The Nicene Creed - Week 5 w/Pastor Jenn

Good morning, everyone. I can't get this to go

on mute. It is good to be back up here for this

series. I am very excited about it. We are in

another week on our series for the Nicene Creed.

This week is about belief in the Holy Spirit.

Well, obviously, we're dealing with history.

This is like the happiest place I can be in.

But we have spent time really digging into the

meat of what it is that this thing that we've

been a part of, that we have joined a very small

part of it, very small percentage of this large

thing that's been around for 2 ,000 years as

we know it right now. And in our very present

and localized world, it can be very easy to forget

that we're a part of something so big and so

grand and so diverse and so deep that in a world

that is more connected than ever because of social

media, we are also feeling incredibly siloed

and isolated. So it's very easy to forget what

things you're a part of on a grand scale. So

this has been a good review, not only of our

shared history as a global church, but even recognizing

that in the early church, There existed diversity

of thought and experience and ethnicity and nationality.

Those things were quickly knit into the fiber

of... this new way and Christianity spread so

quickly in the first few centuries that it existed

it moved into far corners of the interconnected

world that existed at that time so it's not surprising

that in that amount of time also disagreement

and cultural biases and regional influences affected

the church but like I said development of thought

and theology and experience and points of view

were also a part of it so how the church quickly

became all of us It became something that represented

not just the group in Jerusalem or in the group

in Palestine, but it quickly became the church

that represented every tribe, every tongue, every

nation. And that is an incredible thing to think

about, that that was, like I said, knit into

the fiber of the church right away because of

how fast it spread. What that meant, though,

was we needed a way of common understanding.

We don't all need to think the exact same way,

but we need some common understanding about what

the core of what this thing is that we adhere

to. And so the creeds were designed as a way

of recognizing what the irreducible minimums

were while being explicit on the most important

matters. How do we understand divinity and what

does it mean for our salvation? And at their

core, creeds are... connected with salvation.

As stated in the Nicene Creed, the line, one

of the lines is for us and for our salvation,

Jesus came down from heaven. And so even though

it can feel like we're getting into the reeds

of theology and history and the grammar even,

it was for clarity to get us to the core point,

which is our salvation through Jesus. In brief.

All of its clarifications were at the service

of guarding and amplifying the saving work of

God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

So we've spent the last two weeks on two parts

of the Trinity. Now we're going to get to the

third part. That's what I'm trying to say. So

we are at the part of the creed that says, the

Holy Spirit is the Lord, the giver of life, who

proceeds from the Father and the Son and is worshiped

and glorified with the Father and the Son. So

we're going to take a moment to pray here and

then we'll move forward. So Lord, today, will

you reveal yourself to us in new and fresh ways

or in familiar ways that perhaps we have forgotten?

We are asking. for you to enlighten our minds

and open our minds in regards to the Holy Spirit

and what our relationship with the Holy Spirit

looks like in terms of our relationship with

you. How do we relate to that component of the

Trinity and understand it within the history

and scriptural context that we can look at it

in? And so we're asking for your wisdom, your

spirit to speak to us and to guide us in all

truth. We pray this in your name. Amen. Okay,

so I'm going to give a brief overview on the

historical context of all this because it matters.

Jump in. We find ourselves back in the 4th century.

So early 4th century, 306, Constantine becomes

emperor of the Roman Empire. He lived in Rome,

home of the empire. That makes sense. But while

on holiday for his sister's wedding, he thought

he would just do some business with some other

folks and decided, oh, guys, Christianity is

now legal. The era of persecuting all of them

is over. We're moving forward. This is 313. Edict

of Milan. And he's also a believer at this point

now. So Constantine, living in Rome, I should

probably do this. This is the west and this is

the east to you guys. So Constantine, living

in Rome, starts also renovating Byzantium. which

is gonna become the future home of the empire.

