This is the catholic Faith

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith.” With its opening sentence, the Athanasian Creed lays down the line regarding who will or will not be saved. Only those who hold the catholic faith can go to heaven. But what is the catholic faith? What does it mean to be catholic? To be catholic, in the true sense of the word, is much more than to be under the Bishop of Rome.

This is not a new question. In the fifth century, the Church was embroiled in a great many scandals and controversies, and a solution was sought as to what made one a part of the one holy catholic Church. What was the measuring rod that determined whether a teaching newly propounded was worthy of acceptance? To this question, St. Vincent of Lerins proposed an answer, accepted by the Church, which has been handed down to us under the name of the “catholic principle”. St. Vincent wrote, “In the catholic Church itself, every care should be taken to hold fast to what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all.”

Firstly, to be catholic, one must believe what has been believed everywhere in the Church. That is, you must believe the faith once handed down from Christ to His apostles, and from them to the Church. This is the faith we confess in the three ecumenical creeds. This is the faith so zealously guarded and defended by the ecumenical councils of the Church. This faith is what unites us across thousands of miles and chasms of language.

Secondly, to be catholic, one must believe what has been believed always. You may not invent new and different ideas that do not comport with the preaching of the Scriptures and the creeds of the Church. Theologians are not innovators, but conservators of the faith once handed down from the saints of old. When you try to get creative or introduce something new, you swim upstream against the centuries of preaching and interpretation of the Church. This is not to say that doctrine never evolves. Certainly, we read the Scriptures in different ways than the writers of the creeds did, and we face challenges they never could have imagined. However, the message of the Scriptures that was true for them two millennia ago is still the same and still true for you today.

Finally, to be catholic, one must believe what has been believed by all. That is, we confess what the whole Church has confessed together. The Church is united in confession of the one true faith by the work of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, you do not believe a faith different from that of the martyrs, nor is your faith different from your brethren in Christ in far-flung corners of the world. Do the particulars of our interpretation vary? Yes. Does the substance of the faith therefore change? No. The catholic faith is inviolate in confessing the one God in Trinity, and the incarnation of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

If you desire to be saved, you must hold this faith. To say that is to make yourself an enemy of the spirit of this world and the followers of every other man-made religion. The ruler of this world would have you believe in a “Burger King spirituality” where you can “have it your way.” The siren-song of tolerance and coexistence would have you believe that we are all human, and so we are all pretty much alike, even in faith. Therefore, to force your views and agendas onto others is morally and spiritually repugnant. However, it is true. No one comes to the Father, no one enters salvation, except through Jesus Christ. There is no other name under heaven by which we may be saved (Acts 4:12).

The catholic faith we confess has two parts. First, “We worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance.” This is no easy proposition to accept. The Church battled for centuries before coming to this formulation. No small mental and philosophical effort has been spent trying to define what this means. But finally, we must admit that the Trinity is beyond explanation. Our feeble human minds cannot fathom the mystery of the substance of God.

However, that does not excuse you from believing it. For the Trinity in Unity is how the Lord Almighty has revealed Himself, for that is who He is. The Name given in which you live is the name of the One in Three and Three in One. What name does Jesus give into which you have been baptized? “In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” That is the name of God, and therefore that is how you know Him. The great “I AM” revealed to Moses is none other than the Father, Son, and Spirit revealed to the world in Christ. There is no other name upon which Christians may call. All the other monikers given in the Scriptures are titles or terms of endearment to describe attributes of God. We can use these to speak of what God does or how He acts, but His name is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Furthermore, this is the name He has placed upon you through baptism. Each Christ who is baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit bears that name, marking him as a child of that God. This is the Name which saves you. This is the one little word that fells the devil. This is the God you know, because He is the God who is for you! This is the God who has created you and all things, and given you your members and senses and provides and preserves you. This is the God who has redeemed you from sin, death, and the devil and has brought you into eternal life through His blood shed on the Cross. This is the God who calls you by the Gospel, enlightens you with His gifts, and sanctifies you in the one true faith.

However, there is more to the catholic faith. “But it is necessary for everlasting salvation that one faithfully believe the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is necessary to believe faithfully the incarnation of Jesus Christ, because in Him the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell bodily (Colossians 2:9). There is no salvation for mankind except through Jesus Christ, true God and true Man. Just as the nature of the Holy Trinity is an inscrutable mystery, so also the incarnation of our Lord. But likewise, we are compelled by faith to believe it.

But it is not a burden to believe in the incarnation of our Lord, because He was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and was made man in order that He might save you from your sins. He is one Christ, God and Man, that He might be your savior. For none other could have redeemed you from bondage to sin, death, and hell. This Christ, the Son of God, is the one who died upon the Cross to save you from your sins. His blood was shed to keep yours from staining the altar. It was He, and none other, who suffered and died so that you might live. He died so that you need not face death on your own, and He rose so that you too might rise again. Because Jesus Christ died the death to sin once for all, you need not fear the accusation of your sins. They are gone, obliterated, removed as far as east is from west.

“This is the catholic faith; whoever does not believe it faithfully and firmly cannot be saved.” The center of the Christian faith is this: we worship the Trinity in Unity, and we believe the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation. Except that one believe this firmly and faithfully, he cannot be saved.

However, rejoice and give thanks, because you do believe this. You know the God of heaven who reveals Himself in His Son, Jesus Christ. You are marked with the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. You are redeemed by the God-Man Jesus Christ. You are kept secure in the one holy catholic and apostolic Church by the work of the Holy Spirit, who has called you to faith. Bind unto yourself the strong Name of the Trinity, because the God who is known by that name has already bound Himself to you.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.