Category Archives: Creeds

How Ancient Creeds Can Benefit the Contemporary Church

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Christopher Poshin David is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in India – Reformed. He is a church planter in Chennai. He is also the author of the book, Engaging Hinduism: Rethinking Christian Apologetics in India.

Creeds are tools of truth, they help us learn our faith, teach our faith and defend our faith.

Original source: https://in.thegospelcoalition.org/article/the-benefit-of-ancient-creeds-for-the-contemporary-church/

I recall standing with an outstretched arm in the morning assembly at school reciting the Indian national pledge on Republic Day and Independence Day. The national pledge is an oath of allegiance. It also reminds us of our identity as part of a national community bigger than our individual selves. 

The church of Jesus Christ similarly has pledges that remind us of our corporate identity as the people of God. These pledges are called the creeds of the church.

The word creed comes from the Latin word credo meaning “I believe.” A creed is a truthfully and carefully crafted, time-tested summary statement of the Christian faith. They help us learn fundamental Christian truths. And, in our constant reaffirmation of them, creeds help us remember these truths and live by them.

Creeds have served the church well for centuries. They are useful as a tool of communication to teach the faith, as a tool of apologetics to defend the faith, and as a tool of ecumenicalism to foster fellowship between churches.

Why Should We Use Creeds?

The Shema (Deut. 6:4) was a creedal statement for ancient Israel that reminded the people of their allegiance to a monotheistic faith against the surrounding polytheistic religions of the Canaanite nations. This creed was repeated morning and night and was the central pillar of the Jewish faith. Even in the New Testament, we see the Shema quoted by Jesus (Mark 12:29) and early church leaders (Gal. 3:20; James 2:19).

In the New Testament church, the earliest creed to develop was the statement, “Jesus is Lord” (Rom. 10:9; 1 Cor. 12:3; Phil. 2:11). The doubting disciple Thomas, when he encountered the risen Jesus cried out a variation of this creed and pledged his life to Jesus saying, “my Lord and my God” (John 20:28).

This simple creed that “Jesus is Lord” (Kyrios Iesous) was a countercultural creed to the imperial cult of the Roman Emperor who demanded all confess that “Ceasar is Lord” (Kyrios Kaisar). This is another way creeds help deepen and defend our faith—by resisting cultural norms with the truths of our faith.

Other creeds in the Bible include Saint Peter’s confession that Jesus is “the Christ, Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16; Cf. Acts 8:36-37), the “trustworthy sayings” mentioned by the apostle Paul (1 Tim. 1:15; 4:9; 2 Tim. 2:11), the confession of the “mystery of godliness” (1 Tim. 3:16) and the confession of the unity of the body of Christ (Eph. 4:4-6). These biblical instances establish that creeds were used extensively in the life of the church through the ages.

What Could Go Wrong?

Risks of both misuse and disuse are common in the way churches use creeds. The creeds of the church, even the most ancient ones, do not have divine authority on their own. Their authority upon the church and the believer’s conscience is only to the extent they are in accord with the Bible.

Creeds are not inspired documents and are always to be submitted to the authority of the word of God. One grave error is to  misuse creeds by giving them undue authority.

On the other hand, some churches dismiss creeds as human inventions which have no place in the church. Thus, we have the often-touted phrases “no creed but Christ” or the similar “no creed but the Bible.” Ironically, these very anti-creedal statements themselves are also, in fact, creedal themselves.

To disuse creeds entirely leaves the church poorer—without a distinctive doctrinal identity and susceptible to every new idea. This is the other possible error.

How Are Creeds Useful?

The early church creeds were developed to uphold fundamental truths in the light of erroneous and heretical teachings. Thus, the creeds of the early church became a yardstick or measure of faith.

Creeds stood guard against subtle or overt errors; heresies of the orthodox scriptural understanding of the Christian faith. They were vital for the proclamation and the preservation of the Christian faith. They also promoted unity within the churches of Christ based upon a common core confession of faith.

Creeds are best used in teaching the faith. They are great catechetical tools to teach the essential doctrines of the church. The Apostles’ Creed mainly is beneficial to teach those who are joining as members of the church. It is also helpful to teach children to understand even at a young age what they believe.

