Do We Really Need Creeds?

6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. 1 Corinthians 8:6


What is a creed and why do we use them? This question is important because the understanding of Christianity as a creedal faith is under attack today. Creed means “I believe” in Latin. Most creeds like the Apostles and the Nicene Creed are drawn from the Bible and used to express in a summary way the core beliefs of Christianity. Throughout the history of the Church, these creeds were expanded in order to address various misunderstandings and outright attacks on biblical doctrine.

There are also creeds we find in the Bible itself. The first creed we find is known as the shema in Deuteronomy 6:4, which every orthodox Jew would recite everyday. “Hear O, Israel the Lord, our God is One God and you shall love the Lord your God – with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”

David Zadok – of Christian Witness to Israel, a Jewish Christian living in Israel, recently translated the Heidelberg Catechism into Hebrew. Mr. Zadok writes: “We all agree that the word of God is and ought to be our only guide and source, yet we need to be able to express and summarize the truth of the Bible, both to those inside and those outside the church. We need to be able to teach, preach, and proclaim the whole council of God, and to defend its magnificent message from various errors and heresies…the first such confession and creed is the Shema found in Deut. 6:4 ..”Interesting this Trinitarian confession of the One God, has become for millenniums the confession of the Jewish people.”

The confessional statement of Israel was to mark itself as different among the pagan nations in their belief. They left Egypt- a land of polytheism and entered Canaan -a land full of local deities and idols. The monotheism of Israel was unique and also threatened not so much by the competing theologies of the times, but Israel herself was so prone to forget her faith – idolatry was so much a temptation.

Why do we confess our faith with a creed? Why are we confessional people, as Israel was confessional? Because, we need to express to the world and remind ourselves who God is and what we believe about God. .

There is a strong anti-confessional mood among evangelicals today and expressed in slogans like- “No Creed but Christ” – But, this is still a creed. It is an example of self-reverential absurdity.

The confession or creed in chapter 8 of 1 Corinthians is written in Hebraic poetry.
It is in chiastic form – parallel - each part mirrors the other. It is a strong affirmation of the Deity of Jesus Christ who in essence is equal with the Father.

A. yet for us there is but one God, the Father
B. from whom all things came
C. and from whom we live.

A. and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ,
B. through whom all things came
C. and through whom we live.

Everything we can say about God the Father – who he is – is eternal power, glory and pre-existent majesty – we can equally say about the Lord Jesus Christ. John Chrysostom an early Church father wrote, “The Son is in reality neither less than, nor inferior to, the Essence of the Father.”


St. Augustine in the 4th century said, “but if all things were made by the Father, and all things by the Son, then the same things were made by the Father and by the Son, The Son, therefore , is equal with the Father, and the working of the Father and the Son is indivisible.”

What we believe about God makes all the difference in the world – in the way we act, behave and the way we worship – our praise, because doxology is confessional.

Praise is simply telling God what is true about him. It cannot be done as it ought if we have wrong views about God. But, right views or being orthodox is not the goal. The goal is worship. The goal is a heart enraptured with the knowledge and glory of a God we cannot comprehend fully – but in mercy and grace, God revealed himself to us in the Word.

A Creed is a guardrail to guard the Mystery of who God is from those who would detract from his glory.

Without Creeds, we cannot worship – because we fall into idolatry. Without Creeds, we cannot live – because we will fall into loving our selves more than others.