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The Apostles' Creed I: Why Creeds?

1. We begin this week our exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, one of two most widely used and significant creeds in the history of the Christian Church. Today I will make a case for the importance to the church of creeds like the Apostles’ Creed, but first I would like to point you to several books which, if you read along with the sermon schedule, will help open up the meaning of the different articles of the creed.

2. Books about the Apostles’ Creed

There are some excellent resources available on the subject of the Apostles’ Creed. I have listed six of these below. The first four examine the creed point by point. I have listed these in order of simplicity and helpfulness for most of you, the most helpful listed first. The next two books will help you understand the development of the creed and in the process greatly enhance its meaning for you.

I Believe: Exploring the Apostles’ Creed, Alister McGrath, 1991, 1997, Inter-varsity Press
Growing in Christ, J. I. Packer, 1994, Crossway Books
We Believe: Recovering the Essentials of the Apostles' Creed, Michael Scott Horton, 1998, Word Publishing
Renewing Your Mind: Basic Christian Beliefs You Need to Know, R. C. Sproul; 1973, 1998, Baker Book House
Early Christian Creeds, J. N. D. Kelly, 3rd edition, 1972, Longman Group LimitedThe Making of the Creeds, Frances M. Young, 1991, Trinity Press International

3. Discussion Questions

Please refer to the bulletin insert which presents follow up discussion questions available for use in our cell groups. My goal is to provide these each Sunday for cell group meetings the following six days.

First of all, our English word "creed" derives from the Latin word "credo" as in the phrase Credo in Deum, the first words of the Apostles’ Creed, which translates "I believe in God."

Simply put, a creed is a statement of belief, generally a pithy and memorable and formalized statement of essential truths.

In a looser sense a creed is any set group of beliefs than one may have. In this looser sense everyone has a creed, even if the creed is the denial of a creed.

What does it mean biblically speaking to confess "Credo" or "I believe"? Is the reciting of a creed like the Apostles’ Creed merely giving assent to a set of propositions?

No it is more than that. When we recite the creed we are not saying that we believe "that" but that we believe "in." And man does that little preposition "in" make all the difference!

Biblical faith is not mere assent to propositions or facts. Yes, it is that, but it is much more. It involves personally entrusting oneself to the One who is factually and truly there. It also means committing oneself to the one affirmed as the object of the belief. Biblical "belief" thus involves and engages the entire person in affirming and following the object of belief.

C. The current dislike of creeds

We live in an anti creedal era. This shows itself in many ways. I’ll just mention a few.

First, in a therapeutic culture like ours we have elevated how we feel way above how we think as a matter of concern, and since creeds at least at first glance come across to us as ideas or intellectual constructs, then well, we aren’t interested. Why? Because creeds, at least good ones, point us to God and truths about Him. That is, good creeds point us to objective realities outside of us. But that runs counter to the climate of the day which sees subjective personal expression as primary. So, if we are wanting to express how we feel, a creed does not do us much good.

Second, the post modern abandonment of the assumption that there is or can be an objective truth to confess or profess makes profession of such a creed seem to us as, well, presumptuous or even arrogant.

Third, creeds by their nature exclude. Thus in our climate they seem not only arrogant but mean spirited. Do you really mean to imply that all those other people are not right, that they indeed are wrong. Well, humbly we must say, that yes, as a matter of fact we do, even if it does hurt their feelings.

D. Is a creed anti-biblical?

Well, is the idea of creed anti-biblical? Is it legalistic to have a creed and expect people to buy into it? Is having a creed a departure from the inclusive teaching of Jesus?

First, as we will see next week in more detail, there are fragments of creed like statements all through the NT. These pop us as God centered confessions of faith, as confessional and doctrinal bursts of praise and adoration. Perhaps the most memorable in the gospels is Peter’s confession in Mark chapter 8. Jesus had asked the disciples "Who do people say that I am." Some said John, others Elijah, others one of the prophets. And Jesus asked them directly, "But who do you say that I am?" And Peter answered, "You are the Messiah."

Second, lest the idea of a fixed group of beliefs bother us, we must remember that it was the unabashed belief that the message about Jesus was true that enabled the apostles to preach so boldly even in the face of so much opposition. This certainty regarding the truth about Jesus is what propelled the gospel into the world. Early Christians strongly and unashamedly and confidently believed that they possessed a specific and concrete and true message that the world needed to hear. This is how they mustered the boldness to separate from Judaism and thus move out from Judaism’s protection by the Romans. This is how they stood in face of opposition at every turn. This is why they went to the ends of the earth to proclaim the message. The church from the start was a believing church, a confessing church, and a preaching church!

Acts 20:25-31: "Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

3. The third reason we say that creeds like the Apostles’ Creed are biblical has to do with the manner in which they actually developed from the very words of Scripture. Almost all the phrases in the Apostles’ Creed are found right there in your Bible.

I mentioned above that the New Testament contains dozens of creedal-type statements, ranging from the simple "Jesus is Lord," to the more elaborate statements about Christ in Colossians 1 and Philippians 2, to the many different bipartite and tripartite expressions as in, say, Romans 8:34:

Christ Jesus who died, or rather
Has been raised from the dead,
Who is on the right hand of God,
Who also makes intercession for us

Or 1 Corinthians 8:6:

We, however, have one God the Father,
From whom are all things, and we to him,
And one Lord Jesus Christ,
Through whom are all things, and we through Him.