It is also beneficial to publicly confess creeds together as the corporate body of Christ. There is a particular beauty when the members of the church confess and affirm the faith they rest their lives upon. One way to inculcate this practise is to add the confession of creeds in the liturgy of the worship service.

Creeds also unite the contemporary church to its historical roots. Christians who confess and subscribe to the creeds are provided with an orthodox identity and share a common unity with saints around the world and throughout the ages.

What Are Some Creeds We Should Know About?

Here is a quick primer of a few well-known ecumenical creeds that are affirmed by all the major church denominations.

The Apostles’ Creed

The history of the Apostles’ Creed is shrouded in mystery. Its authorship is unknown. The earliest form of the creed comes from the fourth century—centuries after the lives of the apostles. But there is evidence the creed was already in use in the church as early as the second century.

This has become perhaps the most well-known creed of Christendom due to its concise summary of the apostolic teaching. The Apostles’ Creed continues to be widely used to instruct new believers in the faith and prepare candidates to be received into the church as members.

The Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed came out of the first great ecumenical council held at Nicaea in AD 325. The first Christian Roman Emperor Constantine convened this council to combat Arianism—a heresy which claimed Christ Jesus was not the eternally begotten Son of God but rather begotten in time and subordinate to the Father. The council condemned Arianism giving rise to the Nicene Creed.

In the First Council of Constantinople (AD 381) a few lines were added to the creed giving rise to the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. Finally, the Western Church in AD 581 added the statement that Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (Filioque). This is the current form of the creed that the Western Church confesses. The Eastern Church confesses the creed but without the addition of the Filioque.

The Chalcedonian Creed

The Chalcedonian Creed originated from the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451. The Emperor called the council to combat the heresies of Eutychianism (the belief that the human and divine natures of Christ are united as one nature) and Nestorianism (the belief that Christ exists as two distinct persons—human and divine).

The Council affirmed the Nicene Creed and set forth the Chalcedonian definition that Christ is one person with two distinct natures (hypostatic union). This definition has become the hallmark of the orthodox expression of the person of Jesus Christ.

The Athanasian Creed

The Athanasian Creed is recognised as the classic Christian exposition of the catholic (universal) faith. The creed depicts with clarity the doctrine of the Trinity and the person of Jesus Christ. The authorship of the creed is unknown though modern scholarship attributes it to the fifth-century Gallic monk, Vincent of Lérins.

It was named after Athanasius, the stalwart defender of Nicene orthodoxy in the early church. This creed is unique in that the final part includes an anathema (condemnation) of anyone who fails to believe the contents of the creed as one without salvation.

Creeds are a beautiful part of church history because they have helped Christians understand, remember, proclaim, defend, and enjoy what we believe. Any church that uses them well will be richer in its faith for it.

We Must Remember

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“No doubt the church in the west has many new things to learn. But for the most part, everything we need to learn is what we’ve already forgotten. The chief theological task now facing the Western church is not to reinvent or to be relevant but to remember. We must remember the old, old story. We must remember the faith once delivered to the saints. We must remember the truths that spark reformation, revival, and regeneration. And because we want to remember all this, we must also remember-if we are fortunate to have ever heard of them in the first place-our creeds, confessions, and catechisms.” – Kevin DeYoung, The Good News We Almost Forgot- 13.

Accountability To Old Words

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“The Apostles’ Creed was not written by the apostles, but it does reflect the early church’s effort to express and summarize the faith given by Christ to the apostles. Early Christians called the creed “the rule of faith” and turned to it as they worshipped and taught the faithful. But the question arises: Why today, do we need a book on the Apostles’ Creed? What relevance could it have and what benefit can come from examining it? Some object to the very idea of accountability to old words. Still others claim that Christians are to hold no creed but the Bible and to have “no creed but Christ.” The problem is, of course, that we all need a summary of what the Bible teaches, and the church needs a strong standard for recognizing true Christianity and rejecting false doctrines.

What is more, behind some objections to the Apostles’ Creed is something exceedingly dangerous: a desire for a doctrineless faith. Some argue for a Christianity that requires no formal doctrines or doctrinal mandates. The history of Christianity, however, is littered with the debris of many such movements, each of which left behind shattered lives of people whose faith dissolved without the structure of doctrine.

