This is a Christian Creed I developed for my personal and ministry use.
I like all am a work in progress seeing through the glass darkly (1 Cor 13:12). I am mindful that Peter even after the day of Pentecost still needed to learn more about God's truth (Acts 10:9-16; Gal 2:11:21).
Being in good company with people like him, as the need arises I will make adjustments to this creed or statement of faith.
There is much confusion and conflict in the world.
Confusion and conflict within the church world, outside the church world, and between the church world and the rest of the world.
And so one of the things that I attend to is to enhance my certainity of what I believe.
Of what God's expectation of me is and should be.
Of what my expection of God is and should be.
And so I have developed what I call Chaurcey's Christian Creed.
And of course Christ is the focus and center of the creed as Christ is the basis for the word Christian.
And of course, a fundamental goal is that every element of the Creed is consistent with and reflects sound biblical doctrine.
By Christian creed I mean a statement of beliefs rooted in the Bible that I aim to guide my attitude and actions everyday everywhere in everything.
By definition a Christian Creed is a statement of the fundamental beliefs of a Christian person, a local church, a denomination,
or regional body of Christian believers.
I do not go so far as to say that there is a written Christian Creed that is authoratative for the universal worldwide church.
Indeed, there is no named group today who has the authority as the apostles and elders had at the Jerusalem Council;
As recorded in Acts 15 where they came together and decided how things would be for the whole church worldwide.
For they throughout the New Testament by the Holy Spirit documents for us how things fundamentally are to be
in every generation and in every culture and in every nation all over the world.
Now there are persons or groups who might claim such authority but I know of none who truly has such authority.
For Jesus says all power or authority (Matt 21:27) in heaven and earth is given unto him (Matthew 28:17).
To whom he delegates that authority I honor.
But I know of none beyond the faithful biblical
apostles to whom he has delegated such worldwide church authority.
And in this time, all of them are gone on from earth.
There are historical church creeds to include what are known as the Apostle's creed and the Nicene Creed.
My Christian Creed share some elements with those creeds but mine represents my personal focus and understanding.
My Christian Creed deals with key biblical concepts to include but not limited to salvation, faith, grace, mercy, praise, worship, obedience, and encouragement.
One God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
I believe in one God,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
For as the first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1 says "in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth".
And as Psalm 24:1 says "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell in it."
And as the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 66:1 "heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool".
I am mindful of Psalm 14:1 that says "the fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."
I am mindful that any person who rejects the first verse of the Bible will not be able to rightly divide the word of truth that runs from Genesis to Revelation.
Though he might be able to intellecturally grasp aspects of the Holy Bible, he will not be able to ever spiritually discern the whole counsel of God.
I believe in one God.
One God who presents himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
at various times for various purposes (Matthew 3:16-17; Hebrews 1:8-9).
One God who hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the worlds; (Hebrews 1:2; [ John 1:1-3,4-13,14 ])
My belief is rooted in faith in that truth.
And faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God,
not the word of man. (Romans 10:17)
So that I would rather obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29).
So then I must be more of a friend to God than to family and others.
I believe in the Father.
I believe in the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
I believe in the Holy Spirit AKA the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9).
The Father, who sent the Son (Romans 8:3).
The Father, who gave the Son (Isaiah 9:6-7; John 3:14-21; Rom 8:1-6; 10:4; John 1:16-17; 2 Cor 5:21; John 3:6-8).
All because of his great love, grace, and mercy
For each and everyone of us.
The Son
The Son, one with the Father,
came down from heaven,
conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born into human form
of a virgin named Mary,(Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:32-33; Matthew 1:20-23)
probably of the house of David (Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 9:6-7; Luke 1:32-33).
Being (as was supposed) the son (legally but not biologically)
of her husband Joseph of the house of David.
All that the scripture be fulfilled,
all according to God's salvation plan.
The Son, lived a perfect sinless qualifying life;
The Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.
He was falsely accused of sin, arrested,
and crucified unto actual physical death
on the cross called Calvary under Pontius Pilate.
He suffered and shed his blood for remission of sins.
All this was done for us and for our salvation.
The Son, the third day resurrected, according to the Scriptures.
He presented himself to over 500 folks over a 40-day period.
Then he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
And so he, the Son, provides an example of our hope; we who are in Christ Jesus;
That though we go to the grave, we too shall be resurrected.
We too shall ascend into heaven for eternal life of joy and peace.
The Son, he will come again with glory
to judge the living and the dead.
His kingdom will never end.
