 Some historical creeds are familiar to us today; in order of their dates of adoption, they are the Nicene Creed, 4th century; the Athanasian Creed, 5th century, and very likely the best known, the Apostles Creed, adopted probably in the 6th century. But are they important for Christians today?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Editors comment: Dr Beavan, 89 years of age, has had a lifetime of experiences in Christian ministry, as a graduate theologian, as a professor in college and seminary, and as a world traveller involved in government relations at high levels, around the world. Dr. Billy Graham has said of him, "Jerry Beavan is the architect of world evangelism as we know it today." Now living in "active retirement" on America's Pacific coast, although physically impaired, he is using his writing skills, via the internet, to help other believers gain a better understanding of their Christian faith. He is the author of several works, including his recent volume, "A Handbook of Applied Christianity."
In Matthew 16:13-18 it is recorded that Jesus was discussing with His disciples the reaction of the populace to Him and His ministry, and He asked who the people were saying He was. There were a variety of answers, and He pressed the point, asking who did the disciples think He was, and Peter spoke up, saying "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Peter used the term christos, often translated as "anointed" or "Messiah."
In His response, Jesus used a precise choice of words, and in a voice both tenderly loving and mightily prophetic, said "thou art Peter (petros) and upon this rock (petra) I will build my church." The Greek word petros means a stone which is easily moved, and that is the way Peter often acted, while the word petra, which Jesus used in speaking of Peter's expression of faith, means a mass of rock, solid and immoveable.
But beyond the play on words, Peter's affirmation can well be considered as the first Christian creed. The word "creed" does not appear in the Bible, but is derived from the Latin credere, "to believe" or credo, "I believe." Historically, the early Christian creeds were developed essentially as statements of agreements on the Trinity and Christology, the study of the person of Christ. Whereas Peter here called Jesus the "Son of the living God," John would later speak of Him as God's "only begotten Son." (John 3:16)
The New Testament provides several examples of creedal statements of belief: in John 1:49 where Nathanael confessed to Jesus, "Thou art the Son of God," or in Acts 8:37 where the Ethiopian eunuch confessed to Philip, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."
Foundational to all of the later creeds was the "Rule of Faith" from St. Irenaeus of Lyons, who had been a student of Polycarp, who in turn had been a protégé of John, the beloved disciple of Jesus. It has a date of approximately 185 AD, and is amazing in how it expresses a complete statement of the Christian faith. Jesus had ministered in the first century, and now just a century later, Irenaeus, who came to be called the "father of the church," sets forth a clear statement of God's plan for His creation, which would become the foundation for the creeds which centuries later became enduring definitions of the Christian faith.
Some of those historical creeds are familiar to us today; in order of their dates of adoption, they are the Nicene Creed, 4th century; the Athanasian Creed, 5th century, and very likely the best known, the Apostles Creed, adopted probably in the 6th century.
Perhaps a thousand years later, several more specific expressions of particular denominational aspects of the Christian faith were adopted, dating from Martin Luther's Catechism and Augsburg Confession about 1530, to the Methodist Articles of Religion in 1800.
Probably the best observation as to the value of the historic Christian teaching, came from the great British preacher, evangelist and educator, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, in a lecture to his students in the mid 1860's: "You are not such wiseacres as to think or say that you can expound the Scripture without the assistance from the works of divine and learned men who have laboured before you in the field of exposition . It seems odd that certain men who talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves, should think so little of what He has revealed to others."
No better summary could be given than this brief one by J. L. Neve in his volume, Churches and Sects of Christendom: "Creeds, confessions and covenants . are the expressions of an experience which the church of Christ has had in its study of Scripture, in its search for truth, in its conflict with error."
To answer the initial question, as to whether the historical creeds are important to the church today -- yes, they most certainly are. In a time when the basics or the fundamentals of the Christian faith are being abandoned, those creeds, conceived and adopted in the early centuries of the Christian church, and thus close to the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, are important as concise statements of what actually comprises the Christian faith. And they have stood the test of time for hundreds of years, actually for more than a millennium.
NICENE CREED
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
ATHANASIAN CREED
Whoever wants to be saved should above all cling to the catholic (universal) faith. Whoever does not guard it whole and inviolable will doubtless perish eternally.
Now this is the catholic faith: We worship one God in trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being. For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Spirit is still another. But the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coeternal in majesty. What the Father is, the Son is, and so is the Holy Spirit.
Uncreated is the Father; uncreated is the Son; uncreated is the Spirit. The Father is infinite; the Son is infinite; the Holy Spirit is infinite. Eternal is the Father; eternal is the Son; eternal is the Spirit: And yet there are not three eternal beings, but one who is eternal; as there are not three uncreated and unlimited beings, but one who is uncreated and unlimited. Almighty is the Father; almighty is the Son; almighty is the Spirit: And yet there are not three almighty beings, but one who is almighty.
Thus the Father is God; the Son is God; the Holy Spirit is God: And yet there are not three gods, but one God. Thus the Father is Lord; the Son is Lord; the Holy Spirit is Lord: And yet there are not three lords, but one Lord. As Christian truth compels us to acknowledge each distinct person as God and Lord, so catholic religion forbids us to say that there are three gods or lords.
The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten; the Son was neither made nor created, but was alone begotten of the Father; the Spirit was neither made nor created, but is proceeding from the Father and the Son. Thus there is one Father, not three fathers; one Son, not three sons; one Holy Spirit, not three spirits. And in this Trinity, no one is before or after, greater or less than the other; but all three persons are in themselves, coeternal and coequal; and so we must worship the Trinity in unity and the one God in three persons.
Whoever wants to be saved should think thus about the Trinity. It is necessary for eternal salvation that one also faithfully believe that our Lord Jesus Christ became flesh. For this is the true faith that we believe and confess: That our Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son, is both God and man. He is God, begotten before all worlds from the being of the Father, and he is man, born in the world from the being of his mother -- existing fully as God, and fully as man with a rational soul and a human body; equal to the Father in divinity, subordinate to the Father in humanity.
Although he is God and man, he is not divided, but is one Christ. He is united because God has taken humanity into himself; he does not transform deity into humanity. He is completely one in the unity of his person, without confusing his natures. For as the rational soul and body are one person, so the one Christ is God and man. He suffered death for our salvation. He descended into hell and rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
At his coming all people shall rise bodily to give an account of their own deeds. Those who have done good will enter eternal life, those who have done evil will enter eternal fire. This is the catholic faith. One cannot be saved without believing this firmly and faithfully.
APOSTLES CREED
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell.
The third day He arose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic (universal) church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.
Source: Article written by Dr Jerry Beavan
Used by Permission of Australian Prayer Network http://www.ausprayernet.org.au/
|
