The Nicene Creed

[MorphRC]

Pax Christi All.

In this thread I will briefly explain what the Nicene Creed is and what it means. Sources will include Catholic sites such as www.catholic.com, www.catholicapologetics.net & The Catholic Catechism. During this I will have side notes [ --NOTE-- ] explaining what the holy, catholic, apostolic Church part is.

THE NICENE CREED
"
[ http://www.creeds.net/ancient/nicene.htm ]
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
"

4 Parts: Holy, Catholic, Apostolic & Church

Holy:



824 United with Christ, the Church is sanctified by him; through him and with him she becomes sanctifying. "All the activities of the Church are directed, as toward their end, to the sanctification of men in Christ and the glorification of God."292 It is in the Church that "the fullness of the means of salvation"293 has been deposited. It is in her that "by the grace of God we acquire holiness."294



827 Sub: The Church is therefore holy, though having sinners in her midst, because she herself has no other life but the life of grace. If they live her life, her members are sanctified; if they move away from her life, they fall into sins and disorders that prevent the radiation of her sanctity. This is why she suffers and does penance for those offenses, of which she has the power to free her children through the blood of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.302



829 "But while in the most Blessed Virgin the Church has already reached that perfection whereby she exists without spot or wrinkle, the faithful still strive to conquer sin and increase in holiness. And so they turn their eyes to Mary":306 in her, the Church is already the "all-holy."

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Catholic:



830 The word "catholic" means "universal," in the sense of "according to the totality" or "in keeping with the whole." The Church is catholic in a double sense:

First, the Church is catholic because Christ is present in her. "Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church."307 In her subsists the fullness of Christ's body united with its head; this implies that she receives from him "the fullness of the means of salvation"308 which he has willed: correct and complete confession of faith, full sacramental life, and ordained ministry in apostolic succession. The Church was, in this fundamental sense, catholic on the day of Pentecost309 and will always be so until the day of the Parousia.



831 Secondly, the Church is catholic because she has been sent out by Christ on a mission to the whole of the human race:310



All men are called to belong to the new People of God. This People, therefore, while remaining one and only one, is to be spread throughout the whole world and to all ages in order that the design of God's will may be fulfilled: he made human nature one in the beginning and has decreed that all his children who were scattered should be finally gathered together as one. . . . The character of universality which adorns the People of God is a gift from the Lord himself whereby the Catholic Church ceaselessly and efficaciously seeks for the return of all humanity and all its goods, under Christ the Head in the unity of his Spirit.311



838 "The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honored by the name of Christian, but do not profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter."322 Those "who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church."323 With the Orthodox Churches, this communion is so profound "that it lacks little to attain the fullness that would permit a common celebration of the Lord's Eucharist."324

[Imperfect, they are Christians, but are outside the flock of Christ, but they have the grace and ability to become apart of it.]

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Apostolic:



857 The Church is apostolic because she is founded on the apostles, in three ways:

·she was and remains built on "the foundation of the Apostles,"362 the witnesses chosen and sent on mission by Christ himself;363

·with the help of the Spirit dwelling in her, the Church keeps and hands on the teaching,364 the "good deposit," the salutary words she has heard from the apostles;365

·she continues to be taught, sanctified, and guided by the apostles until Christ's return, through their successors in pastoral office: the college of bishops, "assisted by priests, in union with the successor of Peter, the Church's supreme pastor":366



The Bishops:

861 "In order that the mission entrusted to them might be continued after their death, [the apostles] consigned, by will and testament, as it were, to their immediate collaborators the duty of completing and consolidating the work they had begun, urging them to tend to the whole flock, in which the Holy Spirit had appointed them to shepherd the Church of God. They accordingly designated such men and then made the ruling that likewise on their death other proven men should take over their ministry."374



863 The whole Church is apostolic, in that she remains, through the successors of St. Peter and the other apostles, in communion of faith and life with her origin: and in that she is "sent out" into the whole world. All members of the Church share in this mission, though in various ways. "The Christian vocation is, of its nature, a vocation to the apostolate as well." Indeed, we call an apostolate "every activity of the Mystical Body" that aims "to spread the Kingdom of Christ over all the earth."377



Saint Peter was the first Pope, and this has been a unbroken line to Pope John Paul II, this means the only the Church has perfect and successive Apostolic succession.
Note: The Orthodox also have Apostolic succession, but not to the extent and sense of the Holy Church.


Continue Post2

 

[MorphRC]

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Church:

785 "The holy People of God shares also in Christ's prophetic office," above all in the supernatural sense of faith that belongs to the whole People, lay and clergy, when it "unfailingly adheres to this faith . . . once for all delivered to the saints,"210 and when it deepens its understanding and becomes Christ's witness in the midst of this world.



Prophetic office is the Papacy.



