Many churches today recite the Apostle's Creed as a brief statement of what they believe. Although not exhaustive it does give strangers to the Christian faith some idea of what the early Christians believed.
I recited this during one of my street preaching videos in Hollywood, CA. Sadly, today too many churches are unfamiliar with church history and the various creeds, confessions and catechisms of the Christian faith.
Some Christian denominations today reject formal creeds and say they believe only the Scriptures as sufficient for their
statement of doctrine. This is well and good and the Christian religion while relying on the Bible alone and in its entirety as it's ultimate authority should not despise the importance of the Apostle's Creed.
Almost every church I've ever visited has disturbed the unity of the Church by appealing to Scripture alone to support the doctrines they taught. Inspite of this there is still much disagreement amongst professing Christians in the various denominations and I can not but think that more unity could be found if we would give seriously attention to the Apostle's Creed and study supporting Bible texts in confirmation of its veracity.
For example take the doctrine of God. Did God create or make the heavens and the earth as Genesis 1:1 states? The Apostle's Creed affirms this without proving it. Nevertheless, any evolutionary interpretation of Genesis must be put aside if we
hold to this creed. Granted the Apostle's Creed came into existence centuries before Darwin's imaginary speculations which cast doubt on the doctrine of creation but this only gives more credibilty to those Christian churches which affirm the veracity of this creed despite Darwin's writings.
Keep in mind the purpose of the creeds were not to cover in depth any one doctrine of the Christian faith but to strengthen the saints against the teaching of heretics. The Apostles' Creed was not intended, and does not profess, to state all the things that Christians ought to believe. There is no reference in it to Scripture, to Inspiration, to Prayer, or to the Sacraments. It sets forth in a few words which are pretty easy to memorize a summary of certain beliefs. You can use it as an outline for preaching on the street or for a series of sermons.
Hopefully, you've learned something new today that will add to your knowledge and understanding of both the Christian faith and history of the church.
The Apostle's Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Maker of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only 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.
Carlton Pruitt ministers the gospel to the Los Angeles area. Formerly a Hollywood actor (SAG member)and junk removal expert he now spends most of his time studying the scriptures, writing articles, hymns and poems and doing street preaching. See his videos on www.YouTube.com. Type in LAStreetPreacher in the search bar. CONTACT at Carlton2061@gmail.com
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