One of the things it is easy to do as a Christian is to complicate our faith and our practices. By this I mean I must believe all this list of things and do all of these practices religiously to be okay.

I know this because I can fall in to this trap at times. I can have a list of things I “must” do and a lot of boxes I “must” tick off, to be a good Christian. It can be tiring.

When I am in my best place, I have a simplified faith that has been passed down to me from the Apostles. In simple terms I need to hold fast to the Apostles Creed as my true north or compass.

The Apostles Creed in its earliest version, the Old Roman Creed, has been around since the second century AD. It is very similar to the later version…

The Old Roman Creed

I believe in God the Father almighty;
and in Christ Jesus His only Son, our Lord,
Who was born from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary,
Who under Pontius Pilate was crucified and buried,
on the third day rose again from the dead,
ascended into heaven,
sits at the right hand of the Father,
whence he will come to judge the living and the dead;
and in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Church,
the remission of sins,
the resurrection of the flesh,
[life everlasting].

As you can see it has nearly all the wording of the later version from the fifth century AD. The latter Apostles Creed is a bit more fleshed out and has been accepted by all major Christian traditions as a rule of faith.

The Apostles Creed

I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born from the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried, descended into hell, (or to the dead)
on the third day rose again from the dead,
ascended to heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty,
thence He will come to judge the living and the dead;
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Catholic Church, (or holy Christian church)
the communion of saints,
the remission of sins,
the resurrection of the flesh,
and eternal life.
Amen.

While there is some disputed phrases (see brackets above) depending on which branch of christianity you belong to, the vast majority is accepted worldwide today and has been accepted down through the ages.

The Apostles’ Creed, like all creeds, functions like a filter for an orthodox faith and belief. It indicates what is and what is not “Christian.” It is a public profession of belief in historic Christianity.

As I type I am reminded of a statement by the famous theologian Karl Bath. At a Q&A session he was asked by a student if he could summarise his theology in one sentence. He replied, “Yes, I can. In the words of a song I learned at my mother’s knee: ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

For me this is enough to say I need to stick to a simple definition of my faith. I need a simplified statement to hang on to. Thankfully Christians down through the ages have prepared one for me in the Apostles Creed.