“To say that “a creed comes between a man and his God” is to suppose that it is not true; for truth, however definitely stated, does not divide the believer from his Lord. So far as I am concerned, that which I believe I am not ashamed to state in the plainest possible language; and the truth I hold I embrace because I believe it to be the mind of God revealed in his infallible Word. How can it divide me from God who revealed it? It is one means of my communion with my Lord, that I receive his words as well as himself, and submit my understanding to what I see to be taught by him. Say what he may, I accept it because he says it, and therein pay him the humble worship of my inmost soul.
I am unable to sympathize with a man who says he has no creed; because I believe him to be in the wrong by his own showing. He ought to have a creed. What is equally certain, he has a creed—he must have one, even though he repudiates the notion. His very unbelief is, in a sense, a creed.”
– C. H. Spurgeon, from an article titled “The Baptist Union Censure,” published as an introduction to the 1888 volume of The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit sermons
Since “Creed” = Statement of Belief(s), how can any professing Christian deny having a set of beliefs, and therefore, a creed? The scripture specifies time and again that we must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and receive His gift of salvation. There is no salvation without believing, and these beliefs must comport with the teachings of Scripture. While a sound Creed is not an exhaustive statement of every belief which a Christian should hold, and the Lord does not require the repeating or memorizing of a Creed as a condition of granting His gift of salvation to the Christian (nor will merely saying a Creed confer salvation or eternal life), how can a true Believer in Christ deny having a set of beliefs? If one cannot or will not affirm an orthodox, biblically sound creed, does this not raise questions about the person’s understanding and receiving of the gospel, and the state of his soul? Sadly, many who will not say a creed or who deny having a creed, think the act of repeating the “sinner’s prayer” is what confers eternal life and makes one a Christian. Likewise, resistance to the idea of a formal “Creed” often goes hand in hand with disdain for “doctrine”. How often do we hear, “I don’t need doctrine, I just need to love Jesus”? That’s tantamount to saying, we don’t need the Holy Scripture, we just need to have positive emotions and experiences which we generate from our own ideas about Jesus.
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