My creed

In my Church History class, we recently were looking at different creeds of the early church. These were written to define clearly what the church believed in, often as a response to heretical teachings of the time. One of our assignments in this class was to write our own creed. I thought it might be good to post it on my blog, too. I want my faith and beliefs to be based on the Word of God and I trust that this creed also is a reflection of that. So here we go...

My creed

God is the sovereign Creator and King of everybody and of everything. Everything exists for His glory.

God has revealed Himself to man by His creation, by His Son, and by His Word. The Bible is the verbally inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God.

There is only one God who exists in three persons – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God is eternal. He has always existed and never had a beginning.

God created the universe and all that is in it in six days. On the sixth day, He created man in His own image. Although created sinless, the first man chose to sin against God, with the effect that all of his descendants – the whole human race – are born with a sin nature. Every person therefore is a sinner by birth.

Since God is a holy God and cannot tolerate sin, He must punish sin. He is completely righteous and loves righteousness and therefore must hate unrighteousness. Every sin is ultimately against God and His righteousness. Even just one “little” sin is such a great offence against God and His righteousness that the just punishment is eternal death and everlasting suffering in a literal hell. By breaking just one of God’s commandments, man has become guilty of them all. Man is by nature totally depraved and dead in his trespasses and sins. He can do nothing to save himself from God’s just wrath.

Because of God’s great love, He sent His Son Jesus Christ to earth to die for sinners. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became a human being and was born by a virgin, so He did not have a human father and He did not inherit a sin nature. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth and shed His blood on the cross where He died for the sins of mankind as their Substitute. On the cross, Jesus Christ bore not only the sins of men, but also the full wrath of God on these sins, so that man’s sins could be atoned for and forgiven. After three days, Jesus Christ rose from the dead, showing that God was satisfied with His payment and that He had won the victory over sin and death.

Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, any person who places His faith in Christ as his Lord and Saviour is forgiven of his sins and receives the gift of eternal life. The Holy Spirit regenerates and indwells such a person so that he becomes a new creation in Christ and can never lose his salvation. Those who reject Christ or place their trust in anything else for salvation remain dead in their sins and remain condemned to eternal death.

Jesus Christ will forever be King of kings and Lord of lords. Every knee will bow to Him and every tongue will confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.