Creeds

The word “Creed” – is from the Latin word Credo
meaning “I believe”.
A creed therefore, is a written declaration of religious belief.

The purpose of the early Apostle’s creed, (and the creeds thereafter), was not to replace scripture, but to corroborate them, usually to protect and clarify Church doctrine from heresy.
Creeds in a sense became ‘doctrinal declarations’ of belief about tenets like “the identity of God - the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit” etc.
Creeds, as statements of faith, remain true and authoritative only as long as they accurately reflect what scripture teaches. They are therefore articles of belief that reflect the "measuring plumbs of foundational doctrine" for Orthodox Christianity.

Similar creedal statements are already laid out in the original Apostles letters. For example, Math, 28:19 outlines the commandment of Baptism; and Paul in 1Tim. 3:16 affirms that ‘God the Word (Jesus) was manifest in the flesh’ etc.
An early creed believed to have had its origin with the apostles and then brought to Rome by Peter, was in use in the Churches by mid 200 AD. This ‘Rule of Faith’ creed, as it is known, developed in two forms; a shorter one known as the Old Roman form, and the longer creed known as the Received form.
The latter added the following to the shorter Old Roman creed to combat the then existent heresies of Marcion and Montanus.

- God the Father - added “maker of Heaven and Earth” rejected Marcion’s Gnostic image of God.
- Christ Jesus - “begotten, born of a virgin” to affirm His humanity.
- and “Descended into Hell”.
- The Holy “Catholic” Church (Catholic meaning “universal”).

For example- “Maker of Heaven and Earth” and “Almighty” militated against Marcions’ concept of the OT God being an evil creator, and not the true God of Jesus Christ. The confession that Jesus was ‘born of a virgin’ excludes Gnostic, Diocetic and Marcionic belief that Jesus was a phantom, and did not become human.

In 325 AD the Council of Nicaea met under the instruction of Emperor Constantine, to deal with the problem of the Arian attack which was causing division within the Church. Three hundred bishops met and it was reported that less than ten of them didn’t exhibit bodily scars from the Diocletian persecution eleven years earlier.
It is noteworthy that it was at Nicaea that also saw the abolishment of the observance of Passover, and replaced it with Easter celebrations relating more directly to the death, and resurrection of the Lord.
The Nicene Creed addressed issues such as the deity of Christ, and the substance of the Trinity thereby rejecting Arius’ heretical claims (Arius claimed there was a time when the Son did not exist, and that Jesus became sinless through practice and not by nature).
Terms added in this creed such as “God from God” further affirmed the deity of Christ.
The addition of “begotten, not made”, and “came down” stressed his co-existence with the Father and His eternality.

Despite the Nicene creedal declarations, controversy continued surrounding Jesus’ divinity between Arius followers and Athanasius (Bishop of Alexandria) about the proposed inclusion of the term ‘homoios’ meaning ‘similar’ which would challenge the accepted ‘homoousios’ meaning ‘same’. It wasn’t until 381AD that Emperor Theodosius convened the Council of Constantinople which affirmed ‘homoousious’ and further added “We believe the Holy Ghost the Lord”, emphasising that the Holy Spirit too was of the same substance as the Father and Son.

While doctrines surrounding the Trinity were largely accepted at Nicaea in 325, the final articles pertaining to the mystery were not fully established until 451AD at the Council of Chalcedon.
Between Nicaea and Chalcedon arose three other significant heresies, which required address by three separate councils. They all contended the pre-eminent question that Jesus himself asked; “Who do you say that I the son of man am?”

At Constantinople in 381, Ephesus in 431, and at Chalcedon in 451.

1. At Constantinople, against the Apollinarians (Apollinarius, was a friend of Athanasius), who affirmed Christ’s deity, but reduced his humanity. They claimed Jesus’ humanity only related to his body, which functioned as a ‘shell’ to house the divine, and did not relate to his inner person.

2. At Ephesus in 431, against the Nestorians. Nestorius (picture) was a preacher of Antioch and Patriarch of Constantinople from 428.
At this council, Nestorius spoke out against Mary being termed “The Mother of God”, preferring the term “Mother of Christ” because he considered it to be more in line with scripture, and perhaps because he may have seen the danger of elevating Jesus’ mother to idol status.
However, because Nestorius stumbled over doctrines surrounding the identity of Christ’s two natures in one person, his movement, along with his concerns over Mary’s elevation, were cast aside as heretical.
Nestorius claimed that Christ’s divinity (as God) was not always resident in a body. He said “God could not be a baby and therefore must have received his divinity at his baptism”.
Subsequently, Nestorius was rejected, and Mary was avowed at the Council of Ephesus in 431 as “The Mother of God”.

3. At Chalcedon in 451, against the Eutychians.
Eutyches (picture) a preacher who claimed Jesus’ humanity was absorbed by the divine. That is: his divinity and humanity became ‘one’ (Monophysite). This endangered the doctrine of the redemption of Christ -- suffering as a servant and man, who was in all aspects tempted as we are.

Pope Leo the Great (picture) brought Eutyuchus to Rome for lengthy discussions and afterwards (having disagreed with him) issued a carefully written letter, - the now famous Tome of Leo. Here Leo set forth an exposition of Christ’s two natures in one person.
It was Leo’s Tome, which became the basis in 451 for the council of Chalcedons’ enduring formulation of Christological doctrine pertaining to the true identity of Christ, God the Son.


So against Arius, the Church affirmed that Jesus was truly God, and against Appollinarus that He was truly man. Against Nestorius, that Jesus’ incarnate nature was fully man and fully God. And against Eutyches, that Jesus’ deity and humanity was not changed or had evolved.

To the credit of the Councils they did not attempt to “explain” the incarnation of Christ during the many debates of the fourth and fifth centuries. From an early stage, Councils recognized the “mystery of Christ” in that he is eternal, transcends all things, and beyond full comprehension; wisely so, they were careful to leave the mystery intact.

To the credit of the Councils they did not attempt to “explain” the incarnation of Christ during the many debates of the fourth and fifth centuries. From an early stage, Councils recognized the “mystery of Christ” in that he is eternal, transcends all things, and beyond full comprehension; wisely so, they were careful to leave the mystery intact.

Over the following centuries the Roman Catholic Church formalised its Articles of Belief concerning doctrine. However, these were not recognised as being any further development to the Creed finalized in 451AD since they did not change the theology surrounding the Trinity, nor the Churches’ constitutional image of God the Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
Albeit the Roman Catholic Church through the later influence of Augustine, Gregory, and other men like Thomas Aquinas’, did introduce extra-biblical dogma and beliefs contrary to Scripture.
 

Protestant denominations, as they formed in the latter half of the second millennium, also formed their articles of beliefs. These “Declarations of Faith” became the backbone of what they called Constitutions.

The following list of Scriptures are generally referred to as the Protestant Creedal (or Constitutional) “declaration of faith” passages.

Deut. 6:4: Hear O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD alone.

1 Kings. 18:39: And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, "The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God."

Matt. 16:16: Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Matt. 28:19: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

John 1:49: Nathanel answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"

John 6:68-69: Simon Peter answered him, "Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."

John 20:28: Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"

Acts 8:36-37: And as they went along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "See, here is water! What is to prevent my being baptized?" And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he replied, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Acts 16:31: And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."

1 Cor. 8:6: yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

1 Cor. 12:3: Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.