And so it is that I look forward to his return,
and to eternal life in the world to come.
The Holy Spirit and Baptism
The Holy Spirit, the Spirt of Truth, the Comforter;
Sent by both the Father and the Son.
He spoke through the prophets in a major way
as recorded in the Old Testament under the Old Covenant.
He spoke through the apostles in a major way
as recorded in the New Testament under the New Covenant.
Having been baptized with the Holy Spirit by Jesus (Matthew 3:11), he, the Spirit of Truth, leads and guide us into all truth,
keeping us holy and safe, in our surrendering to him.
I believe baptism of/with/in the Holy Spirit is synonymous with receipt and indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
This belief is rooted in scriptures such as Romans 8:9
Therefore, I believe every saved person has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit being born of the Holy Spirit (John 3:5-8).
I believe in the filling or infilling of the Holy Spirit
in which God gifts believers with various
capabilities for living and ministry for his own glory and purpose.
The gifts vary and may or may not include "speaking in tongues".
For tongues are a gift given to some for a specific
occasion and purpose by God then and possibly now.
I believe this filling of the Holy Spirit is in addition
to the receipt of or baptism of the Holy Spirit but may occur to some degree at the same time.
This difference is highlighted by considering some apostles receipt of the Holy Spirit before Acts 2 (John 20:22)
and a later filling of the Holy Spirit as recorded in Acts 2 (Acts 2:1-4).
For the scriptures say:
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. (1 Cor 12:4-7)
I believe water baptism is the easiest one time commandment to do
that all should obey as soon as able.
I believe water baptism is a public outward sign of inner repentance,
rooted in faith in Jesus Christ, a faith demonstrated through laboring to obey
God's commandment in surrender to the Holy Spirit expressing godly sorrow unto further committment to faith and such laboring.
Of this, both Jesus and the apostles attest to as documented in the Holy Bible.
The Church
I believe in one holy universal worldwide church that Jesus is building (Matthew 16:13-19, 20; 18:15-20),
the church of the living God, the ground and pillar of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15)
This church consists of believers of both genders, and all nationalities, races or skin colors, ethnicities, and tongues/languages (Romans 10:12-13; Revelation 7:9).
I believe in multiple local and regional expressions of the one univeral church.
I believe that I as a member of God’s church
am to participate in holy convocation within my
household and outside my household on a regular basis,
ideally at least weekly but as often as expedient.
I believe I am to engage in natural work at most six days a week
resting on the seventh day on a regular basis yet recognizing that
occasional exceptions are sometimes appropriate.
For I understand this is good for my spiritual health, mental health,
physical health, and family/household health.
Salvation, Good Works, and Judgement
I believe I am saved by grace through faith into God’s church,
not of myself, not of works, less I should be able to boast.
For salvation is a gift of God through Christ Jesus.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes.
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.
That we walk by faith and not by sight laboring that we might be accepted of him.
For we must all appear before the judgement of Christ;
that every one may receive the things done in his body,
according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
I believe that whatever that judgement entails
I would rather be judged for having done good rather than evil.
So then, I believe as Jesus says, that I, as one of his saved
disciples under the New Covenant, am to do good works
to glorify my Heavenly Father.
This means I am to labor to obey the commandments,
The laws of God under Christ as given in the Holy Bible.
I believe the first great commandment is love for God.
I beleive the second great commandment is love for others as I love myself (Matthew 22:34-40).
I believe the Jesus gave the new commandment to love others has he has loved us
thus demonstrating we are his disciples (John 13:34-35).
I believe greater love has no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends.
I believe this laying down of life rarely involves death but often involves humility, care, concern, and consideration
a kind of putting others before oneself always exercising wisdom rejecting foolishness.
I believe the Ten Commandments instruct God's people in basic matters of love and character.
For the first five focuses on love for God.
The other five focuses on love for others as we love ourselves.
These are the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17).
I believe these Ten Commandments are part of but not all of what
Jesus speaks of when saying his disciples are to be the
salt of the earth and light of the world having good character
and doing good works (Matthew 5:13-16)
I believe what constitutes good works under the New Covenant
is defined from Genesis to Revelation such that the New
Testament informs and determines my understanding
and application of the Old Testament.
For as the scripture teaches we serve
in the newness of the spirit of the law
not in the oldness of the letter (Rom 7:6; 2 Cor 3:3-7).
Closing
I believe in one God.
I believe in the Father.
I believe in the Son Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
I believe in the Holy Spirit.
As the last verse of the Bible says: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
