The New Translation Part 7: The Nicene Creed

This is the latest installment in a series of short articles I wrote/adapted/edited for my parish bulletin. I will publish the others as they they appear.

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The new Mass translation is coming in Advent! Back in 2000, Blessed Pope John Paul II issued the third edition of the Roman Missal. After more than ten years of consultation and work, the new English translation is finally ready. Let’s start in on the first part of the Creed:

I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.

The first major change is hard to miss: the Creed now says “I believe” instead of “We believe.” “I believe” is a straightforward translation of the Latin, which begins Credo in unum Deum (I believe in one God). The Catechism of the Catholic Church says “Whoever says ‘I believe’ says ‘I pledge myself to what we believe’” (no. 185).

We will now say “invisible” not just “unseen”. The use of the word “invisible” helps clarify what we are referring to: the entire spiritual order of angels and of the human soul. These things are not only “unseen” but are not capable of being seen.

The new translation recovers Christ’s ancient title, “Only Begotten Son” (Fili Unigenite), which we also saw in the Gloria. To say the Son is “born of the Father before all ages” is a profound theological truth, for the Son is not “born” in the human sense of beginning one’s life, but eternally proceeds from the Father while being always fully God.

“Consubstantial” (consubstantiálem in Latin) is not a word we use in normal conversation. However, it is an important theological term, asserting that the Son is of the “same substance” as the Father – meaning He equally shares the Father’s divinity as a Person of the Holy Trinity. He is not of a different substance; He is not of a lesser substance; He has always existed. As Saint Athanasius summed it up, “there was never a time when he was not”.

While “consubstantial” may sound technical, the word “being” used in the old translation was considered too vague to properly express the theology and significance of the original Latin. One advantage of the word “consubstantial” is that it reminds us that there is something about the inner life of God that is beyond our normal terminology.

Next time: The rest of the Nicene Creed.

(Based on Roman Missal Formational Materials provided by the Secretariat for the Liturgy of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2010, and materials provided by the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend)