THE ATHANASIAN CREED

Evangelical Edition

 



Whosoever will be saved must believe in the One True God as He has revealed Himself to us in the Bible (Psalm 103:11&17), and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ according to the Gospel (Acts
6:31). That is the Universal Christian faith apart from which there is no salvation (Mark 16:16).

And God has revealed Himself in Scripture as one God in three Persons and three Persons in one God without combining the Persons or dividing the Deity.

For the Father is one Person (Luke 23:34), the Son is another Person (Matthew 3:17), and the Holy Ghost is yet another Person (John 14:16, 17 & 26).

But the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are One God (James 2:19, 1 John 5:7): Therefore, Their glory is equal and Their majesty is coeternal.

Those things pertaining to the Deity of the Father are true also of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

As the Father was never created (Psalm 90:2), the Son was never created (Micah 5:2), and the Holy Ghost was never created (Hebrews 9:14).

As the Father is incomprehensible (Romans 11:33), the Son is incomprehensible (John 1:1), and the Holy Ghost is incomprehensible (1 Corinthians 2:11).

As the Father is eternal (Isaiah 63:16), the Son is eternal (Micah 5:2, John 8:58), and the Holy Ghost is eternal (Hebrews 9:14).

And yet they are not three Eternal Beings, but one Eternal Being (Mark 12:29).

Likewise there are not three Uncreated Beings or three Incomprehensible Beings, but one Uncreated Being and one Incomprehensible Being (Deuteronomy 6:4, Job 9:10 and 37:5, Psalm 90:2, Isaiah 43:10, 1 Timothy 6:16).

So likewise the Father is almighty (Jeremiah 32:18, 2 Corinthians 6:8), the Son almighty (Revelation 1:8,18, Isaiah 9:6), and the Holy Ghost almighty (Ezekiel 10:5, 1 Corinthians 3:16-17).

And yet they are not three Almighty Beings, but one Almighty Being (Mark 12:32).

So the Father is God (1 Peter 1:2), the Son is God (1 Timothy 3:16, Hebrews 1:8) and the Holy Ghost is God (Acts 5:3-4).

And yet they are not three Gods, but one God (Mark 12:32).

So likewise the Father is Lord (Matthew 11:25), the Son is Lord (2 Timothy 1:2), and the Holy Ghost is Lord (Isaiah 40:13, Job 33:4).

And yet they are not three Lords, but one Lord (1 John 5:7).

For as we are compelled by Scripture to recognize each person by Himself to be God and Lord, So we are forbidden by Scripture to say that there are three Gods or three Lords.

The Father was not made by anyone, nor was He created or begotten (Psalm 90:2).

The Son is of the Father alone, not made or created, but begotten (John 3:18).

The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son, neither made nor created nor begotten, but proceeding (John 15:26, Romans 8:9).

So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.

And in this Unity-Of-Three none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another;
But the three Persons are together coeternal and coequal (John 5:18, Philippians 2:5-7), so as being in all things one God in three Persons they are to be worshiped together in Unity as Three in One (1 John 5:7).

For this is the God of the Bible outside of Whom there is no salvation.

Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation for one to believe in Jesus Christ as the incarnate Son of God and in His death as the atonement for our sin.

For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man (Romans 1:3-4); God of the substance as His Father (John 10:30), always existing as the only begotten Son of God (Micah 5:2, John 17:5); and Man of the substance of His mother (Romans 1:3), born in the world (Matthew 1:18); Truly and completely God (Titus 2:13) and truly and completely Man (1 Timothy 2:5), consisting of both body and soul (Mark 15:37-39).

As God He is equal to the Father (Philippians 2:6) yet as man inferior to the Father (1 Corinthians 15:28); Who while being both God and Man is not two individuals or two Christs, but one individual, one Christ (1 Corinthians 8:6, 1 Timothy 2:5).

One, not by conversion of Deity into flesh (Malachi 3:6), but by taking manhood into God (Hebrews 2:14, Philippians 2:5-7); One altogether; not by mixing divinity with humanity (Malachi 3:6), but by uniting the two in one person (Jeremiah 23:5-6, Colossians 2:9, John 14:9).

For as man consists of both body and soul, so Christ consists of both Deity and humanity (1 Timothy 2:5, 1 John 5:20); And Christ suffered for our salvation (1 Peter 2:21), died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3), descended into hell (1 Peter 3:18-19), rose again the third day from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:4), ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9-11), and there sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty (Mark 16:19); from whence He shall come to judge both the living and the dead (2 Timothy 4:1).

At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall give account of their own works (John 5:29 and 6:39-40), and at that judgement only those who have in this life (2 Corinthians 6:2) looked to Christ for mercy, trusting in His sacrifice for forgiveness (Titus 3:5, Romans 3:25), shall be without sin and counted as doers of good in the sight of God (Romans 3:28, Romans 4:5, Romans 10:4&11).

And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil, into everlasting fire (John 5:29, Matthew 25:31- 46).

This is the Universal Christian Faith apart from which there is no salvation.
 
 

   Footnote: Athanasius was an early African Christian bishop who defended the doctrine of the Trinity against the heresy of Arius. Because he was a short dark skinned man the Arians referred to him contemptuously as the "black dwarf". In 367AD he added the book of James to the list of sacred books that became the New Testament.