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What comes into your mind when you say those words of the Creed?  That was the beginning of our discussion.  One comment was that God is “Number One.”  Another person pointed out how comprehensive the words are in both the magnitude and the scope of God’s power, that He has might with no weakness of any kind.  One participant noted that nothing is said about the “how” of creation (which we will come back to later).

Naturally, passages about God’s almighty, creative power are spread throughout the Bible.  For this discussion, we looked at a section of Isaiah’s prophesy that references both topics, Isaiah 45:1-13.

In this passage, God addresses Himself to a pagan ruler, Cyrus of Persia (the area of modern-day Iran).  Our group made a number of observations about God’s words through Isaiah to Cyrus.  God calls him “His anointed” or “His messiah” (מְשִׁיחוֹ֮, meshiho), a word we usually associate only with Jesus the Christ, or the Messiah.  God was using someone “not of His flock, not from His own people” as one person described Cyrus.  God was using a leader who did not even know Him (v. 4 and repeated in v. 5).  God makes it clear that He is the driving force behind the victories and military accomplishments Cyrus enjoyed:  “I have taken by the right hand…I will go before you… I will shatter doors…I will give you treasures.”  God also demonstrates in this passage that His work through Cyrus is about more than just military might.  He intends to use these actions to reveal more of Himself to Cyrus (v. 3b), to make Himself known to all the world (v. 6) and ultimately for the good of His chosen people (v. 4a).  Those precise purposes were why God elevated and honored Cyrus well before the ruler knew the Ruler.

One who controls destinies of individuals and nations, who motivates and moves powerful rulers who do not acknowledge Him, who directs events toward His identifiable purposes is exhibiting the characteristics of “Almighty.”

In this passage, God also describes His work in creation, perhaps to reinforce His role as the Almighty.  He distinguishes Himself as unique, like no other (v. 5).  As one person commented, He is not just another political leader.  As Creator, He has laid the foundation of all that happens:  “the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these” (v. 7).  That verse opened at least two threads of discussion:  creating darkness and creating calamity.

Creating Darkness

We tend to think (at least I have) that before creation there was only darkness and empty space.  That is usually the best we can imagine of “nothingness” before God brought about “somethingness” – earth and water and trees and stars and the rest of His good creation.  But Isaiah tells us that God created darkness.  God also created empty space.  Before He spoke the universe into existence, there was not even empty space to be dark.  Those kinds of thoughts remind us that God is not just a lot more powerful than we are.  He is, as one person in our group commented, “Other,” not bound by time, light, dark, space, or any other category we can imagine.  The mystery of what that means (along with the mystery of what it means to create darkness just as He created light) helps us to be in awe of Him, to avoid the tendency to reduce Him to manageable proportions and definitions.  We can develop the attitude (but never said out loud) that we are beginning to have a pretty good understanding of God.  We need to remember Job’s words:  “These are the edges of His ways; and how small a whisper we hear of Him!” (Job 26:14, NKJV).  Job said those words in the context of God’s amazing works of creation (Job 14:5-13).  Next time you are awed by the mountains or a spectacular sunset or the Milky Way, remember that those as the bare hints and whispers of what God is like, the One who created darkness out of nothing.

Creating Calamity

God (speaking through Isaiah) also takes responsibility for creating calamity.  Our group (like most people) immediately went to the calamities we know of:  a hundred thousand people dying in a tsunami, a friend with a terrible disease.  The text seems unambiguous and terribly troubling.  The only justification offered in this passage is the fact that God, as Creator, has the right to do as He sees best.  The product of creation, or of a potter (v. 9), or of childbearing (v. 10) is not in a position to argue:  “Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker” (v. 9a).  The status of Creator carries certain rights and superiority and an authority.  The status of Almighty and Creator in the context of the status of Father also carries a level of trust, or at least it should.  As Dale Schlaffer, a previous pastor of South Fellowship, often said, “Nothing happens that has not first passed through the heart of the Father.”  One who controls the past and the present, as described in this passage, can also be trusted to control the future:  “Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons, and you shall commit to Me the work of My hands” (v. 11).  His actions are not random, but rather they are part of the purpose and plan He has for His people.  As one member of our group commented, there was a handwritten note in her Bible about Isaiah’s prophecy made about 150 years before Cyrus freed the Babylonian captives.  Since Isaiah’s ministry lasted from about 739-701B.C.[1] and Cyrus conquered Babylon in 539 B.C.[2], God’s challenge to “ask Me about the things to come” takes on even more significance.  In fact, Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 586B.C.[3] so Isaiah was speaking God’s intentions to free the people even before the people were in captivity!

