Why Christians Still Need the Apostles’ Creed
The address from Mike Pence at the 2018 Southern Baptist Convention ignited controversy, and many Southern Baptist leaders felt as though it was out of place. One pastor said, “So far… the Pledge of allegiance, National Anthem, military service, and God Bless America. Maybe we can say the Apostles’ Creed next time?”[1]
What does it say that many Southern Baptists felt more urgency to recite political creeds than a creed that has united Christians for the last two millennia? Perhaps, it reveals the American church’s unity under less essential things. This is precisely why it is important for churches to continue to recite the foundational truths that have been delivered to them generation after generation in the Apostles’ Creed.
How did the Apostles’ Creed become the standard of united orthodoxy across space and time for the Church? For early Christians, affirming this creed was not a light matter. It was a baptismal formula learned through recitation and memorization at the risk of losing one’s life.[2] Prior to the times of Cyril, “there was an evident reason for memorizing the creed: persecution, torture, imprisonment, including the seizure of the sacred books by authorities, and the lethal prosecution of those who followed them. Thus, a tight summary of scripture had to be memorized before baptism.”[3]The Creed served as a “valuable pedagogical goal in the ancient world, preparing new converts for baptism and ensuring they were committing their lives to the right gospel.”[4] Irenaeus regarded it as the “canon of truth which he received in his baptism.”[5] Further, one could not say “credo” without a willingness to suffer and die for these truths.[6]
The allegiance to these beliefs explains why Christians were heavily persecuted. Other religions were syncretistic, thus affirming that they were not the only truth and could be affirmed with other truths. In other words, a person could mix their religions.[7] By contrast, the Creed proclaims absolute truths rooted in Scripture and history. Christians’ allegiance to these truths seemed “highly arrogant and dangerously anti-social.”[8] Especially in their commitment to refer only to Jesus as “Lord,” and not the emperor. Persecution worsened as Trajan (AD 98–117) gave the first government pronouncement about how Christians were to be dealt with.[9] “If anyone accused of being a Christian could prove that he was not, by worshipping the Pagan gods, the magistrates must acquit him. But anyone found guilty of being a Christian must be put to death. This became the normal policy for the next 200 years.”[10]
Later creeds like the Nicene Creed (325), the Constantinopolitan Creed (351), and the Athanasian Creed (c. 500) followed the trinitarian pattern found in the Apostles’ Creed.[11] It has often served as the blueprint for later confessions of faith like the Helvetic Confession and catechisms like the Westminster Catechism, The Heidelberg Catechism, and Luther’s small catechism. The Heidelberg asks and answers, “Q: What, then, must a Christian believe? A: All that is promised is in the gospel, a summary of which is taught us in the articles of the Apostles’ Creed, our universally acknowledged confession of faith.”[12] The Thirty-nine articles state that the “three creeds, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed, and that which is called the Apostles’ Creed, ought thoroughly to be received and believed; for they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy scripture (Article VIII).”[13] Eighteenth century Baptist minister John Gill mentioned this very rule of faith. He noted that the Creed can serve as a teaching tool to strengthen ones’ faith, help Christians express their faith in an articulate manner, and help Christians display a spirit of unity with one another.[14]
Could it be that in all our efforts to educate the Church with endless curriculum, we have neglected the central tenants of Christian orthodoxy? I recall a recent small group of Christians meeting at my house. I put the Apostles’ Creed up on my television screen and we read it together. Lively discussion began about the Trinity which many stated they had not thought about. One newer Christian asked, “Who is Pilate?” which opened up an opportunity for a discussion on the accurate historicity of Jesus’ birth, life, sufferings, death, resurrection, burial, and ascension. Christians still need this creed because despite the innumerable amount of Christian curriculum, many still cannot articulate the main points of their faith summarized in this simple creed.
[1] https://twitter.com/jt_english/status/1006565816744251393
[2] Thomas Oden, Classic Christianity: A Sysematic Theology (New York: HarperOne, 1992), 8.
[3] Ibid, p. 10.
[4] Rhyne R. Putman, “Baptists, Sola Scriptura, and the Place of the Christian Tradition,” in Baptists and the Christian Tradition: Towards an Evangelical Baptist Catholicity, ed. Matthew Y. Emerson, Christopher W. Morgan, R. Lucas Stamps (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2020), 27–54.
[5] Oden, 848.
[6] Ibid, p. 8.
[7] Nick Needham, 2000 Years of Christ’s Power, vol. 1 (London: Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 2004), 84.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid, 86.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Oden, 9.
[12] Heidelberg Catechism, Question 22.
[13] The Book of Common Prayer (Huntington Beach: Anglican Liturgy Press, 2019), 775.
[14] David Mark Rethel, “A Case Study in Baptist Catholicity: The Scriptures and the Tradition in the Theology of Gill,” Baptist Quarterly, 49, no. 3 (2018): 111, doi:10.1080/0005576x.2017.1343916.
