Why Creeds, Confessions of Faith & Catechisms still matter to Christians
Today I invite you to examine what you believe through the eyes of centuries old teachings of the Christian faith. Maybe your worship service includes one of the obligatory Creeds or other Confession of faith ALL must recite. And by repetition these words flow from the tongue trippingly with little or no thought.
And what is a Catechism, anyway? (Isn’t that some old Catholic thing that no longer applies?)
Perhaps your contemporary gathering of ‘christians‘ has no need to follow the applause for your inspiring praise band with any such serious declarations (or perhaps even scripture beyond what your Pastor will paraphrase for our brief understanding).
ALL Christians in past more authoritarian days heard Creeds, Confessions of faith in Christ and even studied these clearly defined Doctrines of the Church.
I’ll answer your questions and for our mutual understanding of misunderstood terms, we will define each of these mostly affirmations of historical, Biblical Christian faith.
We will also READ what each of several Creeds and Confessions have to say. You can decide for yourself what you believe – what is relevant to your Christian faith.
Creeds
What is a Creed?
The word creed comes from the Latin word credo, meaning, “I believe.”
CHURCH HISTORY: THREE HISTORIC CHRISTIAN CREEDS
WHAT do you believe? Do you know? Can you verbalize your Christian faith?
Do you know what your ‘church’ community believes, preaches and witnesses to others?
Creed, also called confession of faith, an authoritative formulation of the beliefs of a religious community (or, by transference, of individuals). The terms “creed” and “confession of faith” are sometimes used interchangeably, but when distinguished “creed” refers to a brief affirmation of faith employed in public worship or initiation rites, while “confession of faith” is generally used to refer to a longer, more detailed, and systematic doctrinal declaration.
Lindbeck, George Arthur. “Creed”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Jan. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/topic/creed. Accessed 25 August 2021.
Confessions
- A Creed – Your stated faith, basically brief enough to reaffirm in a worship service (whether weekly or occasionally)
- Confession of Faith – A longer extension of a creed more suited for the study of the Doctrines behind our foundational Christian beliefs stated in a creed.
- Dismiss any notion that your confession of faith is private ONLY, i.e. your confession of sin may be private, but your Confession of Faith is PUBLIC, not only to your church but especially as witness to Christ in the presence of unbelievers (some sitting among you ‘in church’).
- And as you can see below, some Confessions have both Short & Long Catechisms
Catechisms
- So what is a Catechism?
- Think of it as a class (really, classes – like going to school) covering what we ought to know about our beliefs.
YES, there will be a test (usually a public statement to ALL believers of your church that YOU have passed).
We AFFIRM that we have a reasoned faith in God, Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Trinity; Sin, Judgment and Grace; etc.
From Judaism to Orthodox Christianity
Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,
from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law,
understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.
First Letter of Paul to Timothy 1:5-7 NKJV
- * Jews generally agreed by the time of Jesus Christ what Books to include in Scripture.
- * New Testament Books, ALL written by the end of the first century [A.D. 100], became generally accepted by the Church as the Authoritative Word of God.
- *Some ‘Extra-Biblical,’ writings after A.D. 100 were written as heretical opposition to the Lord Christ Jesus, even as most of the Apostles had warned in the decades after Christ’s teachings and Ascension.
- (Reminder:} The Church initially divided into Orthodox (Eastern) and Roman (Catholic, meaning ‘universal’) at the time of the political division of the fallen Roman Empire, then formally after several (7) unified Church councils until A.D. 787 and finally at the Great Schism in A.D. 1084.
- (Additional DEFINITION of Orthodox: conforming to established doctrine.., conventional..)
Chronology of Creeds, Confessions, & more
Of course Christians do NOT agree on everything, but MOST will not DENY the historical and Biblical basic beliefs of Christian faith.
By looking at some of the foundational creeds and confessions of Christian faith chronologically, you may better understand their role in keeping false teaching out of the Church in the more than two millennia since Christ died for our sins and rose from death on a Cross.
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