The Perennial Importance of Creeds for Christian Faith – Part 1

In the rapidly changing world of the early twenty-first century – what has been called “liquid modernity” – maintaining Christian integrity is difficult for many people. The revivalism of nineteenth century Protestantism, which forms the bedrock of American Evangelicalism, historically eschewed creeds, preferring instead to rely simply on the Bible, or even strictly on the New Testament. Defending one’s faith today or that of the Christian community to which one belongs against myriad interpretations of the Bible, skepticisms, or denials can be overwhelming. Many Evangelical churches today maintain a “What We Believe” page on their websites, thus showing the need for a clear summation of faith.

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals presented its first annual Prince Georges Conference on Reformed Theology at Greenbelt Baptist Church on September 23-24. Speakers discussed the need for creeds, the first and second Nicene Creeds, and the Chalcedonian formula of Christ’s full deity and humanity.

J.V. Fesko, Professor of Systematic and Reformed Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi began by discussing the need for creeds. He said that early nineteenth century reform leader Alexander Campbell “uttered the famous statement ‘no creed but the Bible.’” This became a “mantra” for American Evangelicalism and was pervasive in the revivalism of the nineteenth century. It was “not only a mantra, but a creed, however short that…may be.” It became in fact “a battle cry” for much of American Evangelicalism.

Congregationalists and Presbyterians, who in fact did subscribe to the ancient creeds, constituted 39% of the American population early in the nineteenth century, but “some 75 years later, their numbers fell to some 15% of the American population.” This decline was due to the nature of the new nation, expanding as it was to the west. The lack of a physical environment with old monuments and buildings which speak of the Christian past inclined people to look only to the universally recognized authority among Christians, namely the Bible, and then to the preachers, perhaps itinerate preachers, proclaiming the Bible’s message of salvation. These preachers often were not trained at a seminary, but simply understood the basic gospel shared by Protestant Christians.

A creed may be defined as “human statements of Biblical truths.” Fesko asked what “the Bible itself has to say about creeds and confessions.” Is a “do it yourself” Christianity plausible from the standpoint of the writers of the Bible? He cited short creeds used in the Bible, which give very brief but crucial statements of doctrines expounded in the Bible, as evidence of the propriety of creeds according to Scripture. But beyond this, and especially in the highly individualistic world of the twenty-first century, Fesko believes that creeds are “necessary for the church.”

Creeds in the Bible

A good definition of tradition is “something that’s handed down.” It comes from the Latin word “trado,” or “to hand over.” Such a passage as Exodus chapter 13, which conveys salvation events concerning the deliverance of Israel from Egypt and how those events are to be taught to future generations, was cited by Fesko to show that Biblical faith is inseparable from creeds. Besides narrative, they also teach a “theology that explains[s] those events.” The importance of this passage was to convey the truth to future generations. In essence, God authorized a particular tradition in Exodus 13, although for a lot of American Christians, tradition is “a dirty word.” Americans tend to regard it as “too confining.”

Similarly, the “Shema” is found in the Book of Deuteronomy (6:4-5). This short creed – “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your strength” – amounted to the “constitution for the nation.” It is a “confession of faith,” authorized and commanded by God to be repeated throughout all generations.

What the Shema shows, is first “the need for orthodoxy.” God deserves our “solitary affection.” Next, “it involves love,” and love “with everything that you’ve got.” Finally, there is “catechesis,” or teaching of correct doctrine. “All three of these things should be wrapped up into the lives of the people of God.”

In the New Testament, Fesko said, short creeds are called “faithful sayings,” also translated as “trustworthy sayings.” He defined a “faithful saying” as “restating Scripture truth from Jesus in the church’s own words.” These statements were so true to Jesus’ teaching “that Paul could incorporate them into his inspired epistles.” Some of the faithful sayings from the pastoral epistles are I Tim. 1:15:

“this saying is trustworthy and deserving of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,”

I Tim. 3:1:

“this is a trustworthy saying, if anyone aspires to the office of overseer [or bishop] he desires a noble task,”

I Tim. 4:7:

“have nothing to do with silly myths, rather train yourself for godliness,”

and II Tim. 2:11-13:

“if we have died with him, we shall also live with him, if we endure we will also reign with him, if we deny him he will also deny us, if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.”

The last saying agrees with the words of Jesus in Matt. 10:22:

“you will be hated by all for my name’s sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved.”

These sayings show that doctrinal formulas constructed by Christian believers “can be faithful to the Word of God,” since they were incorporated into the Word of God. Other such formulas do not carry the authority of divine inspiration, but that “does not mean they cannot be true.” Additional doctrinal formulas in the New Testament that Fesko held to be constructed by early Christians, which were also incorporated into Scripture, and thus authoritative, are Titus 3:4-8 (likely a baptismal formula):

“but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works of righteousness which we have done, but because of his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit, who he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.”

 Similarly, Jude 3-4 states:

“Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. For certain individuals, whose condemnation was written about long ago, have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”

The Use of Creeds

Fesko said that these passages show “Biblical warrant for confessions, as well as for catechesis.” Creeds are like “ebenezers,” or memory stones set up to remind the Israelites of “God’s past activity and revelation,” and look forward toward defining the faith in the future. Creeds are about “preserving the living faith of the dead, not the dead faith of the living.” Our own faith must be deeper than our own conversion experience, Fesko said, but must also include the confessions of the past. “We can have our creeds and confessions, so long as they are subordinate to the authority of Scripture.” Both prayers and preaching involve the use of our own words; they do not simply repeat the words of the Bible. In Nehemiah 8:8, the Jewish scribes gave the post-exilic Jews not only the words of the law, but also “gave the sense, and caused them [the hearers] to understand the reading.” He said that “this is how we hand the truth of the Scriptures down from generation to generation.”

Generational continuity is certainly needed in the contemporary world. There are so many un-Biblical paths for a young person from a Christian home to follow, not only from among their peers, but from the electronic media available to them. People do tend to give priority, or at least some priority, to the beliefs of their parents. But churches still need core doctrines. Those stated in a “What We Believe” page may be good, and for an Evangelical church, are likely rooted in the modernist-fundamentalist controversy of the early twentieth century. But the church of the early Christian centuries not only was closer to Christ and the apostles but dealt as well with persecution and conflict in the church. Conflict there has always been, and persecution we increasingly see. The statements of the undivided church of those early centuries can be defended from the Bible, has informed most of Christian history, and deserve our attention and allegiance.

Subsequent presentations at the conference dealt with the first and second Nicene creeds, and the Chalcedonian formula of the two natures of Christ. They will be reviewed in subsequent articles.

Part 2 can be viewed here.