A New Creed for Today
The Nicene Creed Meets Biblical Theology
Hi friends, I’m thinking about how to articulate the Christian faith in a way that respects the Nicene formulation but is a bit more attuned to the basic storyline of Scripture.
So this is what I’ve come up with, video above, and script below. Let me know what you think!
Also, I need to give it a name. Let me know your suggestions in the comments below.
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen, who chose Abraham to be the father of many nations, who chose Israel to be a light to the nations, and who has begun to make all things new through the Lord Jesus Christ and the the Holy Spirit.
We believe in Jesus of Nazareth, the promised Messiah of Israel, God's only Son, truly human and truly divine, unbegotten in his divinity and begotten in his humanity.
We believe that Jesus came into the world, born of the Virgin Mary, during the reign of Caesar Augustus, and he grew up in Nazareth of Galilee. He was baptized by John in the Jordan River, he proclaimed the kingdom of God, he taught in parables, healed the sick, cast out demons, and gathered disciples from among fishermen, tax collectors, and outcasts. He announced God's jubilee for the poor and oppressed and proclaimed that a new exodus was now at hand.
We believe that Jesus died and rose, that he was crucified under Pontius Pilate outside Jerusalem, he died as our Passover lamb, bearing the sins of the world and the curse of exile. On the third day he was raised from the dead, as the firstfruits of God's new creation, his body was transformed and glorified, inaugurating the age to come. He ascended into heaven and from there he will return to put all things to right.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who rested on the prophets, in whom we are baptized for a new life, who gives gifts to the churches, who empowers the church for mission, who inspired Scripture, and who will give life to our mortal bodies just the as the Spirit raised Jesus from the dead.
We believe in the church, the renewed Israel, a new covenant people, called from every tribe, tongue, and nation to be God's royal priesthood and a holy nation, bearing witness to Jesus's lordship over all creation, heralds of the gospel and witnesses to Jesus, working for justice, peace, and the healing of the world. Our invisible unity in Christ is expressed in our visible bonds of fellowship, celebrating one Lord, one faith, one baptism, with a communion that even death cannot break.
We believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come, when heaven and earth will be joined as one, when God will be all in all, when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
This is our faith, faith in the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in whose name we baptize, and in whose life we find our communion.
Amen.
Would love to see this with footnotes of biblical references, too.
I especially love “unbegotten in his divinity and begotten in his humanity.”