One Body, One Baptism: Nicaea's Biblical Roots
Daily Scripture
Ephesians 4:1-6, Romans 6:3-5, 8-11
Ephesians 4
1 Therefore, as a prisoner for the Lord, I encourage you to live as people worthy of the call you received from God. 2 Conduct yourselves with all humility, gentleness, and patience. Accept each other with love, 3 and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties you together. 4 You are one body and one spirit, just as God also called you in one hope. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 and one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all.
Romans 6
3 Or don’t you know that all who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore, we were buried together with him through baptism into his death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too can walk in newness of life. 5 If we were united together in a death like his, we will also be united together in a resurrection like his.
8 But if we died with Christ, we have faith that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ has been raised from the dead and he will never die again. Death no longer has power over him. 10 He died to sin once and for all with his death, but he lives for God with his life. 11 In the same way, you also should consider yourselves dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Another gathering of bishops in 381 not only added the section about the Holy Spirit to the Nicene Creed, but also the closing words of the Creed as we use it: “We believe in one holy catholic * and apostolic church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.” Today’s Scripture passages surely show that any meaningful summary of Christian beliefs would be incomplete without those words. The evocation of a universal church grew from “the unity of the Spirit.” Ephesians listed no fewer than seven “ones” that unite God’s people and then ended in verse 6 with three “alls.” Unity isn’t an optional nicety achieved by human effort, but an essential gift from God through the Holy Spirit. And baptism both unites believers (even in the different ways we practice it) and points us symbolically to faith in the future resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
- Ephesians called for “an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit.” The centuries after the Creed’s writing have surely shown that it takes a lot of effort. The Holy Spirit leads, not forces. We read elsewhere about “suppressing the Spirit” and that we can “brush off” Spirit-inspired messages (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20). “The Spirit is unhappy when believers speak destructive words about others and when people divide against one another (cf. Ephesians 4:29-31).” ** How can you value and preserve the Holy Spirit’s gift of unity as you relate to Christians with varied practices and traditions? Baptism, far from being a meaningless ritual, means “those ‘baptized into Christ’ lose their corporate solidarity with the ‘old self,’ which could also be translated ‘old humanity’ (in Adam), to find a new identity with Christ instead (see Romans 5:15–21).” *** How can your baptism both give you a new quality of life now and express your faith in eternal life with God?
Prayer
Jesus, to choose you as my “Lord” is to say, “I want you, not my broken habits or instincts, to rule my life.” Thank you for giving me the promise of a new, better way to live now and forever. Amen.
GPS Insights
Matt Williams
Matt Williams, who serves Resurrection as the Digital Engagement Team Director, wrote today's Insights. His team is responsible for the church website, social media, YouTube, email newsletters, GPS, and digital marketing efforts for the church including Pastor Hamilton's podcast (https://makingsenseoffaith.com). Matt and his wife, Kristin, have been members of Resurrection since 2009 and have four kids.
For me, history is one of the greatest sources of strength for my faith. Jesus is a historical fact. The Nicean Creed has been a unifying force for Christians for 1700 years. But history also applies to my personal faith. Here’s what I mean:
In January 2022, I sat at my kitchen table lost in thought. But not in a good way. A couple of months ago, I quit my job. The company I used to work for was a masterclass in how narcissistic leadership leads to a toxic workplace culture, and I had to get out of there. So, I quit. No plan B. No side hustle that turned into a full-time gig. No clue what I was going to do next. I have wanted to do work that matters with people who care for as long as I can remember. But there at my kitchen table, I had no prospects for work with three kids and a full-time nanny that I wasn’t sure we could afford much longer.
Fast forward to today. I have the best job I’ve ever had in the best place I’ve ever been. I still catch myself lost in thought sitting with my kids at my kitchen table, but now it’s because my work is part of a mission I wholeheartedly believe in and I’m genuinely excited to go to work.
That’s why history is one of the greatest sources of strength for my faith. When I look back, I see God’s hand on my life in ways that I often can’t see right away. In January 2022, I never imagined that I’d be working in a job that I love at Resurrection. Today, I see how God used my history, the relationships I built at Resurrection in earlier years and the skills I developed through all the twists and turns of a decade as an entrepreneur, to lead me to the job I have today. History grounds my faith on a firm foundation that is stronger than my limited perspective and the crazy world around me.
When you see a mountain, where do your eyes go? If you’re like me, your eyes go to the peak. A mountain’s peak is majestic among the clouds, reaching for the heavens, against the backdrop of a beautiful blue sky. You know what I never notice, at least not at first? The base of the mountain. Yet, without a strong foundation, the majestic peak and enduring beauty would not be possible. Mountains stand the test of time, through sunshine and storm, because of their foundation. The mountain’s foundation formed from the ground up over millions of years through slow but powerful geological forces. The mountain stands because of its history.
Storms are guaranteed in this crazy world we live in. Just turn on the news or start scrolling through social media. Or maybe you don’t need a reminder because you’re in the middle of a raging thunderstorm in your life right now. We need a firm foundation, stronger than any storm, in our lives. Faith in Jesus is that foundation. And it’s a fact of history that the divine movement Jesus started has transformed lives, communities, and our world for over 2000 years.
I don’t know what the mountain of your life looks like today. Maybe you’re bathed in sunshine, lounging up high surrounded by beautiful blue skies. Maybe you’re engulfed in a raging thunderstorm that feels like it’ll never end. Maybe you’re somewhere in between. What I do know is that history is a firm foundation for me–the history of the Christian faith, powerfully captured in the Nicean Creed, and my own personal history of God’s hand on my life. My hope and prayer is that it can be the same for you.
© 2024 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* universal
** Timothy G. Gombis, study note on Ephesians 4:30 in The CEB Study Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2013, p. 369 NT.
*** NIV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, eBook (p. 9867). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
