#13: Introduction to Creeds and Confessions

Intro:

Romans 10:9: “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” [ESV]

Today - we’re finally getting to our introduction on creeds and confession.  Should we have done this way back in the beginning?  Probably.  But we didn’t - so here we go

Key points:

• Creeds, confession, and catechisms.
• Submissive to Scripture
• But what about “No creed but the Bible?”
• Biblical examples of creeds in the early church
• And more!

Scripture quoted:

• Romans 10:9
• Hebrews 3:1
• 2 Timothy 1:13
• Deuteronomy 6:4-5
• Ephesians 4:4-6
• 1 Timothy 3:16

More sources / notes:

• Tony Costa, Early Christian Creeds & Hymn
• JND Kelly, Early Christian Creeds (this title is now out of print and may be difficult to find at a reasonable price)
• Chad Van Dixhoorn, Creeds, Confessions, & Catechisms
• Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Transcript

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 [00:00:00] Romans 10:9, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

Today, we're finally getting to the introduction on creeds and confessions. Should we have done this back in the beginning?

Probably, but we didn't, so here we go.

Welcome to 3onefive, where we're talking apologetics, biblical studies, worldview. Just one point, 15 minutes or less. I'm Jones Oliver

First, let's start with some definitions. What's a creed? The English word creed comes from the Latin word

Christians consider these creeds as short, compact summaries of the Christian faith. For example, the Apostles' Creed in the early Church, it was thought to be used for both general instruction, but also to be recited at one's baptism.

Creeds like the Apostles' Creed are far from exhaustive, but they do [00:01:00] succinctly capture the core elements of the Christian faith

In addition to the Apostles' Creed, you may have also heard the Nicene Creed, the Chalcedonian Creed, and the Athanasian Creed So after creed, what's a confession?

Confessions are typically much longer and more detailed than creeds, but they're still crisp and concise They are frequently used to distinguish between denominations.

For example, Lutheran, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists.

Presbyterians tend to use the Westminster Standard, But Reformed Baptists will often use the London Confession of Faith from 1689.

Creeds, as we mentioned, are brief and intended for general instruction. Confessions, on the other hand, are more elaborate with greater theological depth

and are often used as a standard for a church's doctrine

and now with that declared baseline, the confession can now be used to help correct teaching errors and to address heresy

Some confessions that you may have heard include the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dort, and the Westminster Standards

And what about catechisms? They have parallel content to a confession, but [00:02:00] they are often set in a question and answer format to help train up and teach youth and those new to the Christian faith. For example, the Heidelberg Catechism and the shorter and longer Westminster Catechisms.

But when we're talking about creeds, confessions, and catechisms, we should clarify. Confessions and creeds themselves are not authoritative.

They're simply concise summaries of faith and theology that point to the final authority of God's Word They are subordinate to the Bible. Scripture, as they say, is the rule that rules, while creeds and confessions are rules that are ruled. So in other words, those points in a creed or confession should have a direct line of sight back to the Bible

Now creeds, catechisms, confessions, when teaching the basics of the Christian faith, these work together.

For example, something like the Apostles' Creed can help a new Christian identify key points of the faith Over time, exposure to a catechism, such as the Heidelberg Catechism, will help a believer see that there's more depth and richness to the gospel.

And then a confession like the Westminster Confession of Faith, especially with the scripture [00:03:00] references, will help further organize and galvanize doctrine, and help set a framework for biblical studies

as for the importance of written creeds and confessions, these creeds and confessions that we teach and catechize from have stood the test of time. They've endured for generations.

Written creeds and confessions keep each generation of believers from having to reformulate doctrine.

So without that baseline, that written record, we have to ask the next question: What prevents a shift in doctrine over time? And the church with no confession or with only a minimal doctrinal statement, I would argue they're at a disadvantage In other words, how do they show people a vision of what a mature Christian's theology should look like?

The author of Hebrews, though he's lamenting those who have become dull of hearing, points out that there is a difference between new faith and mature faith. Simple teaching that he likens to milk and that teaching he equates to meat

But what about those that simply claim no creed but the Bible? Now, I do have a few friends that land in this [00:04:00] camp. But why do some churches and denominations land here? Now, there are probably more reasons than I have here, but here's a place to start the conversation.

First, creeds and confessions are often seen as old and dusty, something only practiced by dead orthodox churches, that they're cold and mindless. In other words, I think a lot of churches are trying not to be seen as old and dusty, something that's more hip and modern. And in that process, creeds and confessions can get the boot

To this, I ask the question: How is the church maintaining doctrinal fidelity from generation to generation or even pastor to pastor? When would somebody know if somebody has gone too far, and what baseline can someone point to to defend that claim?

Second point, creeds and confessions are often seen as man-made attempts to supersede biblical authority

Now, what's behind this concern? I'd argue that there is likely a profound desire to protect the authority of scripture here. I think those with this concern rightly fear the impact of [00:05:00] unbiblical traditions or ideas in the church

But with that, I might counter that there have always been misuses of the Bible, but those misuses of truth should not stop us from the right use of truth.