So he's doing all these renovations. He's like,

you know what? The empire's kind of in chaos

because of this religious disunity, these arguments

that these folks are having. This seems like

a good place to get everybody together to figure

it out because the empire is kind of in a fragile

state and we gotta figure it out. So this is

325. So as I said, He's now a professed believer.

He's kind of in the culture of this all. He reaches

out to all the bishops. They know it's okay to

come out of the woodwork. It's safe for them.

They all come to Nicaea. They talk about big

things that were happening, like the biggest

one being, is Jesus actually? God? That's kind

of a big question. It hadn't really found a landing

point for everybody yet. We're 300 years past

Jesus's death at this point. And they're like,

do we agree on this? We don't. So they needed

to come to some conclusions. That's really hard

to say. They needed to come to some conclusions.

There existed these statements of faith in the

different regions of the empire. They kind of

were like a little like localized, like the Antioch

church and the Alexandrian diocese and the Jerusalem

one. They all kind of had their like, when you

would get baptized, you would make the statement

of faith. They were basically like, hey, let's

pull together what we are saying. And what do

we, again, what are our irreducible minimums?

What do we agree on? So jump over to 330. Constantine

is like, you know what, Byzantium, you're cool.

I'm going to slap my name on you and call you

Constantinople. We are now here. That is a big

deal because it now becomes the home of the empire.

So, you know, Rome was the it girl. Now it's

Constantinople. Like, how would you feel if you

got your empire taken away from you? So this

is kind of the situation that's going on. Lots

of disagreements, lots of agitation. The church

is kind of figuring itself out. And even though

they did agree in the first council in 325, you

know what? We do say Jesus is in fact the son

of God. We believe that scripture confirms that.

Even though that got agreed on and they exiled

the people who were really divisive, it doesn't

mean that that stuff went away. In fact, it kind

of sprouted new shoots and like grew new branches

in the areas of like. But now the Holy Spirit,

what do we think about that? So the next council

was held in 381 to discuss this point. This was,

even though they had said in the first creed,

yes, we believe in the Holy Spirit, there wasn't

really definition on it. They didn't, they weren't

explicit. They weren't super, super clear. But

listen, 56 years is between those two councils.

That's a long time for that question just to

sort of be hanging out there. In the big picture,

It was unresolved, but in the smaller spaces,

it was getting talked about. So we had these

bishops in these big places, like Alexandria,

a huge center of learning, and they're starting

to really, really deal with this at the local

level. So they start writing letters to each

other, fleshing out this stuff about what do

we feel about the Holy Spirit. So they really

start digging into it with letters and like their

own sort of local writings. Because the divinity

of the Holy Spirit was not broadly clear. So

I'm going to introduce you to some early church

fathers. Let me be clear, there were church mothers

too. Are they written down in everybody's history

books? We know they're not. But they existed

and they were amazing. But I'm going to introduce

you to some key players. So Athanasia. Athanasius

was down in Alexandria in northern Egypt. Like

I said, huge center of learning. He had his pen

pal Serapion down in the south in lower Egypt.

Basil the Great, which is a great name. Basil

the Great, and then his brother, Gregory of Nyssa.

These guys were over in Cappadocia, which is

like central Turkey. And then Gregory of Nazianzus,

which I never say well, and I have to slow down.

But these guys were the ones that were writing

some of the bulk of what we actually have primary

sources still of, that you can go and see what

they were fleshing out in regards to the Holy

Spirit. I think that is super cool. So they were

writing extensively about this and they stood

firmly against the teachings of Arius and took

this topic deeply to heart. Their study of scriptures

and their writings were in direct response to

what is now and was agreed upon in 325, heretical

teaching that stated that the Holy Spirit was,

this was the thinking that Arius had. The Holy

Spirit is a creature, a made being, a created

being. versus existing eternally with God the

Father and Jesus the Son. So the idea that the

Holy Spirit was created and not came forth as

a part of the Trinity, that was the thing that

was really, really causing the biggest problems.

