In our discussions about a doctrinal statement, one of the ideas I had was to start with the Apostles' Creed but update/revise it a little bit. My hope in doing that would be to tie into the history of the Church while updating the language and a couple points of doctrine. Below is a draft and the changes that were made. I'd love comments on if this is an okay thing to do and what changes need to be made to it.
We believe in one true God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—Creator of heaven and earth. Jesus Christ, the only Son of the Father was born of the virgin Mary and was truly God and truly human. He lived a perfect life, died on a cross, and was buried. On the third day he rose from the dead. He appeared to many witnesses and ascended into heaven where he mediates for us at the Father’s right hand. One day he will return in glory and fully establish his kingdom.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the one body of Christ—comprised of all who are in him, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and eternal life.
What else needs to be included?
What is included that doesn’t need to be?
Changes from the Apostles’ Creed
1. The Father is not identified as Creator apart from the Son and the Holy Spirit since Scripture attests that all three were involved in the creation in specific ways.
2. That the one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is made explicit.
3. A statement about Jesus’ perfect life is added and the direct reference to his suffering under Pilate is removed.
4. The mention of descending into Hades is removed. There are varying opinions on whether or not this is what Scripture refers to. It does not seem to be an essential point.
5. A statement of his appearance to witnesses is added.
6. Christ is specifically named as our mediator.
7. The statement of judgment is replaced with a statement of the establishment of God’s kingdom. Might be good to include both.
8. The “holy catholic Church” is replaced with the biblical metaphor of the body of Christ.
9. “The communion of the saints” is removed.
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5 comments:
Some random points in no discernable order: 1) I'm SO glad you started with the Apostle's Creed. I'm really, really tired of creeds that start with the infallability of the Bible -- as though that were our god. The Bible's authority is solely rested on God's character, not the other way around. So, a yay there. (And a soap box all in one).
2) I do think that it is important to recognize that God is judge and will judge. That is something that we have conveniently left out of our churches at least in the last fifty years or so, if not much longer, and it misses one aspect of the Bible's message -- all will be judged, both the quick and the dead, and for the one who does not bear fruit (I assume here Jesus was talking to people who believed they were fine, were 'saved'), they won't make it! It's a serious, and seriously concerning, warning. (again, the fact that my current chapter in my dissertation is on this subject is irrelevant...)
3) Descent into hades -- appears to have been a later gloss into the apostle's creed, no worries.
4) why remove the communion of the saints? Isn't that a part of your mission/goal/belief? That believes ought to gather, and that it is a necessary part of the Christian life? just curious...
That'll do for now. Cool. Way, way, way too busy over here, but will be stateside in less than two weeks! We'll have to chat...
Good points Mariam. I think the issue with the judging is that for many people their picutre of the judgment is a "did you pray the prayer?" kind of judgment. No way to explain that in a few words but that also doesn't give proper cause to exclude it.
As for the communion of the saints (this will show my ignorance), I wasn't exactly sure what that referred to originally and how it would be different than the part about the body of Christ. I'll probably reword and then add.
Call me once you're over here.
I also dig starting with the A.C. One of my things is there seems to be a Holy-Spirit shaped hole in there. For instance, doesn't the H.S. intercede for us? Here my lack of biblical knowledge is insanely apparent. I wasn't asking that question rhetorically or sarcastically. That's just what I always thought, but I don't know if it's right. So maybe something about paraclete/intercedor. Yeah.
Good call Ryan. And that has a lot to do with why I changed the beginning too. Since I believe that all three members of the Trinity played a role in creation, not just the Father, I thought the wording should reflect that.
Ryan - good point. I always feel a bit odd in church when we say the creed and the Father gets a good nod as Creator, the Son gets his own paragraph, and the Spirit barely a mention. He is indeed the intercessor, the comforter, the guide and communicator... Perhaps worth an extended reference to him (it?) as the one who intercedes on our behalf with the Father and the Son?
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