Apostles’ Creed

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On February 16th, I began a new Sunday morning Bible class series on the Apostles’ Creed. Over the next eleven weeks, I will post my notes.

The earliest known story about the origin of the Apostles’ Creed says, “As they were on the point of taking leave of each other, they first settled an agreed norm for their future preaching, so that they might not find themselves, widely separated as they would be, giving out different doctrines to the people they invited to believe in Christ. So they met together in one spot and, being filled with the Holy Spirit, compiled this brief token of their future preaching, each making the contribution he thought fit; and they decreed that it should be handed out as standard teaching to believers.” 5th century, Rufinus of Aquileia.[1]

There are possible remnants of creeds and hymns in the Bible. Let us give careful attention to the actual substance of “the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” Jude 1:3. For example, “He was revealed in flesh, vindicated in spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among Gentiles, believed in throughout the world, taken up in glory” (1 Tim 3:16; and other hymns in the Pastorals; hallmark texts are found throughout the NT e.g., Phil. 2:6–11.). See also 1 Cor. 15:1–3 concise statement of the Gospel.

Credo: “is derived from cor, heart, and do, dare, to give; its meaning was to swear loyalty or pledge allegiance.[2]

Creeds developed usually out of a certain context. Not so with the Apostle’s Creed which is more of a narrative statement of belief. The common understanding of its origin connects it with baptism.

Is what follows a reasonable and coherent outlook on reality? The “internal coherence” of the world of Christian beliefs and practices and the “external coherence” to the wider set of beliefs we and our fellow citizens share. And then the implications of these beliefs are what?[3]

  1. In America, what are the pledges we make?
    • “In God we trust.”
    • Pledge of Allegiance
    • Pledges of marriage
  2. Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition, notes how a person is asked three questions about God, Son, and Holy Spirit. The response is, “I believe.” (Three-fold baptism).  A credo was given at the beginning of my journey. “God promises to be faithful even when children of God are faithless.”[4]
  3. In Churches of Christ, what were you asked to confess at your baptism?
    • Jesus is the Son of God
    • Jesus is Lord
    • Or more often simply “yes”.

I believe

    • “I” while personal is confessed in community.
      • In the earliest tradition, “I” is a confession made at baptism. No one is invited to come up with their own personal statement of belief. All are invited to be immersed into a reality beyond themselves and to join their individual voices to a communal voice that transcends them all.
      • “I, but not I, but Christ in me.” Who am I to make such a confession. It is a gift, this faith I have. My identity can no longer be described apart from Jesus Christ. “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”
      • Eph 1:3–14 as a gift bestowed by the Benefactor.
      • At baptism, I am given a new identity, a new name: ‘Child of God.’ I am baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

“Believe” —

    • Intellectual assent (Newman’s “notional assent”) and enacted faith (Newman’s “real assent”) are related but quite different.[5] “Real assent” is an engaged, committed, trusting disposition of the whole person. Our profession when we say the Apostles’ Creed is enacted faith. Enacted faith on the part of God’s people, is a response to God’s presence, by participating in God’s blessing of the world.[6]
    • “I believe” is both informative and performative. When combined with baptism, it is sacramental. “I believe” is a pledge, promise, commitment, a confession. The credo is a promise more than a set of systematic statements of belief.
      • Informative in that it provides the basic substance of the faith. “I believe in…” And here is a list of what we believe in. It then functions as a mnemonic device for our own faith and our witness to others.
      • Performative in that it does something. (Marriage, Blessing, “I sentence you.” “You’re Fired”).
        • “I believe that …” Good, even the demons believe.
        • “I believe in …” forms us and shapes us.
        • And as a symbol in front of others. It is said in community. We do not perjure ourselves. And we will not recant.
      • Rom 10:9: “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
    • Systematics: Consider what is missing in the creed. Not just elements of God’s story (Abraham, Moses/Law, David, life of Jesus, discipleship, prayer, love) but also key doctrines (e.g., covenant).
    • So not a loyalty oath to a set of beliefs but to the triune God. The credo is a master image for me to see.[7]
    • Such belief orients me to how I see myself, how I see you, how I see the economy, politics, recreation, vocation, family, (etc.), and how I see the world. Such belief frames my worldview, my reality, my frame of reference. I commit myself to this story and not some other philosophy or story. Even God’s story narrows in how you will see the world as shown in Hebrews 1. God spoke in various times, ways, and persons. But now God speaks through God’s Son.

AND “I believe” is an acknowledgment of the faithfulness of God.[8] For even when I am faithless, I believe in God the Father, I believe in the Son, and I believe in the Holy Spirit.

[1] Geoffrey Wainwright, “Forward,” ix, in Van Harn, Exploring & Proclaiming the Apostles’ Creed.

[2] Harned, Creed and Personal Identity, 16.

[3] Hart, Confessing and Believing, xiv.

[4] Harned, Creed and Personal Identity, 19.

[5] John Henry Newman, An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent (London: Burns, Oates, & Co., 1870).

[6] What is “enacted faith”? It begins with Peirce’s connection between “belief” and “habit” rooted in Alexander Bain’s definition of belief, “that upon which a [person] is prepared to act.” See Bain, The Emotions and the Will, 505. Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ (Colorado Springs: NAV, 2002), xxx similarly states, “Belief is when your whole being is set to act as if something is so.”

[7] Harned, Creed and Personal Identity, 23.

[8] Harned, Creed and Personal Identity, 24.