Confession–of Faith – What Does This Mean?

What’s a Creed, Anyway?

Encore Post: We say creeds together every time we worship together. We study them in confirmation and memorize two of them. They contain the basic teachings of Scripture that all Christians believe. Even Protestant churches that reject formal creeds cheerfully confess what they confess. But what are they, anyway?

The word creed comes from the Latin word credo which means “I believe.” they are statements of what we know about God, especially the gospel. In one sense, they are salvation history — a statement of how God saved us and where we fit in his plan. They are short and sweet — something we can take with us forever.

While the Apostles did not write the creeds, the words and phrases reflect how the Bible proclaims the Gospel. When new Christians were taught the faith in the early Church, their teachers had them memorize short sentences and phrases that summed what they believed. When they were baptized, they would recite them. Some of these are in the Bible. Here are a few:

Hear, O Israel…” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)
“There is one God… one Lord…” (1 Corinthians 8:6)
“Christ died for our sins…” (1 Corinthians 15:3-8)
“Jesus Christ is Lord…” (1 Corinthians 12:3), (Philippians 2:11)

Over three hundred years, these statements grew in size. Christians began to use the same words. In the 4th Century, they developed into the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. They became ways in which all Christians knew Jesus’ story and where they fit in it. When we recite the Creed, it reminds us who we are and whose we are.

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The Confession of St. Peter

Encore Post: In Northeast Israel, at the base of Mount Hermon, a giant spring gushed water out of a cave that flowed into Huela Marsh, the headwaters of the Jordan River. During the centuries following the death of Alexander the Great, Syria’s Greek rulers built a shrine there to the god Pan. During the earthly ministry of Jesus, Herod the Great’s son, Philip, built a town nearby and named it after Tiberius Caesar and himself. His father had added a temple to Caesar Augustus to the previous shrine to Pan. A major trade road, “The Way to the Sea” ran through the town on its way to the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea. At the end of his ministry in Galilee, Jesus took his disciples to this location to prepare them for his final year of ministry, suffering, death and resurrection. (Matthew 16:13-28)

At this place Jesus asked his disciples who people thought he was. They replied that people said he was a prophet, maybe even John the Baptist or Elijah. Jesus then followed up. “Who you say I am?” St. Peter replied, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” God the Father had revealed this to Peter, but it became clear very quickly that he really did not know what a Messiah was to do. Jesus explained to the disciples that he would soon suffer, die for the sins of the world and rise from the dead in three days. Peter tried to scold him. It could not happen to him — he was the Messiah, after all. Jesus replied by calling Peter Satan. Anyone that would be his disciple, would need to take up his own cross and follow Jesus.

Even though Peter was badly mistaken, Jesus praised his confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. The confession was so important that Jesus gave him the name Peter — little rock. The confession itself is the rock on which Jesus builds his church. Even hell itself cannot destroy that church. So, since the early years of the Twentieth Century, the Lutheran Church has celebrated this confession on January 18th, a day always in the season of Epiphany, when it meditates on the ways that God the Son reveals himself to us.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Jesus is Lord

Encore Post: Christians are a confessing people. That should not surprise anyone. After all, Jesus told us we would be his witnesses in every part of the world. He directed us to make disciples from every people, going to them, baptizing them and teaching them everything he taught us. (Matthew 28:16-20)

From the very beginning, Christians have spoken together short summaries of what they believed. Several of these are in the New Testament itself. The most important is the sentence, “Jesus Christ is Lord.”

The Jewish people did not speak the name of God — Yahweh. Instead, they said, “my Lord.” When Christians confessed that Jesus was Lord, they were implying he is God. When they called Jesus Lord, the were echoing the Christmas angel, who told the shepherds he was “a savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11) When Christians call Jesus Lord, they do so by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:3) When we confess Jesus as Lord, we do what all people will confess on the Last Day. (Philippians 2:10-11)

As Roman persecutors were to discover, this confession was so precious to Christians, that they would rather die than call anyone else Lord. When called upon to burn incense on an altar dedicated to Caesar as a god, saying Caesar is Lord, they refused. They counted it a blessing to suffer and die as a martyr — a witness for their Lord.

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Seeing is Believing

St. Thomas was a practical, down to earth man. Called “the Twin,” the few words we have from him were very direct. When Jesus was determined to go to Lazarus’ Tomb, not five miles from Jerusalem, Thomas said, “Let us also go and die with Him.” (John 11:16) When Jesus told the disciples at the Lord’s Supper that He was going to prepare a place for them, he asked, “Lord, we don’t know where You are going, how can we know the way?” (John 14:5) Subtle, Thomas was not. Loyal, strong and down to earth, he was.

When Jesus was crucified, Thomas had no doubt the Lord was dead. He knew every detail. He did not want it to be that way, but he was a realist. Jesus was gone — end of story. So when the other disciples told Thomas with joy, “We have seen the Lord!” Thomas would have nothing of it. He had to see the wounds that marked Jesus to believe. Even seeing would not be enough. He had to touch the wounds. On something as important as the life of the Lord, Thomas would not be fooled.

All of this changed when Jesus appeared to him and the rest of the disciples the Sunday after Easter. Turning to Thomas, Jesus invited His hard-headed disciple to see for himself. “Stop doubting,” Jesus said, “and believe.” This was all Thomas needed. He dropped to his knees to worship Jesus. All he could say was, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus mildly rebukes him and then blesses us. “You have seen and believed,” Jesus said, “blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” It was enough for Thomas. According to church tradition, Thomas would go to India and establish a church there. To this day, a faith tradition of four million in India call themselves Thomas Christians.

And so it would be. Billions of people who did not see Jesus believed him and loved him. St. Peter said it best: “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:8-9) Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Allelujah!

The Day of Resurrection | Stay with Us, Lord, for it is Evening