Many mysteries remain unsolved despite years of scientific investigation and millions of dollars spent trying to understand them. Modern science has yet to understand how electrons and light can be both a wave and a particle. Nor have scientists understood how a seed germinates into a living plant. Scientists explore the how the human brain works, but cannot explain how the brain is able to be self-aware. Even the weather patterns and forecasting remain a mystery.

On Trinity Sunday, Christians confess two great mysteries of their faith. The Athanasian Creed, often confessed on Trinity Sundays, states in an especially exact way what Scripture teaches about these mysteries. And while these mysteries are unfathomable to our limited minds, this creed states four times that "except a man believe [it] faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved" (line 40).

The two mysteries confessed in the Athanasian Creed are the triune nature of God and the Person of Jesus. How can we grasp the truth that "we worship God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance"? We simply are to believe what Scripture clearly states concerning the only one God who exists in three Persons, as described in this creed.

People have tried to deny that God is triune using various arguments, hence the Athanasian Creed describes the trinity in many ways. It confesses that each Person of the Godhead possesses the divine attributes of majesty, incomprehensibility, eternity, and almighty power. Then the Creed denies that three almighty gods exist, for there is only one God. Likewise, Scripture calls each Person "Lord," but only one Lord God exists.

Some people think that God is not three Persons but He just appears in three different roles—as a Father, as a Son, and as a Holy Spirit. The baptism of Jesus demonstrates that God is three distinct Persons: the Father speaking from heaven, the Son standing on the shore of the river, and the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus in the form of a dove. The Athanasian Creed states how Scripture identifies each Person: the Father is made of none, the Son is begotten, and the Holy Spirit is proceeding. Each Person is coeternal and co-equal, no Person is greater, or less, than the other two.

The second great mystery confessed in the Athanasian Creed is the Person of Jesus. Those who shall be saved must believe that Jesus is both God and man: "God of the Substance of the Father…and Man of the substance of His mother." The creed rejects the idea that Jesus is two Christs or that Jesus has only one fused nature. Jesus has a divine and human nature united "by taking the manhood into God."

On the basis of Jesus' words, "The Father is greater than I" many false teachers have declared that, as God's Son, Jesus may be divine, but that He is not equal to God the Father. But then they would deny what Jesus said, "I and the Father are one." The truth is confessed in the Athanasian Creed: "Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood." These words reflect what St. Paul tells us about Jesus' natures in Philippians 2.

This one Christ who is God and Man suffered for our salvation, rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven. As true Man, Jesus suffered on behalf of all the people in the world. As true God, Jesus' suffering and death was sufficient to ransom all people from sin, death, and the power of the devil.

Near the end, the writer of the Athanasian Creed includes a statement that may seem puzzling. Those who believe that "we are saved by faith apart from the deeds of the law" (Romans 3:28) may wonder what the Athanasian Creed means when it says that we shall rise, "and shall give an account of their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil, into everlasting fire." The Creed is not teaching that salvation is by works when Scripture clearly teaches that we are saved through faith in Jesus. The answer lies in the fact that faith, which is invisible to man, is plainly seen by the works that result from faith. Scripture teaches that on the Last Day, Jesus will show through works, either good or evil, whether or not true faith exists. The confession of the believing thief on the cross is evidence of saving faith in Jesus, which alone brings us forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

A fourth mystery regarding the Athanasian Creed is—who wrote it? Certainly Athanasius did not. He lived during the years 296 to 373 and the Creed was written in the 450s. Athanasius wrote in Greek, the Creed was written in Latin. Athanasius lived in Egypt, the Creed first appeared in France. Who wrote this creed is not as important as knowing the truth confessed in this creed is Scriptural.

This Creed is an important statement about God's triune nature and Christ's Person. We live in an age where these two vital truths have been under relentless attacks, both from inside the Christian Church and from without. It is important for us to know these truths from Scripture and to confess them to the world.

The Editor