8 Things You Should Know About the Apostles’ CreedThe Apostles' Creed 1/13

 This article was first published in French at TPSG.

If someone were to ask you what you believe as a Christian, would you know how to answer them? Do you know what distinguishes your faith from that of Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or even Muslims? If given the opportunity, could you answer the question concisely? Rather than trying to come up with our own script, I propose to you one written hundreds of years ago: The Apostles’ Creed.

 

I first memorized the Creed in Spanish as a Catholic school girl, preparing for my First Communion. I learned it again in English as a student at my Catholic secondary school. And I memorized it in French two years ago to teach it to five- and six-year-olds at a Baptist family camp. We recite it regularly with our children during family devotions, and I am so thankful for the riches of this ancient confession of faith. Here are 8 things you may not know about the Apostles’ Creed:

 

1.     The Apostles’ Creed is Not Scripture

As Evangelicals, we adhere to the five Solas of the Reformation. We embrace Sola Scripture, the conviction that Scripture (and not Church tradition) has ultimate authority over the people of God. Yet we do not hold to Solo Scriptura. Summarized today in the statement, “I have no creed but the Bible,” this posture often leads to a weakened, individualistic approach to interpreting Scripture. Yet, far from being anti-confessional, the Reformers taught the creeds, and many wrote catechisms or confessions to instruct their people in sound doctrine. In fact, Calvin’s Institutes began as an exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer.

 

2.     The Apostles’ Creed Holds Ministerial Authority

Sola Scriptura means that the Scriptures have magisterial or leading authority. Our creeds and confessions, on the other hand, hold ministerial or presumptive authority, which means that they are grounded in and summarize Scripture and provide a secondary authority (until proven wrong). Just as the moon has no light of its own, but reflects the light of the sun, so the creed reflects the light of the Word of God. 

 

3.     The Apostles’ Creed Anchors Us in the Apostolic Tradition

The Creed originated from various statements of faith in the second century. We don't know its exact birthplace. But we do know that there were several types of baptismal creeds dating from the period after the apostles, from the time of the persecutions, up until the conversion of the emperor Constantine. Early on, a myth evolved that each of the twelve apostles wrote one of the twelve lines of the Apostles Creed. And while this is not the case, history recognizes the close connection between the faith handed down by the apostles and what we see in the Creed.

 

4.     The Apostles’ Creed Helps Us Articulate our Faith

As believers, we should be able to summarize the Christian faith in a true and concise way. And this both for the sake of our own souls and for the sake of our witness. Our creeds give us boundaries, bearings, consistency. Collectively reciting a shared body of belief is an ancient practice that predates the earliest Christian confessions. In fact, in Scripture, we find examples of similar creedal statements that the covenant people confessed throughout the ages. Perhaps the earliest is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-7. Known as the Shema, it declared, “Hear, O Israel, the LORD thy God, the LORD is one…” The Ten Commandments themselves were likely recited for a similar purpose. In the New Testament, a myriad of creedal statements exists, which gave the nascent church the vocabulary to articulate the essence of the faith. These include Mark 12:29-31, 1 Corinthians 8:6, 15, 3-4, Romans 10:9-10, 1 Timothy 2:5-6, 3:16, Philippians 2:6-11, Colossians 1:12-20, 2:9-15.

 

5.     The Apostles’ Creed Introduces Us to Systematic Theology

In a time when people did not each have their own copy of the Bible and they only heard or read it once a week in church, the Creed was a practical tool to help the faithful retain a sound body of theology. And while the average believer today may be functionally literate and have access to a Bible, we still face a great need for biblical literacy in the core doctrines that define us as Christians. The fact remains that believers today still need to be able to articulate the tenets at the core of Christianity. The Creed provides this by introducing us to the doctrine of the Trinity, with particular emphasis on Christology. 

 

6.     The Apostles’ Creed Helps Us Make Disciples

Whether we are instructing our children in the faith or teaching a group of adults, the Creed is a helpful pedagogical tool. 

 

Particularly because it anchors us of the great metanarrative of redemption. It opens with creation – “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth” and closes with the consummation – “I believe… in life everlasting. Amen!” In so doing, it serves as a correcting compass to our individual stories devoid of hope in Christ. In fact, this was its function in the early church. When a person first trusted Christ, he spent up to a year as a catechumen, studying the faith he professed. Then, at his baptism, he would be asked, "Christian, what do you believe?" He would then recite one of those early formulations of the Creed. How ironic that our paedo-Baptist brothers and sisters continue to recite the Apostles' Creed in their worship services, when it was designed for converts to confess at their believer's baptism!

 

7.     The Apostle’s Creed Guards Us Against False Doctrine

The Creed was formulated to address specific false teachings. The first is Gnosticism, which taught that the material world/the flesh is evil, that God did not create the world, and that God did not take flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. The Creed makes it clear that God is indeed the Creator, and that the Son was born, in the flesh of a virgin. The second heresy it confronts is syncretism, which mixes the Christian faith with pagan traditions, including the worship of the emperor. In our day and age, we may face different false teachings, but many are nonetheless rooted in an attack on the person of Jesus Christ or his exclusivity as the means of salvation.

 

8.     The Apostles’ Creed Unites Us to the Ancient and Global Church

The Creed reminds us as twenty-first century Western believers that we are a part of a family that spans the globe and the ages. When we recite this ancient confession of faith, we unite our hearts to the saints triumphant (those who have preceded us in glory) and the saints militant (those who are still in the struggle of faith). It also shows us that while we may disagree on secondary doctrines, at the core, we as Christians are part of a big, beautiful family. What a gift of God’s grace!