Post by Admin on Mar 18, 2016 19:16:11 GMT
The Creed (also known as The Symbol or the Symbolum Apostolicum) starts with the words “I believe.” While I have thought over each phrase of the Creed many times in my years a Christian – but I always come back to the opening two words.
If we were all to go to ISIS controlled territory, having the Bible on our phone would be enough to get us beheaded. Sitting watching Netflix at night it is easy to overlook the power and meaning and strength of those two simple words.
All good theology is an explanation of the Christian Faith we have been baptized into. All good theology leads us to the same Table where the Lord himself is present and we eat with and of him. All good theology bring clarity to the life after that baptism.
With that in mind The Symbol is good theology. Not just good. It is simple enough for a 10 year old children to understand and profound enough for a seasoned theologian to get lost in. It is the most common and ancient of the Christian confessions. After baptism and The Lord’s Supper it is the one thing that all Christian’s agree on as binding no matter the time or place or denominational standing.
It is Trinitarian in construction. It is divided into three parts – one for each part of the Trinity. The Church that confesses the Creed believes
• in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them;
• and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation;
• and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God.
The Creed came into being as a shorthand way of Christians knowing the order of doctrine: the things that first (God the Father and creation) the things that are second (Christ and the Incarnation/Ascension/Return) and things that are third (the Holy Spirit, our life now and the life to come). “Let such a one then hear this: The teaching of all doctrine has a certain order, and there are some things which must be delivered first, others in the second place, and others in the third, and so all in their order; and if these things be delivered in their order, they become plain; but if they be brought forward out of order, they will seem to be spoken against reason. And therefore order is to be observed above all things, if we seek for the purpose of finding what we seek."1
The Symbol should function the exact same way today. Our congregations have neither the time nor inclination to know who Gregory of Nazianzus is. Or Tim Keller or Jeren Rowell for that matter. That is probably is as it should be. But they can know The Creed. They can know what they believe.
1.Pseudo-Clement of Rome. “Recognitions of Clement.” The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries: The Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, the Clementina, Apocrypha, Decretals, Memoirs of Edessa and Syriac Documents, Remains of the First Ages. Ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Trans. M. B. Riddle. Vol. 8.
If we were all to go to ISIS controlled territory, having the Bible on our phone would be enough to get us beheaded. Sitting watching Netflix at night it is easy to overlook the power and meaning and strength of those two simple words.
All good theology is an explanation of the Christian Faith we have been baptized into. All good theology leads us to the same Table where the Lord himself is present and we eat with and of him. All good theology bring clarity to the life after that baptism.
With that in mind The Symbol is good theology. Not just good. It is simple enough for a 10 year old children to understand and profound enough for a seasoned theologian to get lost in. It is the most common and ancient of the Christian confessions. After baptism and The Lord’s Supper it is the one thing that all Christian’s agree on as binding no matter the time or place or denominational standing.
It is Trinitarian in construction. It is divided into three parts – one for each part of the Trinity. The Church that confesses the Creed believes
• in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them;
• and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation;
• and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God.
The Creed came into being as a shorthand way of Christians knowing the order of doctrine: the things that first (God the Father and creation) the things that are second (Christ and the Incarnation/Ascension/Return) and things that are third (the Holy Spirit, our life now and the life to come). “Let such a one then hear this: The teaching of all doctrine has a certain order, and there are some things which must be delivered first, others in the second place, and others in the third, and so all in their order; and if these things be delivered in their order, they become plain; but if they be brought forward out of order, they will seem to be spoken against reason. And therefore order is to be observed above all things, if we seek for the purpose of finding what we seek."1
The Symbol should function the exact same way today. Our congregations have neither the time nor inclination to know who Gregory of Nazianzus is. Or Tim Keller or Jeren Rowell for that matter. That is probably is as it should be. But they can know The Creed. They can know what they believe.
1.Pseudo-Clement of Rome. “Recognitions of Clement.” The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries: The Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, the Clementina, Apocrypha, Decretals, Memoirs of Edessa and Syriac Documents, Remains of the First Ages. Ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Trans. M. B. Riddle. Vol. 8.