WELS and the Athanasian Creed

Every year, for Trinity Sunday, we read the Athanasian Creed in church. For me, it usually starts out great, as it's a logical explanation of what we believe regarding the Trinity. But then, as we get to the end, I read the "whoever does not believe this cannot be saved" and I cringe, if I read it aloud at all. How is this statement biblical? Salvation depends on one thing alone, faith in Christ as their Savior. Nowhere in the Bible (to my knowledge at least) is salvation dependent on believing the Trinity. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not downplaying the importance of the Trinity, or any other teaching of the Bible that doesn't grant salvation. The first thing that pops into my head is the thief on the cross. It's possible that he heard Jesus talk before he was hanging next to him, maybe even heard him teach about the doctrine of the Trinity. The Bible doesn't tell us that though, but it does tell us that he was saved. The definition of a creed is a statement of what we believe. In most cases, if a visitor asked what we believed, I'd point them to one of the other two creeds. I guess my question is this: why (and how) does the WELS agree with this creed?

In answering your question and addressing your concerns, it will be helpful to keep in mind that, as was the case with the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed was written at a time of theological controversy in the church.

Written perhaps around 500 A.D., the Athanasian Creed stated scriptural truths to confront the heresy of Arianism. Arianism argued that Jesus Christ was a created being, so therefore he was not equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit. You can see that such a denial of Jesus is a rejection of the Bible’s teaching of the Trinity; with that denial of Jesus, there would no longer be three persons of the Godhead equal in power and majesty and glory. The Athanasian Creed was drafted to combat the error of Arianism and state what Scripture says about the God of the Bible being a triune God and that there is salvation only through Jesus Christ, the God-man.

The wording of the Athanasian Creed does not demand that people understand the mysteries of the Trinity and the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The Athanasian Creed does declare that the only saving faith that exists is that which is centered in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity (Matthew 3:16-17; John 14:6; 10:30; Acts 4:12). Because the Creed states scriptural truths, our church body finds agreement with it and uses it—if only sparingly—in our worship services.