John 3:1-17
✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠
Every year on Trinity Sunday we say the words of the Athanasian Creed, words which speak about the catholic faith. And I’m sure every year, some of you think to yourselves, “Why do we still have to use that word ‘catholic?’ We’re Lutherans!” You remember, of course, that there’s a big difference between Roman Catholic with a capital “C” and catholic with a small “c” as in “the one, holy, catholic, apostolic church,” which was the original wording of the creeds. In the other creeds we use the word “Christian” rather than “catholic” to avoid confusion. But the two words really mean the same thing. The catholic faith means the one true faith delivered through the apostles and prophets and recorded for us in the Scriptures, the one, universal faith which has been confessed by the true church in all places at all times, the faith which trusts in Jesus Christ alone as the Savior, which worships the Blessed Holy Trinity as the only true God.
This is the faith we hold to and which every generation of Christians has held to before us back to the time of the apostles and Christ Himself. We will settle for no other; we will allow no compromise. Any one who confesses something different is not catholic; which is to say, he’s not Christian, whether he is Lutheran or Baptist or Roman Catholic or the pope himself. The fact of the matter is that in several important respects, the pope is not catholic. For instance, he teaches that there can be salvation for those who do not hold to the Trinitarian faith, including some Jews and Muslims–even though Jesus specifically said, “He who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.” Anyone who utters words other than what has been delivered to us from the apostolic Scriptures is not uttering the words of the catholic, Christian faith.
That’s why the Athanasian Creed is very particular on this doctrine of the Trinity. On the basis of the Scriptures, it says this, “Except a man believe (this) faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved.” There is no salvation, no eternal life apart from faith in this Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; this Jesus, the Son of God who became flesh to redeem us. You cannot be saved if you trust in something different than this.
And this is where we bump up against our culture. It sounds exclusionary to talk this way, especially in a context where everything is about diversity and inclusion. It may even sound a bit arrogant to some, as if we’re better than everyone else. But that’s not at all what we’re saying; in fact, just the opposite. We speak this way because we know that there is only one way for humans to be reconciled with God, and that is through Jesus, who is both God and man in one undivided person. It’s not about us, it’s about Him, the only Son of the Father, through whom the Holy Spirit is given. This faith is not exclusionary, since it is a free gift for everyone who believes, no matter who you are or where you’re from. But it is a faith that cannot include falsehood or embrace false, diverse gods; for to do that is to reject Him who is the Truth incarnate.
And so in a world which tries to blur distinctions and encourages acceptance of false belief, it is good that we confess the Athanasian Creed. We don’t worship a single-person god, as do the Muslims and the Jews; we don’t believe in multiple gods, as do the Mormons; we don’t believe in a god who is just an impersonal force in the universe, as do Buddhists and Hindus and New age types; we don’t even worship a generic god, “the man upstairs,” as so many of our neighbors do. We worship the three-in-one God who is love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the God who creates and sustains us, the Son of God who became the Son of Man to deliver us from sin and death, the Spirit of God who sanctifies us and gives us everlasting life.
It’s not easy for us to confess that faith out in the world, is it? It’s easier just to keep quiet and avoid possible trouble. We don’t want to be stereotyped; we don’t want to be thought of as weird. And so we often keep what we believe secret, unless we’re sure it’s safe. We’re tempted to think and talk one way in here and another way out there. That’s what Nicodemus was doing in today’s Gospel. He came to Jesus at night. It is written elsewhere in the Scriptures that Nicodemus was a follower of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews. Nicodemus was a member of the Jewish ruling council. And that council saw Jesus as trouble, a rabble rouser and a blasphemer who needed to be silenced. And so Nicodemus felt the pressure to conform and maintain the status quo, even as we know all too well the pressure to conform to this world and follow its ways, especially this month.
But Nicodemus was beginning to be drawn in by the words of Jesus. Those words of life were beginning to penetrate his heart. He was beginning to want something that he didn’t have, just as every sinner, whether he admits it or not, knows that he’s missing something without Christ. Our hearts are indeed restless until they rest in Him.
So Nicodemus comes with his restless heart to Jesus by night. And he says, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Nicodemus reasons that Jesus must be from God, because He’s able to do these signs and miracles. And so Nicodemus figures that Jesus might be able to help him to get his spiritual life together, get his religion right. But Jesus responds in a way that shows that this teacher of Israel didn’t understand and was really missing the point. The Christian faith is not about getting your life together, it’s about getting a whole new life. It’s not doing something of yourself to get in touch with God, it’s about being reborn in Christ. Jesus said, “Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
In your fallen state, you cannot see God and live; you cannot behold or be a part of His kingdom. And so your old life must pass away and you must be born again. You must receive a new and holy life that is acceptable to stand in God’s presence and to enter His kingdom. And that life is given to you by Christ. For He lived a life that is perfectly holy and without sin. He fulfilled the commandments entirely and kept the Law of love completely, even to the point of laying down His life. Now He is risen from the dead in the flesh to pour out His life by the Holy Spirit on all who believe. Jesus said, “Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
It is in holy baptism, then, that you are reborn in Christ through the seed of the living Word. You are not born again through some decision of your own, any more than you had a part in deciding to be born the first time. Rather, you are born again as children of God purely by the gracious will of your heavenly Father. Just as our Lord Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, so you are conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Church in the waters of baptism. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and passes away. But that which is born of the Spirit is spirit and does not pass away. Therefore, the old Adam, the perishable sinful nature which still hangs with you, must be put down and drowned through daily repentance. Then walking by faith in the risen Christ, He will daily emerge and arise in you to live before the Father in righteousness and purity forever.
Later this same night, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” We hate coming to the light; it’s easier to hang around in the shadows, because in the light all the blemishes of our sin are exposed. It’s not easy to come to confession; it’s not easy to kneel at this altar rail as a sinner needing help. But when you come to the Light with penitent faith in Jesus, just as Nicodemus came through the darkness to Him who is the Light of the world, Christ will not castigate and reject you. For if we confess our sins, God if faithful and just to forgive our sins. He cleanses us from all unrighteousness by giving us His purifying blood and holy body at His table. “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” What good news that is! Jesus did not come to damn you but to rescue you. He did not come to convict you but to pardon you. Jesus did not come to lay new rules and requirements on you, but to take your burdens and sins on Himself and put them to death in His body on the cross, that you may have life and have it abundantly.
“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” There is no one to whom that verse does not apply. God so loved you that He gave His only begotten Son for you, that believing in Him you shall not perish but have everlasting life.
This is why we hold tenaciously to Scriptural confessions of faith like the Athanasian Creed and reject anything that is contrary to it. It’s not out of an arrogant “We’re right, everyone else is wrong” kind of attitude. Rather, we know that this is the only true God who is love; this Jesus is the only one who is the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through Him. Here’s the only medicine that can heal you. All the others are just quacks. Ultimately it is out of love for our neighbor that we reject all false religion, so that they may know and believe the saving truth of the Holy Trinity–the Father who created us and who loves even us fallen creatures, the Son who demonstrates that love by taking on our flesh and redeeming us with His precious blood, and the Holy Spirit who pours out that love upon us by means of His words and sacraments. This is our God. This is our Lord. We desire no other.
Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the Undivided Unity: let us give glory to Him because he has shown mercy to us! For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.