The idea of a doctrineless Christianity stands at odds with the words of Christ, who revealed himself to the apostles in explicitly doctrinal terms. Jesus revealed himself in truth claims. He identified himself as the Son of Man and demonstrated his deity, even referring to himself as “I am” repeatedly in the gospel of John—bearing the name God had given himself from the burning bush as he spoke to Moses (Ex. 3:13–16). A doctrineless Christianity also stands in contradiction with what Christ commissioned his apostles to do—to make disciples of all nations and to teach them to obey all that Christ commanded (Matt. 28:18–20). This command requires doctrine.

Here we have to remember simply that doctrine, as a great historian of Christianity explained it, is “what the church believes, teaches, and confesses on the basis of the word of God.” Any church that believes, teaches, and worships has some doctrine. The question is: Are they the right doctrines, the right teachings?”

—Albert Mohler, The Apostles’ Creed (Crossway, 2019), xviii–xvix

Confessions In Practice

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Ariticle by Dr. Michael Reeves (Source: https://tabletalkmagazine.com/posts/confessions-in-practice/)

Dr. Michael Reeves is president and professor of theology at Union School of Theology in Wales. He is author of several books, including Rejoicing in Christ. He is the featured teacher on the Ligonier teaching series The English Reformation and the Puritans.

As I wrote in my first post, the creeds and confessions of orthodox Christianity are the necessary, written responses of the church to the revelation of God in the Bible. Far from the cold and formulaic scribbles of dead orthodoxy, as critics sometimes call them, creeds and confessions are the lifeblood of healthy, humble, and historic Christianity. To further highlight why Christians should love creeds and confessions, we need to look at both their limitations and practical uses.

RECOGNIZE THE LIMITS OF CONFESSIONS

Confessions don’t pretend to be more than they are. In fact, they have two requisite limitations. First, a confession is not an extension of Scripture, as if it were God’s Word itself. It is a human response to God’s Word, an acknowledgment that He has spoken. As such, we value a confession only to the extent that it is faithful to Scripture. Thus, a confession is to be assented to whole-heartedly as a confession of God’s truth only when it accurately declares the truth of Scripture.

Second, confessions cannot contain the whole counsel of God or the full compass of everything those who subscribe to them believe. As a response to God’s Word, the confession points to and guides us toward the whole truth found in the Scriptures. A confession points beyond itself. Therefore, the view that confessions limit growth in the knowledge of God and His gospel is a view that misunderstands the intention of a confession. Confessions are not self-sufficient, doctrinal cages, but guides, witnesses, and safety nets.

In particular, confessions describe essential beliefs that command broad assent. They often remain silent on secondary matters or on doctrines that are not relevant to their confessional perspective. For example, it is appropriate and important for the London Baptist Confession of Faith to limit the mode and subjects of baptism according to Baptist principles. For other confessional perspectives, such details are not required. Functioning in this way, confessions promote “unity in essentials, liberty in non-essentials, charity in all things.”1

REVEL IN THE UNITY OF CONFESSIONS

In acknowledging that God has spoken clearly and specifically, confessions also bind our allegiance to what God has said. A confession is more than an obedient response to God’s Word; it also calls Christians to an ongoing obedient response to God’s Word. Written confessions presuppose that we are fickle people. We naturally stray from what God has said to follow the siren voices of our imagination and our culture. If we want to remain loyal to the gospel, we must bind ourselves to it. This is what confessions do; they fasten confessional Christians to the gospel so that those Christians keep on confessing gospel truth. Confessional fidelity guards against confessing something else. Committing to a confession nails your colors to its mast. You define yourself publicly by that allegiance. Without this commitment, it is much easier to shift allegiance without even noticing. Confessional commitments make it difficult to change our minds on the fundamental matters of the confession. Confessions help define and protect our theological identity.If we want to remain loyal to the gospel, we must bind ourselves to it. This is what confessions do.SHARE

Confessions also protect us from theological drift by binding us not only to the gospel but to our fellow confessors as well. Subscribing to a confession is both public and corporate. The prefix con- in confess means “together.” Confessions bind us together in fellowship under the gospel. Through confession, the gospel becomes our common ground and shared vision. Confessions are fundamentally unifying.

