“So what does your church believe?” This is a common question when people learn that I am a pastor. Perhaps you have been asked the same thing. Whenever I am asked this question, I have a bad habit of trying to come up with a satisfactory answer on the fly. For some reason, I feel like I need to put it in my own words. But I find it incredibly difficult to summarize the entire Christian faith off the top of my head. It is even harder to state it in a simple and understandable way.
When people ask this question, we could either say whatever pops into our heads, or we could simply say, “Lots of stuff.” But I would suggest to you that there is a third and better option: use the Creed. Sometimes we forget that our Christian ancestors have already done the challenging work of summarizing the Christian faith in a short and clear statement. The three creeds (Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian) have stood the test of time.
We don’t elevate them to the status of Scripture, but at least most of the Church considers them to be the three most useful summaries of the Christian faith ever produced. I am quite certain that I cannot improve upon them, and I would humbly suggest that you probably cannot either. So why, when we are asked what we believe, would we try to improvise our own summary?
The Apostles’ Creed is probably the confession we are all most familiar with. It is the shortest, and we confess it every Sunday. It is useful, both in the context of a worship service, and in our daily lives.
If it seems too rigid to recite the creed during informal conversation, we can at least use it as an outline for how we answer this question. It briefly takes us through each member of the Trinity, and it explains God’s work of creation, redemption through Jesus Christ, and what God does for us now and in the future. I, for one, am convinced that it expresses the Christian faith far more clearly and succinctly than I could with my own words.
We also, of course, find the Creed very useful in the context of Christian worship, and for a variety of reasons. First, it obviously teaches us. It commits the basic teachings of the Christian faith to our memories, so that we are always able to recall the content of our faith.
Second, it gives us a framework for thinking about the Scriptures. This is why congregations typically use it very close to the Scripture readings or the sermon. Here at Trinity, we always confess it right after the Scripture readings. It serves as a sort of road map for the Bible. When we hear a particular Scripture, we can compare it to the Creed to see where it fits into the big picture of Christian teaching.
Third, it holds a pastor accountable to good doctrine. Most congregations do not consist of seminary professors who scrutinize a pastor’s words to make sure he is rightly handling the Word of Truth (2 Tim. 2:15). But if the people know the Creed, they can make sure that the sermon conforms to the standard of sound doctrine. Whenever you listen to a sermon, you should always be able to answer this diagnostic question: What part of the creed is this explaining? If you can’t find a relationship between the Creed and the sermon, there’s something wrong, and it’s not with the Creed.
Finally, the Creed is an expression of our Christian unity. We are all united to each other as we are united through Baptism into our Living Head—Jesus Christ. This is a reality, whether or not it always looks like it. So what we strive for in the area of Christian unity is not to create this unity, but to express it. A good place to start with this expression of unity is the Creed. We all unite together and confess the same faith with one voice. We even express our unity with fellow believers in other churches, other nations, and other times throughout history when we join together and express our faith using the same words.
I pray you will be encouraged as we confess and meditate on this faith together. May the Lord bless and preserve us in this Christian faith.
The peace of Christ be with you all,
Dan