So if the idea is that... The Holy Spirit is

a creature. It is there to do the bidding of

God and Jesus. Does that make sense how that

would make sense to the people who thought that?

That was the idea. And so through this message,

we're going to lean really heavily on the actual

work that these church fathers did as they combed

like thoroughly through the scriptures to see

what, in fact, the scripture said about the Holy

Spirit. And these writings and these people were

incredibly instrumental in what would be discussed

and developed and decided at the council in 381.

Not all of them actually made it there. Some

of them died before that time, but their writings

were so important. The question of the Holy Spirit's

divinity became the key issue of the council.

So the Nicene Councils, 325 and later 381, were...

really important. As we saw, Constantine was

literally worried about the empire having a crisis

of unity, potentially breaking apart. The creed

itself was not actually broadly known across

the empire until the Council of Chalcedon in

451. Guys, that's 125 years after the first council.

This is a long time to not land on a theological

issue, isn't it? But let me tell you, the laboring

was like, That's a real thing. You don't want

to just be quick to land on something important

like this. Bear with me for a moment if I might

offer an illustration. Guys, remember in Lord

of the Rings that the return of the king. Listen,

when Mary and Pippin are taken by Treebeard to

the council of the Ents, the Entmoot. This is

important. After the Ents were like, this is

not our war. And Merry and Pippin were like,

great. But they're going to talk and decide that

it is their war. And then they're going to fight

Sauron and join the fight against Sauron. Do

you guys remember that? This is it. They were

all so excited. And then the Ents, they sway.

You remember the scene? They sway and they hum.

And they sway and they hum for hours. And then

Treebeard, the giant tree, says, I know he's

not a tree for people who are really like Lord

of the Rings people. He is an Ent. They're like.

we have decided. And Mary and Pippin are like,

are we going? And he's like, you're not orcs.

And they're like, oh my gosh. So that's what

all that time was spent on. So listen, 125 years,

you're like, we're not there yet. Like in 56

years, we didn't get it. We're like, it took

forever. So anyway. By 451, they locked in. They

finally locked in. The Holy Spirit is of the

Father and the Son. They did it. They got there,

which may seem silly to us now, but of course,

right, we assume now. Like, isn't that so clear

that the Holy Spirit is one with God the Father

and one with the Son? We assume it is, but listen,

it took a long time because it actually isn't

very clear. Very little, in truth, is actually

said about the origin of the Holy Spirit in the

scriptures. And there were arguments to be made,

and they were worth the time it took to figure

that out. The challenge lay in that the scriptures,

notably the New Testament, where we see much

of the Holy Spirit at work, has much to say about

the mission of the Spirit and the work of the

Spirit, but most of these testimonies apply to

the activity of the Spirit in the world and not

directly addressing the question of the Spirit's

ultimate origin. Do you see why this could be

an issue? And so it certainly wasn't, for example,

as clear as... The origin of Jesus, which is

laid out so nicely in John. In the beginning

was the Word, and the Word was with God, and

the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made. Without him

nothing was made that has been made. That's a

very concise origin story. If you needed just

like a pitch, a pitch origin story, that would

be it. Tell me this in less than one minute.

Done. We don't have that with the Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit does not have a clear origin story.

And so simply stating belief in the Holy Spirit,

which the first creed did, we believe in the

Holy Spirit. But that wasn't quite enough because

it still left too much room for heresy. So the

question was, what are we professing to believe?

Because here are some of the implications. If

the spirit is, as we said, a creature, if it

is created, then it is subordinate to its creator.

And then you don't have a trinity, you have two.

