” Indeed, the Blessed Mother has said in apparitions that the Creed is “the most important prayer.” One can only assume its importance derives from the Truth toward which it points—the Communion of the Trinity, where, of course, the Blessed Mother is residing, and asking us to draw near.
As symbols, Creeds can take many different forms. Two of these forms are widely treasured in the Church: the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed. Yet others exist, and others remain legitimate, so long as they serve as symbols pointing toward the larger reality. Indeed, despite the many different Creeds in the Treasury of the Church, they all point to the same thing: the One True Faith.
