UMC20230516 - Declaration of Faith - Part 1¶
What are your beliefs? What do you, as a Christian, believe about the nature of the universe? What sets us apart from other worldviews and religious beliefs? Even within Christianity we have conflicting doctrines about salvation, the trinity and resurrection.
I would like to do a multipart series reflecting on the contents of the Apostles Creed. The Apostles Creed, and later the more detailed and explicit Nicene creed, are succinct declarations of faith that were created during church councils in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. These creeds were not only created as statements of faith but were also created to address specific heresies that the church was facing in its time. The Apostles creed addressed (amongst other heresies) the beliefs of the Gnostics who held the dualistic position that the physical realm is inherently corrupt and the spiritual realm is inherently good and both are completely separate. Thus Jesus could not have been fully human for that meant he was part of the corrupt physical realm. The Nicene creed extended the Apostles creed to bring clarity to the doctrine of the Trinity, which was being disputed at the time.
Here is 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
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
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.
From there 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.*
In the next few posts I would like to explore the creed, line by line, and dig a bit deeper into the doctrines of our faith. Let's talk about it, question it, admire it and think about in the weeks to come.
Love, Cliff