Summing Up the Creed

If, then, we have understood in what solemn sense God Almighty is called Father, and in what mysterious sense our Lord Jesus Christ is held to be his only Son, and with what complete fullness of meaning his Spirit is called the Holy Spirit, and how the Holy Trinity is one in substance but has distinctions of relation and of persons; if we have understood also what the birth from a virgin is, what the birth of the Word in the flesh, what the mystery of the cross, what the purpose of our Lord’s descent into hell, what the glory of the resurrection and the release of souls from their captivity in the lower world, what also his ascension into heaven, and the coming of the Judge for which we wait; and if we have understood, moreover, how the holy church is to be recognized as against the assemblies of emptiness; what the number of the sacred books is; what gatherings of heretics are to be avoided; how in the forgiveness of sins there is no conflict whatever between the freedom of God and natural reason; and how not only the sacred writings, but also the example of our Lord and Savior himself, and the conclusions of natural reason, confirm the truth of the resurrection of our flesh: if, I say, we have followed these things one after another with understanding, in keeping with the rule of the tradition set out above, then we pray that the Lord will grant to us, and to all who hear these words, that having kept the faith we received and finished our course, we may await the crown of righteousness laid up for us, and be found among those who will rise again to eternal life, and be delivered from confusion and eternal shame. We pray this through Christ our Lord, through whom to God the Father Almighty, with the Holy Spirit, is glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. [a]