The sixth of my ten-part series on a basic systematic theology deriving from the Nicene Creed.

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The last few articles set the stage for examining beliefs theologically, particularly through the basic credal statement. This article looks at the first line of the creed, a very important confession statement:


I believe in one God...

The creed begins with a very simple statement of faith in the belief in the existence of God, that there is one God, not many; that this God is the creator of all things, even those things of which we are not aware; that nothing that exists owes its existence to any other being or cause.

This is the God that is attested to in the Hebrew scriptures, the Christian Old and New Testaments, and perhaps in some form of self-revelation in the religious works of others. That God created heaven and earth is biblically based, recounted often throughout the Old and New Testaments. In these biblical themes, there is a sharp distinction made between God the creator on the one hand, and creatures on the other. (Jones I, p. 124 ff.) While there are many images that are used artistically and in literature to simulate God’s creative action, ‘God’s creative action is singularly unique and without analogy in the creaturely world.’ (Jones I, p. 129) This is unique, and even modern science has yet to find a physical analogy to the creation. While not all biblical testimony requires that this creation be ex nihilo, that is, God could have put a creative order on pre-existing matter, to allow for this creates theological difficulties in the relationship of God to this independently-existing something. Therefore, I affirm that God created ex nihilo; ‘the creative activity of God is that which gives actuality to creatures out of absolute nonbeing.’ (Jones I, p. 135) This is confirmed, I feel, by the gospel of John: All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.

The free-will act of God in creating demonstrates that ‘the sovereign goodness of God is already at work in the act of creation.’ (Migliore, p. 80) The creation is not something that is required of God to be God. Christian faith attests to the ‘God as the One who loves in freedom and thereby the one who lives eternally in self-determination,’ and is therefore, the One who creates the world in loving freedom. (Jones I, p. 126) ‘God was not compelled to create the world. It is an act of free grace.’ (Migliore, p. 85) God had absolute freedom in determining how creation was to be ordered, and as such, God’s purposes are inherently built into the fabric of creation, which leads us to the hope that ‘God will finally embrace all creatures as their Ultimate Redemptive Companion.’ (Jones I, p. 128)

Being first, God the Father ‘has a certain priority (neither ontological nor chronological) over Son and Spirit.’ (Rahner II, p. xx) Rahner sees God the Father as the self-communicator, who does so through the Son and the Spirit. However, this is not to make God the Father a separate entity, essence or substance. ‘In the eyes of some, it is suspect because it abandons what has become so important in the West, the doctrine of the equality of the "persons". Rahner seems to accept this consequence.’ (Urban, p. 72) This priority, however, is not in time or space, but rather linguistic, and shows up the limits of human language in trying to discuss something in part which cannot be separated into parts.

The next article deals with the second section of the Creed.


References for this section:

Book of Common Prayer. 1979. Seabury Press: New York.

Jones, Joe. Manuscript for A Grammar of Christian Faith, Volumes I & II. 1999-2000. Rowman and Littlefield, 2002.

Migliore, Daniel L. Faith Seeking Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Theology. 1991. Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Rahner, Karl. The Trinity. 1997. Crossroad Publishing: New York.

Rahner, Karl. Edited by Geffrey B. Kelly. Karl Rahner. 1992. Augsburg Fortress Press: Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Urban, Linwood. A Short History of Christian Thought. 1995. Oxford University Press: New York.