Category: The Apostles’ Creed

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Do Christians Worship Three Gods?

Christians do not worship three Gods. Christians worship one God who is eternally manifested in three persons, each sharing the same divine essence or nature. If this is hard to understand, it is even more difficult to explain.

There are many facts which we accept which we cannot explain: how electricity works, the relation of “mind” to the function of the brain, the apparent infinity of an expanding universe, the origin of gravity, for example. The Christian belief in the tri-unity of God is a great mystery. It is above and beyond human reasoning. It is not the sort of belief that would have been invented by humans.

The doctrine of the Trinity is embedded in many parts of the Bible. These biblical references are the basis for confessions of faith we call creeds. When Christians recite the Apostles’ Creed, they affirm their faith by saying, “I believe in Jesus Christ, his (God’s) only Son, our Lord.” To call Jesus “Lord” is to use the same word that the ancient people of God used to refer to almighty God. This is a confession that Jesus is divine, along with the Father.

If we recite the Creed in sincerity, we do so believing that it is saying what the Bible teaches about Jesus. We should trust any doctrinal statement only insofar as it is derived from holy scripture and faithfully declares the truths of holy scripture. If we believe in the deity of Jesus Christ and in the Trinity, it is only because we find these truths in the Bible, and we do.

We find a clear intimation of this in the words of Jesus to his disciples in John 14: 15-18. He has identified himself as being one in essence with God the Father (vv. 9-11). He is about to go back to the Father after his death and resurrection (v. 12). He promises his disciples that he will ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit to them (vv. 16-17). When this happens, Jesus says, “I will come to you” (v. 18). Jesus will be with them in the person of the Holy Spirit. Then he adds that when the Holy Sprit comes, both the Father and the Son will be in those who love and obey him (v. 23).

Jesus says that he, the Son, possesses the same divine nature as the Father (v. 11). He came to reveal the Father (vv. 7-10). He then says that the Holy Spirit possesses that same nature (v. 16). When he refers to the Spirit as “another Counselor” (helper, comforter, advocate, encourager), he uses a word that means “another of the very same nature” as he is.

‘You know him,” Jesus says of the Holy Spirit, “for he lives in you and will be in you” (v. 17). This is the same thing he had told them about the Father (v. 7). Just as the disciples knew the Father because they knew the Son, so they would also know the Spirit because they knew the Son. Each of the persons of the Holy Trinity is distinct from the others, yet they are one in their essential being. To know one is to know the others. What Jesus is saying is that it is impossible to know him without knowing the Father and the Holy Spirit.

This agrees with other New Testament passages which bring out the idea of the Trinity. A few examples are the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17), his ascension and Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20), Paul’s theology of salvation in which the Father chooses, the Son redeems and the Spirit seals believers (Ephesians 1:3-14), and the closing words of John’s epistle, “And we are in him who is true — even in his Son Jesus Christ. He (Jesus) is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20).

In one of his hymns, Isaac Watts wrote: “Almighty God, to Thee be endless honors done, / The undivided Three and the mysterious One. / Where reason fails, with all her powers, there faith prevails and love adores.”

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14). 

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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We Need the Creed

Some readers of this blog can quote the Apostles’ Creed from memory. To them it is as familiar as the words to “Jesus Loves Me this I Know” or John 3:16. Others, who were brought up as I was, were taught to say, “Baptists are not a creedal people. Our only creed is Christ,” or “The Bible is my creed.”

But even Baptists have had their written statements of faith such as the historic “New Hampshire Confession” and “The Baptist Faith and Message.” The Apostles’ Creed is the oldest and most widely-accepted of the Christian statements of belief. It is a simple, concise summary of convictions held in common by all Christians.

It is important to know what we believe and why we believe it. In today’s world, the very idea of absolute truth is being questioned. Everything is up for grabs and truth is whatever individuals want it to be. In this environment Ray Pritchard has written that the Apostles’ Creed “is a  radical challenge  to the skepticism of our age.” It can be a buttress for our faith in an uncertain world.

There are examples of early Christian creeds in the New Testament. It is believed that the great formulation of the doctrine of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 is a quotation by Paul of a statement of faith that was already being circulated by followers of Jesus just a few short years after his resurrection.

1 Timothy 3:16 is another example of an early creed quoted by Paul. It was already in use in the churches at the time he wrote to Timothy in Ephesus. It begins with the phrase “by common confession,” or “beyond all question,” a statement of certainty and conviction.

Perhaps the most commonly used and familiar of the early creeds was the courageous declaration, “Jesus is Lord” (Romans 10:9, 1 Corinthians 12:3). The trinitarian benediction in 2 Corinthians 13:14 is also believed to be an early creed. Jude 3 speaks of “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” One of the ways the faith was transmitted orally was by the repeated recitation of creeds. This was before the writing of the epistles and gospels of the New Testament.

It is not necessary to believe that the twelve apostles personally composed the Apostles’ Creed, to believe that it reflects their teachings. It is not a part of the New Testament, but it is based upon the Bible. It is considered to be ancient in origin, perhaps dating back to the fourth century. The creed is regularly  quoted in churches and by individuals all over the world to reinforce the faith of God’s people and as a public witness to that faith.

“As the Lord’s Prayer is the Prayer of prayers,” wrote Philip Schaff, “the Decalogue the Law of laws, so the Apostles’ Creed is the Creed of creeds. It contains all the fundamental articles of the Christian faith necessary to salvation.”

I intend to explore the Apostles’ Creed over the next several weeks in this blog. This is because it matters what we believe. The creed begins with the words “I believe,” or credo in Latin, which gives us the English word “creed.” What we believe is a matter of life and death. The creed points the way to eternal life.

                                                The Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ his Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic (universal) church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Pastor Randy Faulkner