Have you ever had anyone ask you: “What do you believe?” Maybe it was an unbelieving neighbor, or an unsaved friend, or a coworker. I’m sure all of you have, as have I. And when you answered them, do you know what you did? You professed to them a creed. And do you know why? Because you are created in God’s image. We human beings are, by nature, creedal creatures; we speak what we believe. We profess to others what we believe, whether it is an item of pop culture: “I think Mary Poppins is wonderful,” or something of great significance: “Jesus Christ is Lord.” As the apostle Paul says elsewhere, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak (2 Cor. 4:13b).
As we know, the word “creed” simply means “belief.” My goal in this short article is to commend the value of having an explicit creed. I say this because, though pastoring for almost forty years, I once wasn’t convinced of the need for a creedal church. I, too once held the view “No creed but Christ.” But then I changed. I aim to show you why by answering three questions: (1) Are there creeds in Scripture? (2) Is Scripture in the creeds? (3) How are the creeds useful in the church?
Are There Creeds in Scripture?
Yes. First Corinthians 15:3–7 is the earliest creed. Would you be surprised to learn that this passage is considered by most Bible scholars for the past 2,000 years to be the first Christian creed? Various indicators in the text support this.
First, notice that verses 3–7 are not Paul’s own composition. He says in verse 3, “For I delivered (Παρέδωκα) to you as of first importance what I also received
(παρέλαβον).” These two terms, “received and delivered,” are not the words you use for an Amazon package. “Received and delivered” was a semi-technical phrase that the Jews used to describe authoritative, trustworthy tradition. These are the same terms the apostle uses to remind us of the tradition of the Lord’s Supper. Earlier, in 1 Corinthians 11:23, Paul says, “For I received from the Lord, what I also delivered to you.” If the word “tradition” leaves a bad taste in your mouth, let it not. The biblical idea of tradition is simply one generation handing down to the next generation what it values most highly. When it comes to the things of God, the teaching of Scripture, of God’s eternal truth, tradition is simply delivering God’s truth to the next generation, who were in turn, like you and me, intended to possess it, profess it, guard it, and propagate it, as Richard Bauckham noted in Jesus and the Eyewitnesses.
Tradition is simply delivering God’s truth to the next generation.
Now you may ask, “Well, if Paul didn’t compose it, who did?” That is, verse 3 raises three questions. First, from whom did he receive this creed? Second, when? And third, where? The clue is: who could have told Paul of the appearances of the resurrected Jesus as listed here to Peter, James, and the apostles, and to the 500? The answers to these questions are as follows: (1) Paul most likely received this creed from the apostles, Peter and James; (2) when he visited them three years after his conversion; (3) in Jerusalem, as he mentioned in Galatians 1:18–20. Most put that date around 36 AD. That means that soon after Jesus’s death and resurrection, the early church composed this creed and passed it down to others, such as Paul, who were entrusted with it and were expected to preach and teach it.
Yet, this creed is more than just the first creed. Paul says it is what he delivered to them “as of first importance” (v. 3). That is to say, this creed confesses the heart of our faith: Jesus’s death, burial, resurrection, and appearances. Every other religion or philosophy centers around knowledge—enlightenment, a revelation. This is the case with Buddhism, Islam, and secular humanism. But not the Christian faith. Yes, Jesus taught us. Yes, he worked miracles. But at the heart of the Christian faith is an objective person and his work that happened in history, was public, and was witnessed! And that is what this creed states.
Who and what sits at the heart of the Christian faith?
• That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, v. 3
• That he was buried, v. 4a
• That he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, v. 4b
• That he appeared first to Cephas (Peter) and then to the twelve, and then to 500 people at the same time, of whom more than half were still alive and living when Paul wrote this letter in 55 AD
You see, these things happened whether or not you believe or reject them.
Second, notice that the creed grounds Christ’s death for our sins and his resurrection in the Scriptures. Twice we read: “according to the Scriptures.” This phrase tells us that all these things happened according to God’s eternal plan as foretold by the Prophets.
There is no prophecy about Buddha’s coming, or Mohammed’s, or Confucius’s, or Karl Marx’s. But the coming of the Christ of God, his suffering, his death for sin, and resurrection to new life, was prophesied beginning with Genesis. Here in this book, we have a sure word of God.
