Southern Baptists do not offically recognize any of the early church creeds as authoritative, yet our beliefs do include most
of the theological positions in those early creeds. For example, the Apostles' Creed expresses belief in the virgin birth, the resurrection and the Second Coming.
Baptists embrace all of those beliefs. The Nicene Creed describes the doctrine of the Trinity as one God manifested in three distinct and equal
persons. Southern Baptists also believe these doctrines. However, we generally stop short of officially embracing the creeds and instead focus
on individual faith.
The word creed comes from the Latin “credo”, which simply means “I believe.” A creed is a doctrinal statement of correct belief or orthodoxy (practice).
Historically, acceptance (though not dogmatically so) of the historical creeds of the
church has formed the basis of our faith. Baptists consider ourselves to be more "confessional" than "credal". Generally, the "Baptist Faith And Message" (BF&M)
is accepted as the defining confession of our cooperative network of churches; as such, it is essentially our creed. As B. H. Carrol asserts:
“There was never a man in the world without a creed. A creed is what you believe. What is a confession? It is a declaration of what you believe.”
I believe our churches today need to emphasize the historical significance of these creeds of the early church.
The BF&M, which was adopted as a confession of faith in the year 2000, a mere 21 years ago, does not have the same sense of history and continuity as
a creed that originated from the teachings of the men who knew Jesus in 33 AD.
We should teach the historical creeds of the church because they connect us to the great cloud of witness that have gone before us. (See Hebrews 12:1)
When we read the Apostle’s creed, we are reading the confession that Augustine affirmed, as have millions of faithful Christians throughout the ages.
By reciting the creed, we join countless heroes of the faith in a practice that has existed for generations before us.
There is comfort, joy, strength, and purpose in the continuity we share.
I also believe our churches need to teach these creeds to our children and grandchildren.
In this day of casual Christianity, where sound doctrine seems to take a back seat to "living your
best life now" theology, it is vitally important to pass the truths of these creeds down to the next generation. A weak, wishy-washy religion that fluctuates
with ever-expanding liberalism and current heresies is not a saving theology that our children and grandchildren can stand on, rather; it is one that they will
fall on. We must give the next generation the firm foundation that is expressed in these early creeds. Teaching truth to the next generation so very
important, because as Billy Graham has pointed out, we are never more that one generation away from total apostacy.
We will be looking at three creeds of the Christian faith: The Apostles Creed. The Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.
These creeds each originated out of conflicts about doctrine. Heresies have always tried to over-rule sound, Scriptural doctrine,
making it necessary for the early church fathers to define and defend the doctrine as taught in the Holy Bible. Thus, the Nicene Creed expands on the teachings
of the Apostles Creed, and the Athanasian Creed elaborates on the Nicene Creed.
We will also look at the Baptist Faith and Message, which has as it's foundation these early creeds.
The Apostles’ Creed, though not written by the apostles, is the oldest creed of the Christian church and is the basis for others that followed. It is a
summary of the teachings of the apostles, even though it was not written by them. The oldest form of this creed dates back to at least 140 AD.
The early church leaders faced great opposition from the reigning government as well as many false doctrines from conflicting religions.
The Apostles Creed is not part of sacred Scripture; rather it is a simple expression of the great doctrines of the Christian faith. It is incredibly simple,
yet remarkably profound. More than any other Christian creed, the Apostles Creed may justly be called an ecumenical symbol of faith.
The originally used form is this:
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried.
He descended into hell; The third day He rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the
Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; The Holy *catholic Church,
the Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins;
The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.
Please note that the word * “catholic” as used here refers to “the universal church”, or the true body of Christian believers of all times and all places. Many people and denominations
strongly oppose reciting these creeds because of their faulty understanding of this single word. The word does NOT refer to the Roman Catholic
Church, but to the church, the body of Christ, as a universal fellowship. For that reason, many later-day versions of the creed have changed that line to
“The Holy Christian Church”.
The Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed are properly used as expressions of worship; drawn from the language of the Bible itself.
Also, please note that the earliest forms of the Apostles Creed did not include the phrase, “He descended into hell,”. Therefore, later versions have
eliminated that line as well. The most widely accepted modern form is:
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried.
The third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven,
And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; The Holy Christian Church,
the Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins;
The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.
