Sermon 214

SERMO 214

In the handing over of the Creed

The creed of faith established.

According to the measure of our age and rudiments, for the initiation of the assumed duty and in the effect of love towards you, who are now ministering at the altar to which you will approach, we ought not to defraud you of the ministry of the word. The Apostle says: "For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." This is what the Creed builds in you, which you ought to believe and confess, so that you may be saved. And indeed, what you are about to receive briefly, to be committed to memory and pronounced by the mouth, are not new or unheard for you. For in the holy Scriptures and in ecclesiastical discourses, you are accustomed to hear these in many ways. But they are to be handed to you briefly collected and reduced to a certain order and tightly bound, so that your faith may be built, your confession prepared, and your memory not burdened. These are what you ought faithfully to retain and memorize diligently.

After this prologue, the entire Creed must be recited without any inserted discussion: I believe in God the Father Almighty, and the rest that follows in it. This Creed, you know, is not usually written down. Once said, this discussion is to be added.

God the Almighty created all things out of nothing.

What you have briefly heard, you ought not only to believe, but also to commit to memory in the same words and to utter with your mouth. But since we must defend against those who think differently and are captivated by the devil, who lie in wait for the faith and oppose salvation, remember to believe in Almighty God such that there is no nature at all which He did not create. And therefore, He punishes sin, which He did not make, because it defiles the nature that He made. Therefore, all visible and invisible creatures, whatever can participate in unchangeable truth with a rational mind, like angels and humans; whatever lives and senses, even if lacking intellect, like all animals on land, in water, and in the air, walking, crawling, swimming, flying; whatever is said to live without intellect or any sense, in whatever way, like those rooted in the earth and sprouting and rising into the air; whatever solely occupies space by its bulk, like stone, and any visible or even tangible elements of the world's structure; all these things the Almighty made, joining the lowest and highest with the middle, and arranging all that He created in suitable places and times. He made them not out of any matter which He did not make Himself. For He did not shape something foreign but established what He would shape. For whoever says that He could not make something out of nothing, how can he believe that the Almighty made it? Without doubt, he denies the Almighty who says that God could not make the world if He did not have something from which to make it. For what kind of omnipotence is there, where such need exists, that He could not bring about the effect of His work, like a craftsman, unless helped by material which He did not establish? Therefore, let him purify his mind from these opinions and errors who believes in the Almighty God. For that which is called the formless material of things, capable of forms and subject to the work of the Creator, can be converted into all things which the Creator wished to make. God did not find it as coeternal with Himself, from which to fabricate the world, but He Himself instituted it from absolutely nothing, along with the things He made from it. Nor did it exist before the things themselves, which seem to have been made from it: henceforth the Almighty first made everything from nothing, along with which He also made wherefrom He made. The material of heaven and earth, just as these were created in the beginning, was co-created simultaneously with them; nor was there anything from which to make the things that God made in the beginning: and yet there are the things that the Almighty made, which He composed, filled, and adorned. For if He made them in the beginning, He certainly made them from nothing; also from these things He made, He can make whatever He wills because He is Almighty.

While the wicked do what God does not want, God makes of them what He Himself wants.

Nor should the wicked therefore believe that God is not omnipotent, because they do many things against His will. For even when they do what He does not will, He will make from these things what He wills. In no way, then, do they either change or overcome the will of the Omnipotent: for whether a man is justly condemned or mercifully liberated, the will of the Omnipotent is fulfilled. What, therefore, the Omnipotent does not will, He alone cannot achieve. He therefore uses the wicked, not according to their perversity, but according to His own righteous will. For just as the wicked, by their nature good, that is, by their own good work, use it badly, so He, being good, even uses their wicked works for good, lest the will of the Omnipotent be in any way overcome. For if He did not have what good to do justly and well from the wicked, He would in no way allow them either to be born or to live; He did not make them wicked, because He made them human; because He did not create sins, which are against nature, but created natures themselves. Yet He could not be ignorant, foreseeing that they would be wicked; but just as He knew what evils they would do, so also He knew what good He would make from them. Who can explain in words, who can match in praises, how much good the passion of the Savior has bestowed upon us, whose blood was shed for the remission of sins? And yet this great good was fulfilled through the malice of Satan, through the malice of the Jews, through the malice of Judas the traitor. Nor is the good justly attributed to them, which God, not they, bestowed upon men through them; but punishment is justly attributed to them, because they wished to harm. Just as we could find something that is evident to us, how God used even the wicked works of the devil, the Jews, and Judas the traitor for our redemption and salvation; so, in the hidden and obscure depths of all creation, which we penetrate with neither the eyes nor the acumen of the mind, He knows how God uses wickedness for good, so that in all things that arise and are administered in the world, the will of the Omnipotent is fulfilled.

What the Almighty does not will, that alone he cannot do.

