The Rise and Fall of Christendom 2B - Canon and Creeds

Canon and Creeds

During the earliest period of Christendom, agreement crystallized on which books belonged in the New Testament canon. In 383, Pope Damasus commissioned Jerome to translate the Bible into Latin, and Jerome’s work, the Vulgate, served as the primary Christian Bible for more than 1000 years. The Synod of Hippo (393) and the Synod of Carthage (397), convened by Saint Augustine, formalized the 27 books of the New Testament as scripture.

     Christendom gave authority to church councils which had an enormous influence in the shape of Christian doctrine over the ages. The earliest of these may have been the most important. The Council of Nicaea in 325 served primarily to slap down the heresy of Arianism, the idea that Jesus Christ was not fully divine. It endorsed the doctrine of the Trinity, a doctrine now held by Christian churches of all denominations. It says:

“We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; he was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried, and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the father; from thence he shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead. ; whose kingdom shall have no end. And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spake by the prophets. In one holy catholic and apostolic church; we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.” [The Nicene Creed of 325, as amended by the First Council of Constantinople in 381]

     A second important creed, the Apostle’s Creed, would appear in 390, though its origins may have been earlier. It reads:

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of the saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen [Translation by International Consultation on English Texts, Fortress Press 1970]

     The Nicene and Apostle’s Creeds have stood the test of time. Today, even church denominations that shy away from creeds, like the Baptists (who like to say “No creed but the Bible”), would generally consider denial of the tenets of these creeds as being out of bounds.

     The weight of Christendom lessened what had previously been a situation where numerous heretical views ran amuck. Christian missionaries eventually converted most of the Arians to Nicene Christianity. Christendom was less successful in combating errant teaching that had crept in before Constantine. Even before Christendom, veneration of Mary had begun, and by the 5^th century Christians were praying to Saints.