While there is no command in the Bible to recite creeds, the earliest church—that of the New Testament—speaks often of commonly held theological truths by a variety of different names: “the gospel” (Rom. 1:1; 1:16; Gal. 1:6), “the/our confession” (Heb. 3:1; 4:14; 10:23), “the tradition” (2 Thess. 3:6), “the faith” (Acts 6:7; Col. 2:7; Jude 3), “the testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 1:2; 12:17; 19:10), and “the teaching” or “doctrine” (1 Tim. 4:16; Heb. 6:1). And texts such as Matthew 28:18–20 and Ephesians 4:11–16 (printed below) imply the imperative of Christian leaders disciplining through a recognizable set and summary of doctrine:
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:18–20)
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Eph. 4:11–16)
Moreover, the New Testament does offer imperatives to confess (homologein). We are to confess Jesus before others (Matt. 10:32)—to confess that he is “Lord” (Rom. 10:9–10) and God’s Son who has “come in the flesh” (1 John 2:23; 4:2–3; 4:15; 2 John 7). This is our corporate “confession” (see 2 Cor. 9:13; Heb. 3:1; 4:14), one that bears witness to our basic beliefs (John 18:37; 19:35; Acts 2:40; 8:25; 1 Cor. 15:15; Rev. 22:18).
Beyond these imperatives, there are certainly biblical examples of compressed creedal expressions in the Word’s doctrine. Two creedal formations from the Old Testament are the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) and the Shema (Deut. 6:4–5; cf. Matt. 22:34–40). For example, the two short verses of the Shema (“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might”) make at least three significant theological points.
First, the Shema is a call for communal and not simply individual commitment. Second, in the context of surrounding polytheistic cultures, it is exclusive. “The Lord” (the proper name of Israel’s God, Yahweh) is both the “one” God and the only God to whom Israel owes allegiance. Finally, it is a personal commitment: Israelites are to “love” the Lord God with their whole heart, whole soul, and whole might. In other words, the Shema both defines the One to whom loyalty is given and defines Israel among the nations by its unique loyalty to this deity.[1]
Based on Old Testament creedal formulas like the Shema, the apostle Paul likewise formulated a number of mini-creeds (some based on the Shema itself—e.g., Rom. 3:29–30; 1 Cor. 8:4–6) to preserve and protect orthodoxy and to promote the “one faith” (Eph. 4:5) in Jesus as “Lord of all” (Acts 10:36). Below are his apostolic “creeds”:
“. . . the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations” (Rom. 1:1–5).
“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” (Rom. 10:9).
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles” (1 Cor. 15:3–7).
“[Jesus], though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and be- stowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:6–11).
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:15–20).
Finally, “one of the most extensive and ‘creedlike’” statements comes from Paul’s first epistle to Timothy, where, in 1:5 and 3:16, Paul “incorporates the Shema and then expands it into a Christian rule of faith.”[2] As Jaroslav Pelikan divides (and translates) the texts:
There is one God;
there is also one mediator between God and humankind;
Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all. He [or: God] was revealed in flesh, vindicated in spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among Gentiles,
believed in throughout the world, taken up in glory.[3]
When we consider what follows in 2 Timothy—namely, Paul’s command to “follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 1:13)—we can reasonably assume what Paul has in mind.
These miniature apostolic creeds are “like biblically sown seeds in the rich soil of the early church—seeds that grew into the more-advanced creedal formulations of the church in subsequent centuries,”[4] formulations such as the earliest Christian creeds (i.e., the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed) and the later Protestant confessional standards (the Anglican Articles and Homilies; the Lutheran Book of Concord; the Three Forms of Unity; the Westminster Standards; and the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith).
While there is no command in the Bible to recite creeds, it might be wise to follow the pattern of the earliest church. So, stand up this Sunday and, with your brothers and sisters, confess the foundations of your faith!
This resource is part of the series Made Like Him: Reflections on Formation and Gathered Worship. Click Here to explore more resources from this series.
Notes:
1. Luke Timothy Johnson, The Creed: What Christians Believe and Why It Matters (New York: Doubleday, 2003),
2. Jaroslav Pelikan, Credo: Historical and Theological Guide to Creeds and Confessions of Faith in the Chris- tian Tradition (New Haven, CT: Yale, 2003), 133.
3. Ibid.
4. Parsons, Why Do We Have Creeds? 28.
Adapted from The Pastor's Book, Edited by R. Kent Hughes and Douglas Sean O'Donnell © 2015, Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.
Douglas Sean O’Donnell is the Senior Vice President of Bible Publishing at Crossway. He previously served as the Pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Elgin, IL. as a senior lecturer in Biblical Studies and Practical Theology at Queensland Theological College in Brisbane, Australia. He has authored, edited, and contributed to a number of books, including two children’s books, six commentaries on the Bible, and The Pastor’s Book with R. Kent Hughes. Doug holds a PhD from the University of Aberdeen and is a member of the St. John Fellowship of the Center for Pastor Theologians.
