What are the good and the bad sides of creeds and confessions. Feel free to express your opinion.
What is your view of creeds and confessions?
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Ronald Nolette
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The good side is any parts of the creeds that agree with Scripture. The bad side are those parts that do not agree.
Deborah_
Well-Known Member
Creeds had the function of defining what is true Christian belief and what isn't.
Confessions are more detailed than the creeds, and tend to be specific to denominations.
When used for their designated purposes, they are useful. By reading a confession, you discover what a particular church teaches. But because Christians legitimately disagree on many issues, confessions aren't prescriptive for all Christians in the way that the creeds are.
Confessions are more detailed than the creeds, and tend to be specific to denominations.
When used for their designated purposes, they are useful. By reading a confession, you discover what a particular church teaches. But because Christians legitimately disagree on many issues, confessions aren't prescriptive for all Christians in the way that the creeds are.
I grew up in the Methodist church, and we recited the Apostle's Creed every Sunday, but I never once heard the scriptures that these beliefs come from. The creed was given more authority than the scriptures, seems to me. And why is it called the Apostle's Creed? Did it come from the apostles, or did it come much later, after the apostles were gone? Creeds are basically a statement of what some people have agreed to believe. They have no real authority, but they're given more authority than the scriptures they claim to represent.
Deborah_
Well-Known Member
The "Apostles' Creed" is much later than the apostles, but it's the oldest creed that we have and is a good summary of what they taught. And "summary" is a good word for it - it was never meant to replace Bible teaching, but to allow easy memorisation of the essential truths. (Which is why many churches used to recite it regularly - so that people would memorise it!)
Do you have an issue with anything in the Apostles' Creed?
No, I don't, but that's not the point. The problem, as I see it, is when creeds start to supersede the scriptures in authority. If a creed is simply a summary of what is taught in scripture, what's wrong with scripture then? Why must we have a summary made by men when we already have the scriptures? Instead of "Our creed states that we believe such and such," why not "We believe such and such and here are the scriptures from God's word." It's the scriptures that convict, not man-made creeds.
Sometimes confessions will give scriptures references but they're scant. The Augsburg Confession for example says: "Our Churches, with common consent, do teach." Notice they claim their "common consent" as their authority. It says over and over: "they (their churches) teach," not "God's word says."
Additionally, creeds and confessions have a tendency to make people lazy. If all a person has to know are a few lines from a creed, what's the point of actually learning what God's word says? That may not be the intention, but it seems to have that effect.
Stumpmaster
Well-Known Member
Stumpmaster
Well-Known Member
Deborah_
Well-Known Member
Good points, but the reason creeds were written and used is because they're practical! It takes time for a new convert (especially if from an unbelieving background, as I was) to make sense of Scripture. Scripture isn't always self-explanatory - it has to be taught. And in the meantime, someone who is relatively ignorant can be led off course by false teachers very easily. A creed can be learned quickly, and the background knowledge (and the gaps) filled in at leisure.
The early creeds (as opposed to the later confessions) were agreed upon by the whole church. They were drawn up by people thoroughly familiar with the Scriptures. (And remember, this was at a time when few "ordinary people could read Scripture for themselves).
A modern use for creeds and confessions is on church websites. Here you can find a summary of what the church teaches, whereas otherwise, you could be attending regularly for years before discovering what the leaders believe on certain matters. Very useful when looking for a new church!
Perhaps a better subject for discussion could be "the use and abuse of creeds". Creeds can be used badly - they're not a substitute for teaching, or for reading the Bible. But they can complement Bible reading.
Go for it. Feel free to start a thread on that if this one isn't your cup of tea.
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