The second part of verse 11 (“you shall commit to Me the work of My hands”) stirred some discussion, since it was not immediately obvious what “commit to Me” means.  Our conclusion was that God is saying, “As you see what I am doing, and as you grow in trusting Me, you will leave it to Me to do My work.”  Often our problem is that we try to manage our lives and circumstances to our liking, rather than looking to see God at work.  Too often that management of circumstances turns into manipulation of people to get our way.  God’s reassurance in that statement is that He is committed to His purposes, or, as one comment had it, He will not pull the rug out from under us when we trust Him.  Seeing Him as Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth as the Creed reminds us, helps us to trust Him.

The fact that God is at work does not make the calamities any less painful.  The difference is, “Do we trust God or not?”  We talked about the warning, “Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker” in verse 9.  Does that mean we cannot complain to God or question God or protest what He is doing?  The difference seems to come down to that question of trust.  I can complain (read the Psalms) or question (read about Mary) or even protest (read about Gethsemane).  Is my foundational attitude one of trust?  “Not my will but Yours” or “Behold the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to Your word” are not symptoms of quarrelling with God.  Debating, offering “better” solutions, assuming equal standing, not actually listening – these are the marks of quarreling (these comments were offered by the parent of teenagers, if that helps the perspective).  When our attitude moves into those directions, then we may be quarrelling with God because we have forgotten that He is our Maker.  Then woe to us.

As we continued to discuss the significance of this part of the Creed, we considered other related questions:

Father, Almighty, Creator

The Creed mentions Father, Almighty, and Creator.  Does the order matter?  Is that the order in which we begin to know God?  What if the order was switched around (Creator, Father, Almighty; or Almighty, Father, Creator; or Father, Creator, Almighty; etc.)?  What difference in emphasis might there be?

 One person in our group noted that Muslims would certainly agree that their understanding of God would include “Almighty” and “Creator.”  But “crying out to God as Father would be irreverent for Jews, blasphemy for Muslims, and weird for Buddhists.”[4]  Another comment was that starting with “Almighty” would imply power before relationship, which would be uncomfortable.  God as Father, particularly to orphans or those who have experienced abandonment, is far more important than His power.  One member pointed out that we certainly can learn something about God’s existence and power from creation (e.g., Romans 1).  The pagan can know there is a God but know little or nothing of His character or purposes.

Beginning with knowing God as Father, as the Creed suggests, means we have “inside information” from God Himself.  That knowledge and intimacy is far beyond anything we learn from His power or His creation:  “you find out more about a man by listening to his conversation than by looking at a house he has built.”[5]  We have more than an overheard conversation.  We have the intentional self-revelation from the heart of a loving Father.  He reveals much more than we could ever know about Him from Creation, especially His “otherness” as mentioned above:

since there is no likeness between the eternal being of God and the being of created reality, God may be known only out of himself…. When we seek to know God from his created works, on the other hand, we do not know him as Father, but only know of him as Maker, and are no better off than the Greeks….[6]

Because He is a loving and self-revealing Father, He lets us know His heart more than we could know from creation:

If we used [the universe He has made] as our only clue, then I think we should have to conclude that He was a great artist (for the universe is a very beautiful place), but also that He is quite merciless and no friend to man (for the universe is a very dangerous and terrifying place).[7]

Almighty, but Executed?

God is described as Almighty.  Jesus was executed by torture as a criminal.  How do those two truths relate to each other?

As usually happens, our animated discussions went past our scheduled meeting time, so we did not have the opportunity to consider this question as a group.  However, I wanted to include a brief comment here.

God the Father and Jesus the Lamb are both identified by John of Patmos as the pantokratōr, the “Almighty” … God’s infinite power is ultimately displayed in the crucifixion of Jesus. It is in the weakness, shame, humiliation, and powerlessness of Jesus Christ on the cross that we see the power of God at work to save humanity from the evil of the age…. What God’s power looks like? Well, it looks nothing like the coercive power of emperors or tyrants. God’s power doesn’t rely on guns or gold, much less the threat of violence to bring victory. God’s power comes to us in the cross.[8]

Bullies typically exert power over others to demonstrate their authority or strength, perhaps because of their deep insecurity and self-doubt.  Bullies constantly have to prove themselves to others to bolster their own self-image.  Only a supremely confident person can demonstrate true humility and self-sacrifice.  The cross demonstrates the Father’s almighty power as the Creator in control of His creation, and the Son’s absolute trust in the Father’s plan.

