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Creeds have been an important part of Christianity since its inception. The term creed is derived from the Latin credo which simply means, “I believe.” So, a creed is a statement of belief. More precisely, a creed usually attempts to set forth in some concise manner the essential beliefs of a particular group of people, in this case Christians. The creeds – of which there are four formal ecumenical creeds: The Apostles’ Creed, The Nicene Creed, The Athanasian Creed, and the Creed of Chalcedon - attempt to define the essence of what one means when one claims that he is a Christian.

What is the relationship of the creeds to the Bible? Some claim that the very concept of a creed is unbiblical. With cries of “sola scriptura,” they reject any attempt to provide any authoritative teaching outside of the scripture. The problem with this is that the church of the first century had creeds. Perhaps the earliest creed was the simple proclamation, “Jesus is Lord!” The early Christians understood by this that Jesus was Yahweh, a profound central tenant of Christian belief. There were other creeds held by early Christians. For example, I Corinthians 15:3-4 contains what is felt to be an early Christian creed used as early as 2-5 years after Christ’s death and resurrection. It provides the essential teachings of the early Christian faith, “that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.”

As the church grew and the gap since the beginning of Christianity grew larger, there was a need to provide a more detailed summary of Christian belief. This led to the development of The Apostles’ Creed in the second century (It took several more centuries for the creed to obtain its present form), The Nicene Creed in the fourth, and The Athanasian Creed and the Creed of Chalcedon in the fifth.

Next, what purposes the creeds may serve.