Third, the creed says: “Christ died for our sins.” This creed is not only about Jesus Christ and God’s great plan long prophesied, but it is about us, you and me. Why? Because it says so: Christ died for our sins. Jesus’s death on the cross, under Pontius Pilate in 30 AD, was God’s plan to provide for sinners, for you and me, a vicarious Savior. What is a vicarious Savior? It means that when Jesus died, he died for our sins in our place. The wages of sin is death, and all of us sinners should die, should receive the penalty for our sins—eternal death. But Jesus took that penalty we deserved on himself, and he died in our place. And because he was the perfect and sinless Son of God, death could not hold him. His Father raised him from the dead.
What does that mean for you and me? It means that all who trust in Jesus as the Christ of God, the Savior and Lord of the world, will be saved, forgiven, accepted, and loved forever and ever so that even though we will die, we will ourselves be raised from the dead and inherit a resurrected and glorious body like Jesus’s. Don’t you just want to confess that to others? Don’t you just want to say that out loud, with joy, together, as one? That is what a creed lets you do.
But we should ask, “Are there other creeds in Scripture?” And the answer is yes! If we are creedal creatures, then creeds are inescapable. Because creeds are statements of faith, the Bible is full of them.
First, we have what is called “the Shema” in Deuteronomy 6:4 and Mark 12:28–34, especially verse 29. Deuteronomy 6:4 says, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God; the Lord is one.” The Jews made Deuteronomy 6:4 their sole creed. It is called the Shema, which is the opening call in the verse: Hear! This is a confession that the LORD, Yahweh, the God of Israel, is the one and only God. Jesus knew this creed and recited it in a dialogue in Mark 12:28–34. A teacher asked Jesus, “Which is the most important commandment of all?” You know Jesus’s answer: to love God and neighbor. But did you know that in Mark’s account, Jesus prefaced his answer with a creed? This creed was the Shema. “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.’” Why do you think he does that? Simply for this reason: It is not enough to say you believe in God. The question is, “Which God do you believe in?” The Shema makes it clear that the Lord alone is God.
Creeds are like good fences, like the rules of a game.
Earlier, in 1 Corinthians 8:6, Paul references the Shema and makes clear the trinitarian nature of God. Though the Gentiles believe in many gods, says Paul, “yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.”
Second, we have other creeds in Scripture from the New Testament. Most agree that the shortest creed in the New Testament is the statement, “Jesus is Lord.” This creed identifies the Old Testament LORD with Jesus. Paul affirms this in Romans 10:9, where he says, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” And there are many others, such as 1 Timothy 3:16. There are creeds big and small (see Phil. 2:6–11; Matt. 16:16; John 20:28; Acts 8:36–37; 1 Tim. 1:15; 1 John 4:2).
My first point, then, has been simple. Are there creeds in Scripture? Yes. There are many creeds in Scripture. The Christian church everywhere has understood the necessity and joy of giving voice to their common faith in the worship, life, and ministry of the church from the very beginning.
Is Scripture in the Creeds?
But we may ask a second question: Is Scripture in the creeds? Again, the answer is yes. If we find creeds in Scripture, we also find Scripture in the creeds, especially in the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds. As is plain, often the very wording of the creedal statement is taken directly from Scripture. But that is not absolutely necessary. The truth of any creed must be judged by the truth of sacred Scripture, if not the exact words.
The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), to which I belong, holds as its creeds the Westminster Standards. And in that book, you’ll see the Scriptures in support of each statement.
So, we’ve seen that 1 Corinthians 15:3–7 is a creed, the first creed of the New Testament church. We’ve also seen that there are other creeds in Scripture, and that
Scripture profoundly shapes, supports, and undergirds many of the better known creeds of the church, such as the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Westminster Standards.
How Are Creeds Useful in the Church?
Let me now move to my last question, “How are the creeds useful for a church?” And let me give you two practical uses.
First, creeds are like good fences, like the rules of a game. Have you ever played a new game where you didn’t know the rules, or the rule book had been lost, and
you had to rely on the other players to inform you of them? And then mid-way through the game, someone says, “that’s not in the rules.” And you get frustrated that the rules are not written down; you’ve been playing not by the rules, but by the whims and fancies of others. Good, written, explicit creeds are like clear and guiding rules. They make it so that everyone knows what our common confession of faith is.
My first church was a Bible church. We had a very simple statement of faith—seven sentences. And I thought that was fine. Until one brother said he believed in ongoing prophecy and revelation: “Thus, says the Lord.” Another didn’t. And our statement of faith didn’t even deal with it. It simply said the Bible is God’s word. Nothing more.
