{"id":1161,"date":"2025-02-28T12:34:18","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T18:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/sensingt\/?p=1161"},"modified":"2025-03-31T14:10:13","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T19:10:13","slug":"apostles-creed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/sensingt\/2025\/02\/apostles-creed\/","title":{"rendered":"Apostles\u2019 Creed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On February 16th, I began a new Sunday morning Bible class series on the Apostles&#8217; Creed. Over the next eleven weeks, I will post my notes.<\/p>\n<p>The earliest known story about the origin of the Apostles\u2019 Creed says, \u201cAs 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.\u201d 5<sup>th<\/sup> century, Rufinus of Aquileia.<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>There are possible remnants of creeds and hymns in the Bible. Let us give careful attention to the actual substance of \u201cthe faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints\u201d Jude 1:3. For example, \u201cHe was revealed in flesh, vindicated in spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among Gentiles, believed in throughout the world, taken up in glory\u201d (1 Tim 3:16; and other hymns in the Pastorals; hallmark texts are found throughout the NT e.g., Phil. 2:6\u201311.). See also 1 Cor. 15:1\u20133 concise statement of the Gospel.<\/p>\n<p><em>Credo: <\/em>\u201cis derived from <em>cor, <\/em>heart, and <em>do, dare, <\/em>to give; its meaning was to swear loyalty or pledge allegiance.<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Creeds developed usually out of a certain context. Not so with the Apostle\u2019s Creed which is more of a narrative statement of belief. The common understanding of its origin connects it with baptism.<\/p>\n<p>Is what follows a reasonable and coherent outlook on reality? The \u201cinternal coherence\u201d of the world of Christian beliefs and practices and the \u201cexternal coherence\u201d to the wider set of beliefs we and our fellow citizens share. And then the implications of these beliefs are what?<a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>In America, what are the pledges we make?\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cIn God we trust.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Pledge of Allegiance<\/li>\n<li>Pledges of marriage<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Hippolytus, <em>Apostolic Tradition<\/em>, notes how a person is asked three questions about God, Son, and Holy Spirit. The response is, \u201cI believe.\u201d (Three-fold baptism).\u00a0 A <em>credo<\/em> was given at the beginning of my journey. \u201cGod promises to be faithful even when children of God are faithless.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn4\" name=\"_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a><\/li>\n<li>In Churches of Christ, what were you asked to confess at your baptism?\n<ul>\n<li>Jesus is the Son of God<\/li>\n<li>Jesus is Lord<\/li>\n<li>Or more often simply \u201cyes\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>I believe <\/em><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cI\u201d while personal is confessed in community.\n<ul>\n<li>In the earliest tradition, \u201cI\u201d 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.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cI, but not I, but Christ in me.\u201d 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. \u201cI no longer live, but Christ lives in me.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Eph 1:3\u201314 as a gift bestowed by the Benefactor.<\/li>\n<li>At baptism, I am given a new identity, a new name: &#8216;Child of God.&#8217; I am baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>\u201cBelieve\u201d \u2014<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<ul>\n<li>Intellectual assent (Newman\u2019s \u201cnotional assent\u201d) and enacted faith (Newman\u2019s \u201creal assent\u201d) are related but quite different.<a href=\"#_ftn5\" name=\"_ftnref5\">[5]<\/a> \u201cReal assent\u201d is an engaged, committed, trusting disposition of the whole person. Our profession when we say the Apostles\u2019 Creed is enacted faith. Enacted faith on the part of God\u2019s people, is a response to God\u2019s presence, by participating in God\u2019s blessing of the world.<a href=\"#_ftn6\" name=\"_ftnref6\">[6]<\/a><\/li>\n<li>\u201cI believe\u201d is both informative and performative. When combined with baptism, it is sacramental. \u201cI believe\u201d is a pledge, promise, commitment, a confession. The <em>credo<\/em> is a promise more than a set of systematic statements of belief.\n<ul>\n<li>Informative in that it provides the basic substance of the faith. \u201cI believe in\u2026\u201d 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.<\/li>\n<li>Performative in that it does something. (Marriage, Blessing, \u201cI sentence you.\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re Fired\u201d).\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cI believe that \u2026\u201d Good, even the demons believe.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cI believe in \u2026\u201d forms us and shapes us.<\/li>\n<li>And as a symbol in front of others. It is said in community. We do not perjure ourselves. And we will not recant.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Rom 10:9: \u201cIf 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.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Systematics: Consider what is missing in the creed. Not just elements of God\u2019s story (Abraham, Moses\/Law, David, life of Jesus, discipleship, prayer, love) but also key doctrines (e.g., covenant).<\/li>\n<li>So not a loyalty oath to a set of beliefs but to the triune God. The <em>credo<\/em> is a master image for me to see.<a href=\"#_ftn7\" name=\"_ftnref7\">[7]<\/a><\/li>\n<li>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\u2019s 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&#8217;s Son.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>AND \u201cI believe\u201d is an acknowledgment of the faithfulness of God.<a href=\"#_ftn8\" name=\"_ftnref8\">[8]<\/a> For even when I am faithless, I believe in God the Father, I believe in the Son, and I believe in the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> Geoffrey Wainwright, \u201cForward,\u201d ix, in Van Harn, <em>Exploring &amp; Proclaiming the Apostles\u2019 Creed<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> Harned, <em>Creed and Personal Identity<\/em>, 16.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> Hart, <em>Confessing and Believing, <\/em>xiv.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref4\" name=\"_ftn4\">[4]<\/a> Harned, <em>Creed and Personal Identity, <\/em>19.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref5\" name=\"_ftn5\">[5]<\/a> John Henry Newman, <em>An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent <\/em>(London: Burns, Oates, &amp; Co., 1870).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref6\" name=\"_ftn6\">[6]<\/a> What is \u201cenacted faith\u201d? It begins with Peirce\u2019s connection between \u201cbelief\u201d and \u201chabit\u201d rooted in Alexander Bain\u2019s definition of belief, \u201cthat upon which a [person] is prepared to act.\u201d See Bain, <em>The Emotions and the Will<\/em>, 505. Dallas Willard, <em>Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ <\/em>(Colorado Springs: NAV, 2002), xxx similarly states, \u201cBelief is when your whole being is set to act as if something is so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref7\" name=\"_ftn7\">[7]<\/a> Harned, <em>Creed and Personal Identity, <\/em>23.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref8\" name=\"_ftn8\">[8]<\/a> Harned, <em>Creed and Personal Identity, <\/em>24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On February 16th, I began a new Sunday morning Bible class series on the Apostles&#8217; Creed. Over the next eleven<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3578,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97015,757],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-class-teaching","category-reflections","comments-off"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Apostles\u2019 Creed - HomileticalSensings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/sensingt\/2025\/02\/apostles-creed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Apostles\u2019 Creed - HomileticalSensings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On February 16th, I began a new Sunday morning Bible class series on the Apostles&#8217; Creed. 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