The Nicene Creed is for Christians

Why should Christians adopt creeds and use confessions? Above all, faithful followers of our one Lord Jesus Christ are compelled to them by Scripture. Paul said all true believers possess “the same spirit of faith” in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that they proclaim that faith. Submitting to the authority of the Old Testament (“I believed, therefore I spoke;” Psalm 116:10), the apostle declared Christians must “also believe, and therefore speak” (2 Cor. 4:13). Elsewhere, he reminded the early church they received the true faith through the Apostles preaching the gospel, which they in turn received directly from Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:1-11; Gal. 1:11-12). Upholding this truth while proclaiming it defines the church’s purpose (1 Tim. 3:15).

Hearing the gospel through those who preach the words Christ gave to the apostles, holding to it mentally as their personal creed, and making it their public confession are absolutely fundamental for Christian fidelity to God, indeed for salvation itself. Paul declared that both personal belief and public confession constitute salvation. Specifically, we must believe and confess that the man Jesus is God with eternal authority, and that he has conquered death: “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9). He went on to explain how inner faith and external proclamation coalesce in salvation: “One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation” (v. 10).[1]

Not Many Should Become Teachers

Jesus Christ warned that every careless word a human being utters will require an account before his eternal throne (Matt. 12:36). Sloppiness in the most critical teachings of the Christian faith, especially in Trinity and Christology, is simply beyond the pale for the serious believer. Faithful expression of Christian dogma is particularly critical for teachers of the faith. God will hold to a higher account those called into this sacred work, and that ought to drive us toward precise orthodoxy in worshipful thought and utter faithfulness in dogmatic expression. Because of the judgment awaiting teachers in the eschaton, the apostle James decried those who treat the holy office glibly: “Not many should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we will receive a stricter judgment” (Jam. 3:1).

Creeds are not put above the Bible; instead, they explain what a person or church believes the Bible teaches. Share on XWith words inspired by the Spirit the apostles repeatedly warned believers to consider their views of Christ. Jesus, Paul, Peter, John, and Jude prophesied that false preachers would lead believers astray by their deceptive, deplorable, and damnable teachings (Matt. 24:24; 1 Tim. 1:3-4, 7; 2 Pet. 2:1; 1 John 4:1-3; Jude 4, 12-13). It is not insignificant that every deception thrown at his church is intended to detract from the dignity of its Lord (Matt. 10:25; John 15:18). The evil one especially likes to attack God by mimicking him and perverting his gospel (Rev. 13:1-18). The thief sends deceptive appeals through his evil shepherds to hurt the flock of God (John 10:10-13; Gal. 1:6-9). As a result, we must evaluate, carefully and continually, every teaching of that Word (Acts 17:10-12).

One significant, proven, and helpful way that the church can simultaneously honor our only Lord Jesus Christ and protect itself against ancient heresies and the new errors which continually arise to diminish, distort, and denigrate the Person and work of our Savior is by adopting creeds for use in worship and proclamation. The Latin verb credo means, “I believe,” while the Latin verb confessio means, “I avow.” B. H. Carroll said a “creed” is “what we believe,” while a “confession” is “a declaration of what we believe.” The founder of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary argued from Scripture and reason of the “very great necessity for both creed and confession.”^[2]

Carroll identified several uses for creeds and confessions in his commentary on the New Hampshire Confession of Faith, which held sway among most American Baptists and framed the Baptist Faith and Message adopted in 1925. Creeds and confessions let you know what a group of people actually believe. They also provide a “standard to determine what is orthodoxy” so that you can judge a teaching. The leading figure in both Southern Baptist and Texas Baptist life was especially dismissive of those who rejected creeds by glib appeal to Scripture alone. “If you say the Bible is your creed, all others say the same thing. That is not the point. What does your church understand the Bible to teach?”[3] Creeds are not put above the Bible; instead, they explain what a person or church believes the Bible teaches. If a church or preacher cannot maintain the basics of the faith, fellowship must be withdrawn.

Why Creeds and Confessions Are Necessary

Christian creeds and confessions are useful in four ways: worship, evangelism, teaching, and polemics. The utility of the summary creeds developed by the early church and of the larger confessions developed in the Reformation have proven them time and again. Creeds and confessions possess usefulness in guiding Christian worship, in centering Christian evangelism, in structuring Christian teaching, and in protecting the flock of God.

First, creeds help us by guiding our understanding of who God is and remembering what he has done. They provide a verbal map so that we might know him truly in our minds and hearts and worship him for his transcendent greatness, his eternal goodness, and his abundant graciousness. The liturgical function of a creed is evinced in orthodox Christian churches through common reading in a public service, through being set to music, and through pulpit proclamation. The liturgical use of a creed is particularly beneficial for keeping the church from worshiping false gods and directing hearts and minds toward the true God.

Second, creeds identify with propositional exaction the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. Every time an evangelist or pastor preaches both the death of Jesus Christ for sinners and his resurrection to justify believers, the heart of the Christian creed is exhibited. The earliest creeds, found repeatedly in Scripture, are focused precisely on his saving gospel (e.g., Matt. 28:19; 1 Cor. 15:3-8; 1 Tim. 3:15-16). The gospel that saves sinners and makes disciples is ensconced at the heart of the classical creeds. The apostolic proclamation is prominent, for instance, in the evangelical centers of the Nicene Creed, the Apostles Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.

Third, creeds are useful for instructing the faithful generally but also for requiring teachers to adhere to the beliefs of the Christian church rather than to follow their own vivid and erring imaginations. The classical creeds emphasize the identity of the one true God through a biblically derived triune structure, identifying God as the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14). The creeds also preserve the identity of Jesus Christ by rebuking those who would diminish his unity of Person, his deity, or his humanity. The greatest teachers in Christian history have followed the creeds in crafting their own proclamation, as seen in the baptismal lectures of Cyril of Jerusalem, in the catechisms of Martin Luther, and in the catechisms of the early Baptist preachers Thomas Grantham and Hercules Collins,[4] among many others.

The fourth great reason why creeds have been identified as absolutely necessary for use in a true Christian church is polemical. Polemics preserve the people of God from rapacious wolves and self-centered hirelings. Polemics compelled Athanasius to expend his life fighting against the greatest heresy, Arianism. After that first great historical conflagration, orthodox stalwarts like Gregory of Nazianzus, Cyril of Jerusalem, and Maximus the Confessor, as well as Augustine of Hippo, John Calvin, and Charles Haddon Spurgeon joined in using creeds and confessions to identify false teachings and rebuke false teachers. They were driven to do so, not by desire for conflict, but to magnify and honor our Lord Jesus Christ and to protect his people.

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Notes:

[1] Jaroslav Pelikan, Credo: Historical and Theological Guide to Creeds and Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition (Yale University Press, 2003), 35-38.

[2] Benajah Harvey Carroll, “A Commentary on the New Hampshire Confession of Faith: General Discussion,” Southwestern Journal of Theology 51 (2009): 134.

[3] Carroll, “General Discussion,” 135.

[4] Hercules Collins, An Orthodox Catechism, ed. Michael A. G. Haykin and G. Stepehn Weaver Jr. (Palmdale, CA: RBAP, 2014); Thomas Grantham, St. Paul’s Catechism (London, 1687), in Malcolm Yarnell, “Baptists, Classical Trinitarianism, and the Christian Tradition,” in Matthew Y. Emerson, Christopher W. Morgan, and R. Lucas Stamps, Baptists and the Christian Tradition: Towards an Evangelical Baptist Catholicity (B&H Academic, 2020), 55-79.