LET YOUR CONFESSIONS PICK FIGHTS WITH HERESY

Our confessions shape our perspective of the Bible and the gospel. Our confessions not only show us where we might be tempted to leave the gospel or compromise it, but they also show us where we need to act and what we need to proclaim. They order our values and priorities.

More strongly than that, however, confessions involve us in the conflict between the gospel and all that is opposed to it, both in our hearts and in the world. We’ve never needed confessions more, even as we witness the extraordinary doctrinal retreat of the church in the face of an increasingly aggressive culture. Specifically, for God’s people to remain loyal to what God has said, they will need confessions that dare to take a stand. A real confession acknowledges truth with authenticity only inasmuch as it acknowledges such a thing as falsehood. Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, “The concept of heresy belongs necessarily and irrevocably with the concept of a creedal confession.”2 When the notion of heresy seems anachronistic, so must the notion of truth.

Confessions of faith are never neutral or abstract. They are spoken in specific situations and address particular issues. Loyalty to them requires an active rejection of the heresies they condemn. It is not possible for Christians today to confess the Apostles’ or Nicene creeds alone. Even these two early creeds were responding to the theological issues of their day. That is not to say that the ancient creeds no longer have any validity. They maintain all their validity. But we cannot simply turn back the creedal clock. New theological issues and errors have always required new confessions to deal with them.

CONFESSIONS AND CHRISTIAN INTEGRITY

Confessions do not typically dictate Christian behavior. Confessions are, after all, testimonies to the faith, not testimonies to our response. To an age that sees doctrine as a cerebral nicety, this inevitably makes confessions look somewhat irrelevant to “real life.” But the very existence of confessions testifies that there is truth that demands a response. Confessions demand that we have the integrity to respond appropriately to the truth being confessed. In this way, doctrine becomes profoundly life shaping. For example, to confess with integrity that Jesus is Lord and that the Spirit works in us to make us Christlike necessarily means rejecting sin and altering every aspect of our lives. By demanding integrity, confessions forbid nominalism or empty, intellectual assent.

In sum, confessions draw us, body and soul, into obedience to God’s Word. Through confessions, we challenge our bent toward rejecting divine revelation. We are taught the gospel with ever-greater clarity. We join with the gospel and there find unity with others who have done the same. We defy and deny what our confessions oppose. We mold our lives, thoughts, ministries, and teaching to the unchanging standard of God’s Word. In the end, we stand with our confessions and proclaim that God has spoken.

Editor’s Note: This post was first published on September 29, 2017.
 

  1. This quote is typically attributed to Augustine, but is in fact probably penned by Peter Meiderlin, a seventeenth-century Lutheran theologian. ↩︎
  2. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Christology (London: Collins, 1978), 75.

Creeds & Confessions – Ten Things

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Article by Craig Van Dixhoorn (original source: https://www.crossway.org/articles/10-things-you-should-know-about-the-churchs-historic-creeds-and-confessions/)

1. Creeds are honest.

Honesty is the original impulse behind almost every statement of faith. Cults hide what they believe until you’re so far into the riptide that you can’t do anything about it. Honest churches do the opposite: they announce what they do believe and (in the best creeds and confessions) even a few things that they don’t. We want everyone to know the most important facts and ideas revealed in the Bible and denied by the Bible, so we summarize them in our creeds.

2. Creeds promote unity.

The best doctrinal summaries promote church unity. They help us to identify, through a common set of priorities and teachings, what we have in common with other Christians. And that is not all. These summaries also have the potential to create peace in the church, since people coming to the church will readily be able to see what it teaches, and will be able to compare it with the Scriptures, which is the only basis on which Christian teaching should be built. Avoiding doctrinal disguises minimizes unhappy surprises.

3. Creeds are old.

The classic Christian Creeds were written in the early history of the church. Most confessions were written sometime during the Protestant Reformation. This is useful. When it comes to doctrinal statements (and much else besides!) age is more of a benefit than a liability—it is good to study texts which remind us that Christianity was not invented last Tuesday.

4. Creeds and confessions can be long.

Lengthy creeds and confessions are a good thing! Evangelical statements of faith are often too short and not sufficiently theological. As I see it, the church needs to experiment with theological maximalism, in place of its current minimalism, if we are to maintain a faithful witness to Christ in our generation. A dozen doctrinal points on a website is probably inadequate for the church’s thriving, for its mission not only to evangelize but also to teach the nations. Big creeds and confessions hold out a large faith for us to own, offering a welcome view of the triune God and his work and more robust statements of the gospel of Christ.

