The Christian Creeds
Statements on biblical truth
concerning the nature of God, salvation, etc. were codified throughout
church history to combat certain heresies that arose from time to time
- these statements were called the creeds. Due to their nature, creeds
generally address the truths that oppose the errors that the writers of
the creeds thought most dangerous at the time. They are now helpful "measuring
sticks" for orthodoxy. It must be emphasized that all creeds are
man-made documents. None of them are inspired, nor are they in authority
over Scripture. Rather, creeds are statements of faith that are true and
authoritative only insofar as they accurately reflect what Scripture teaches.
THE BIBLICAL CREEDS
The following scripture passages are considered
by many to be creeds or declarations of faith:
- Deut. 6:4
- 1 Kings. 18:39
- Matt. 16:16
- Matt. 28:19
- John 1:49; 6:68-69; 20:28
- Acts 8:36-37; 16:31
- 1 Cor. 8:6; 12:3; 15:3-7
- Phil. 2:6-11
- 1 Tim. 3:16
- Heb. 6:1-2
- 1 John 4:2
THE ECUMENICAL CREEDS
It has been said that
the Church Universal shares: One Bible with Two Testaments, affirms Three
Creeds, met at Four Councils, and lasted for Five Centuries. The earliest
creeds are often referred to as the Ecumenical Creeds, for upon these
all orthodox Christian churches agree (Protestant, Roman Catholic, and
Eastern Orthodox).
The Apostle's Creed is the most popular creed used
in worship by Western Christians. When the Apostles' Creed was drawn up,
the chief enemy was Gnosticism, which denied that Jesus was truly Man.
Thus, it emphasizes the true Humanity, including the material body, of
Jesus.
| THE
APOSTLE'S CREED
(2nd Century)
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator
of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son,
our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin
Mary, suffered under Potius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was
buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic
church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection
of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. |
The heretic Arius argued that the Son
was created from the nonexistent, and was of a different substance than
the Father. Arius taught that the Father, in the beginning, created the
Son, and that the Son, in conjunction with the Father, then proceeded
to create the world. The result of this was to make the Son a created
being, and hence not God in any real sense. Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria,
sent for Arius and questioned him. Arius was excommunicated by a council
of Egyptian bishops. Finally, the Emperor Constantine summoned a council
of Bishops in Nicea, and there in 325 the Bishops of the Church, by a
decided majority, repudiated Arius and produced the first draft of what
is now called the Nicene Creed.
| THE
NICENE CREED
(325 A.D.)
We believe in one God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten
Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God,
Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being
of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who
for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was
incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man,
and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered
and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the
Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand
of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both
the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who
proceedeth from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and
the Son together is worshipped and glorified,
who spoke by the prophets.
And we believe one holy catholic and apostolic
Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And
we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world
to come. Amen. |
The so-called Athanasian Creed is essentially an
amplification of the Nicene Creed. This creed is actually of uncertain
origin. Athanasius of Alexandria, the champion of orthodoxy, stressed
the oneness of God and the three distinct Persons within the Godhead.
He maintained that the Son was the same substance as the Father (and hence,
was fully divine). It assists the Church in combating two errors that
undermined Bible teaching: the denial that God's Son and the Holy Spirit
are of one being with the Father; the other a denial that Jesus Christ
is true God and true man in one person. It declares that whoever rejects
the doctrine of the Trinity and the doctrine of Christ is without the
saving faith.
| THE
ATHANASIAN CREED
(500 A.D.)
Whoever wills to be in a state of salvation,
before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic apostolic/universal
faith, which except everyone shall have kept whole and undefiled
without doubt he will perish eternally.
Now the catholic faith is that we worship One
God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons
nor dividing the substance. For there is one Person of the Father,
another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit. But the Godhead
of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is One, the Glory
equal, the Majesty coeternal.
Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and
such is the Holy Spirit; the Father uncreated, the Son uncreated,
and the Holy Spirit uncreated; the father infinite, the Son infinite,
and the Holy Spirit infinite; the Father eternal, the Son eternal,
and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet not three eternals but one
eternal, as also not three infinites, nor three uncreated, but one
uncreated, and one infinite. So, likewise, the Father is almighty,
the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty; and yet not three
almighties but one almighty.
So the Father is God, the Son God, and the
Holy Spirit God; and yet not three Gods but one God. So the Father
is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord; and yet not three
Lords but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by Christian truth
to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be both God and Lord;
so are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say, there be three
Gods or three Lords.
The Father is made of none, neither created
nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, nod made nor created
but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and the Son, not
made nor created nor begotten but proceeding. So there is one Father
not three Fathers, one Son not three Sons, and Holy Spirit not three
Holy Spirits. And in this Trinity there is nothing before or after,
nothing greater or less, but the whole three Persons are coeternal
together and coequal.
So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the
trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity is to be worshipped. He
therefore who wills to be in a state of salvation, let him think
thus of the Trinity. But it is necessary to eternal salvation that
he also believe faithfully the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The right faith therefore is that we believe and confess that our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man.
He is God of the substance of the Father begotten
before the worlds, and He is man of the substance of His mother
born in the world; perfect God, perfect man subsisting of a reasoning
soul and human flesh; equal to the Father as touching His Godhead,
inferior to the Father as touching His Manhood.
Who although He be God and Man yet He is not
two but one Christ; one however not by conversion of the GodHead
in the flesh, but by taking of the Manhood in God; one altogether
not by confusion of substance but by unity of Person. For as the
reasoning soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ.
Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again
from the dead, ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of the
Father, from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall
give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall
go into life eternal, and they who indeed have done evil into eternal
fire.
This is the catholic faith, which except a
man shall have believed faithfully and firmly he cannot be in a
state of salvation. |
OTHER CREEDS
The Chalcedonian Creed although a good one, is not
generally used today.
| THE
CHALCEDONIAN CREED
(451 A.D.)
We, then, following the holy Fathers, all
with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same Son, our
Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect
in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable rational soul
and body; consubstantial co-essential with the Father according
to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood;
in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten before all ages
of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days,
for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother
of God, according to the Manhood; one and the same Christ, Son,
Lord, only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly,
unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures
being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property
of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and
one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one
and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus
Christ; as the prophets from the beginning have declared concerning
Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the Creed
of the holy Fathers has handed down to us. |
The Augsburg was the creed of the Reformation. It
was officially denounced by roman Catholicism in 1563 at the Council of
Trent
.
|