You have a binatarian God. And the trinity then,

or excuse me, the Holy Spirit is then an errand

runner. out to do the work of those that made

it. But scripture says that the spirit lives

in us. But if it's a created being that isn't

co -equal with God, then it sets up a weird structure

in which the Holy Spirit is sort of the software

we run on, but it isn't actually transforming

us. It's just the program. However, if the spirit

is co -equal with God, one with the Trinity,

then the Spirit requires our full attention and

our full worship and our full adoration. If the

Spirit is co -equal in the Trinity, fully divine

in its nature, then the Spirit living in us is

able and capable to be at work in us, transforming

us into the likeness of Christ. And so it is

certainly broader than that, but I think you

can see that the nature of the Holy Spirit and

the origin of it, matters, right? So it was not

enough, they discovered, to simply say, we believe

in the Holy Spirit. We had to understand what

the source was. So those that wrestled with all

of this, while seeking the kind of clarification

that left no room for unorthodox teaching, they

also didn't want to eliminate the very real and

beautiful mystery that is a part of the reality

of knowing the divine. They did not want to reduce

everything down to being knowable and fully understandable

and graspable to a finite human mind. They wanted

to be true but with care. Facts matter, but we

also don't want to have over -factualizing. We

don't want to try to factualize everything that

the mystery actually is important for. Meaning

that they did not have to scrub the scriptures

clean of wonder and awe that comes with communion

with the divine. So it was a very careful thing

at hand. And so while they sought clarity, they

did not attempt to explain everything. Instead,

understanding that scripture was allowed to hold

mystery. and that it revealed its truth in ways

that weren't always explicit, they saw in the

scriptural revelation a clear link between the

Spirit and the Son and the Father in unique characteristics

that were true to all of them. And that identified

its oneness with God, the Father, and the Son.

So in the letters and the writings of the earlier

mentioned church fathers, three complementary

characteristics or categories emerge that help

give clarity to the position of the Holy Spirit.

So first, what are the titles given? The titles,

according to the Spirit in the New Testament,

align with the titles used for the Father and

the Son, showing the Spirit. to be God, because

the titles are shared. I'm going to use Basil

the Great's own words, and he gives us aids from

his writing. The Spirit shares titles that are

held in common by the Father and the Son. He

receives those titles due to his natural and

intimate relationship with the Father and the

Son. Where else would they come from? So he goes

through the list and then gives references. The

Holy Spirit is called spirit as God is spirit.

John 4, 24, God is spirit and his worshipers

must worship in the spirit and in truth. He goes

on to say, he is called holy as the father is

holy and the son is holy. That's a shared title.

The spirit is holy. For creatures, holiness comes

from outside. For the spirit, if you are one

with the father and the son, holiness fills the

very nature. He is not sanctified, but is sanctifying.

John 14, 26 says, but the advocate, the helper,

the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in

my name, will teach you all things and will remind

you of everything I have said to you. The title

is holy. He is called good as the Father is good.

The essence of the Spirit embraces the goodness

of the Father. Psalm 143 .10, teach me to do

your will for you are my God. May your good Spirit

lead me on level ground. The title is good. And

he is called upright. The Lord my God is upright

because he is truth and righteousness personified.

Psalm 5110. Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew an upright spirit within my inmost

being. Psalm 9215. So that they may announce

that the Lord our God is righteous and that there

is no iniquity in him. What has been named. Upright

in God and Jesus has also been given to the Spirit.

