Lenten Fasting. Assurance of Salvation. Christ's Descent into Hell in the Creeds.
by Pastor Walter Snyder

Q: As a Lutheran, am I not supposed to eat meat on Ash Wednesday and on Fridays
during Lent?

A: This is completely a matter of Christian freedom. Christ never forbade fasting; He did,
however, insist that we not do it to draw attention to ourselves. He speaks similarly of prayer and
almsgiving in Matthew 6. If done with the proper spirit, fasting can provide great spiritual benefit,
especially in learning to discipline oneself.

Q: What steps do I have to take to be saved? I started going back to church about two
months ago. I go every Wednesday and Sunday and I am learning more and more about
God. I want to give my self to the Lord and would like to know what I can do to free myself
of all past sins and get God's forgiveness.

A: The disciples were asked variations of your question, such as, "What must I do to be saved?"
Without exception, the answer would be something along the line of, "Believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ and you will be saved," or, "Believe and be baptized." If you are already baptized and if
you believe in Jesus as your Savior, you not only are saved, but you also have saving faith and, in
Baptism, have God's holy Name placed on you and His claim staked on you. I hesitate to say that
you "must" believe or that you "must" be baptized, since Baptism and saving faith are both
gifts from God. Your very desire to be more completely in harmony with the will of God testifies
to the faith the Holy Ghost has created in you through the Gospel of forgiveness.

Likewise, you are already free of past sins, for all sins which God forgives He also forgets. Thus,
if your sins are already placed upon Jesus, they exist no more. Often, the Christian's problem is
that we forget the good much better than does God and we remember the bad much better than
He does. If you are not sure, then simply give God all your sins and trust in His word of
forgiveness for Christ's sake. This is where those churches and pastors who practice and
encourage individual confession might benefit the Christian. Instead of merely voicing our sins
and trusting God to answer, we hear His words of forgiveness spoken by the pastor He has called
to feed His flock and to forgive their sins. As Jesus said to His disciples, "If you forgive the sins
of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.
(John 20:23)" He also told those called to preach the Gospel, "The one who hears you hears Me, and
the one who rejects you rejects Me, and the one who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me. (Luke 10:16)"

The rest, as they say, is mere detail. As you realize more fully that you are saved and (re-)discover
the magnitude of God's love for you in Christ, you will be moved even more to reply in worship
and in life. This is not you "doing" your salvation, but is the heartfelt response of a lost sheep
whom the Shepherd has already found and saved.

Q: Why is "He descended into hell" not in the Nicene Creed but in the other two Creeds?

A: The Apostles' and Nicene Creeds grew up independently. For many years, "experts" thought
that the Apostles' Creed was no where near so ancient as the apostolic times. Now, evidence
mounts that much of its contents were used already among the second or third generation of
Christians. While unlikely that the Twelve actually wrote it, those who put it together may have
known the apostles; perhaps one or more even had some input on its early forms. This Creed then
came into the Western Church.

The Nicene Creed came in defense of orthodox Christianity against heresies, especially
Christological heresies and, most of all, Arianism, which denied the true and full divinity of Christ
and His oneness with the Father. Thus, it deals with the interrelationships within the Trinity.
Because they have different origins and different original audiences, the Creeds' material doesn't
totally overlap.

Meanwhile, the Athanasian Creed, the last of the three great Creeds (or four, if you count the Te
Deum as a creed) picked certain aspects from both while also adding some things neither
included. Much of its closing reads like a direct quote from the Apostles' Creed. For years, this
Creed was not used much in general church services. Instead, it was sung in many monasteries as
part of one of the early morning prayer offices.

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from ~The Holy Bible, English Standard Version~<TM>, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles.

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Walter Snyder is the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma, Missouri and coauthor of
the book "What Do Lutherans Believe."

Ask the Pastor, © 2002 by Walter P. Snyder. It may be reproduced in totality, including this
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