Many churches, including ours, sometimes recite the Apostles’ Creed, as we did last Sunday. It’s called a Creed because it summarizes basic Christian beliefs. It’s called the “Apostles” Creed because according to an ancient tradition each of the twelve apostles contributed to its text, though there is no evidence of this. In a shorter form it seems to date back to the 2nd century, and it took on the form we recite today in the 5th century.
Today we’re going to talk about what the Apostles’ Creed says. We’ll do the first section now and plan to do the second part next month.
When we recite the Apostles’ Creed, we should remember that the original Jesus-followers and the authors of the New Testament were Jews for whom trust in Christ (the Messiah) and faithfulness in action were primary to their faith. But for the Gentile church leaders of the 2nd century and after, doctrinal beliefs became essential, resulting in a series of creedal statements. This change is reflected in the Apostles Creed.
There’s nothing in the Apostles Creed about loving God and our neighbor, though Jesus said these were God’s greatest commands. And the Apostle Paul writes that without love our beliefs are worthless.
The Creed is valuable because its brief articles can be viewed as providing an outline of the Good News of Jesus Christ. And because doctrinal understanding is important. But the Apostles’ Creed gives a limited view of Christian faith. Trusting Jesus and seeking to follow him with faithful actions, learning to love as Jesus loves, are more important than getting all the doctrines just right.
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
Jesus used the Aramaic word “Abba” for God the Father. An English rendering might be “Papa.” The word Abba is both respectful and intimate. It identifies God as our Tender Parent, not a distant and authoritarian patriarch.
Each of us is a cherished child of God. God loves us and delights in us. Getting to know God as our Abba, our Tender Parent, can banish fear and give us confidence with God.
Though we rightly call God “Father,” God transcends gender. Genesis chapter 1 tells us that both male and female reflect God’s image. We should understand that, as the 14th century Christian mystic and theologian Julian of Norwich wrote, “As truly as God is our Father, so truly God is our Mother.”
The Apostles Creed affirms that God is almighty. We may think of God as like a human king, only more powerful. But God’s power is more like the power of a mother who gives herself in unselfish love for her children.
When my sister and I were children, our mother often sang to us. One song had the refrain, “Take all of me, why not take all of me.” The song was originally about romantic love. But I think Mom sang it to us as a mother who gave everything for her children. God is like that. God’s almighty power is the power of steadfast, self-giving love, revealed most fully in Jesus’ death on the cross.
The Creed says that God is creator of heaven and earth.
God made creation, including humans, out of his overflowing love and because it gave him joy.
A basic question that philosophers ask is “why is there something rather than nothing?” We know the answer. The universe exists because of God’s love and joy.
Some ancient middle Eastern religions held that the gods created human beings to be their slaves. But the Hebrew Scriptures tell us that God made us for loving and joyful fellowship with him, to reflect his own loving character, and to co-govern creation with him in joy. What a blessing and privilege!
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
When we confess Jesus as God’s unique son, we affirm with Scripture that Jesus is “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being,” as the book of Hebrews says.
This tells us that Jesus is God-incarnate. Even more importantly Jesus shows us what God is like.
God is like Jesus. God’s character is the character we see in Jesus. God’s actions are the actions we see in Jesus. God’s identity is most clearly disclosed in Jesus’ death on the cross. In Jesus we see that God is Love, giving all that he is and has for our salvation and wellbeing.
If anyone tries to tell us what God is like, we should test their view of God in light of Jesus’ character and actions. Because God looks like Jesus.
The Apostles’ Creed confesses our belief in Jesus as Lord. Jesus is the Ruler of all creation, seated at the right hand of the Father. But how Jesus expresses his Lordship may surprise us.
Jesus exercises his Rule by washing his disciples’ feet, by dying on the cross, by making himself a servant.
Accordingly, we see Jesus’ Lordship expressed in the world wherever the hungry are fed, where the sick are healed, where the outcast and immigrant are welcomed. This was the kind of work Jesus did when he was here physically, and it continues to be this work in the world today by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus doesn’t rule by dominating but by serving. And we ourselves respond to Jesus’ Lordship not by dominating others but by humbling serving them.
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb by a new creative work of God’s Spirit. In Jesus God has recreated and renewed human beings, giving humankind a fresh start.Like Jesus’ miraculous conception we are created anew by the Holy Spirit in union with Christ by faith.
As the Apostle John writes, we become “born not of blood or flesh or human will, but of God.” We experience renewal as God’s children and Jesus’ brothers and sisters.
This is what God promised through the prophet Ezekiel: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.And I will put my own Spirit in you.”
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead.
The Gospel tells us that Jesus died for our forgiveness and healing – to make us whole persons.
God loves us unconditionally and acts readily, without reservation to forgive and heal us, but at a cost to himself. Jesus’ death on the cross was the cost that God paid taking on himself in love the consequences of our brokenness and wrongdoing.
We can understand that because we too sometimes take on ourselves the consequences of the brokenness and wrongdoing of those we love, such as our children. We sometimes choose to pay the cost of their broken and hurtful actions. We do this to save our loved ones from consequences too heavy for them to bear. We bear those costs for them. That’s what God has done for us on the cross.
The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
Though the world is full of violence and injustice, Jesus’ resurrection shows us there is at work in the world a tenacious Power for good. That despite appearances hope exists even in this world because the same Spirit that raised Jesus is still at work today. Our everyday acts of kindness and love, as imperfect as they are, can bless others, bringing to the world a measure of what is Good and True and Beautiful.
We miss the importance of Jesus’ resurrection if we say Jesus rose because, after all, he was God, so of course he could rise immortal. Yes, Jesus is God-incarnate, but also truly human. What’s significant is that Jesus rose from the dead as a human. Jesus was the first human being to receive a resurrected, immortal body – the first fruits of humanity’s resurrection.
Jesus’ resurrection is God’s guarantee and assurance that our resurrection will follow. We will be resurrected into a new world where every blessed gift and experience of this life. and every loving act we’ve done, will be filled to overflowing — gloriously perfected. And where every loss will be restored a hundredfold. We will each be all that God created and calls us to be, made whole in the likeness of Christ. That’s the promise of Jesus’ resurrection.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
Scripture tells us that how we live in this world matters. And that our lives will be judged. Jesus says, “the time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear God’s voiceand come out. Those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.” Similarly, the Apostle Paul writes that God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” “There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good.”
The thought of God’s judgement can be scary because none of us is perfect, far from it. But Jesus says something to reassure us about that in the Gospel of John. He says that one who receives his word and believes in him “has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”
As we entrust our life to Jesus and seek to follow him with our whole heart, we are doing the things that bring real life. We are embracing what is good. We are learning to love as Jesus loves. So we have no fear of judgement, because have already passed from death to eternal life.
There is a larger meaning of judgement as well. Jesus will come to put the world right. We yearn for a renewed creation, isn’t that so? For a world where, as Scripture promises, “the hungry are filled with good things, “nation will not lift up arms against nation,” “no one will be made afraid,” and “creation itself will be freed from decay and corruption.”
We long for a world in which love and justice will be at home. A world where “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.” That’s the world Jesus will bring about when he comes in judgment.
When Jesus judges the world all that is evil and harmful will be removed and all that is good and life-giving will be perfected. Our deepest longings will be fulfilled. God’s presence, love, and glory will fill heaven and earth.
God’s judgement is not something we fear. It’s something we long for and await in hope.
Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!