The Nicene Creed Part 7 - One Lord Jesus Christ

Acts 4:12
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Phil 2:9-11
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

In the Creed we also profess that we believe "in one Lord Jesus Christ". In previous posts, I have posted thoughts and comments on the meaning of the name "Jesus" and what it means to call Him Lord and Christ. I will put links to those at the bottom of this post. When we say that we "believe in" Jesus Christ, we mean much more than to simply acknowledge His existence, but that we place our faith in Him as our Savior, King, and Great High Priest. We are told in Matthew's gospel that He is called "Jesus" "for he shall save his people from their sins". Peter confessed Jesus to be the Christ when asked Who a disciple believes Jesus to be, and proclaimed "Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." in his preaching in the Temple.

St Patrick wrote that the Father "gave him all power over every name in Heaven and on Earth and in Hell, so that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and God, in whom we believe" and C.N. Calinicos wrote in The Greek Orthodox Catechism that "He is the one and only Lord, before Whom every knee is bent; He is Jesus, that is to say, the Saviour, Who saved His people from their sins; He is Christ, anointed not simply with oil, but the Holy Ghost, to be the Highest Prophet, Priest and King". We find in the Confession of Dositheus that "We believe our Lord Jesus Christ to be the only mediator, and that in giving Himself a ransom for all He hath through His own Blood made a reconciliation between God and man, and that Himself having a care for His own is advocate and propitiation for our sins.". St John Chrysostom said in his Commenary on Acts...

Neither is there salvation in any other, (v. 12.) Peter says. What wounds, think you, must these words inflict on them! “For there is none other name,” he continues, “under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Here he utters also lofty words. For when the object is, not to carry some point successfully, but only to show boldness he does not spare; for he was not afraid of striking too deep. Nor does he say simply, “By another;” but, “Neither is there salvation in any other:” that is, He is able to save us. In this way he subdued their threatening.

St Jerome wrote in his Commentary on the Apostles Creed...

“Christ” is so called from “Chrism,” i.e. unction. For we read in the Books of Moses, that Auses, the son of Nave, when he was chosen to lead the people, had his name changed from “Auses” to “Jesus,” to shew that this was a name proper for princes and generals, for those, namely, who should “save” the people who followed them. Therefore, both were called “Jesus,” both the one who conducted the people, who had been brought forth out of the land of Egypt, and freed from the wanderings of the wilderness, into the land of promise, and the other, who conducted the people, who had been brought forth from the darkness of ignorance, and recalled from the errors of the world, into the kingdom of heaven.

“Christ” is a name proper either to High Priests or Kings. For formerly both high priests and kings were consecrated with the ointment of chrism: but these, as mortal and corruptible, with material and corruptible ointment. Jesus is made Christ, being anointed with the Holy Spirit, as the Scripture saith of Him “Whom the Father hath anointed with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven.” And Isaiah had prefigured the same, saying in the person of the Son, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me, He hath sent Me to preach good tidings to the poor.”

We find this in The Catechism of St Philaret...

130.  What means the name Jesus?

Saviour. 

131.  By whom was the name Jesus first given? 

By the Angel Gabriel. 

132.  Why was this name given to the Son of God at his conception and birth on earth? 

Because he was conceived and born to save men. 

133.  What means the name Christ? 

Anointed. 

134.  Whence came the name Anointed? 

From the anointing with holy ointment, through which are bestowed the gifts of the Holy Ghost. 

135.  Is it only Jesus, the Son of God, who is called Anointed? 

No. Anointed was in old time a title of kings, high-priests, and prophets. 

136.  Why, then, is Jesus, the Son of God, called The Anointed? 

Because to his manhood were imparted without measure all the gifts of the Holy Ghost; and so he possesses in the highest degree the knowledge of a prophet, the holiness of a high-priest, and the power of a king. 

137.  In what sense is Jesus Christ called Lord? 

In this sense: that he is very God; for the name Lord is one of the names of God.

And we find this in Peter Mohila's Orthodox Confession of Faith...