As we've already mentioned, creeds and confessions should always be subordinate to the authority of the Bible.

The authority of a creed or confession resides in its faithfulness to articulating biblical truths. As Sinclair Ferguson is quoted as saying, "It makes all the difference in the world whether we believe something because we read it in Berkhof or whether we believe something because we read it in Romans."

And maybe that Berkhof is saying the same thing, but the reason we ought to believe Berkhof is because it was first found in Romans

Third point, in our day, there's a growing resistance against confessions. This is probably best summed up in the idea that everyone can interpret scripture for themselves, that each person has the ability to determine what a particular passage is saying to them And it's easy to see how creedal statements run straight into that idea.

That Reformational doctrine of sola Scriptura, that did not mean that each individual [00:06:00] person can interpret the Bible for himself or herself

Martin Luther when asked about that is quoted as saying, "For that would mean that each person would go to hell in his own way."

The author of Judges, I think, also gives us a stern warning on this approach when he writes, "Everyone did what was right in their own eyes."

Now, outside of those three points, I would suggest that no creed but the Bible also has some additional challenges. As we all know, many groups claim to have the right view of the Bible, including Baptists, Episcopalians, Catholics, Methodists, Mennonites, Presbyterians, Jehovah Witnesses, Pentecostals, Unitarians, Mormons.

The list goes on. Turns out all those groups don't always agree on what the Bible teaches, and sometimes those differences are significant.

For example, are there still apostles today? What about speaking in tongues? Prophecy? Was Jesus an archangel?

Was Satan Jesus' brother? Do all religions lead to heaven? Does hell exist? [00:07:00] Is it really just all about love? What about purgatory? Infant versus believer's baptism. Views on the qualifications for pastors, elders, and deacons. Is church discipline something to be practiced?

In other words, no creep of the Bible is no defense against error, heresy, or simply differences of biblical understanding, as nearly every denomination, sect, group, and cult for the last two thousand years has claimed the Bible for support creeds and confessions can be seen as guardrails. Or if you like, something like those safety bumpers in bowling alleys.

Now, thankfully, we have biblical support that there were creeds, pithy, compact confessions of faith and doctrine within the early church. We have examples from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. For example, that formula, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love.

It's a recurring confession of the attributes of God in the Old Testament. But probably the most recognizable creed in the Old Testament would be the Shema, found in [00:08:00] Deuteronomy six, verses four and five. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength."

In the New Testament, Jesus cites the Shema as the fundamental tenet of Jewish faith And we also find the Shema referenced that God is one in the writings of both Paul and James

As we look to the writers of the New Testament, there are a few creeds that point to Christ and His work

but today I'll share two.

Ephesians 4:4-6. There is one body and one spirit, just as you are called to that one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

And then First Timothy three sixteen. the mystery of godliness: He was manifest in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

 [00:09:00] And we'll close with just a few more points on creeds. Creeds define truth, and they embrace the fact that God's truth can be known, believed, confessed, and acted upon

creeds and confessions are safeguards against heresy and error. Now, we've talked a little bit about this already, they serve as a structure for a biblical defense. These outlines of essential doctrine create a baseline for unity. And as we mentioned before, they distinguish true Christianity from cults and heresy, and they also outline essential doctrines on God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit

If we look briefly at three creeds and confessions back in history, go back to the Council of Nicaea, three twenty-five AD. From that council, we get the Nicene Creed, and this council was called together to form a response against those heresies that denied the deity of Christ, his equality with God the Father, and his being of one essence with the Father.

In four fifty-one, the Council of Chalcedon, which produced the Creed of Chalcedon, This council was called to [00:10:00] address the heresies that denied the Triune Godhead, the virgin birth, and Jesus' humanity and deity

And then there's the Athanasian Creed. Though the Athanasian Creed bears his name, most scholars now believe that the Athanasian Creed was not written by Athanasius. That said, among the heresies addressed here, they include tri-theism that claims that there are three gods, not one. And once again, we see defenses for Jesus' humanity and deity, the virgin birth, and the triune Godhead

And many think that the Athanasian Creed is also the first of the creeds to explicitly address that final judgment is either everlasting life for the saved or everlasting condemnation for the lost

In practice, these creeds and confessions keep the main point the main point, including God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, salvation, and the Trinity

And finally, creeds are historical. They connect us to the saints that have gone before us, to those saints that have finished the race,

to these confessions, what we teach is [00:11:00] nothing new, and it ought not be. This stuff doesn't change.

God's truth doesn't change. Our teaching, it ought not change. Christianity is rooted in history. Christianity is rooted in real events that actually happen in space and time. And creeds and confessions were written by saints in space and time struggling with very similar challenges, both how to train new believers and how to battle error and heresy

So I just wanna close with this final thought. As one writer put it, "If you wanna reject the Nicene Creed, you're free to do so, but at least try to replace it with something that will be just as effective for so many people for the next fifteen hundred years."

Hey, thanks for listening. Check out the show notes for more information.

Till next time