5. Creeds remind us we are not alone.

Classic creeds remind us that we don’t simply read the Bible by ourselves. We read the Bible as one body and find unity in so doing. Reciting a creed as a church declares that we read the bible in ways similar to other Christians in the depth and in the breadth of the church—over time and around the world.

6. Creeds and confessions expose disagreements.

Creeds also show how we disagree. This, too, is good. Discussing our differences is better than papering over them and pretending they don’t exist. By the time of the Protestant Reformation of the 1500s, so much had been learned—and so many doctrines were disputed between the Reformers and Rome—that the category of creed was supplemented by longer lists of doctrines that Christians confessed. Creeds were still in use, most often in worship, but now confessions were written to expound what Lutheran and Reformed Christians believed. These confessions carefully articulated what doctrines were shared in common with the old faith of Rome, and where the Reformers were forced to disagree with Rome in their recovery of the teachings of the early church, and most basically, of the Bible. They also explain where Reformers disagreed with one another. This is helpful, for knowing where we disagree allows us to talk at the curb. Living with labels, but without understanding, results in verbal grenades being lobbed over walls.

7. Creeds and confessions help us learn.

Creeds and confessions pay careful attention to precise wording. They provide the kind of labeling that allows for Christian learning. These documents function as teaching materials that lead us deeper into the Christian faith. With texts like these, Christians no longer need to be content with speaking of “salvation”, for example, only in general. Once alert to fuller teaching, Christians can then celebrate justification, discover adoption, and bless God for sanctification, perseverance, and glorification.

8. Creeds and confessions help us to avoid error.

Even as creeds and confessions served as bulwarks against doctrinal error in time past, they continue to do so in the present. Errorists and heretics are often uncreative. The basic shape of their faults remain the same over the centuries. Creeds set doctrinal parameters that safeguard the principles of the church against the increasingly common tendency to be inclined toward everything new and fancy. Tip: It’s helpful for pastors to read the relevant section in a creed or confession before preaching a tricky doctrine, or one that is easy to state incorrectly.

9. Creeds and confessions help us worship.

Creeds function not only as a teaching tool but as a worshipping tool as we remember why it is that we gather together: it is because of who God is and because of what he has done. While not usually used in worship, confessions are also useful for worship. Careful distinctions provide richer material for praise than do broad generalizations. Saying more about the character of God and the grace of the gospel encourages more confidence in prayer and praise.

10. Creeds and confessions are biblical.

From the beginning, the word of God has offered, and the people of God have employed, statements of faith. Old Testament readers encounter such a statement in the capstone of the books of Moses: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:3). It is what New Testament readers see when Paul provides the Corinthians with a summary of his own teaching: “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve” (1 Cor. 15:3-4). In Paul’s instruction to Timothy, he reminds Timothy to follow the pattern of sound words (2 Tim. 1:13) so that the church would not be tossed about in uncertainty. Biblical summaries are biblical!

Why Creeds?

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Article by Clint Archer (original source here – https://thecripplegate.com/why-creeds/)

“I don’t believe in creeds, I believe in Jesus.” That pithy declaration is an example of a creed. Any statement of a belief or expression of a conviction is a creed, even one that avers a total rejection of creeds, notwithstanding the irony and a comical lack of self-awareness.

The word creed comes from the Latin “credo” meaning “I believe.” Many creeds commence with the formula, “I believe…” or “We believe…” Throughout church history, Christians have articulated their convictions of truth in statements of faith. As the hand of time rolls a creed through the debris of error, its content grows larger and denser until it comes to rest as an immovable mass of solid doctrine.

If you declare that you believe in Jesus, it is only a matter of time before someone may challenge you to clarify which Jesus. The one in the Bible, of course. Yes, but what do you believe about that Jesus? People in the Bible suggested he might be Elijah or some other prophet, but Peter rightly declared that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He thus eliminated some erroneous interpretations and false beliefs. The rest of the New Testament continues the work of expunging error and articulating truth.

To assert that you believe the Bible alone is cute but inadequate. Unless you are prepared to recite the whole Bible every time anyone asks you what you believe on any topic, you will find the convenience of an abridgment invaluable.