And he shares the name paraclete or helper with

the only begotten advocate who said, I will ask

the Father and he will send you another helper,

another advocate. John 14, 16, and I will ask

the Father, this is Jesus speaking, I will ask

the Father and he will give you another advocate

who will never leave you. And so names are given

to the Spirit that are in common with the Father

and the Son. Secondly, activities of the Spirit

are shared with the Father and the Son. What

the Spirit does show that the Spirit is God because

only one who is God could do what the Spirit

does. So Athanasius gives us highlights in the

spirit's role in transforming us as conclusive

evidence that the spirit is fully God. Because

only God can create and make new. A created being

cannot create out of nothing. Only the creator

can. So Athanasius' letter to Serapion, if the

Holy Spirit were a made creature, we would have

no participation. God through him. If indeed

we were joined to a creature, we would be strangers

to the divine nature because neither of us can

partake in it. But the fact that we're called

partakers of Christ and partakers of God shows

that the anointing and the seal that is in us

belongs not to the something created, but to

the nature of the Son. through the spirit who

is in him and that joins us to the father because

their natures are all one john said first john

4 13 and god has given us his spirit as proof

that we live in him and he in us so if by participation

in the spirit we are made sharers by participating

in the spirit we are made sharers of the divine

nature I love how he says, we would be insane

to say that the Spirit has a created nature and

not the nature of God. Finally, in the doxologies

we find in the New Testament, to the Father,

to the Son, and to the Spirit together. They

show that the Spirit is truly God. For the Fathers,

the biblical passages that most clearly show

the Spirit's full divinity. are the brief doxologies

that show up in these letters, where the Spirit

is aligned with the Father and the Son. The passage

that stands out comes from the end of Matthew's

Gospel, where Jesus says, you likely all know

this, Go therefore and make disciples of all

nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father

and the Son and the Holy Spirit. When we have

our baptisms, we continue on with this tradition.

The sacramental act of baptism is accomplished

in the name, singular, not plural, of the Father

and the Son and of the Spirit. That's important,

that it is one singular name that includes Father,

Son, and Spirit. More than any other biblical

passage, this reference to the single name demonstrates

the equality of the three Trinitarian persons

and shows their co -divinity. We are baptized

not into a created being that is subordinate

to creators, but we are baptized into one God,

the Father, one Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

One baptism, one God. So Paul's prayer at the

close of his second letter to the Corinthians

also witnesses to the equality of the Father,

Son, and the Spirit as worthy of one common adoration.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love

of God and the fellowship of the Spirit be with

you all. 2 Corinthians 13, 14. Grace is referred

to in the Son, love is referred to in the Father,

and fellowship is referred to in the Spirit.

But the three are linked in one closing prayer,

a doxology. And doxologies are not offered to

created beings, are they? We're not looking to

get here when we could get here, right? We want

to be one with the Trinitarian God. And so by

offering this prayer that requests the blessing

of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, Paul

shows that he considers them equally God, though

also clearly distinct in character from one another,

but still one. Gregory of Nazianzus nearly uses

this passage above that I just read as a model

for consideration for how God revealed himself,

then Jesus, then Jesus revealed the Spirit. So

from his orations, he says here, perfection is

actually reached by additions, not by subtractions.

For the matter is this. The Old Testament proclaimed

the Father openly, but the Son more obscurely.

The New Testament manifested the Son fully and

suggested the deity of the Spirit. And now...

The Spirit himself dwells among us and supplies

us with clear demonstration of himself. For it

was not safe when the Godhead of the Father was

not yet acknowledged. Plainly to proclaim the

Son. You can't proclaim the Son until the Godhead

is fully realized. Nor when that of the Son was

not yet received, it made no sense to burden

the listeners further. with the full truth of

the Holy Spirit. And he says, like men loaded

with food beyond their strength or presenting

eyes as yet too weak to bear into the sun's light.

You know when you walk outside and you hit the

sun and you're like, or in the morning you turn

on the light. I love that he uses those illustrations

to say, don't add the Holy Spirit yet to Jesus

until Jesus is fully realized. But then at the

right time, now by greater additions, now we

have the fullness of the spirit. And God revealed

each of those in all the right time. He says

it advances and progresses from glory to glory.

So for this reason, it was, I think that he gradually

came to dwell in the disciples. He says, measuring

himself out to them according to their capacity

to receive them. I love that measuring. I think

about like. Actually, like, scooping out, you

know, measurements. At the beginning of the gospel,

after the passion, after the ascension, making

perfect their powers, being breathed upon and

appearing in fiery tongues. And indeed, it is

little by little that he is declared by Jesus,

as you will learn for yourselves if you will

read more carefully. I love the way he says this.