786Finally, the People of God shares in the royal office of Christ. He exercises his kingship by drawing all men to himself through his death and Resurrection.211 Christ, King and Lord of the universe, made himself the servant of all, for he came "not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."212 For the Christian, "to reign is to serve him," particularly when serving "the poor and the suffering, in whom the Church recognizes the image of her poor and suffering founder."213 The People of God fulfills its royal dignity by a life in keeping with its vocation to serve with Christ.



752 In Christian usage, the word "church" designates the liturgical assembly,141 but also the local community142 or the whole universal community of believers.143 These three meanings are inseparable. "The Church" is the People that God gathers in the whole world. She exists in local communities and is made real as a liturgical, above all a Eucharistic, assembly. She draws her life from the word and the Body of Christ and so herself becomes Christ's Body.



The Church [People of God sense] celebrate the Eucharist and are the body of Christ.



Who is the Body of Christ?



790 Believers who respond to God's word and become members of Christ's Body, become intimately united with him: "In that body the life of Christ is communicated to those who believe, and who, through the sacraments, are united in a hidden and real way to Christ in his Passion and glorification."220 This is especially true of Baptism, which unites us to Christ's death and Resurrection, and the Eucharist, by which "really sharing in the body of the Lord, . . . we are taken up into communion with him and with one another."221



The Church [The People of God, The Pope, the Cardinals, The Bishops, Priests, layman are all apart and are God's Body] (1)



792 Christ "is the head of the body, the Church."225 He is the principle of creation and redemption. Raised to the Father's glory, "in everything he [is] preeminent,"226 especially in the Church, through whom he extends his reign over all things.



Christ is the Head of the body, the Church(1)



795 Sub: A reply of St. Joan of Arc to her judges sums up the faith of the holy doctors and the good sense of the believer: "About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they're just one thing, and we shouldn't complicate the matter."233

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You can use this as a guide, or a apologetic tract source, whatever. Hope it helps.
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[JeffreyLloyd]

Thanks

 

[MorphRC]

Thanks

Finally a response!

 

[Covenant Heart]

I've PM'd Wolseley several months ago, but this is my first public contact with this part of forum. I hope that this is OK, and that my remarks are received in the spirit in which they are intended.

First, may I say that this creed is one close to my heart. While I know that we hold it differently, this is the one creed that is confessed by all three branches of the church. I laud the interest of my Roman Catholic brothers in this glorious statement of our undoubted Christian faith.
My second point is that I was a little puzzled by the line, "4 parts, holy, catholic, apostolic and church." Whether by oversight or whether it was deemed to be included in the other points, I think that another word needs emphasis. In my faith tradition, we do not read the creed to include "church" in the "4 parts." As we confess hold and confess this creed, the first point is not "holy" but "one." So the formula becomes, "one, holy, catholic and apostolic" as four different ways of reflecting on the same church–from the standpoint of her unity, her holiness, her catholicity and her apostolicity.

My faith tradition also stresses the point that each of these 4 points implies and requires the others. Because Christ established one church, that church alone can be called apostolic, holy and catholic. Because this is the one creed that the Eastern, Western and Protestant churches (may God forgive the use of the plural form) confess, I feel that we can not afford to let that "first" (or whatever) point be forgotten.

Where does this leave us? It leaves us with a great deal of work. But do not let vision die. Blessings!
Covenant Heart

 

[MorphRC]

I've PM'd Wolseley several months ago, but this is my first public contact with this part of forum. I hope that this is OK, and that my remarks are received in the spirit in which they are intended.

First, may I say that this creed is one close to my heart. While I know that we hold it differently, this is the one creed that is confessed by all three branches of the church. I laud the interest of my Roman Catholic brothers in this glorious statement of our undoubted Christian faith.
My second point is that I was a little puzzled by the line, "4 parts, holy, catholic, apostolic and church." Whether by oversight or whether it was deemed to be included in the other points, I think that another word needs emphasis. In my faith tradition, we do not read the creed to include "church" in the "4 parts." As we confess hold and confess this creed, the first point is not "holy" but "one." So the formula becomes, "one, holy, catholic and apostolic" as four different ways of reflecting on the same church–from the standpoint of her unity, her holiness, her catholicity and her apostolicity.

My faith tradition also stresses the point that each of these 4 points implies and requires the others. Because Christ established one church, that church alone can be called apostolic, holy and catholic. Because this is the one creed that the Eastern, Western and Protestant churches (may God forgive the use of the plural form) confess, I feel that we can not afford to let that "first" (or whatever) point be forgotten.

Where does this leave us? It leaves us with a great deal of work. But do not let vision die. Blessings!
Covenant Heart

This Creed concerns the Catholic Church, The Pope, The Cardinals, The Bishops, Priests and all layman that accept the Sacraments. This does not include the Protestant Church, for they have no Apostolic Tradition, No Papal Succession, or Apostolic Succession. Neither does this Creed apply to any non-catholics, however it does to Orthodox. They are split but not completely out of communion.

But Thankyou for your view. GB