I Believe; Week one

This is my promised Lent study on the Creed, the basic Christian statement of belief.   I originally wrote this as a group study for a discussion group, as this first part is very much an introduction it is also the longest. The general principle is to encourage discussion and contemplation of what we truly believe.

 1 Introduction

What is a Creed

During the first century the early church spread throughout the Roman world, as the Church grew the first leaders died out and the connection between believers and the first evangelists grew weaker, there was a practical need for local churches to have a basic statement of beliefs. As false teachers began to bring in strange new ideas, Christians needed to know "Just what is it that we believe?"

Some of these churches had a few books of the New Testament, perhaps some copies of Paul's letters or one of the four Gospels. But none of the churches had all the New Testament. They needed a standard to judge whether a teaching was truth, or heresy.

The early Christians also realized that new people didn't have to know everything before they could be baptized and accepted as believers. How much should they know and accept before being admitted into the church? This was another reason that early churches wanted a brief statement of what they believed to be most essential.

Churches in different cities and regions made their own lists, which had many points in common, since all the churches had traditions tracing back to the apostles in one way or another. The small differences were eventually eliminated as church leaders discussed these things with one another. They shared not only the scriptures they had, but also their statements of faith.

When Christianity became a legal religion in the fourth century, this process became easier. Churches throughout the empire agreed on which books should form the New Testament, and they agreed on several basic statements of faith.

Why the “Apostles Creed”

The Apostles Creed is probably the oldest creed in current regular usage, dating from at least the middle of the second century it forms the basis of the Nicene creed, developed at the Council of Nicenaea in AD 325.   It is a statement of the foundational believes of all Christians.   Being truly ecumenical it predates any separation of the Church into West and East or indeed any other denominations.   The tradition in the early church was that it was written by the apostles on the 10^th day after Christ’s ascension, however it is more reasonable to consider that it was called "Apostles" not because the apostles themselves wrote it, but because the Creed was believed to be an accurate summary of what the apostles taught.   Whilst the true origins of this creed cannot be exactly known Irenaeus describes a creed at least very like the Apostles Creed that had been in regular use for some time around AD 200, and there is an early Latin version recorded in the writing of Tertulllian about the year 220.   The word Creed itself comes from the Latin Credo literally I Believe.

How was the Creed used

The Creed was useful in several ways:

• The Creed was a public statement of faith, a standardized way in which new people could confess their faith in Jesus Christ.
• The Creed anchored Christian faith to a tradition, to make it difficult for people or churches to be led astray by strange doctrines.
• The Creed was a preaching and teaching tool, giving an outline for further discipleship.
• The Creed was memorized through frequent repetition, which helped the many believers who could not read.
• The Creed provided a doctrinal basis for different churches to accept one another, and to reject those who did not accept the basic truths.

The earliest church leaders also wrote short creeds, perhaps as baptism ceremonies. These eventually were recited by congregations in their worship services.   Just as we use the Apostles Creed to this day.

1.  Is it still relevant to modern churches to have a creed today?

2.  Why is it something we share with other denominations?

3.  Is it still important to memorize a creed?