Untitled Sermon

Chapter 1 – Credal Elements in the New Testament

1. The Ancient Legend

a. From the early church up to the fifteenth century, it was believed that the twelve apostles had produced the creed themselves once filled with the spirit to ensure their proclamation of the gospel would be consistent when they spread abroad

i. This story certainly appears to be pious fiction and has been set aside since the Reformation

b. The nineteenth century saw increased skepticism towards early creeds

i. The general consensus was that no such creed existed earlier than the mid-second century

2. The Apostolic Tradtion

a. It is likely true that no official creed such as we possess today existed in the NT church

i. But it is possible that looser and less official creeds were in use at that time

b. Two supporting thoughts:

i. The early church would certainly have had distinct doctrinal ideas which they preached and which separated them from their Jewish origins

ii. The apostolic literature (the NT) is certainly an exposition of the distinct doctrinal ideas which the early church held

iii. There is much biblical support for this (8 ff)

c. The creed of the primitive church could be understood as “the existence of a corpus of distinctively Christian teaching” (10)

i. This can now be accepted as “demonstrated fact” (13)

3. Fragments of Creeds

a. Yet the NT already contains “creed-like slogans and tags” (13)

b. Two supporting ideas

i. These slogans “were provoked by particular situations” (13)

1. Baptisms, exorcisms, etc.

ii. The style of these early creeds was subsequently determined by their specific usage

c. Some early formulations:

i. “Jesus is Lord” (Κυριος Ιησους)

ii. “Jesus is the Christ”

iii. “Jesus is the Son of God”

d. There are also possible examples of longer creeds in the NT (see 17 ff)

e. Many of the creed-like formulations were binitary, however the idea of the trinity, although not expressed yet in credal forms, occurs often throughout the NT

4. The Original Pattern

a. But remember: “no creed, confession or formula of faith” proper is found in the NT

i. There is a unified body of belief which is producing certain conventional patterns

b. Many unitary, binitary, and trinitary creeds flourished in the early church from this foundation of faith

c. The impulse to develop creeds came from within the church

Chapter 2 – Creeds and Baptism

1. The Role of Declaratory Creeds

a. A typical universally accepted answer for the appearance of creeds is in connection with baptism and what the baptized needed to confess before the rite

i. By the fourth century, declaratory creeds were a matter of fact for the baptismal rite

b. However “the declaratory creed was not the only nor the most significant profession made at baptism” (39)

c. Often the affirmation of the creed by the one baptised took place prior to the actual baptism and served more as an affirmation of the catechetical work which had taken place prior to the baptism itself

i. Thus declaratory creeds did not flow directly out of the baptismal rite in the fourth century and later

2. The Baptismal Interrogations

a. What about the third century and earlier then?

b. In the NT it is clear that belief was a requirement for baptism

c. In second and third century texts all the baptised would say is “I believe” in response to the threefold interrogation (Do you believe in Father, Son, Spirit etc.)

i. There is no evidence for a set creed to be recited by the one baptised

3. The Catechetical Setting of the Creeds

a. Creeds were a by-product of the catechetical system of the church

i. This is of course closely linked with baptism since catechesis was undertaken with a view to baptism

4. The Name “Symbolum”

a. Initially the word “Symbolum” indicated the “triple baptismal interrogations” (58)

b. Later this word “became the regular title of the declaratory creed”

i. How and when this change happened remains uncertain