Upon These Creeds

by Ed Decker, President of Saints Alive

Creeds have played an immense part in the support system of the very lifeblood of
Christianity! Those of us who live in the marvelous latter-days era cannot
comprehend their vital role in the establishment and defense of Christian
Orthodoxy.

With Bibles of every size and translation neatly tucked away in virtually every
home, church pew, library, hospital, airplane and hotel room, it would appear that
we have more Bibles than people!

For those of us who don't like reading, we even have 24-hour Christian television
and radio networks, and audio cassettes of every kind and style.

A DIFFERENT WORLD
Try to imagine a very different world, the one in which the early Church survived,
where the Bible was guarded in sacred trust and a world in which few believers
were even able to read.

This was the world in which the Christian often gave up his very life for a faith
in the person of Jesus Christ. Suddenly, what you believed and why you believed it
became of vital importance. The exact context of Jesus' words were understood when
he said, "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also
confess before the angels of God!"(Luke 12:8).

In trying to understand the historicity of the Christian Creeds, we need to

understand that many of the central doctrines of the Christian faith did not
become Explicitly defined until heretical teachings began to erode the Implicit
simplicity of the faith.

Yet, from the very first statements of faith by the first Christians to the
confession of the simple Doxology today, we see a uniformity of purpose and
doctrine which we must define as Christian Orthodoxy. To step outside the general
theology of these confessions must be viewed as acts of Heresy.

A SIMPLE VIEW
In a simple view, the Bible is the Word of God to man. The Creed is man's answer
to God. The Bible is to be believed and obeyed. The Creed is to be professed and
taught. Actually, the First Creed dealt with the fundamental Old Testament
doctrine of monotheism. The Israelite Creed was distinctly the doctrine of a One
and Only One God. These are the beginning words of the Shema, which you still hear
today at the Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem. "Hear O Israel, Jehovah our
Elohim, Jehovah is One . . ." (Deut. 6:4)

THE CONFESSION OF NATHANAEL

"Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art
the King of Israel (The Messiah)." (John 1:49)

CONFESSION OF PETER
"And Simon Peter, answering, said, 'Thou art the Christ (Messiah), The Son of the
living God.' " (Matt 16:16)

CONFESSION OF THOMAS
"Thomas answered and said unto him, 'My Lord and my God!' " (John 20:28)

THE FIRST TRINITARIAN CREED: THE BAPTISMAL FORMULA

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." (Matt 28:19)

CONFESSION OF PAUL
"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he
rose again the third day according to the scriptures . . ." (I Cor 15:1-5)

CONFESSION OF IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH, AD 107

"Be deaf, therefore, when any would speak to you apart from (at variance with)
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was descended from the family of David, born of
Mary, who was truly born both of God and of the Virgin … truly took a body; for
the Word became flesh and dwelt among us without sin, ate and drank truly, truly
suffered persecution under Pontius Pilate, was truly, and not in appearance,
crucified and died, who was truly raised from the dead, and rose after three days,
his Father raising him up, and after having spent forty days with the Apostles,
was received up to the Father, and sits on his right hand, waiting till his
enemies are put under his feet."

CONFESSION OF IRENAEUS, AD 180

"The Church, though scattered through the whole world to the ends of the earth,
has received from the Apostles and their disciples the faith in ONE GOD, THE
FATHER ALMIGHTY, who made the heavens and the earth, and the seas, and all that in
them is; and in ONE JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD, who became flesh for our
salvation; and in the HOLY GHOST, who through the prophets preached the
dispensations and the Advent, and his birth of the Virgin, and the passion, and
the resurrection from the dead, and the bodily assumption into heaven of the
beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and his appearing from heaven in the glory of the
Father, to comprehend all things under one head, and to raise up all flesh of all
mankind, that, according to the pleasure of the Father invisible, every knee of
those that are in heaven and on the earth and under the earth should bow before
Christ Jesus, our Lord and God and Saviour and King, and that every tongue should
confess to him, and that he may execute righteous judgment over all: sending into
eternal fire the spiritual powers of wickedness, and the angels who transgressed
and apostatized, and the godless and unrighteous and lawless and blasphemous among
men, and granting life and immortality and eternal glory to the righteous and
holy, who have both kept the commandments and continued in his love, some from the
beginning, some after their conversion."

He later added, "The Church, having received this preaching and this faith, as
said before, though scattered throughout the whole world, zealously preserves it
as one household . . . and unanimously preaches and teaches the same, and hands it
down as by one mouth; for although there are different dialects in the world, the
power of the tradition is one and the same."

CONFESSION OF TERTULLIAN, AD 200

The Rule of Faith is altogether one, sole, immovable, and irreformable -- namely,
to believe in ONE GOD ALMIGHTY, the Maker of the world; and his SON, JESUS CHRIST,
born of the Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, on the third day raised
again from the dead, received in the heavens, sitting now at the right hand of the
Father, coming to judge the quick and the dead, also through the resurrection of
the flesh."

THE APOSTLES CREED, AD 340

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 Christian Church; the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.
Amen.

THE NICENE CREED, AD 381

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth and of all
things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father
before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, Begotten, not
made, being of one substance with the Father, By whom all things were made;

Who for us men and our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the
Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man; and was crucified also for us
under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again
according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right
hand of the Father; And He shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and
the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life, Who proceedeth from
the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and
glorified, who spake by the prophets. And I believe one holy Christian and
Apostolic Church. I acknowledge one Baptism unto the remission of sins, And I look
for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

A VOICE OF WARNING
"That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with
every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby
they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him
in all things, which is the head, even Christ." (Ephesians 4:14-15)

"For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great
signs and wonders; inasmuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very
elect, Behold, I have told you before.

Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth:
behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not." (Matt 24:24-26)

JUST IN CASE
Just in case a latter-day prophet has come to you and said that God has told him
all these creeds were abominations to Him (filthy in his eyes), and all those who
profess them are corrupt, take a real hard look at this prophet.

I tell you that the gospel of Jesus Christ has not left the earth since it "was
once and for all delivered." It never did! It is the very same today as it was the
day Christ died for your sins and mine . . . on the Cross of Calvary, where He
became our sin offering and put the gospel He preached into reality. It's there
for you today, just as it was that day He paid the price. Will you take action
today in response to His gift? (Ed Decker)