Creeds Class

Creeds

What do we Mean When We Say Creed?


✤ Not our Creed:


✤ Not our Creed: Man Made Rules Elevated over the Bible

What A Creed is:

What A Creed is:

✤ A creed is a statement of belief

What A Creed is:


✤ A creed is simply the baseline theology of the whole of scripture put into memorizable form

What A Creed is:


✤ A creed is simply the baseline theology of the whole of scripture put into memorizable form

✤ A creed is not all we believe but we in the case of the Nicene and Apostles Creed we can not believe less

Why We Need Creeds

Why We Need Creeds✤ The Creed was a public statement of faith, a standardized way in which

new people could confess their faith in Jesus Christ.



✤ The Creed anchored Christian faith to a tradition, to make it difficult for people or churches to be led astray by strange doctrines.




✤ The Creed was a preaching and teaching tool, giving an outline for further discipleship.





✤ The Creed was memorized through frequent repetition, which helped the many believers who could not read.






✤ The Creed provided a doctrinal basis for different churches to accept one another, and to reject those who did not accept the basic truths.






✤ The Creed provided a doctrinal basis for different churches to accept one another, and to reject those who did not accept the basic truths.

✤ They protect us

On Protection from Danger


✤ "The rest of us like to look into the Bible and see if there is grounds for jumping, and then jump if it seems a good idea."



- Jehovah's Witness



- Jehovah's Witness

✤ I have come that they might have life and that they might have it abundantly.



- Jehovah's Witness

✤ I have come that they might have life and that they might have it abundantly.

- John Shelby Spong, Speaking of Jesus

✤ If the resurrection of Jesus cannot be believed except by assenting to the fantastic descriptions included in the Gospels, then Christianity is doomed. For that view of resurrection is not believable, and if that is all there is, then Christianity, which depends upon the truth and authenticity of Jesus' resurrection, also is not believable.

✤ If the resurrection of Jesus cannot be believed except by assenting to the fantastic descriptions included in the Gospels, then Christianity is doomed. For that view of resurrection is not believable, and if that is all there is, then Christianity, which depends upon the truth and authenticity of Jesus' resurrection, also is not believable.

- John Shelby Spong

The Apostles Creed

The Apostles Creed

✤ Earliest forms referred to in around 200 AD by Iranaenus . Presented not as something new but as something that the church had been using for a long time.

The Apostles Creed


✤ Iranaenus a disciple of student of Polycarp who was a student of the apostle John.

The Apostles Creed



✤ A Latin version of the creed is found in 220 in the writings of Tertullian in North Africa

The Apostles Creed




✤ Standard in Gaul by 650

The Apostles Creed




✤ Standard in Gaul by 650

✤ Our Creed is identical to the 750 version

TextI believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth;I believe in Jesus Christ, his only 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. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

✤ I believe in God,


✤ the Father almighty,


✤ the Father almighty,

✤ creator of heaven and earth;

✤ I believe in Jesus Christ,


✤ his only Son, our Lord.



✤ He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit



✤ He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit

✤ born of the Virgin Mary.

✤ He suffered under Pontius Pilate


✤ was crucified, died, and was buried.



✤ On the third day he rose again.




✤ He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of Father.





✤ He will come again to judge the living and the dead.





✤ He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

✤ I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church

✤ I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints

✤ I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints

✤ the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Nicene Creed

Nicene Creed

✤ Originates from 321 at the First Counsel of Nicea

Nicene Creed


✤ Updated at 381 at the Second Ecumenical counsel

Nicene Creed


✤ Updated at 381 at the Second Ecumenical counsel

✤ Response to Arianism

Arianism

Arianism

✤ From the teaching of Arius a leader in the church from Alexandria, Egypt (ca. AD 250–336)

Arianism


✤ The Arian concept of Christ is that the Son of God did not always exist, but was created by - and is therefore distinct from and inferior to - God the Father.

Arianism


✤ The Arian concept of Christ is that the Son of God did not always exist, but was created by - and is therefore distinct from and inferior to - God the Father.

✤ The conflict between Arianism and Trinitarian beliefs was the first major doctrinal confrontation in the Church after the legalization of Christianity by the Roman Emperor Constantine I.

The Arian view of God:


✤ God the Father ("unbegotten"), always existing, was separate from the lesser Jesus Christ ("only-begotten"), born before time began and creator of the world. The Father, working through the Son, created the Holy Spirit, who was subservient to the Son as the Son was to the Father. The Father was seen as "the only true God".


✤ God the Father ("unbegotten"), always existing, was separate from the lesser Jesus Christ ("only-begotten"), born before time began and creator of the world. The Father, working through the Son, created the Holy Spirit, who was subservient to the Son as the Son was to the Father. The Father was seen as "the only true God".

✤ We are persecuted, because we say that the Son has a beginning, but that God is without beginning.

Homoousios/Consubstantiality


✤ Of One Substance, having the same nature and attributes.



✤ We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father...




✤ Christ is consubstantial with God as to his divinity





✤ For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.





✤ For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.

✤ Christ is consubstantial with us as to his Humanity

What the Arian Controversy Teaches Us


✤ The early church sought to deal with “false beliefs.”



✤ The Church has one set of beliefs and asserts these to be true to the exclusion of other beliefs.




✤ The disputes were open.




✤ The disputes were open.

✤ In the modern/postmodern rush to “tolerance” we have become intolerant of 2000 years of church history, we are also practicing chronological snobbery

Mission: Are the Creeds Flawed?


✤ They were concerned with what message would be spread and most likely would not have comprehended that the church would not be on Mission



✤ We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.




✤ Ed Stetzer suggests that “apostolic” in the original sense means “sent”.




✤ Ed Stetzer suggests that “apostolic” in the original sense means “sent”.

✤ If this is correct then the original meaning would be “We believe in one united and sent church.”

Creeds Class

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