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Most people know that different Christian churches believe different things.
Sometimes this is given as a reason to reject the Christian faith: “Christianity can’t be very believable if not even Christians agree on what they should believe!”
True, Christians disagree about non-core beliefs, such as whether a person should be baptized by immersing them in water or pouring water on them, or whether churches should be governed by local elders or a regional bishop. Other disputes are much more serious: “What is the role of Mary in our worship?” “Does purgatory exist?”
There are, though, certain core beliefs that all Christians have believed for the church’s entire two-thousand-year existence. These beliefs are encapsulated in the Apostles’ Creed, an ancient statement of Christian faith that extends back to at least the second century.
Over the coming months we will examine the Creed one sentence at a time. If you are not a Christian, this will make clear what you must believe to become a Christian, and to enjoy the wonderful blessings of knowing Jesus Christ. If you are already a Christian, then you know that it is always good to go back to the basics.
Article One: “I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.”
Read over the whole Creed and you will see that it names three distinct persons as God, who are worthy of all our worship and service: God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit.
Christians believe that there is one God only, and that God has revealed himself as three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Spirit. This is the doctrine of the Trinity, a word which means “three persons in unity.”
Some have dismissed the Trinity as self-contradictory; but although it is difficult to comprehend and explain, there is nothing illogical about one God existing as three persons. You cannot fit the Indian Ocean into a teacup, and we should not be surprised that our finite minds cannot contain and comprehend all that God is.
The first sentence of the Apostles’ Creed echoes the first verse of the Bible, that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” God created us all; he “knitted us together in our mothers’ wombs” (Ps. 139:13).
We ought to adore and worship God as our Creator. We fulfil the purpose of our existence and are most complete, human, and happy when we do that. Our Creator is an Almighty Father: there are no limits to his power, and he cares for and lovingly governs all that he has created (Deut. 32:6).
The fact that we are upset by disease, violence, and death—that we don’t accept these things as natural—means that we know that God’s perfect creation is somehow broken. In fact, God has cursed and blighted his creation because of sin (Gen. 3)—because we have not obeyed and loved him as we should have.
This sad truth underlies what comes next in the Creed, that God sent “Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord,” to die and rise again to redeem this broken world.
Jesus restores our relationship to God. In Jesus, God adopts us as his children so that we may look to him anew as our loving, almighty, and heavenly Dad (Rom. 8:15).
Related Articles:
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Why Do Christians Pray, “Thy Will Be Done, on Earth as It Is in Heaven”?
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Why Do Christians Pray, “And Lead Us Not into Temptation, But Deliver Us from Evil”?
Campbell Markham has been a pastor in the Australian Presbyterian Church for over twenty-two years and lives in Perth, Western Australia. He blogs at Campbell Markham: Thoughts and Letters.
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