Who, What, How of Creation

The Creed identifies the “Who” of creation (God), and the “What” (heaven and earth), but is says nothing about the “How.”  Does that matter?

Some in our group felt strongly about the need to oppose the theory of evolution from a scientific approach.  Others suggested that parts of evolution could have been part of the process God used in Creation.  This is probably an example of the importance of what the Creed includes and what it omits.  (Future discussion will include more on those inclusions and omissions.)  The current debates over science and religion were not the main concerns of the ancient church (although there were certainly controversies with the science of the time).  Augustine had a helpful perspective:

In matters that are so obscure and far beyond our vision, we find in Holy Scripture passages which can be interpreted in very different ways without prejudice to the faith we have received.  In such cases, we should not rush in headlong and so firmly take our stand on one side that, if further progress in the search for truth justly undermines our position, we too fall with it.[9]

Alistair McGrath (one of the authors recommended in this study) commented in that same article:

“North African bishop Augustine of Hippo (354-430) had no skin in the game concerning the current origins controversies. He interpreted Scripture a thousand years before the Scientific Revolution, and 1,500 before Darwin’s Origin of Species. Augustine didn’t “accommodate” or “compromise” his biblical interpretation to fit new scientific theories. The important thing was to let Scripture speak for itself.”

Heaven and Earth

Why does the Creed include “heaven and earth” rather than just say “Creator”?  Why did the Nicene Creed (about 150 years later) add, “all things visible and invisible”?  What loopholes might the false teachers have been exploiting?  What’s the difference between heaven and earth?  Between visible and invisible?  What do they have in common?  What are fundamental differences?

Here again our time was limited for discussion, but the Creed was addressing an issue that arose as soon as Christian faith intersected Greek philosophy.  Was matter evil?  Was the earth and the material, visible universe the product of an inferior deity?  Did only the invisible, heavenly, spiritual world constitute good, perhaps created by a different deity?  Was the universe dualistic, with a good god and a bad god in constant conflict?  Is the goal of spiritual transformation to be released from corrupted matter, including our bodies, and released into a pure, ethereal existence or nirvana?

The Creed’s answer is simple:  “No” to all of the above.  Creation, heaven and earth, visible and invisible, matter and spirit, body and soul, all are part of God’s good creation.  All have been tainted and corrupted and fallen from the intended perfection, but all are included in the redemption planned by the Father, through the Son, and in the Spirit.

This is an important reminder from the Creed (one of many) for our day.  Too many Christians tend toward the dualistic mindset.  I have had conversations with Christians who have told me that all God cares about is our soul.  We need to be reminded of the goodness of the earth, of all things visible, of the good intentions God has for us as complete humans, created in His image.

“I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.”  This opening section of the Apostles’ Creed introduces us to the God we are called to trust and serve and worship.  As the Creed continues, we will see more clearly His “beauty” and “delightfulness” (Psalm 27:4) as we explore the other Members of the Trinity in their character and their work.

 

[1] The IVP Bible Background Commentary (Downers Grove, Illinois:  InterVarsity Press, 2000), 584.

[2] The Anchor Atlas of World History (Garden City, New York:  Doubleday, 1974), 45.

[3] The Baker Atlas of Christian History (Grand Rapids, Michigan:  Baker Books, 1997), 38.

[4] Michael F. Bird, What Christians Ought to Believe (Grand Rapids, Michigan:  Zondervan, 2016), Kindle edition location 961.

[5] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York:  HarperCollins, 2000), 138-139; Kindle Edition location 561.

[6] Thomas F. Torrance, The Trinitarian Faith:  Evangelical Theology of the Ancient Catholic Church (London:  T&T Clark Cornerstones, 2016), Kindle Edition, location 1568-1574.

[7] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York:  HarperCollins, 2000), 138-139; Kindle Edition location 555.

[8] Michael F. Bird, What Christians Ought to Believe (Grand Rapids, Michigan:  Zondervan, 2016), Kindle edition location 1019-1039.

[9] Augustine of Hippo, quoted in Alistair McGrath, “Augustine’s Origin of Species,” Christianity Today, May, 2009, 39.