“The One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church”: What Does That Mean?

This past weekend the church I pastor at, Waxhaw Bible Church (www.waxhawbible.org), had a concert of prayer. It was a great time of corporate praying and praising the Lord for what he has, is, and will continue to do at the church. The service followed the ACTS format: adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. During the time of confession I mentioned that confession has two components both a positive and a negative, that is, a confession of faith and the confession of sin. As the New Bible Dictionary notes:

On the one hand, confession means to declare publicly a personal relationship with and allegiance to God. It is an act of open joyful commitment made to God in the presence of the world, by which a congregation or individuals bind themselves in loyalty to God or Jesus Christ. It is an avowal of faith which can have eternal eschatological consequences. On the other hand, it means to acknowledge sin and guilt in the light of God’s revelation, and is thus generally an outward sign of repentance and faith. (1)

In the process of leading the church in the positive aspect of confession I had us read the Nicene Creed together. While this creed is full of deep theological truths the one phrase that stuck out to many people in our congregation was the line, “the one holy catholic apostolic church.” Several people approached deacons afterwards expressing concern over us using the word “catholic,” in fact, one member of our congregation told me that they wouldn’t even say the term and chose to mumble over the phrase instead! As a result of the confusion surrounding this phrase, I thought it would be helpful if I took some time to briefly explain the history behind the Nicene Creed itself and the meaning of the phrase, “the one holy catholic apostolic church.”

The Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed derives its name from the Council of Nicaea, which was held in 325 A.D. At this counsel 318 bishops coming from churches from both the East and West gathered together for over two months to discuss important theological issues that were confronting their churches at the time. The primary concern they were to address was raised by a presbyter named Arius. Arius and many other church leaders were claiming that Jesus was the first begotten of the Father but he was not God! As Arius put it:

This one God, for all time, begot his only – begotten son, through whom he made the ages and the universe He begot him not just in appearance, but in fact; by his own will. He made his son to subsist and he made him unchangeable and unalterable. God’s perfect creature, he is unlike any other creature; begotten, yes, but unique in the manner of his begetting:  But we say that he was created by God’s will, before all ages; from the Father he received being and life, and in creating him the Father conferred his own glory on him. Yet the Father, in giving all things into his possession, did not despoil himself of them: he contains all things himself in an on begotten way, for he is the source of all things. (2)

Thankfully Arius’ view did not prevail at the council and this position was condemned as heresy. (3) As the Nicene Creed makes clear Jesus was fully God:

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.

And fully man:

For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man. (4)

With this brief historical sketch in place we can now turn to the word, “catholic” and the phrase, “the one holy catholic apostolic church,” and better understand what they mean.

“Catholic”

The term “catholic” for many Protestant Christians automatically is preceded by the word “Roman” and conjures up pictures of large hats, the mass, and the worship of Mary. This, however, is not what the term originally meant, nor is it what those at the  Council of Nicaea wanted to convey (5) As Nelson’s New Christian Dictionary notes catholic means:

Catholic (Gk., general, universal) 1. Worldwide and universal. Distinguished from sectarian. 2. Belonging to the “One True, Holy, Catholic” church. According to Ignatius, “Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.” According to Cyril of Jerusalem, “The Church is called Catholic because she is throughout the whole world, from one end of the world to the other; because she teaches universally and without fail all the doctrines that ought to be preached to the knowledge of men concerning the visible and the invisible, in heaven and on earth; because she subjects to her faith the whole of mankind . . .” (6)

In other words, the term “catholic” in the Nicene creed can be used interchangeably with the word “universal.” Hence the phrase, “the one holy catholic apostolic church” can be seen as stressing that the doctrinal truth coming from the Apostles (via Scripture) must be taught and accepted by believers across the globe and throughout the ages. As Harold O. J. Brown notes:

Each of the major churches accepted the great ecumenical creeds, the Apostles’, Nicene, and Chalcedonian symbols, and was persuaded that the doctrine they express is both true and necessary. They differed among themselves about what else might be required, but there was no doubt among them that at least the doctrines of the ecumenical creeds were required.” (7)

As a result of this knowledge every Protestant Christian should not be bothered by the term “catholic” as it is used in the Nicene Creed! In fact, we can and should join with our brothers and sisters in Christ from all ages in making a positive confession of our faith in the Triune God of Scripture and his gracious gift of salvation (Rev. 5:9ff)!