November 26, 2024
The Third Article of the Nicene Creed continues: We believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.
One universal church made holy by Christ, all under the teaching and guidance of the Lord, His Word, and His Apostles — how glorious! A faith with no divisions. A church without fighting or arguing. A body that doesn’t posture over this, that, or anything. One faith united and loving — a force the evils of this world could not withstand. THE IDEAL!
This all makes me wonder: has the church ever embodied this ideal? It’s worth considering, because it didn’t take long (as we can hear in the epistles) before Christians began arguing over matters of theology and identity. Perhaps the Nicene fathers (looking at the writings of the Apostles) believed we should aspire for the ideal of what Christ began, and that which God will bring to completion. All this is what we’re considering today.
A simple google search might make your jaw gape wide open: “How many denominations of Christianity are there?” Ya ready for it? According to worldwide statistics, our planet is host to some 45,000 Christian denominations, comprising roughly 1/3 our planet’s population. (Heaven’s gotta be a pretty big place, wouldn’t you agree?)
But are we really one body, one living organism? At our deepest root, there is Christ. But in the forest of the world, are we one body, one tree, if you will? Or, is it more like we’re to be more like one living, breathing, amazonian rain forest the world-over the provides the life-giving air, nutrition, and shelter that benefits our world? (What say you?)
The Apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, asserted unapologetically we are to be one body under the headship of Christ our Lord. In his letters to the churches in Asia and Greece, he attested:
And also:
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many” (1 Corinthians 12:12–14, ESV).
In my mind, my imagery of the church should look much like a symphony orchestra, a drum and bugle corps, or like a majestic choir (or all working in concert).
My wife and I met at music camp. She was a violinist, and I was a percussionist. We played in the same orchestra under the direction of the University of Minnesota’s Dr. Richard Massmann.
Had everyone played violin, we would’ve sounded one note. Had everyone played timpani (as I did), not one audience member would’ve ever heard the totality of the composition that was written. We needed all instruments: strings (violins, violas, cellos and basses); brass and woodwinds, and percussion. Try to imagine Hanel’s Hallelujah Chorus without all voices and instruments. Consider this: https://youtu.be/Qac_VUxlE7o?si=67Ql4PS9S3WX2BnZ
Considering Paul’s writings, do you believe our world is better off because we have so many expressions of Christ the world over (different denominations so to speak), or does this hurt our mission to the world? What might Christianity look like if we all looked identical and played one instrument, so to speak?
To be one means we’re to be one in Christ, and that HE is to be our root, our foundation, our cornerstone – on Him we must be based and grow. I am sure we all would agree with this.
We’re all also to be holy, because Christ who was and is holy, died to make us holy and blameless in Father’s sight. The Apostle Peter wrote about this. Let’s dig into his first letter to the Christians that were scattered throughout Asia Minor who were facing persecution: Read 1 Peter 2:1–12
The word holiness (ἅγιος in Greek) means to be dedicated or consecrated to the service of God; to be pure, perfect, and worthy of God; and to be set apart (to be above, so to speak).
Holiness, in our own right, is something no human being (apart from Christ) has ever been able to achieve. The Holy Scriptures attest to our fallen condition and that no one is immune from sin.
One criticism we often hear from non-Christians is that Christians are hypocritical because we’re sinful and not perfect as God’s words say we’re to be. Afterall, Jesus himself said:
So, if we’re not holy, and we’re not perfect, how are we to live up to Christ’s (and the world’s) expectations of being perfect and holy? What do you believe we must do? What do you do to strive for holiness?
As people, this side of heaven, we’ll never be perfect. I think we’d all agree to this. Yet, we are to give God space to sanctify us according to His grace and mercy, to work on us… as we too must work on ourselves. For how can the body be healthy, strong, and whole unless we do?
The Nicene fathers also stated that we believe we are to be one holy body that is catholic and apostolic in nature? But do these mean?
Many protestant denominations have a problem with the term “catholic” being a part of the creed, because it conjures up imagery of the Roman Catholic Church. And some within the RCC still assert that those outside the RCC are unsaved and outside the grace of our Lord.
The word “catholic” in its purest form has nothing to do with denomination or style of worship. It means “universally Christian.” If this is the case, why do you believe both Roman Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox believers still mince over this phrase? Should the phrasing be changed in the creed and what we recite as to… unify the body? (What say you?)
The next word in the creed, “apostolic” is wholly tied to the former and cannot be separated. For Roman Catholics, the term apostolic means to come under the guidance and direction of the Papacy, as they believe the pope is in direct succession to the Apostle Peter. They cite Matthew’s gospel account (Matthew 16:13–19) where Christ said this:
Questions abound — Who is the “rock?” (No, not Dwane “the rock” Johnson… hahaha). Is the “THIS ROCK” Christ, or is the “this rock” Peter, or the church as one body?
Sure, Jesus changed Simon’s name to “Peter”, and Peter’s name (Petros) sounds very similar to “rock” (petra). But was Jesus saying to Peter, in front of the other 11 apostles, that St. Peter alone would be the chief Apostle, and that he alone had the keys to the Kingdom of God? The word “you” we see, both in noun and verb form, is singular. But the singularity of the word could mean “one universal church body” and not just one apostle (aka Peter). The church has been divided over this question (and others from it) for millennia.
I bring this up, because how we understand “apostolic” rests in part on this principle. Certainly, the Orthodox and Protestant branches of Christianity disagree with the Roman Catholic Church’s understanding of what apostolic means. And this of course diminishes the “oneness” that we’re to strive for in Christ.
Personally, I believe and understand the term “apostolic” points us to the corpus of the Apostles of Jesus Christ himself – those who personally learned from Christ and authored the New Testament.
Consider the following passages:
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