Q. 34. What do these two names "Jesus Christ" signify, as found in this article?

R. "Jesus" signifies Savior, just as the Archangel was explaining to Joseph: "She will bring forth a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." Yet, this name can be given to no one in the world, and rightly so, except to the Lord our Savior, who freed the entire human race from the eternal captivity of the devils. And "Christ" signifies anointed, because in the Old Law anointed people are referred to as "Christi", namely, the priests, kings and prophets. Christ is anointed into these three offices in a special way, above all other anointed people, as the Psalmist says of him: "You have loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore God, your God, anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows." But, this anointing should be understood as coming from the Holy Spirit, as the Prophet says: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to preach to the meek." Christ applies these words to himself when he says: "This day this scripture is fulfilled in your ears." Christ, however, surpasses his companions according to three very great distinctions. His first distinction is the priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek, about which the Apostle says: "Called by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek." The same author elsewhere calls Christ a priest, because he sacrificed himself to God the Father, as he says: "Christ, who by the eternal Spirit offered himself unspotted to God." And later: "Christ was offered once to exhaust the sins of many." The second distinction is his kingdom, which the Archangel Gabriel, while he was fulfilling his mission to the most pure Virgin, demonstrated by saying: "The Lord God will give him the throne of David, his father, and he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever; of his kingdom there shall be no end." The Magi also gave witness to him by offering gifts at the time of his birth, as they said: "Where is he that is born king of the Jews?" The title of his crime at the time of his very death proves the same thing? "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." Moses prophesized from God, however, concerning the third distinction, when he said: "The Lord your God will raise up to you a prophet from your brothers similar to me." This distinction was shown through his holy teaching where he adequately taught about his divinity and other things pertaining to eternal salvation, as he says of himself: "I have made known your name to them." And earlier: "The words which you gave me I gave to them; and they have received them, and have known in very deed that I came from you, and they have believed that you had sent me." This prophecy, the third distinction, should be understood as the foretelling of future events not by a certain revelation, but from his knowledge as true God and true man.

I believe O Lord and I confess that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God Who came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.

http://openthoumylips.blogspot.com/2011/08/jesus-prayer-part-4-lord.html
http://openthoumylips.blogspot.com/2011/09/jesus-prayer-part-5-jesus.html
http://openthoumylips.blogspot.com/2011/09/jesus-prayer-part-6-christ-as-great.html
http://openthoumylips.blogspot.com/2011/09/jesus-prayer-part-7-christ-king.html
http://openthoumylips.blogspot.com/2011/09/jesus-prayer-part-8-christ-and-king.html

The Nicene Creed Part 6 - The Creator

Gen 1:1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Is 44:24
Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;

In the Creed, God is referred to as the "Maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible". The first thing we read about God in the scriptures is this, that "God created the heaven and the earth". The Psalms tell all of creation to "praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created" and praise God with the words "O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all". God is elsewhere referred to as "he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it".

St Basil wrote in his Hexaemeron...

It is right that any one beginning to narrate the formation of the world should begin with the good order which reigns in visible things. I am about to speak of the creation of heaven and earth, which was not spontaneous, as some have imagined, but drew its origin from God.... He first establishes a beginning, so that it might not be supposed that the world never had a beginning.  Then he adds “Created” to show that which was made was a very small part of the power of the Creator.... The Creator and Demiurge of the universe perfected His works in it, spiritual light for the happiness of all who love the Lord, intellectual and invisible natures, all the orderly arrangement of pure intelligences who are beyond the reach of our mind and of whom we cannot even discover the names. They fill the essence of this invisible world, as Paul teaches us. “For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers” or virtues or hosts of angels or the dignities of archangels.

St Irenaeus wrote in the second century...

It is proper, then, that I should begin with the first and most important head, that is, God the Creator, who made the heaven and the earth, and all things that are therein (whom these men blasphemously style the fruit of a defect), and to demonstrate that there is nothing either above Him or after Him; nor that, influenced by any one, but of His own free will, He created all things, since He is the only God, the only Lord, the only Creator, the only Father, alone containing all things, and Himself commanding all things into existence.

And we find "First of all, believe that there is one God who created and finished all things, and made all things out of nothing. He alone is able to contain the whole, but Himself cannot be contained." written in the Pastor of Hermas.

We find written in The Greek Orthodox Catechism by C.N. Calinicos...

19. With what other subject, besides the subject of the Trinity, does the first article deal?

The first Article, further down, deals with the world as created by the Almighty God. "For in Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible... all things have been created through Him and unto Him." (col. i. 16.) The blessed and Self-sufficient God, Who existed before time began without having need of anything, wished, moved only by goodness, to make other beings participators of existence. Therefore, He produced the universe during different periods, which Genesis called days, because a thousand years in the sight of God are as one day (Ps. xc. 4; 2Pet. iii. 8), using for this purpose, instead of any other instrument, His word, i.e., His omnipotent will; "for He commanded, and they were created; He hath established them for ever and ever." (Ps. cxlviii. 5-6.) God created the world from nothing and without pre-existing matter, thus differing from us, who, whatever we create, create it from pre-existing material. And for this reason, it is right to say that we are simply moulders and transformers, while God alone is the Creator in he full sense of the word.