So, how do you decide who is right? How do you agree? Is this a matter where we can agree to disagree? Again, one person said that Scripture teaches that we can have the assurance of our salvation. But another contended that Scripture doesn’t teach that. What do you think happened? Lots of disputes broke out—people jockeying for power, some leaving. All because we never made our common confession of faith explicit and full. Everyone had a different understanding of the rules of the game.
Similarly, if a church doesn’t clearly, fully, and explicitly state its creed, it becomes fenceless, a church without walls. These are churches where Satan can easily come in and sow seeds of doubt, disruption, and fear. In his book Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton said,
[Creeds] may be walls; but they are the walls of a playground. . . . We might fancy some children playing on the flat grassy top of some tall island in the sea. So long as there was a wall round the cliff’s edge they could fling themselves into every frantic game and make the place the noisiest of nurseries. But [if] the walls were knocked down, leaving the naked peril of the precipice . . .
How then might the children play without walls? How might you find them on that cliff? You’d find them, he says, “all huddled in terror in the centre of the island; and their song would have ceased.” But put up a fence, a creed, make it full and clear and explicit, and what you make for your church is a joyous playground for the saints.
Second, creeds are like hymns. They help us to stand and praise the truth about God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—with one voice. This was the reason Paul wrote to the Corinthians, for some in their midst had claimed that the resurrection had already taken place. That is why he must set before them this creed, and then explain it—especially, the meaning of the resurrection from the dead.
Creeds are like the hymns of the church—good hymns, hymns sung for ages. Creeds, like good hymns, help us raise our voices in a common praise to all that the Lord has done for us. The creeds help us stand with one voice for Christ against the world that rejects the gospel. In fact, that truth is part of the Apostles’ and Nicene creeds when we say: “We believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.” The word “catholic” means “universal,” not Roman Catholic. When we recite the creed together, we stand shoulder to shoulder with every true Christian all over the world for the last 2,000 years. We stand rich and poor, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, Black and White, Asian and African, Hispanic and Indian. We stand with our brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world.
At the heart of the Christian faith is an objective person and his work that happened in history, was public, and was witnessed!
I recall a time when I was working in Bangladesh among former Muslims who had come to Christ and were starting multiple churches throughout their country. Most of them had suffered varying degrees of persecution: they had lost their homes, been beaten up, and most had been rejected by their families. Muslims take Friday off, not Sunday. Sunday in a Muslim country is a workday. So, these former Muslims, who had come to Christ, met on Sunday, the day Jesus rose from the dead. But they could only meet after 5:00 p.m. And there they were, and I was in their midst. Part of their worship liturgy was reciting either the Nicene or Apostles’ Creed, or a selection from the Westminster Standards. And we stood and recited together—me, a white guy from the US; they, all brown-skinned brothers and sisters from Bangladesh. But we stood in Christ, and we stood for Christ, and we stood confessing Christ by way of the creed; and thereby we stood against the whole of Islam for the triune God: Father, Son, and Spirit. Isn’t that what the creed is for? As a corporate body, a church, to praise the Lord with one voice and stand against our world whose creed is “let’s drink and eat for tomorrow we die”? Instead, we rise and declare our belief.
Christian, what do you believe? Say it aloud. Profess your creed:
• I believe (Rom. 10:8–10; 1 John 4:2–3, 15) in God the Father Almighty (Exod. 6:3; Isa. 37:16), Maker of heaven and earth (Gen. 1:1; Ps. 115:15; 121:2).
• I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord (Acts 11:17; Rom. 1:7; Phil. 2:11), who was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18; Luke 1:35) and born of the virgin Mary (Luke 2:6–7; Gal. 4:4). He suffered under Pontius Pilate (Matt. 27:24–26, 58), was crucified, died, and was buried (Mark 15:25, 45–47; 1 Cor. 15:3–4), he descended into hell (Matt. 27:46). The third day he rose again from the dead (Matt. 28:1–6; 1 Cor. 15:4). He ascended into heaven (Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9–11) and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty (Acts 7:55; Ps. 110:1; Heb. 1:3; 8:1). From there he will come to judge the living and the dead (Acts 10:42; John 5:22; Acts 17:31).
• I believe in the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; 1 Cor. 12:3–6), the holy catholic church (Matt. 28:18–20; Mark 16:15), the communion of saints (Eph. 4:3–6, 15–16), the forgiveness of sins (Luke 24:45–48), the resurrection of the body (John 11:24; 1 Cor. 15:12–49), and the life everlasting. Amen (Mark 10:29–30).