Baptism, Resurrection, and the Coming Age

The other day in this series on the Creed, we looked what it has to say about the Church, as the community of faith. Today we’ll look at the final three clauses of the Nicene Creed, which talk about the ways we participate in that community, in this life and the next (in what the other major ancient creed, the Apostles Creed, calls “the communion of saints”). The text reads, “We confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins; we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the coming age.” Taking each of these in turn, we see that not only are all of these ways we participate in the Church, but, also participate in and are united to the experience of Jesus.

But first, it’s important to note that the governing verb changes here, twice. Up until now, the whole Creed has been governed by its very first word, pisteuomen, ‘We trust.’ But now, right at the end, it mixes things up. We confess one baptism and look for the resurrection.

The word translated here as ‘confess’, homologoumen, has a double meaning, just like the English; it is ‘confess’ both as in ‘saying something together in agreement’, as we confess the words of the Creed together in liturgy, but also as in ‘acknowledging that one has done something wrong’. I enjoy its use here as a bit of wordplay, for it is a statement that we share a common acceptance of baptism, but also plays on the idea of the confession of sins as well. (Something like “We confess (one baptism for the forgiveness of) our sins.”) The ‘one’ here is a bit odd. There was a belief among some Christians in the fourth century that post-baptismal sins could not be forgiven and so they’d want to go back and be baptized multiple times (or more commonly, some people would even delay baptism until their deathbed); it could be that ‘one’ was emphasized here to remind people of the seriousness of their baptism. Or it could be to emphasize that baptism is an act of solidarity with Christ, our “one Lord”— as 1 Corinthians 12 puts it, “For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.” There’s a lot of ‘ones’ going on here, so the emphasis on ‘one’ baptism could simply be part of that too. As we just saw in last Sunday’s readings, “all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death” (Romans 6.3). Baptism is a symbol of death to sin in uniting ourselves to Christ’s death on the cross. At the same time, the wording “one baptism for the forgiveness of sins” hearkens back to the earlier ministry of John the Baptist, and connects baptism with the confession of sins. With all this symbolism together, baptism unites us to Christ, his life and teaching, and to his ‘body,’ the Church.

But, as that same passage from Romans reminds us, “if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” And so, “we look forward to the resurrection of the dead.” Our participation with Christ includes the new life of the resurrection. As we saw at Easter, in Jesus’ day, the resurrection was a sign of God’s justice for the oppressed. If we take care not to lose this symbolism, we see how together baptism and resurrection address both sides of the theodicy question, the question of how God can be just when the world is unjust. In repentance, as symbolized by baptism, God enacts the divine judgment of mercy by forgiving our sins; in resurrection, God vindicates those who’ve been sinned against.

Finally, “we look forward to … the life of the coming age.” This is perhaps a strange expression, but it’s a helpful gloss on what the New Testament calls he aionios zoe. This is almost always translated as “eternal life,” but that is a bit confusing since that makes us think of life continuing eternally. But what the expression meant was something more like “life that has the characteristics of eternity,” that is, of the Kingdom of God. Indeed, probably nowhere is the common Christian belief more different from traditional Christian teaching than when it comes to life after death. The New Testament and early Church knew no visions of life behind Pearly Gates in heaven with all our friends and loved ones. Instead, there are two rather distinct sets of images used for the “life of the coming age.” The more apocalyptic language envisions a literal bodily resurrection in an entirely new order, with Jesus as its King and Law and God’s presence in and through everything. The second, more mystical perspective envisions the coming age to be either something like an eternal vision of God (the traditional Western teaching), or as nothing less than life that ever more fully participates in the divine life (the traditional Eastern teaching). No matter how we picture it, though, it’s not conceived of as anything like the life we’ve known in the present age.

What’s interesting to me about all this is how these three aspects of life in the community of faith, baptism, resurrection, and the life of eternity, mirror exactly what the Creed said earlier about Jesus. He “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried,” we die to the old life in baptism. He “rose again on the third day,” we anticipate our own resurrection in him and with him. He “ascended into heaven” and “will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead,” we await “the life of the coming age.” What it says about God the Son, it also says, about us. From this it seems clear to me that the Creed shares, with Paul and the Church Fathers, an understanding of salvation grounded in participation in God through Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And while, yes, we await the ‘coming age’, the Spirit empowers us to live its ‘firstfruits’ or a ‘foretaste’ of it in the here and now.

To me, this has huge implications for Christian spirituality. We aren’t just putting in time here, waiting for Christ’s return. We may not yet be living in God’s Kingdom but God’s Kingdom already lives in us, and so everything we do should be understood in these terms. To put things slightly differently, as we pray that God’s “Kingdom come, on earth as in heaven,” our faith tells us that in a very real way, our vocation is to be part of the fulfillment of that prayer: God’s Kingdom — or at least a foretaste of it — is to come on earth in our own lives. This is challenging, but it’s also good (and beautiful and true).

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-Begotten, Who was begotten of the Father before all ages, light from light, true God from true God, Begotten not made, Who is of the same essence as the Father, Through whom all things exist. Who, for us humans and for our salvation, came down from heaven, And was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became human. Who was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried, and rose gain on the third day, in accordance with the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. Who is coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.

And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life, Who proceeds from the Father; Who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified Who spoke by the prophets.

And in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

We confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.