In this series, I have been looking at an early version of the Apostles’ Creed that was contemporary to the Gnostic, Marcion, and Modalistic heresies. The breadth of the series so far has been looking at how the Creed expressly denied the Gnostic heresy, while also underscoring Marcion (who is usually considered a Gnostic) and the Modalists, in an attempt to define orthodoxy and the true Church. The text is as follows:
“I believe in God the Almighty Father,
And in Christ Jesus His Son,
who was born of the virgin Mary,
crucified under Pontius Pilate and buried,
who arose from the dead on the third day,
ascended into the heavens,
sits at the right hand of the Father,
From whence He shall come to judge living and dead,
And I believe in the Holy Spirit,
And the resurrection of the flesh.”
In the last two parts, linked above, we have considered the statements on God the Father, and Jesus Christ. Those bear the weight of the discussion as the church was battling the “Christian” Gnostic theology proper and christology. In this post, we will look at the final two statements in brief.
“And I believe in the Holy Spirit,“
By way of pnuematology, the study of the Holy Spirit, this particular statement seems to be lacking, being theologically shorter than even the statement on God the Father, and obviously shorter than the statement on Christ. This is probably because the Holy Spirit is Himself an immaterial being, and though the “Christian” Gnostic idea of the Holy Spirit is wrong (like Christ, there was an emanated being called “Holy Spirit” within most “Christian” Gnostic theology), there would not be too much argument on the nature of the Holy Spirit. At this point we might bring up that God the Father is also immaterial, which would lead to a shorter statement on Him, but something I neglected to mention in the first post (which I will edit to reflect) is the use of the word “almighty.” The word used here in the Greek is pantokrator, which literally means “all ruling.” The essential idea that this brings up is that nothing is outside of God’s control, especially that of creation and matter. Gonzalez writes, “This world, its matter and its physical bodies, are part of the ‘all’ over which God reigns,” (The Story of Christianity Volume 1, pg 66). By mentioning the Holy Spirit, albeit briefly, the early church was affirming what would become known as the trinity. This was used, and probably came out of, the trinitarian formula that the early church used when baptizing catechumens.
Some early creeds, also around this time, inserted here “and the holy catholic church,” which is retained in the modern Apostle’s Creed. Catholic here, does not refer to the Roman Catholic Church, but to the church universal, or invisible. The communion of the whole of the elect. By affirming that their statement reflected the beliefs of the true church, they have excluded the Gnostic heresy from the universal church, and therefore outside the bounds of salvation.
“And the resurrection of the flesh.“
This is the final statement in the early creed, and is also the final nail in the coffin of Gnosticism. This is a final rejection of the belief that our matter is evil. Gnostics would have loathed they idea of a bodily resurrection, as their body and matter were the very things they were wanting to escape through a secret knowledge. In affirming the resurrection of the flesh, they affirmed the original “goodness” declared over creation in Genesis. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, what is sewn corruptible will be raised incorruptible. Though the flesh is sinful, at the resurrection those who are saved will be resurrected in an incorruptible body again affirming the goodness of God’s creation.
If you would like more information on Gnosticism, I would recommend Irenaeus’ work Against Heresies which is a 5 volume set specifically aimed at arguing against Gnosticism. Irenaeus studied 20 different Gnostic teachers of his time over a few years in order to write this invaluable apologetic volume.
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