Jesus – Alive and Reigning as King

In the continuation of my look at the Apostles’ Creed, today we turn to the victorious announcement of Jesus’ resurrection and his ongoing reign over all the earth. The third day he rose again Do you know the three most thrilling words in the whole Bible? “He is not here; he has risen!” (Luke 24:6). [...]

Jesus – Birth and Death

Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary Justo Gonzalez, a noted church historian, highlights two important facets of this phrase of the Creed in his book, The Apostles’ Creed for Today. First, it was a special birth. Consider the miraculous births that the Scriptures record from the birth of Isaac to [...]

Jesus – the Christ, God’s Son, Our Lord

The Apostles’ Creed emphasizes the humanity of Jesus. Most of the Creed’s statement about Jesus center on his birth and death – that he was an actual man who actually lived and actually died. But it roots his humanity is his divinity. Jesus is both fully man and fully God. The first line of the [...]

Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity

There are 109 words in the Apostles’ Creed, 69 fall in the second stanza.  Over 63% of the Apostles’ Creed is found in the second stanza which focuses exclusively on the second member of the Trinity, Jesus.  Why? Let me suggest two reasons. First, it is the person of Christ that makes Christianity so unique. [...]

The Father Almighty

The first declaration of the Creed states, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.” There are two main ideas here, summed up in the words “almighty” and “maker.” That God is almighty means that he is the ruler of all. God is sovereign. He can and will do all he [...]

God in 3 persons – The Trinity

Question 5 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, one of the foundational documents of the Reformed faith, asks, “Are there more Gods than one?”  The response: “There is but One only, the living and true God.” And yet, the answer to the very next question of the WSC states: “There are three persons in the one [...]

“I believe”

The Creed is divided into three main sections. The first and the third begin with the phrase, “I believe in…” The Creed is a personal profession of faith. While we no longer use it as a qualification for baptism, it still stands as an affirmation of personal faith. This is not the faith of your [...]

Introduction to the Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: And in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; [...]

Why study early church history

Edmund Burke, the British statesman and philosopher, has famously said, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”  If we ignore history, we will be undone by the same obstacles and same tests that those who have gone before us have already faced.  Our challenges today are eerily similar to those the church [...]