Now the words of Jesus in the Great Commission in Matthew 28, "baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" provided the framework for questions to be asked of people prior to their baptisms. As the gospel went forth by the power of the Holy Spirit into the world, and as people came to faith in Jesus, these believing people were to be baptized, and baptized specifically "in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." How would you know if they were believers? Well, you would ask them, and you would ask them using the baptism formula: Do you believe in the Father…

And so the baptism formula in Matthew 28 provided the basis for the questions asked of new believers at their baptism. These questions grew both more specific and more elaborate as time went on. That’s all the Apostles’ Creed is really, the baptism formula from Matthew 28 filled in with Scriptural phrases and content.

And so, to assert that the creed is not biblical is to make an incorrect assertion.

F. The value and use of creeds

Let us briefly look at a few of the blessings which a creed like the Apostles’ Creed bring to us as Christians.

First, a creed gives identity. When I recite the creed I identify myself with its object, I am saying that I go with, I am associated with, and I am identified by that God. In our baptism we are baptized into Christ. We are identified with Christ. We have his name given to us. We pledge ourselves to Him. When Jesus said to "baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" he was saying that thereafter the baptized would bear the name of and be identified with the name of God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So when we say that we believe in God who is such and such, we are also saying we now are identified with that God.

Second, a creed provides a boundary marker, giving unity for those inside the boundary and a clear sense of definition for those outside the boundary.

A creed tells us that truth is to be found inside the boundary. There may well be much more truth to discover inside the boundary than that which is articulated in the creed, but the creed tells us where to look for this truth.

A creed provides definition for new people coming into faith in Jesus, people who carry with them all sorts of cultural and philosophical assumptions. A creed helps keep the common confession of Christians grounded and Scriptural. You just can’t come in believing any old thing you want.

And so, a good creed, with its careful and proven choice of words and phrases, allows us to define who we are, but also who or what we’re not. Creeds exclude and this is also an important function.

Third, a creed affirms that truth is important and that, indeed, the focus of our faith is a person and a truth about that person, both of which are real and outside of ourselves.

Learning, understanding, and using creeds train the mind to resist the pressure from the general culture that there is no ultimate or absolute truth. It trains the mind and heart to know and remember that something is true and that in Christ we believe and confess that we know what it is.

Fourth, a creed gives us a proven and time tested way to pass on the central truths of gospel to the next generation -- to the next generation in the flesh, that is our natural children, and to the next generation in belief, that is our spiritual children.

Indeed, one of the main reasons that creeds like the forerunners of the Apostle’s Creed gained such a widespread acceptance was for their usefulness in preparing new converts for their confession of belief at baptism. I grieve that we have moved so far away from this the practice of the church over the ages. Our children need to know and to understand the Apostles’ Creed, and we not be ashamed of teaching it to them and explaining its meaning so that their own growing faith will be rooted in the knowledge of God.

Fifth, a creed gives shape to our worship. Theology is for doxology. Truth about God is for the praise of God. All of the early hymns or hymn fragments we have in the New Testament read like mini creeds or statements of faith. When the church praises God she first of all celebrates that which is true about God -- who He is and what He has done.

Sixth, a creed gives a sense of communion and unity with the church throughout the ages, the church throughout the world, and even now the church gathered both in heaven and earth in worship of God.

You know, it may not do much for you, but for me, when I know that a 30 year old catechumen approaching baptism in some North African or Spanish or Syrian town in 200 A. D. professed faith in Jesus using words remarkably similar to what we have before us here today, that these words were patterned after Jesus’ own commandment to make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, well, I just feel joy and belonging and connection. I am a part not of just this local church here today, but of the universal church of Jesus Christ.

At this very moment, as we believe according to the Scriptures (and our creed) that Jesus is ascended into heaven and seated at the right hand of the Father, and as we see in Revelation the saints who have died in Christ gathered around the throne of Jesus, and as we see them proclaiming praise to Him in words much like the words of our creed, then I know myself united to all the saints and martyrs who like me await the final revealing of the Son. Knowing that gives me joy and courage.

This creed, this "Apostles’ Creed," also unites me to my brothers and sisters all over the world today, brothers and sisters who like me also confess Jesus as Lord, and who confess Him with these very words. This is one of the great needs of our day, to shore up our unity in core essential areas of truth and to stand together against the forces that assail us.

Inside the wall there are important issues about which we disagree. We cannot bury our heads in the sand and pretend this isn’t so. But we no longer have the luxury of being able to concentrate on how we differ with those inside the wall. Why? Because most people are outside the wall; because the culture outside the wall would undermine our very foundation; and because more and more and more the wall is being breached from the inside and from the outside. The wall you see is crumbling. The true confession is being lost bit by bit, phrase by phrase. When the enemy is attacking you with cannons, you don’t sit around arguing about which colored bullets to shoot back at him.

As the surrounding paganism encroaches, we must shore up our foundation so we can stand against its profoundly and hugely divergent belief systems. We must once again understand and confess our foundational historic orthodox beliefs in God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Creator and Redeemer. Will ours be the generation when the candle fades, when we fail to pass on the true confession, when we fail to stand up and profess with our lips and defend with our lives what we believe in our minds and hearts.

No, so I invite you to shore up the foundation. I invite you not to let this opportunity pass you by the be strengthened in the core knowledge of God. I invite you to understand, to believe, to commit to the God of Jesus and John and Paul and Priscilla and Polycarp and Tertullian and Athanisius and Augustine and Ambrose and Alselm and Bernard and Thomas and Patrick and Huss and Wycliffe and Luther and Calvin and Herbert and Wesley and Whitfield and Edwards and Muller and Ten Boom and Spurgeon and Chambers and Chesterton and Lewis and Graham, and say with them:

I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ His only son our Lord;
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
Born of the virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, dead, and buried;
He descended into hell;
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven
And sitteth at the right hand of God the father almighty.
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
The Holy Catholic Church;
The communion of saints;
The forgiveness of sins;
The resurrection of the body;
And the life everlasting.
Amen.