Creeds

Disclaimer: I am not taking the song in this entry to task. I am simply using it to make a point.

We sang a hymn in church -- My Faith has Found a Resting Place. Nice little ditty, I suppose. It expresses an extremely popular idea today.

My faith has found a resting place,
Not in device nor creed;
I trust the Ever-living One,

His wounds for me shall plead.
I need no other argument,
I need no other plea;
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.

The song was written by Eliza E. Hewitt in 1891. And you get the idea. "You can keep your creeds and your doctrines. I'm just going with Jesus." In much of Christendom today those dusty old creeds have been relegated to dinosaur status. No, not quite. Dinosaurs are interesting. But I think when we make this claim we're missing the point¹.

Consider. It is true that "we preach Christ crucified." (1 Cor 1:23) Paul said, "I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." (1 Cor 2:2) So, that's it, right? We're done. Eliza was right on. Except that I would argue that Eliza (and most of us today) don't grasp the concepts of "creed" or "doctrine" very well. Her faith is not in a creed, and that's actually good, but if you understand the concept of a creed, what she procedes to do is lay out her creed.

A creed, you see, is simply a statement of beliefs. (The word is rooted in the Latin, "credo", which simply means, "I believe.") The moment she began -- "My faith has found a resting place ..." -- she declared a belief -- "my faith". What beliefs does she go on to declare? It's actually rather involved. She declares Christ to be "the Ever-living One", a declaration of the eternal nature of Christ. She claims His wounds on her behalf, a declaration of the efficacy of the Cross. She goes on to claim "He'll never cast me out", an agreement with Jesus's claims (John 10:29) and Hebrews (Heb 13:5), which is a claim to the veracity of Scripture as well as eternal security. She does a more solid claim to the validity of Scripture in her third verse when she writes, "My heart is leaning on the Word, the written Word of God" and goes on to claim that salvation is through His blood. In the fourth verse she refers to Him as "My great Physician". All this and more is part of her creed, her declaration of beliefs. But ... didn't say she needed no device or creed?

It's popular for savvy Christians to declare, as Eliza did, "No creed but Christ!" What they don't realize is that such a declaration is a creed. Creeds existed at the outset of Christianity. Paul's statement in 2 Timothy 2:11-13 is an example of one of the earliest creeds -- a statement of common (and biblical) beliefs. Creeds can be misused. They can be mouthed without purpose or used to coerce. They can be allowed more authority than they should be given the overarching authority of Scripture. But it is a mistake to argue that "all creeds are bad" when that itself would be a statement of belief.
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¹ Note: If I wanted to take the song to task, it would be on this single point -- "I need no argument." Peter says that if we are to honor Christ the Lord as holy, we should be always prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks (1 Peter 3:15). That is an argument. Jude says "to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." (Jude 1:3) That's an argument. Arguments are biblical.