Now, you are free to formulate your own statement of faith but be warned, it’s a tricky business. Anytime you say one thing that is true, someone can agree with your statement, while simultaneously embracing something else you would reject. This will lead you to add a phrase or change a word—which in turn will spawn new needs for more nuance and clarification. Let’s just say that getting the wording of an airtight, eternally significant belief system takes more linguistic expertise, theological prowess, biblical knowledge, and time than any individual Christian possesses. Time is a key ingredient. It takes a long while to pressure test the product for leaks. Only when people you disagree with come and say they agree with your creed, can you spot the cracks in your handiwork.

Some theology takes longer to error-proof than can be accomplished in one lifetime.

One example is the Apostles’ Creed. I have recited a version of that confession over a thousand times… as a Roman Catholic. Now, as a born-again, Evangelical, Reformed Baptist, guess what? I can still recite the Apostles’ Creed and agree with every word (though I now have a better understanding of what some of the words mean, like “catholic” and “hell” and “begotten”).

So, if a Catholic and a Baptist can recite the same creed, why can’t we all just get along, ecclesiastically speaking? Because we all also hold to other beliefs that are not included in that ancient creed. As Dr. Al Mohler wrote in his recent book, unambiguously titled The Apostles’ Creed, “All Christians believe more than is contained in the Apostles’ Creed, but none can believe less.”

A framework of doctrine is like a lattice. It might be sturdy enough for you when unchallenged. But when enemies of the truth aim their arrows at your faith, you will want the lattice reinforced with layer upon layer of language until it is impenetrable.

Another example is the Nicene Creed.

If you declare merely that you believe in the Jesus of the Bible and then insist that no other credal paraphernalia is warranted, you will soon find yourself in the doctrinal company of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

If you want to edge JWs out of your Committee to Keep Creeds Short, you are going to have to add at least a few more lines to your non-creed. At this point, it might prove helpful to consult with your older brothers in the faith, who met at Nicaea in 325 AD. They already formulated a vaccine for the JW virus when they encountered Patient Zero, a man named Arius. They found a dose of this punchy paragraph to be immensely useful in protecting the Body of Christ against the assertion that Jesus was a created being or less than the Father in some way:

“We believe… in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made; of the same essence as the Father.”

And yes, every phrase is there to reinforce a vulnerable spot in the lattice of orthodox Christology.

We Baptists have tended to be creed-averse, largely as a reaction to confessionalism. Baptists are people of the Book, after all. But our library shelves aren’t empty; we are people of books, blogs, and other helpful documents. I think it behooves us to peer over our Presbyterian peers’ shoulders and see what all the fuss is about.

Creeds are not authoritative, of course. (Sola Scriptura forever!) Nor are they sufficient, which is why there are so many of them. But they are not nothing. 

Creeds represent the efforts of the Body of Christ, the Church Universal through the ages, to articulate, clarify, defend, and promote the teachings of the Old and New Testaments. And they do so in a way that can grow stronger with time, and can withstand the onslaught of revenant heresies that were dealt with in the past, to prevent them getting the best of a new generation of believers.

Like a fortress that takes generations to build, the doctrines we uphold today have been preserved for us by our older brothers and sisters, so that we can enjoy safety from old heresies and can have a strong foundation on which to build the fortifications to fend off new heresies.

The Body of Christ is made up of many members, and not all of them are alive at the same time. As Christians, we should know our family history, and we should learn from the battles our forefathers fought. And there is no better place to start than by reading creeds.

At least, that’s what I believe.

How Do Creeds & Confessions Help Us?

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Buck Parsons answers:

TRANSCRIPT:

Those who understand the place of creeds and confessions understand how helpful they are to the church. My concern is for those who don’t know the creeds and the historic Reformed confessions and thus don’t refer to them or use them on a regular basis. Often, if they’re not using them, are not aware of them, or haven’t studied them, typically they are basing their faith on a very short confessional statement that either their church or some organization has made up.

All churches have to have some sort of basic confessional statement to some degree. But if they don’t have a significant, formulated, historic, attested-to creed or confession, then the likelihood is that their creed or confession is changing quite frequently, sometimes even based on the moods and whims of their own pastors, elders, or congregation.

