The Creeds of the early church are meaningful to me. Here are two creeds that sum up my beliefs as a follower of Jesus Christ.
The Apostles' Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ,
His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day He arose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic [1] church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
Amen.
The Nicene Creed
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible;
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried; and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord, and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spake by the Prophets. And I believe one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church; I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.
AMEN.
Some Issues:
Salvation: We are saved by grace through faith, Ephesians 2:8-10. We must be born again, which means having a new birth inside ourselves, which is done totally by the Holy Spirit. When we believe in Christ, meaning we understand what his death and resurrection means, and apply it to ourselves depending on it, then we are born into the Kingdom. We are not told anywhere in scripture to “invite the Lord Jesus into your heart as Lord and Savior.” We are told to believe. A natural part of belief may be to invite Him into your heart, but just saying those words will not save a person. I believe it is necessary to understand the death and resurrection of Christ and to put our hope in that. Of course, one may use different words with the same meaning. God is the author and finisher of our faith. We are totally dependant upon Him to save us. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves.
Eternal Security: Though the phrase “once saved always saved” is abused, I do believe that once a person is saved by God, that person cannot become unsaved. Romans 11:29 says “for God’s gifts and his Call are irrevocable.”
We are saved by God, not by ourselves. Ephesians 2:8: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from ourselves, it is the gift of God.
I would say that many people who think they are saved are not, and many church people are not. Going down front in a church service and reciting some prayer the preacher tells you to say will not save me, you or anyone else. That sort of thing only makes one religious. As Jesus said “you must be born again” which means being born of the spirit, which is an act of God. Our salvation is not based on our works or on what we do. It is based solely on the work of Jesus Christ. Some will say then, “then let us sin because it doesn’t matter,” but what did Paul say to this accusation?
Forgiveness of sins: When we believe in Christ, when we are born again, we receive a new nature that He has provided. We also receive forgiveness of sins, and we will continually be forgiven as we repent. In the book of James, it says that all sin is unrighteousness, and that if you break one part of the law you are guilty of breaking all the law. My take on that is, if you think a bad thought about someone, or murder someone, you sin. The point is, there are no acceptable sins, all are wrong. So from a guilt or innocence perspective… us nice clean cut Christians are not any better than the worst prostitute on the street. We all deserve death because of our sins. God does not owe us forgiveness and never will. If God chose to not forgive us there would be nothing we could do about it. We must then rely on God and trust him for forgiveness. There is also no sin that will make you lose your salvation, though if you don’t feel bad or convicted over your sins, then maybe you should question whether you have ever been saved.
Election versus Free Will: This is a controversial issue that some feel is not important. I think it is because it does influence how you think about other things. I do believe that God knows who will accept salvation even before they are born. Whether this means God chose or not, I do not know. The Scriptures seem to teach both, that God chooses certain ones for salvation, and yet Jesus says Whosoever will may come. If God wants to say both, then who am I to argue? The reason I lean toward election though, is that, in election we realize that we are totally dependent upon God for our salvation. In Free Will, there is a tendency to think we have something to do with it, that some how we control the show.
The Bible: I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, even to the point that He directed the thoughts and writings of those that wrote the words down. I believe the writers were real people, people like Paul, James John and so forth. I believe the Bible is infallible, meaning absolutely accurate, in all spiritual matters. It is not a history book, a math book, a geology book or anything else. I believe it is mostly accurate in those areas, but if there is a point that it is not, perhaps the writings were limited to the knowledge of the day in these matters. I would go so far as to say that only the original languages are inspired as all translations, regardless of version, require some human interpretation. Most translations are excellent and true to the original languages, but there are nuances and subtleties in the original languages that are not translatable.
Interpreting the Bible: All Christians can understand the bible because the Holy Spirit enlightens our hearts as we study. This in no way means that one should read a verse and believe the first thing that pops into one’s head is what the Holy Spirit is telling them it means. The Holy Spirit enlightening means that it allows one to truly understand spiritual truth, which is something that unbelievers cannot do. They may understand them intellectually, but not in their spirits.
The scriptures should be interpreted literally as often as possible, except where it is obvious that the writer does not intend to be taken literally. While the scriptures are infallible, our understanding is not, and therefore, some passages are open to controversy.
Though I did say the Holy Spirit enlightens us, I do not believe at all that interpreting the Bible is a supernatural affair. Throughout scripture, there are no examples of the texts being supernaturally revealed. The examples we have are those of people studying and reasoning to determine the meaning. I think we should do it that way today as well.
“Sign” gifts of the Holy Spirit: I believe that these gifts are often abused, but I am not willing to say that speaking in tongues, healing and so forth are not from God. Paul says in Corinthians that we should “not forbid speaking in tongues” so I wont. Paul writes quite a lot about this in I Corinthians, taking most of chapters 12 through 14. He says plainly that the most important gifts are Faith, Hope and Love , and that we should pursue these above any of the more flashy gifts.
One thing about gifts though, is that they are free and dependant upon the giver and not the receiver. Speaking in tongues then, is a gift given by the Holy Spirit to whom he will. Therefore, having the gift is not a measure of one’s spiritual standing by any stretch. These gifts are also often abused, and I always tell people to tread carefully. While they may be of God, the enemy, the Devil, can also produce signs.
Modern day revelations: I am not a judge of any person or any ministry. However, Jesus said to be innocent as a dove and wise as a serpent. I believe it is possible for there to be modern day revelations, though I do not believe they should be accepted without close examination. Anyone who claims to have a revelation from God should be willing to submit to the same standards that were used in scripture. In Exodus, God says, if a prophet is wrong about anything …. Any detail… he or she is not from God and should not be listened to. They may be able to produce miraculous signs, but the Devil can too, if you will recall the magicians in Pharoah’s court when they battled with Moses. As a believer in Christ, my theology and beliefs are in the open for anyone to examine and criticize. If I am wrong on some point, you may be able to correct me with scripture and reasoning. I do not claim to speak for God except as I quote his scriptures. Anyone who claims to speak for God should be willing to undergo at least that much examination if not more. I also believe, as Christians, we have a responsibility to examine such “revelations” and judge them accordingly.
End Times: These may be the last days, but they also may not be. I have no idea. Jesus said no man knows the hour of his return. Many people study such things and are more knowledgeable than I am. However, I do believe it is more important to focus on today, and what God’s purpose is today, than it is to speculate on what God might do in the future.
Politics: I don’t do politics. You won’t find any of it on my pages and you never will. My one radical belief is that as Christians, we do not need politics to accomplish the purposes of God. God will accomplish his purposes at all times regardless of what is happening on the governmental level.