Nielsen’s Nook

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

NB: Received texts from Schaff’s Creeds of Christendom electronic edition of Christian Classic Ethereal Library.

Translation

I believe in God the Father, Almighty, [1] Maker [2] of heaven and earth.

[1] παντοκράτορα is a compound word made up of παντα meaning “all” or “every” and κράτος which connotes a glorious divine might and rule. Josephus employs a slightly different variation of this word structure when he writes, “When, therefore, those that had intended thus to destroy Daniel by treachery were themselves destroyed, king Darius sent [letters] over all the country, and praised that God whom Daniel worshipped, and said that he was the only true God, and had all power. He had also Daniel in very great esteem, and made him the principal of his friends.” (Ant 10.263) This is the same root (κράτος) that Hebrews 2:14-15 uses to contrast Christ’s supreme power with the power over death that the devil possesses, “¹⁴ Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.” (NRSV) The Latin renders omnipotentem, which of course is where we get the English word omnipotent.

[2] ποιητὴν the accusative form of ποιητής is traditionally rendered “Maker”, which is correct but should be nuanced to the English speaking mind. In Acts 17:28, St Paul is addressing the Athenians and uses the term to refer to the Greek poets. This gives us the semantic understanding that when God writes the lines of creation and history, he did not simply make something but he made it as living poetry. All Creation, heaven and earth, is the Great and Living Poem.