Christmas in the Creeds; The Apostles’ Creed

PastorRodney’s Weblog

12/01 Christmas in the Creeds; Apostles’ Creed [only begotten; conceived by Spirit, virgin birth]; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20241201_apostles-creed.mp3

Christmas in the Creeds

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the first of four Sundays leading up to Christmas. Advent means ‘coming’, and it is a time of looking back to the coming of Immanuel, God with us; and it looks forward to his coming again. This year for Advent, we are going to look at ‘Christmas in the creeds’.

What I am proposing to do in these four Sundays of Advent is to look at some of the earliest creeds, the Apostles’ Creed, The Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the Chalcedonian Definintion, specifically in the context of what they teach us about Christmas, how they help us to understand Jesus and the incarnation, and how they help to guard us against error. Our launching point will be the creeds, but our main goal will be to examine these statements in the light of Scripture, to see what God’s Word teaches us, ultimately to get to know Jesus better.

What is a Creed?

What is a creed? The word ‘creed’ comes from the Latin ‘credo’ which means ‘I believe’. A creed is a clear statement of belief, a summary of Christian teaching. But creed means more than simply what I believe. A creed is a set of core beliefs or guiding principles for all of life. Your creed matters, because it defines how you live and shapes your every thought and decision and action. A creed is the truth you live by.

Why Christian Creeds?

But what are these historic Christian creeds? Why are they important, and why is it worth our time to know and study them?

First, the Christian creeds are beliefs held in common, truths that hold a community together, things that define that community.

Amos 3:3 (KJV) Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

Creeds were developed to give a succinct statement of belief. They were adapted over time in response to false teachings about Jesus and the gospel. For a community of faith to exist in any meaningful form, it needs shape, definition, clarification. There needs to be things held in common to hold a community together. If I were a militant anti-gun activist, who believed that guns themselves are the problem, and not people who misuse them, it would probably be dishonest of me to try to join the NRA or the local shooting club.

Baptism is an initiatory rite required for membership in various religious groups. Historically the creeds developed out of brief statements of belief, often shaped in the form of questions addressed to candidates for baptism. These early creeds were used to clarify and define the Christian community by what truths they held in common.

Sola Scriptura

It is important to keep in mind that these historic creeds are not our final authority; Scripture alone is our authority. But to be ignorant of the creeds is no advantage. It has been said; to refuse to learn from the past is to condemn oneself to repeat the mistakes of the past; and this is as true in the realm of Christian theology as anywhere else. Modern day cults and new religions or religious ideas are almost always ancient heresies dressed up in modern clothes.

Paul warned:

Acts 20:29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. 32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

The historic creeds can alert us to, and help to anchor us from being tossed to and fro by the waves and every wind of doctrine (Eph.4:14).

The Apostles’ Creed

We’re going to start with the Apostles’ Creed. Some of you may be familiar with it; some churches recite this creed regularly. The Apostles’ Creed was not written by the apostles, but is a concise statement of apostolic teaching, based on the old Roman Creed, which may be dated around 100 AD. It seems this creed grew out of early baptismal formulas that were being used by local churches to affirm belief in the apostolic teaching. It is structured around the trinitarian formula in Matthew 28; ‘baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The Apostles’ Creed developed into the form we now know it around the middle of the 5^th century.

Here is the creed; let’s say it together:

I believe in God the Father, Almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord;

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,

Born of the virgin Mary;

Suffered under Pontius Pilate,

Was crucified, dead, and buried;

He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven;

And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;

The holy catholic church; the communion of saints;

The forgiveness of sins;

The resurrection of the body;

And the life everlasting. Amen.

Jesus the Only Begotten

Our focus today will be the first part of the statement about Jesus;

And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord;

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,

Born of the virgin Mary;

Jesus is the only begotten Son of the Father. This word in the Greek version is [μονογενής], only-born; a word that Luke uses three times to describe an only child (Lk.7:12; 8:42; 9:38). The author of Hebrews interestingly uses this word to describe Isaac, ignoring the illegitimate child born to the slave woman.

John uses this word to describe Jesus.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. …14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. …18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Jesus, the eternal Word who was with God and who was himself God, is the only-begotten Son from the Father, the only-begotten God. Jesus stands in an absolutely unique relationship with his Father; God has no other begotten sons. We can become children of God through adoption (Jn.1:12; Gal.4:4-7):, but we do not share his nature. We do not become gods; we are his creation; he is the Creator.

The Only Begotten Sent and Given

In John 3, Jesus connects his identity as the only begotten Son of God to our salvation:

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. … 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

It matters what we think of Jesus. This is why what we believe about Jesus is so important; eternal life or condemnation is at stake. Our eternity is at stake if we get Jesus wrong. John says it again in 1 John;

1 John 4:9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

Against Gnosticism

Much of what we believe was clarified and defined by a response to false teaching. When we are talking about the infinite God, it is easier to say what he is not than to say what he is. Even the word ‘infinite’ is defining him by way of a negative; he is not finite like we are. Followers of Jesus simply took Jesus at his word and believed what he said about himself, until someone came along with a novel idea, and it forced the church to draw lines and articulate more carefully what they believed. This was happening even while the New Testament was being written. Gnostics prized knowledge, and believed that matter is evil, created by a lesser god, and spirit is good, so Jesus could not have really become flesh without becoming evil. Gnostics taught that Jesus only appeared to be human, in order to show us the way to enlightenment, to escape from our embodied existence.

It is against an early form of gnostic teaching that John writes his letters:

1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

Denial of the real flesh and blood humanity of Jesus is evidence of a false prophet inspired by an antichrist spirit. Do not believe it, because ‘God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.’

Conceived by the Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary

I believe …in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord;

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,

Born of the virgin Mary;

What we believe about Jesus matters. What we believe about Christmas matters.

Luke 1:26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy— the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost. God is spirit, not flesh, and the Spirit of the living God came upon Mary, the power of the Most High overshadowed her spiritually not physically, in such a way that she remained a virgin, and the virgin conceived and bore a son. There was no human father. The eternal Word became flesh and dwelt among us; Immanuel, God with us.

Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

The Lord, the Judge

I believe …in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord;

…From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

This Jesus Christ is our Lord. He is sovereign. He is the LORD, YHWH God, Immanuel, God with us. And he is coming again. He came once as Rescuer, Savior,

Philippians 2:5 …Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus humbled himself by becoming human, so that as a human he could die for our sins. But he did not stay dead; he conquered death and is now seated at the right hand of his Father in glory. And he is coming again, this time not in humility to suffer, but in power to rule. Every knee will bow to Jesus (Phil.2:9-11); some willingly now, those who stubbornly refuse him now will bend under the weight of his sovereign justice.

Advent. He came. He is coming again to judge the quick and the dead.

Wonder

So often we try to create wonder with twinkling lights and décor, with music, with aromas and flavors, with gifts and celebrations; but the true wonder is the wonder that God became human, that the eternal Word became flesh and dwelt among us, that the infinite God was born of a virgin, wrapped in rags, placed in an animal’s filthy food trough. Ultimately, God became human to die in my place. He came to pay my debt, to set this captive free.

Wonder, be amazed, worship. I invite you to bow the knee to Jesus as your Lord today. This is the creed I believe, by which I live. Do you?

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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org