Church History: Examining the Creeds and Confessions of the Church Through the Ages and Why They Matter.
Lesson 2: Creeds and Confessions within the Bible
Last week, we began our study of Church History by taking a brief glance at the major events of the past 2,000 years.
I said from the beginning that this course was going to focus on the major creeds and confessions which have helped shape the church.
I believe it is within these creeds and confessions that we can see what the major issues were for the church in specific time periods and help us develop a fuller understanding of church history and why it matters.
As we begin our study, I want to take a moment and define our terms.
The word creed comes from the Latin word “Credo” which means “I believe”.
In other words, a creed is simply a summary statement of what someone believes about something.
There is really no difference between a “Creed” and a “Confession”.
They are both attempts to summarize the teachings of the Bible in regard to specific doctrines.
NOTE: When I mention the words “Creed” and “Confession” I do so realizing that there are some who believe them to be negative artifacts of church history, rather than positive ones.
In fact, there is an entire movement within christendom which was began on the foundation of repudiating the use of creeds and confessions.
The Restoration Movement, which began under the influential leadership of Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell, held to the belief that demoninational names, creeds and ecclesiastical traditions divided the church, and thus should be renounced.
One of the slogans which arose out of that movement was this: “No creed but Christ, no book but the Bible, no law but love, no name but the divine.”
The irony of this is that it, in itself, is a creed of sorts; in their statement that they have “no creed”, they have created one.
Secondly, this is a meaningless creed because it fails to make any definitions for its terms.
Which Christ? The Christ of the Mormons, the Jehovah Witnesses, the Oneness Pentecostals?
What Bible? The Bible of the Catholics which contains the apocryphal writings, the one of the JW’s that has been intentionally manipulated to remove the deity of Christ?
What love? The squishy love of the liberal which has no holy standard upon which it rests?
What divine name? Allah? Ba’al? Jehovah? (Which is actually a mistranslation of the tetragrammaton).
You see, apart from meaningful definitions this creed is meaningless.
The purpose of establishing appropriate creeds and confessions is that they allow us to define our terms and solidify our positions on what the Bible teaches.
The Bible does not use the word Trinity, but the teaching is there.
The creeds which are intended to solidify the doctrine of the Trinity, and all doctrines, are attempts to clearly define the Bible’s teachings.
It is important to realize also that no creed supersedes the Bible.
All creeds and confessions are capable of erring.
In fact, during this course we will be examining some of the errors.
So we must understand that the creeds - all creeds and confessions - are subservient to Scripture.
They are to help us understand Scripture, and where they deviate from Scripture we must deviate from them.
Tonight, we are going to examine the creeds which actually come from the Bible itself.
It could be argued that the entire Bible is a creed, as it is all meant to be believed and applied.
However, there are obvious passages which are intended to relay a specific set of beliefs about a given doctrine or set of doctrines.
Within the Old Testament Scripture
The Shema of Israel.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
The Decalogue of the Torah
Exodus 20:1-17 “And God spoke all these words, saying,
Ex. 20:2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Ex. 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
Ex. 20:4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Ex. 20:7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
Ex. 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Ex. 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
Ex. 20:13 “You shall not murder.
Ex. 20:14 “You shall not commit adultery.
Ex. 20:15 “You shall not steal.
Ex. 20:16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Ex. 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
The Trihagion of Isaiah (The Creed of the Angels)
Isaiah 6:3 “And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
Within the New Testament Scripture
Trinitarian Creeds / Creeds about the Nature of God
The Prologue of John
John 1:1-3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
[[[ vv.14, 17-18 also contain creedal statements. ]]]
The From/Through Affirmation of 1st Corinthians
1 Corinthians 8:5-6 “For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”
Christological Creeds / Creeds about the Person and Nature of Christ
The Confession of Peter (sometimes call “The Good Confession”)
Matthew 16:16 “Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
The Confession of Nathaniel
John 1:49 “Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
The Confession of Thomas
John 20:28 “Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
The Carmen Christi of Philippians
Philippians 2:5-10 “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
The Mystery Affirmation of 1st Timothy
1 Timothy 3:16 “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”
The Resurrection Affirmation of 1st Corinthians
1 Corinthians 15:3-8 “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.”
Ecclesiastical Creeds / Creeds for the Church
The Trinitarian Formula of Baptism
Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The Consecration of Communion
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
Soteriological Creeds / Creeds about Salvation
The Grace/Faith Affirmation of Ephesians
Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
The Confession/Faith Affirmation of Romans
Romans 10:9 “Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Conclusion: Beloved, the entire Bible is meant to be believed and confessed.
These are just a few of the passages which have the qualities of creeds, in that they specify what it is that is being taught and believed.
In fact, you may have thought of a few others as we went through these.
These internal creeds of the Bible aid in the development of later extra-biblical creeds, which are further meant to help define the Christian faith.
Next week, we will begin our study of these extra-biblical creeds, while always hearkening back to the Bible.
It is vital that where they affirm Scripture, we affirm them, and where they deviate from Scripture, we deviate from them.
They are tools for helping us understand the Word of God and our own history as the body of Christ.
