The Creeds and Why We Need Them

I recall reciting the creeds while sitting on the hard wooden pews at Calvary United Methodist Church in Frederick, Maryland. I remember thinking to myself that these recitations were unnecessary because they were delaying my post-worship donut. I imagine many feel this way today; feeling that the creeds are outdated, unnecessary, and unbending for the Church in a post-modern world.

The progress many in the Church seek to make comes by setting aside the ancient creeds of the Church, at times to the extent of casting aside Orthodox Christian teaching.

What if Orthodox Christian teaching and the traditions of the (ancient) Church could be the guidepost for the church in the United States and beyond as we navigate the temptation of “progress-ing” our way out of decline as we search for “relevancy” or whatever the buzz word of the week is?

That is a longwinded way of asking, do the ancient creeds of the church still hold value for the church 2000 years removed from the empty tomb?

Most books of worship, hymnals, and church polity books include, if not - prominently placed - the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds.

Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;

And 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, dead, and buried;*
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick 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.

The Nicene Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;

And 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, dead, and buried;*
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick 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.

The creeds originated because ancient Christians were insulating themselves against heresy in the church. Philip Cary writes that “a teaching in one of the most influential churches in the world was trying to get them to speak of Christ and say things like ‘there was once when he was not’ and ‘he came to be out of nothing.’” (The Nicene Creed: An Introduction. 2023.)

The ancient Church had good reason to insulate itself in that moments but to also ensure the Church that was to come would have the theological and orthodox resources necessary to proclaim Christ crucified, dead, resurrected, and ascended. This has always been the task of the Church. In his letters to the Corinthians, St. Paul writes to speak against false teachers in Corinth who were spreading a gospel contrary to the gospel of Jesus.

Creeds are the words the Church has used to speak a word together, with the Word Made Flesh as the source of the words we speak.. That is, the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds are the words the Church has used over time and space to make sense of the faith we share. The creeds are not purely theological or academic statements reserved for clergy and academia while the rest of the church crosses their fingers. These statements of faith are but one part of ongoing conversations in the Church as we continue to articulate the Christian faith.

The creeds set a baseline for the Church but also serve as “performative acts,” writes my former theology professor Rev. Dr. Kendall Soulen. In his book, The Divine Name(s) and the Holy Trinity, Volume 1: Distinguishing the Voices, Dr. Soulen points out that the creeds are how we live out our faith. Whenever the church raises its hands in confusion, not knowing what to do, Dr. Soulen argues we can look to the creeds.

The creeds are multi-layered declarations that reveal to use the unity of the Triune God

The creeds unify the Church.

OK, well, first and foremost Jesus unifies the Church but the creeds give the Church the language necessary to proclaim, with one voice, the Lordship of Christ.

The Church in 2023 is more divided than the ancient church fathers or first apostles could imagine. To the church in Corinth, St. Paul wrote, “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.” And our creeds give the Church the baseline proclamation of our faith.

Because faith is a gift, and because our faith is constantly growing and changing, the creeds are not just ancient texts that we have to learn to recite; they are living documents that shape our very understanding of God and the world, and therefore shape our lives as Christians.

There is a temptation to progress so far is our faith that the ancient proclamations of the church, the texts that have guided the saints for generations, can be pushed aside for the sake of progress at the expense of Orthodox Christian teaching. And without Orthodox Christian teaching, without the theology and tradition of the Church we dangerously run the risk of creating a faith and god in the image of ourselves.