We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.Amen.

Death has been conquered. Death shall walk no more among them. No death – not even the little deaths of disease.

The most amazing promise of Christian belief is the death of death. Death terrifies us all, and this promise destroys that fear.

I know this sounds simplistic, but this is the joyous promise of the Resurrection – that despite all the suffering and pain, there is a great and shining future awaiting us all.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

Coming to accept Jesus Christ as the one who took on all of our sins and we are forgiven them. 

There is a price, one that is high.  We must strive to not fall back into sin – something I know I fail at regularly.  (Anyone who says they do not is lying, well, unless we are speaking of Jesus.)

The forgiveness of sins is a very big deal.  It is sin that ties us to eternal death.  Our bondage was destroyed by Christ and Baptism is the rebirth into the eternal of life.

Next: Nicene Creed, Part IX: Resurrection and the World to Come

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

Ok, catholic means universal and has nothing to do with whether you report to the Roman See or not.  It doesn’t matter who you were or where you came from – you will be welcomed by Christ into the family of God.

Apostolic means that there is a direct line from the Apostles that establishes the authenticity of the beliefs.  This means that in order to be considered a legitimate belief it must have some root in the original teachings of Jesus Christ and His life.

Any belief, tradition, etc. that came after Him is not necessary to being a Christian.  Only that which originates with the Son is necessary.

So, the only thing that matters is that the believer recognizes that God welcomes all as long as they accept and follow Jesus Christ.

Next: Nicene Creed, Part IIX: Baptism and Forgiveness

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, Who proceeds from the Father [and the Son], Who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, Who has spoken through the prophets.

The Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost – terms used interchangeably – is here with us at all times.  It is He Who gives life, Who is ever changing and never changing.  He Who is always and forever.

The Holy Ghost brings knowledge and life.  As the Bringer of Life, He is the most mysterious of the Godhead – and the third part of the Trinity.

Make no mistake, there are not three gods, but One God who manifests to us in three ways.  Somehow, there are Three who are One.  A common explanation to help with understanding is the idea that water has three forms and, yet, is always water.  When heated, steam; when at a normal temperature, liquid; and, when extremely cold, frozen.

Note: I am not interested in Islamic arguments and will delete such from any discussion.  I am a Christian and do not accept the legitimacy of Islam in discussion of Christian Theology.  Sorry to those I know who are Muslim.

The Holy Ghost is the only member of the Godhead for whom a form of blasphemy is unforgivable.  This is a theological discussion I do not wish to get into, other than to say, to deny the Holy Ghost is to deny the prophets and Christ’s sacrifice.

Next, Nicene Creed, Part VII: Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church

On the third day He rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end.

Three days within a tomb. Three days to know the death that all human beings know. Three days to conquer death – to conquer and subdue hell.

On the third day, He rose from the dead and continued His earthly ministry so that none of that generation could deny the proof of their eyes or sense of touch (remember Thomas). Only those from this time can commit the unforgivable sin – or those chosen to be given eyewitness of the power of the Holy Ghost.

If you can see the power of the Lord and deny it, how can you possibly be forgiven? You deny the existence of the forgiver!

Those days were the root of the foundations of the True Church. All Apostolic Churches have their roots during this time – whether they be answerable to the Holy Roman See or not. Coptics, Thomasines, the Armenian and other Orthodox Churches, etc. did not all align with the Holy Roman See. There is more variety in even normative Christianity (Orthodox and Catholic derivative) than most can imagine.

And, after those heady days of having the Son of God amongst us, He rose up to be in heaven with the Father. But, He did not leave us without guidance before the time of the judgment.

The Lord Jesus/Yeshua has a kingdom that has no end, it is not of this world – for this world was given over to the deceiver long ago. Again, another present day blasphemy, Dominionism. The belief that Christians are called to create Christ’s heavenly kingdom here on earth prior to His coming in His glory has been adopted by many.  Dominionism is just wrong on too many levels to begin.

Christ’s kingdom is beyond beginning or ending. It is the Alpha and the Omega. It is that which can never be bought or sold, never be created or destroyed. The kingdom of the Lord is eternal – beyond the reach of mere men or the deceiver.

He will come back to retrieve His people and to cast out the deceiver who has been a poor caretaker of this tract of land. He warned us that we were caretakers of the gifts that are given us. What have we done? Our leadership has led us astray by allowing the destruction of our resources. We were charged with the careful husbandry of our resources, we have failed miserably. And to have actively failed, as many have, is to throw God’s gifts before Him as so much refuse.

Even as we are transient here, we are judged by what we have done here. I know that I fall short, but it is in the hope of salvation that I strive forward. For our ancestors fell before the deceivers deception. And all peoples continue to fall for the deceptions.

Next, Nicene Creed, Part VI: The Holy Spirit, Giver of Life

For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered death and was buried.

He suffered as we suffer.  He suffered more than we suffer for when we say “For our sake”, we mean that He took on all of our sins.  Every sin we have committed overtly or by accident.  Even those sins we do not understand the full weight of.  Only God knows what our actions will bring to fruition.

Through His death we are purified.  His death was a price that took back Christians from the deceiver who is the prince of this world.  This world is under the dominion of the deceiver until Christ returns.

Pontius Pilate is a most controversial person in Christendom.  He is both reviled and pitied.  In my mind, he played the role that God asked of him.  A role not to be envied by anyone.  Without the Lord’s death and burial, there would be no salvation.

Next, Nicene Creed, Part V: The Resurrection, The Kingdom and The Return

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through Him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation He came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.

His Son is one and the same as He is – but at the same time separate.  The eternal paradox being how God, in His infinity, was able to create Himself as truly human.  That somehow, without losing His Godhead, He became completely human at the same time.

He chose to walk among us as one borne of a human mother – a woman like any other from the line of David.  (I in no way ascribe immaculate conception concepts as I consider this a Roman Catholic heresy.  If Mary was Immaculate, it diminishes what God has done.)

Is this not miraculous?  That He imbued Himself as His Spirit to fertilize an egg within a mere human woman to become one of us.  To suffer as we suffer.  To feel as we feel.  To know as we know.  And at the same time, be God.  

That God is both God and man is an awesome thing to contemplate and one of the great paradoxes of faith.  It is something that must be accepted on faith alone.

Without this paradox, there can be no salvation.  For if He did not become like us, He could not have saved us by the rules He had set in motion.

Next, Nicene Creed, Part IV: The Crucifixion