Creeds and confessions help to ground us and to guard us. They become a perimeter to help us know where we can go and where we can’t go.

They also serve us as maps or guides for us. I like to hunt. I love to hike and backpack and fish. Especially here in Florida when you’re backcountry fishing, you need maps. You need to know where you’re going so you don’t run aground and so you can find your way back. You use maps, looking at where people have gone before you. You’re saying, “They have gone here and have told us: ‘Don’t go this way because you’ll run aground there. You’ll run aground into heresy there, into false teaching there, and into error there, so steer clear of this way and that way and steer a straight path.’”

Creeds and confessions help us to do that. They help us to train up our children. And they help our teachers, our pastors, and our elders to remain steadfastly orthodox in the faith.

Why Do We Need Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms?

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Article: Why do we need Creeds, Confessions and Catechisms? by Jacob Gerber _ original source: https://jacobgerber.org/why-do-we-need-creeds-confessions-and-catechisms/

By the grace of God, I grew up in churches that loved the Bible. I have vivid memories of hearing God’s word read, sung, and preached every week. I memorized a good portion of the Bible through AWANA. I still remember specific things I learned about the Bible in Vacation Bible School and Sunday School lessons. In high school, I was introduced to a regular Bible reading plan that I have used since 2000.

I cannot understate the importance of that biblical foundation. I would not be the man I am today without such regular, faithful, careful exposure to God’s word. Upon that foundation laid by my parents and the leaders in my churches, my love for the Bible has continued to grow to this day.

Biblical and Confessional Presbyterianism

In college, though, I met a group of Christians who loved the Bible as much as I did, but with an important difference. Where I had exclusively focused on the Bible, they made use of a specific set of tools from their tradition to assist their study of the Bible: the Westminster Standards, including the Westminster Confession of Faith, and the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms.

At first, this emphasis on man-made creeds and confessions troubled me. Wasn’t this precisely the sort of thing Jesus condemned when he warned us not to make void the word of God for the sake of human tradition (Matt. 15:1–9)? Haven’t Protestants pointed out time and again the Roman Catholics errors that have arisen from adding tradition to the word of God?

Eventually, I came to see the crucial difference. Roman Catholics cite their alleged oral tradition as an additional source of revelation beyond the written word of God. The tradition of Confessional Protestants (including the Westminster Standards for Presbyterians) limits itself simply to confessing and teaching what we believe the written word of God teaches.

The best creeds, confessions, and catechisms, then, do not add new information to supplement the Bible. Instead, they only seek to clarify what the Bible teaches. That is, they drive us back to the Bible, instead of beyond the Bible.

The Bible is the only infallible rule of faith and practice (WCF 31.3). Our creeds, confessions, and catechisms are only secondary and subsidiary to the Bible. Thus, we do not put our confessional statements on the same level with the Bible; however, we hold to our confessional statements because we believe that they are thoroughly biblical.

Why Do We Need Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms?

In this article, then, I want to offer nine reasons why Christians should use creeds, confessions, and catechisms. For a more in-depth discussion, I warmly commend Samuel Miller’s classic work, The Utility and Importance of Creeds and Confessions. Much of what I am writing here is drawn from Miller’s work.

1. Confession

To begin, we must recognize that the Bible commands us to confess our faith. As Miller observes, this means more than merely reading the Bible, but actually confessing the doctrines of the Bible in summary form. Creeds and confessions, then, do not violate the Scriptures. Rather, it is impossible to obey the Bible without using creeds and confessions!

Indeed, the Bible says that confessing certain doctrines is necessary for our salvation: that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 2:23; 4:15), that Jesus Christ came in the flesh (1 John 4:2), and that Jesus Christ is Lord (Rom. 10:9; 1 Cor. 12:3; Phil. 2:11).

Therefore, “let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Heb. 10:23).

2. Clarity

Creeds and confessions give us clarity about what the Bible teaches. All Christians affirm that they believe the Bible in some sense, but Christians hold vastly different beliefs about what the Bible teaches.

A creed or confessional statement gives clear affirmations of what a church believes, and equally clear denials of what that church does not believe. Without this clarity, it is all too easy to sneak false teaching into the church, or to fail to give people the full counsel of God from the Scriptures.