He says that Jesus offers, I will ask the Father,

he says. He will send you another comforter,

even the spirit of truth. Then he says, and he

says it in order that they might not think that

this is a rival to God or to make comparisons.

But then the next step is he goes on to say he

shall send him, but now he's adding it's in my

name. He's adding a little bit more. And he leaves

out the I will ask, but he keeps the shall send.

You see? He keeps adding a little bit more, introducing

it a little bit more. And then he goes on to

say that with his own dignity on the line, then

shall come the authority of the Spirit. Jesus

himself is acknowledging the authority of the

Spirit finally. And so in these little doses,

the Spirit was offered. And so the council updated

the creeds. After all this combing and combing

and figuring and writing and praying and scripture

study, the council updated the creed. So I want

to show on the first slide a comparison of the

creed from 325 to 381, I think. Is it in there,

Liam? There we are. So look, the first creed

said we believe in the Holy Ghost. The second

one needed to be real explicit. And in the Holy

Ghost, the Lord and giver of life, not a created

being, but a creator himself, who proceeds from

the Father, comes directly from the Father, from

the same being, who with the Father and the Son

together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke

by the prophets. The second time, go to the next

slide. The second time it shows up in the creed.

The original from 325 says, Who for us men and

for our salvation came down. It's talking about

Jesus and was incarnate and was made man. The

second version is, Who for us men and our salvation

came down from heaven and was incarnate. Incarnate

by the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary and

was made man. Putting the Holy Spirit in the

same language as Jesus so that there would be

no confusion. about the nature of the Spirit.

And so the changes in the parts referring to

the Holy Spirit are some of the most critical

and drastic updates to the Creed. They were in

direct response to the conversations that had

been happening. And that was a pretty big deal.

And so now, if the Holy Spirit is God, then what

must also be true? That the Holy Spirit shares

in the full. lordship of the trinity and is to

be honored and glorified receiving equal worship

as the son and the father the worship of the

one true god alone as in fact the core meaning

of the commandment you shall have no other gods

before me exodus 23 In the long history of Israel,

the plunge into idolatry was a constant temptation,

and the prophets constantly called Israel back

to follow and worship only the Lord, the one

true God. And so, according to the creed, true

worship of the one God means honoring the Father,

the Son, and the Spirit as one Lord, with one

common adoration. And in the context, in the

historical context of forging the Nicene Creed,

of forging, excuse me, the Nicene Creed, where

a group of bishops were teaching that the Spirit

was merely a creature, a created entity at work

for the Father and the Son, this updated statement

expressed in clear, plain, and unambiguous language

that the Spirit was fully God and was equally

worthy to be worshipped in one adoration with

the Father and the Son. That was significant.

It is how we understand Christendom to be true

now, right? This is like the given, but this

was fraught discussion. I'm so grateful for these

early church parents of ours who fought this

fight, as it were, to say that truth is important,

that God, in fact, is one, and it matters. how

we understand it. It matters how we declare it.

It matters how we confess it. And so in closing

today, I want to offer just simply what does

that mean for us? Here we are, a lot of years

later, 1 ,700 years later from this. I want to

encourage you to use the communion time that

we're about to have to ask the Spirit what this

means for you. And to remind yourself, too, that

what is true of Jesus, what is true of God, is

true of the Spirit as well. That the Spirit can

be trusted to speak truth to you and not to lead

you astray. That the Spirit will act in accordance

to what you know to be true about the goodness

of the Father and the goodness of the Son. They

cannot act in opposition to each other. What

is true of the Spirit? that you need to be reminded

of, that you know to be true about God the Father

and God the Son, but have not held close about

the Spirit. So Alex, I'm going to invite you

up. I think you're on communion today. And I

want to invite you all to take some time to consider

the presence of the Holy Spirit as a co -equal

part of the divinity, equally worthy of our recognition

as lordship. As Lord and worthy of full worship.