But since I said that the Omnipotent can only not do what he does not will, lest anyone thinks I rashly said that the Omnipotent cannot do anything, the blessed Apostle also said: If we do not believe, he remains faithful, he cannot deny himself. But because he does not will it, he cannot, for he cannot will it. For justice cannot will to do what is unjust, wisdom cannot will what is foolish, nor can truth will what is false. Hence we are admonished that God is omnipotent, not only in what the Apostle says: He cannot deny himself, but in many things he cannot. Behold, I say, and dare to say in his truth, which I do not dare to deny: God the Omnipotent cannot die, cannot change, cannot be deceived, cannot become miserable, cannot be overcome. These and similar things, far be it from the Omnipotent to be able to do. And therefore, not only does the truth show that he is omnipotent because he cannot do these things, but it also compels the truth to state that he is not omnipotent who can do these things. For God is whatever he wills to be; therefore he is eternal, immutable, truthful, blessed, and invincible as he wills to be. Therefore, if he can be what he does not will, he is not omnipotent; but he is omnipotent, therefore he can do whatever he wills. And thus, what he does not will, he cannot be; for which reason he is called omnipotent, because he can do whatever he wills. Of whom the Psalm also says: In heaven and on earth, he has done all that he willed.

Jesus Christ, the only Son of God.

God, therefore, almighty, who did all things that he wished, begot the only Word through which all things were made: but this not from nothing, but from himself: therefore he did not make, but begot. For in the beginning he made heaven and earth: however, he did not make the Word in the beginning; because: in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This is God from God. However, the Father is God, but not from God. This is the only Son of God, because from the substance of the Father, co-eternal, equal to the Father, no other son exists. The Word is God: not like a word whose sound can be thought in the heart and uttered with the mouth; but, as it is said, which cannot be said more briefly and better: the Word was God. Remaining unchangeably with the Father, and immutable himself with the Father, of whom the Apostle says: Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. For to be equal to the Father is his nature, not robbery. Thus we believe in Jesus Christ, the only Son of God the Father, our Lord.

Born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary.

But because he, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, by whom we were created, that he might seek and save what was lost, emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man: so we believe in him that he was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. For both his births are truly to be believed as wondrous, both of divinity and humanity. One is from the Father without a mother, the other from the mother without a father; one is without any time, the other in an acceptable time; one is eternal, the other opportune; one is without a body in the bosom of the Father, the other with a body, in which the virginity of the mother was not violated; one without any sex, the other without any male embrace. Hence we say he was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, because when the holy Virgin asked of the angel: How shall this be? he replied: The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Then he added: Therefore that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. He did not say: "That which is born of thee shall be called the Son of the Holy Spirit." For the whole man, that is the rational soul and body, was assumed by the Word, that there might be one Christ, one Son of God, not only the Word, but also the Word and man: all this pertains to the Son of God the Father on account of the Word, and the son of man on account of the man. Through that by which he is the Word, he is equal to the Father: through that by which he is man, the Father is greater. And at the same time with the man he is the Son of God, but on account of the Word by whom the man was assumed; and at the same time with the Word he is the son of man, but on account of the man who is assumed by the Word. On account of his holy conception in the womb of the Virgin, not made by the burning of carnal desire, but by the fervent love of faith, he is therefore said to be born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary; so that one of these pertains not to the begetter, but to the sanctifier, the other to the conceiver and bearer. Therefore he says: that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Because "holy," therefore "of the Holy Spirit"; because born of thee, therefore "of the Virgin Mary"; because the Son of God, therefore "the Word made flesh."

Crucified under Pontius Pilate and buried.

It was necessary, however, that in the assumed man, He who was invisible would be seen and He who was co-eternal with the Father would be born temporally, that He who was intangible would be held, that He who was insuperable would be suspended on wood, that He who was inviolable would be fastened with nails, and that life and immortality would die on the cross and be buried in the tomb; all this is our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Hence, it follows that we believe with the heart for righteousness and confess with the mouth for salvation that this same only-begotten Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, not only was a man born of man, but also endured human suffering up to death and burial. For, as the whole Son of God, our only Lord Jesus Christ, the Word and man, and to be more specific, the Word, soul, and flesh; it pertains to the whole that He was sorrowful in soul alone up to death, because the only Son of God, Jesus Christ, was sorrowful; it pertains to the whole that He was crucified in human form alone, because the only Son of God, Jesus Christ, was crucified; it pertains to the whole that He was buried in flesh alone, because the only Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, was buried. From the point we started to say we believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, anything else we say about Him is implicitly understood as referring to Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, our Lord. Do not be surprised: thus we say the only Son of God, Jesus Christ, our Lord, was buried, when only His flesh was buried, just as we say, for instance, that the Apostle Peter lies in the tomb today, while we indeed truly say that he rejoices in rest with Christ. For we speak of the same Apostle: there are not two apostles Peter, but one. Therefore, we speak of him as the same person both lying in the tomb with his body alone and rejoicing with Christ in spirit alone. Furthermore, it is added: Under Pontius Pilate; whether to confirm the truth of the time or to recommend more the humility of Christ, who suffered so much under a human judge, He who is to come as the judge of the living and the dead with so much power.

He rose again, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father.