20. Is the world created by God confined only to what appeals to the senses?

No: All that appeals to our senses constitutes only the visible world, or earth. but, besides this world and before it, God created another world also, much nobler than the earth. That is Heaven, the world of immaterial spirits, invisible, making no appeal to our senses. For, when we say "Heaven," we do not mean the starry firmament, which commonly is thought of as the earth's roof; but the world of the Angels, who are beings much more perfect and superior than man, although, in comparison with God, they are immeasurably inferior.

And in Peter Mohila's Orthodox Confession of Faith we find...

Q. 18. Is God the Creator of all things, since the same article calls him "Creator"?

R. Without any doubt, God is the Creator of all things, that is, of both visible and invisible creatures. But first he created from nothing all the powers of heaven by his own will, as they are the main extollers of his glory. Then he created that intelligible world, which recognized God through his bestowed grace and conforms completely to his will. Then he created from nothing this visible and material world; finally, God created man, composed of a rational and immaterial soul and a material body, so that God might be recognized as the creator of both the visible and invisible world through this composition of man. Man is called, therefore, a microcosm, since he contains in himself an examplar of the great world.

Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

The Nicene Creed Part 5 - The Almighty

Ps 103:19
The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.

Ps 47:7-8
For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding. God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.

In the Creed, God is referred to as "the Almighty". According to Strong's concordance, this word is defined as "the all-ruling, i.e. God (as absolute and universal sovereign):--Almighty, Omnipotent. Used only when referring to God.". The nature of God as being sovereign and ruling over all things can be found witnessed to in the scriptures, the writings of the fathers, and catechisms.

We find verses in the Psalms saying that "He ruleth by his power for ever", "All thy works shall praise thee", and "The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.". God even rules "the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them". God's sovereignty over all things is closely tied to the fact that He created all things in verses like "Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast." and "Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created.", but my next post will discuss God as being the one who created all things.

St Jerome wrote "God is called Almighty because He possesses rule and dominion over all things." in his Commentary on the Apostles Creed, and St John of Damascus wrote "By nature, therefore, all things are servants of the Creator and obey Him." in his Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. St Theophilus of Antioch wrote to Autolycus in the second century...

But he is... Almighty, because He Himself rules and embraces all. For the heights of heaven, and the depths of the abysses, and the ends of the earth, are in His hand, and there is no place of His rest.

And St Cyril of Jerusalem wrote in his Catechetical Lectures...

For He is Almighty who rules all things, who has power over all things... Nothing then is withdrawn from the power of God; for the Scripture says of Him, for all things are Thy servants.  All things alike are His servants, but from all these One, His only Son, and One, His Holy Spirit, are excepted; and all the things which are His servants serve the Lord through the One Son and in the Holy Spirit.  God then rules all, and of His long-suffering endures even murderers and robbers and fornicators, having appointed a set time for recompensing every one, that if they who have had long warning are still impenitent in heart, they may receive the greater condemnation.  They are kings of men, who reign upon earth, but not without the power from above:  and this Nebuchadnezzar once learned by experience, when he said; For His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His power from generation to generation.

We also find this in Peter Mohila's Orthodox Confession of Faith...

Q. 14. Why does the first article of faith mention "almighty" or "all-governing" and omit all other attributes?

R. Because by this one expression the property of God is best described, since no creature can be called omnipotent. This is so for two reasons: first, it does not have its essence from itself, but from a creator; secondly, it cannot produce any creature from nothing. Both these traits always pertain to the divine omnipotence, as he speaks about himself in the Apocalypse: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." Similarly, the Archangel in Luke: "No word shall be impossible with God." Nevertheless, this omnipotence is limited only by his own will and good pleasure, so that certainly whatever he himself wishes, only this can he and does he effect, and not that of which he is simply able, as the Psalmist says: "Our God is in heaven; he has done all that he has desired." He could create a million worlds of this type, but this he does not wish. And then this omnipotence must be understood in terms of perfection, removed from all imperfection and weakness, as is evident in this example: God cannot be evil and commit sin, for this denotes imperfection, even as St. Paul gives witness: "It is impossible for God to lie." For if God were evil and had committed sin, then he would not be omnipotent, for these things are evidence in themselves of imperfection. And so, God is omnipotent by virtue of his will and his perfect goodness, as the Psalmist recollects: "Who is the great God like our God? You are the God who does wonders; you made your power known among the nations." Finally, he is called omnipotent, because all things are in his power and he created the world with no difficulty, with no labor, by his will alone.

Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.