Apostles and Nicene Creeds Part 3

Where did we leave off? Oh yeah… I should have added “born of the Virgin Mary” to the Apostles creed.  But I digress and continue where I left off last:

Apostles: “… suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; in accordance with the scriptures.”

Nicene: “For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again, in accordance with the scriptures.”

                It’s not hard to see the progression of the understanding of the faith, and the detail that was later poured into the new (Nicene) creed.  We observe the mention of Pontius Pilate, but why? What does Pilate have to do with our profession of faith? Should the Church Fathers have included only points about God, Jesus, and the Resurrection? It’s hard to say. What we submit though, is that Pilate was an instrument of God (just as Pharaoh was), and so where the Jews who turned him over. The Bible actually reads pretty chillingly that God opened salvation to the Gentiles because the Jews did not believe, and to make them jealous (Rom 11:11); I think we rarely consider this. It’s really another mystery of Gods work.  The point of Pontius Pilate being mentioned though is to properly give historical accuracy to the death of Jesus – because that’s what this portion of the Creed is about – how and when he died.

                Some would say he died a unique death. I disagree and so does history. Many at his time were *reportedly* creating signs, and making claims, and killed for it – but Jesus’ ministry was different, and his claims were as well.  In fact, in Acts we read that the high priest Caiaphas warns everybody to beware the Christians because they simply ‘aren’t going away’ as the followers of the other potential messiahs did. That’s pretty crazy if you ask me! To preserve history (since scripture in the New Testament had not yet been canonized) it was necessary to include this to show precisely the point in time that Jesus was killed. There is no mistake about the mentioning of the Roman Prelate in his death. Notice that the translation is “suffered under” and not “suffered at the hands of” or “killed by” – it was under the reign of Pontius Pilate who became a notable figure in other means as well in Roman history. It is a distinct reference to the time and place that Jesus suffered his passion.

                The next interesting part is “in accordance with the scriptures.” Now, I get the feeling that many Protestants are vaguely familiar with the creeds in either form. Catholics read the Nicene at Mass and should be somewhat familiar with it – but I wonder how many trip over this part about the “scriptures” or just read right through it. Has the reader of this blog considered which scriptures the creeds are referring to? First off, it should be recognized that the reference is found not only in the creed but in St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures” (15:3-4). Twice Paul refers to the scriptures. It cannot be any more evident that Paul was referring to the Old Testament just as the creeds are.  We might recognize the story and see the connection with “scriptures” as the NT, but remember, the creeds, both of them, are older than the canonized Bible – the Nicene by almost 80 years.    

With Paul saying this and it being then inserted in the creeds it is the equivalent of saying “in order to fulfill the prophecy about his life, death, and resurrection.” His virgin birth in Isaiah 7:14, His (God’s) son in Isaiah 9:6-7, his death for us in Isaiah 49:6 and 42:1-4, suffering foretold in Isaiah 53:3, rejected by rulers in Psalm 118:22, betrayed by 30 pieces of silver in Zachariah 11:12, and many more. The creed is vital to our Faith. It’s like a mini-new testament – before the New Testament was even new or a testament at all.