Category: Creeds

A simplified faith statement

May 5, 2025

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.

What I look for in a church?

April 8, 2025

What makes a church a church? What sort of things should they do or believe to make them a genuine church that Jesus is building? What should we look for?

  1. Do they believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God? If so, is it held up above all other books as God’s Word to us? Some groups have other books they add to the Bible or hold them up as equally important, this makes them cults. (2 Timothy 3:16-18, Revelation 22:18-19).
  2. Do they hold true to the ancient creeds like the Apostles creed, the Nicene creed and the Athanasian creed? Holding firm to these means they have an orthodox christian faith that the church has held on to for centuries. You can find them on our about page.
  3. Do they trust Jesus as the only way to salvation? Do they believe Jesus is the eternal Son of God? Do they believe Jesus died on the cross for our sin and was physically raised to life? Have they accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour? (John 14:6, Acts 4:12, Romans 10:9-10).
  4. Do they regularly practice the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion, the Eucharist) where we take Jesus’ body in the form of bread or a wafer, and His blood in the form of juice or wine. Jesus told us to do this in remembrance of Him and His sacrifice for us (Luke 22:18-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-25).
  5. Do they practice baptism for new believers? Some churches may baptise with full immersion or by pouring water on the head. The main thing is to baptise in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as Jesus taught us (Mathew 28:18-20, Acts 2:38).
  6. Do they meet together and focus on what the early church did? Acts 2:42 says, “All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching [the Bible] and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.”
  7. Do they rely on the Holy Spirit to make them more like Jesus, to empower them to be His witnesses, to give them gifts to serve, and to display the fruit of the Spirit? (Galatians 5:22-23, Acts 1:8, Romans 8:11, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11).

These are some of the things that I think are important when deciding on which church you attend if you are a new believer or new to an area.

Most churches have websites with a statement of faith on there. I would always check it out before attending.

Drawing from the older traditions

March 6, 2025

One thing I have been doing over the last few years is looking at some of the practices of the older traditional church groups like Catholic and Orthodox.

This started when I did a unit online at Tabor called, “The story of the church”. It was an overview of all the key people and events down through the ages. I had one unit to finish another qualification, so I chose that one.

Doing this unit helped me to realise that I had mainly been studying the Bible and church practices since the Reformation in the 16th century. I was missing a large part of my Christian heritage.

Doing this led me to read the early church fathers of the first to third centuries. I read the writings of people like Polycarp, Clement and Iraneus. I also read the Didache or the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles and the various ecumenical church councils.

It gave me a glimpse in to their worlds and what church was like for them. It talked about their issues they faced, the persecution, instructions on church and how to live a godly life.

One thing I also found as time went on was a connection to the “communion of the saints” that we say when we read the Apostles Creed. I was part of the visible church on the earth and the invisible church in heaven, those who have lived and died before us.

I have found reading these things have really enriched my life. I have a greater appreciation of my faith in Christ and the faith and struggles my Christian brothers and sisters have faced down through the ages.

If you are interested in reading the writings of the early church, most are available online for free. However, one of the best ways is to download the free program e-sword. It is a free Bible program that includes a lot of free resources like the early church fathers. I have used it for about 20 years!

What do I believe?

February 24, 2024

Recently I was asked what I believe as a Christian. My response was my beliefs are similar to most people who follow Jesus all around the world.

As I reflected on this question I was reminded of some of the ancient creeds. The Apostles Creed is a great summary the early church fathers created many centuries ago.

The Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.

This statement of faith is one that many Christians around the world today would say they believe. The same goes for many Christians down through the ages. Many churches say it out aloud together each week as a declaration of joint faith and unity.

As Christians I believe it is important to have a statement like this that unites us. We all may have slight differences depending on our church denomination we attend, but there is much more that unites our faith than separates us.