On the third day, He truly resurrected in the flesh, but no longer to experience death thereafter. This was proven by His disciples with their eyes and hands, and so great a goodness would not deceive their faith, nor would the truth mislead. But for the sake of brevity, it is quickly added that He ascended into heaven. For forty days He was with His disciples, lest the great miracle of His resurrection, if He were quickly taken away from their eyes, would be considered an illusion. Now, He sits at the right hand of the Father; which, with the eyes of faith, we must wisely regard, lest we think He is immovably fixed in some seat, so that He is not permitted to stand or walk. For it is not because the holy Stephen said he saw Him standing, that therefore either Stephen saw falsely or disturbed the words of this Creed. Let it not be thought, let it not be said. But His dwelling in the supreme and ineffable beatitude is signified in this way, that He is said to sit there. Whence also seats are called dwellings, as when we ask where someone is, and it is answered: “In their seats.” And concerning the servants of God, it is especially said most often: “He sat in that monastery for so many years”; that is, he rested, stayed, dwelled. Nor does holy Scripture ignore this form of speech. For sure, Shimei, ordered by King Solomon to dwell in the city of Jerusalem, under the added threat that if he ever dared to leave, he would pay the due penalties, is said to have sat there for three years, which is understood as having dwelled. The right hand of the Father itself is not thus said according to the form of the human body, as though the Son is at His left, if the Son is placed at His right according to these bodily sites and positions of limbs. But the right hand of God is said to be the height of honor and inexpressible happiness, as it is read about wisdom: His left hand is under my head, and His right hand embraces me. For if earthly happiness lies below, then eternal happiness embraces from above.

From there He will come to judge the living and the dead.

From the lofty dwelling of the heavens, where now is also His immortal body, our Lord Jesus Christ will come to judge the living and the dead, according to the most evident angelic testimony, which is written in the Acts of the Apostles. For the disciples, looking intently as He ascended into heaven, and watching Him with lifted gaze, heard the angels say: "Men of Galilee, why do you stand here? This Jesus, who was taken up from you, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven." Much and diverse human presumption is restrained. Christ will judge in that form in which He was judged. For thus the Apostles saw Him ascend into heaven, when they heard that He would come in the same way. That form will be visible to the living and the dead, the good and the wicked; whether we understand the good to be named the living, and the wicked the dead; or whether we take the living to mean those whom His coming will find not yet having finished this life, and the dead those who His presence will raise up, as He Himself speaks in the Gospel, saying: "The hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment." And they will see Him in the form of a man in whom they believed, and those who despised Him. But the ungodly will not see the form of God in which He is equal to the Father. For the ungodly will be taken away, as the Prophet says, in order not to see the glory of the Lord. And: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Let these words suffice regarding Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, our Lord.

Holy Spirit. Mystery of the Trinity.

We also believe in the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father, yet not the Son; who remains upon the Son, yet not the Father of the Son: who receives from the Son, yet not the Son of the Son: but the Spirit of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit and himself God. For he would not have such a temple if he were not God. Hence the Apostle says: Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit in you, whom you have from God? Not the temple of a creature, but of the Creator. For it would be far from us to be a temple of a creature, when the Apostle says: For the temple of God is holy, which you are. In this Trinity, one is not greater or lesser than another, no separation of works, no dissimilarity of substance. One Father God, one Son God, one Holy Spirit God. Yet neither is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit three gods, but one God; so that the Father is not the Son, nor is the Son the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit either the Father or the Son; but the Father is the Father of the Son, and the Son is the Son of the Father, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Son: each individually God, and the Trinity itself one God. May this faith imbue your hearts, and direct your confession. Believe this by hearing, so that you may understand; so that what you believe, you may be able to understand by advancing.

Holy Church, the forgiveness of sins.

Honor also the Holy Church, your mother, as the heavenly Jerusalem, the holy city of God; love her, proclaim her. She it is who bears fruit and grows in the whole world in this faith which you have heard, the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth; she tolerates in the communion of the sacraments the wicked, who are to be separated in the end, from whom in the meantime she withdraws by reason of their diverse manners. For the sake of her grain that now groans among the chaff, whose mass will be revealed in the final winnowing and assigned to the barns. She receives the keys of the kingdom of heaven, that through her, by the blood of Christ and the operation of the Holy Spirit, the remission of sins may be effected. In this Church the soul that was dead in sins will revive, so as to be made alive with Christ, by whose grace we have been saved.

The resurrection of the flesh.

But we must not doubt that this mortal flesh will rise again at the end of the world. For it is necessary that this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. It is sown in corruption, it will rise in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor, it will rise in glory: it is sown a natural body, it will rise a spiritual body. This is the Christian, this is the Catholic, this is the Apostolic faith. Believe Christ saying: Not a hair of your head will perish, and with unbelief cast out, rather consider how valuable you are. For what of ours can be despised by our Redeemer, whose hair cannot be despised? Or how shall we doubt that He will give eternal life to our soul and flesh, who for us took the soul and flesh in which He would die, and laid it down when He died, and took it up again so that death would not be feared? All that is delivered in the Creed, I have explained to your Charity according to the measure of my ministry. It is called the Creed for this reason, because the accepted faith of our fellowship is contained therein, and by its confession, as if by a given sign, the faithful Christian is recognized.