3. Circumspection

Creeds and confessional statements help us to think about our beliefs carefully. Creeds and confessions are not written quickly, but through careful biblical exegesis, extended deliberation, and precise sharpening of language.

In an ongoing way, creeds and confessions help the church to give definition to our faith. Every individual Christian does not need to build his or her theology from scratch. Instead, believers can lean on the creeds and confessions of the church to add nuance, distinctions, and precision to their theology.

4. Catechesis

The creeds, confessions, and catechisms of the church form the core curriculum for teaching Christians the faith. Catechesis is a word that simply means teaching. Catechisms, however, are usually a specific format of teaching through questions and answers.

Children learn catechisms at an age where memorization is easy. Later in life, when young people ask lots of questions to work out their personal beliefs, catechisms help provide answers to their difficult questions. Then, as adults, high quality catechisms offer ongoing theological enrichment to continue growing deeper in the faith.

As a Presbyterian, I am grateful not only to have the Westminster Confession of Faith, but also for the Larger and Shorter Catechisms that come along with it. Each bears witness to the same biblical truth, but from different perspectives, and for different purposes.

5. Confirmation

Creeds and confessions help to confirm that other believers, pastors, and churches do indeed hold to the same faith. Miller gives the example of the ancient heretic Arius, who professed to believe all that the Scriptures teach about God the Son (Creeds and Confessions, p. 32–35).

The problem, of course, was that Arius twisted the meanings of those words to fit his theology. He understood that the Son was a created being who was not infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth (WSC 4). Thus, while he professed to believe that Jesus was the Son of God, he did not actually believe that Jesus was God.

The only way to evaluate and confirm what Arius really did or did not believe, then, was with a creed. While Arius could profess to believe the words of the Bible, he could not agree with the creed that defined how the Bible was using those words. The Nicene Creed did not go beyond the Bible, but simply clarified what the Bible teaches about the full divinity of the Son. In this way, Arius’s theology was exposed and rejected as heresy.

6. Consistency

Creeds and confessions offer consistency in the church. From church to church, creeds and confessions provide consistency in a shared doctrinal understanding. Congregations know where their leaders stand on important topics and issues.

Even from week to week, creeds and confessions make sure that pastors do not preach wildly different messages as they preach from different biblical passages. Because creeds and confessions carefully work through all the biblical material, they give nuance, depth, and boundaries that help avoid saying too much or too little from any particular passage of the Bible.

7. Concord

This high level of consistency allows for churches with the same confessional beliefs to enjoy true unity together. Two cannot really walk together unless they agree (Amos 3:3). Christians of divided mind may experience surface level agreement for a time, but only until deeper issues surface.

The Lutherans actually call their own confessional documents the Book of Concord—that is, the book of peaceful agreement. Creeds and confessions bring concord to a church.

8. Conscience

Creeds and confessions protect the consciences of both leaders and general members of a church. No one should be forced to join a particular church, and people should only join churches where they sufficiently agree with the doctrine.

How, though, can a Christian come to know everything that a church believes before joining? A thorough investigative process, from scratch, would take years. Should anyone really wait so long before joining a church?

Creeds and confessions, then, serve to protect the consciences of the church’s membership. By making a church’s confession clear and open, that church cannot bait-and-switch her members with surprises down the road that would violate someone’s conscience.

9. Correction

Creeds and confessions help with biblical, godly correction. When someone begins exploring bad theology, established creeds and confessions help to bring that person back to sound, healthy doctrine.

No, creeds and confessions cannot answer every question in advance. Good creeds and confessions, however, often help to navigate exactly what the Bible teaches on a matter. As such, they are cool, dispassionate resources in the midst of heated doctrinal disputes.

Conclusion

Creeds, confessions, and catechisms, then, are vital for upholding, teaching, defending, and maintaining the word of God. Without them, we are more easily distracted, deceived, and defeated in the faith once-for-all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).

May we all grow increasingly into the mind of Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the full counsel of God’s word. May our creeds, confessions, and catechisms be the unshakable foundation—although never the final word—of our doctrine.

Remember the word of the Apostle Paul to Timothy: “[13] Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. [14] By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you” (2 Tim. 1:13–14).

Let us follow the sound words of the creeds, confessions, and catechisms handed down to us by our forefathers, insofar as they faithfully expound the good deposit given to us in the Scriptures.