The simple definition of a creed is that it's a summary of religious beliefs and understandings (or the codification of a system of beliefs, if you want to get fancy). When the early church was forming, reading and writing wasn't the easiest way to transmit information, and most people were illiterate anyways- people needed to share information orally, rather than just pointing their friends to a specific book or pamphlet (or bible verse). But if you've ever played telephone, you know how quickly messages can get distorted. In an effort to help new members understand what "The Way" (or Christianity) was all about, churches started creating lists of the bare minimum a new Christian had to accept and believe in order to be considered a Christian (and therefore, be able to be baptized into the church). They'd build on those lists through discipleship later. These lists were kept short and easy to understand, so that anyone -- not just the leaders of the church-- would be able to memorize them. It was also a way to test any new viewpoints that they heard- if someone preached a lesson that negated any part of the list, then they weren't following the teaching of the Apostles and they could be considered as false preachers.
But, contrary to popular belief, the apostles didn't actually write the Apostles' Creed. When they founded a new church, they gave that church all the basics of the faith given to them by Jesus (and eventually, they wrote the books of the New Testament that we're familiar with, as a way to help share that information even further than they could travel). The churches came up with their lists, based on the information from those first missionaries, and as they grew and started to interact, the churches found that they had pretty similar lists. Over the years, as Churches talked about the little differences, those lists melded into one list- what we know as the Apostles' Creed.
The first real written record of the "Apostles' " creed appears around A.D. 200- a pretty good amount of time after Jesus' death, and an even longer time away from the present. So why do we still care enough to recite creeds? Well there are a couple of reasons. One, it's a tie to our history as a church and a way to continue a tradition that's almost as old as Christianity itself. Creeds ground us in our faith- if what we believe is different than what the earliest Christians believed, one of us has gone down a different path than Jesus taught (and guess what? It's probably not those other guys). Second, it's still a way for us to verify the authenticity of other churches- do they have the same basic beliefs as us? If the same core principals are there, we can still be Christians together and have differing opinions on some of the smaller stuff. And finally, one of the main reasons Christians cared so much about getting the core beliefs right still remains today in some parts of the world.
The early church experienced a LOT of persecution- Jesus followers could literally die for their beliefs. If it's going to cost you your life, wouldn't you want to make sure that your beliefs hold water and aren't the philosophical ramblings of someone who had just heard about a guy named Jesus? Although our lives are pretty safe here in the U.S. (you might lose a friend because of your beliefs, but your head is probably going to stay connected to your neck), persecution of Christians remains in other parts of the world. To them, they have the same life-or-death need to verify the authenticity of their faith- and when we recite the same creed they recite, it's not only a symbolic tie, but an actual, in-the-words tie to other believers.
So what does this creed actually say? As you read it, see if there are any shadows of memorization in the back of your head (make Mrs. O proud!)...
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again 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.
Besides giving us a framework for understanding our faith, there's even more to find in those three paragraphs! Take a deep breath, turn off the TV and try to stay with me- and I'll try not to get bogged down in the details.
The first statement (God the Father Almighty...) was either an easily acceptable truth or a bold new statement, depending on the audience. Jews would accept that as old news and keep going; non-Jews (who often had different gods for different seasons, actions, etc.) would have to first come around to a monotheistic view of the world before proceeding to the second paragraph.
Jesus' information then comes in chronological order- an abbreviated version of his story. Some important things to highlight, though, are that he is the only son of God (unlike Zeus and Hera having multiple children), and that it was an immaculate conception- both God and Human at once (*ahem* this issue will turn up in a later creed).
And Pontius Pilate- why is he in there? Because his name gives a definable timetable- Jesus isn't just some mystic, mysterious person from the past, unverifiable. Just like we'd recognize the timeframe of President Bush or President Kennedy, early Christians could go back and actually look up the events that occurred during the years Pilate was in power. Also, ascended and descended are power terms- Jesus chose death, and conquering it, chose heaven. And the final two sentences give importance to the previous actions- Jesus still IS and will be back again. And ain't nobody, dead or alive, gonna get by Him.
The final paragraph is kind of a summary of the rest of the basics. The Holy Spirit isn't really explored, just that there IS a Holy Spirit. But mostly I want to address the words between the first and second commas. The "holy catholic church" part is based off the Greek word kat' holos, which means "according to the whole." It does not reference the Roman Catholic church, and some versions of the Apostle's creed have simply replaced catholic with the word universal to avoid the confusion. But wait! There's more! The "universal" church is also a call to remember that we are all connected- remember that statement about the persecuted Christians from a couple paragraphs ago? If we believe this statement, we ought to think about how we'd react to know that someone from OUR church is being persecuted (or going hungry or being oppressed). This short statement is part warm-fuzzy, part rallying cry. It's a call to move beyond our immediate selves and see the entire faith community as equally important as those right in front of us.
So think about what this all means for you. There's a lot in those 114 words. Do you believe them? All of them? Why? Do you use them to help guide you when you're listening to what others hold up as true? Do they shape how you read the bible (is it God's truth and commandments, or just a guide to good living?)?
As you think, take a minute and listen to the two links. Yes, it was a very musical Sunday- the first link is our 5 minutes of God-time song, and the second is one of my new favorite songs. And that's all the information you get on them; I'm not even gonna tell you the song names or artists. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKMGVgOkTkw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxEFqjH9G9Y&feature=related
See you next week!
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