About this sermon
Some Christians reject creeds and say, ‘No creed but Christ.’ Creeds summarize what the church believes, and they serve worship, discipleship, and witness. The Bible itself contains creedal statements, like the hymn of 1 Timothy 3:16: ‘He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit.’ The church is the pillar and support of the truth, and because Scripture is clear, God’s people can summarize its message faithfully.
Sermon transcript
Standing for the reading of God’s Word, my sermon text today is taken from 1 Timothy, Paul’s first letter to Timothy, his son in the faith. 1 Timothy 3, verses 14-16. Dear ones, this is the Word of God. Let us hear it with reverence and awe. I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness. He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. Dear ones, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever.
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, by your spirit, we ask that you would open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word this day. Feed our souls, encourage us, challenge us, bless us, uplift us, Lord God, and we ask that you would be exalted and glorified in our lives. Grant, oh Lord, that we would be transformed by the renewing of our minds through the word this day. In Jesus’ name we pray, and all of God’s people said, amen. You may be seated. Well, dear friends, today begins a new sermon series that is being guided by the Apostles’ Creed, but it’s a Bible-based series that will explore the various doctrines of faith that are summarized in that great Bible-based creed of the church, the Apostles’ Creed. But today we consider the biblical basis for creeds themselves.
And so the title of my sermon is We Confess. the biblical basis for creeds. And if you’re following along in your sermon outline, I’d especially like to draw the attention of the children to the four key words to be listening for in my sermon today. The words creed, believe, truth, and witness. Well, dear ones, what is a creed? How might we define a creed? Well the English word creed comes from the Latin word credo which means I believe. So a creed is basically a short summary statement or a public confession of what an individual or an organization such as a church body for example believes. One definition of a creed which I came across this past week defines a creed as, quote, a formal statement of Christian beliefs, especially the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed.
Goes on to define a creed as, quote, a set of beliefs or aims which guide someone’s actions. Now in the church historically, the creeds, such creeds and creedal statements have often been used for a number of purposes in the life of the church. For example, creeds can have a liturgical use, which means that they can be used in public worship as a way for the congregation to corporately reaffirm its faith as an act of worship in the presence of Almighty God. So it can have a liturgical or worship-oriented use. Creeds can also be used for purposes of discipleship, as a way of educating, instructing, and grounding believers, especially younger or newer believers, in the basic doctrines of the Christian faith. In addition, Bible-based creeds can have a witness-bearing and evangelistic function as well, as they bear official testimony to those outside of the church of what the Christian church believes, confesses, and proclaims.
However friends, as many of you are probably aware, not all Christians and not all professedly Christian churches are favorable to creeds and confessions. Some churches are indifferent about the matter of creeds and confessions, some are more suspicious But in fact, in certain segments of Christianity today, there is an attitude of outright hostility toward the use of creeds and confessions in the life of the church. For example, some Protestant and Evangelical Christians seem to believe that using creeds is way too Catholic. After all, they would say, since the Bible is God’s word, and is the only word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice, why would we need creeds and confessions? I mean, isn’t the Bible enough? This seems to be the sentiment behind that statement or assertion, and perhaps you’ve heard this before, no creed but what?
No creed but Christ. And the extended statement goes, no creed but Christ, no book but the Bible. One particular anti-creed author by the name of Thomas W. Phillips, who wrote a book called The Church of Christ in the 1940s, expressed this anti-creedal perspective as follows, and I quote him. Mr. Phillips writes, human creeds are objectionable under any and all circumstances. First, because the Christian scriptures are complete. Second, if a creed contains more than the Scriptures, it is not right and is therefore objectionable. Third, if a creed contains less than the Scriptures, it is not right and is therefore objectionable. Fourth, if a creed differs in any respect from Scripture, it is not right and is objectionable. And fifth, If a creed is precisely like the scriptures, it is not needed, for we have the scriptures.
Therefore, under any and all circumstances, creeds are objectionable. So that’s a very strong anti-credal statement. It’s a statement that, at least on the surface, might seem to be watertight, but as I hope to show, it’s actually not watertight. Now friends, we in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church agree with Mr. Phillips in his assertion that the Scriptures are complete, though we strongly disagree with some of the inferences that he draws from that position. You see, as a Protestant church, we hold to the biblical Protestant principle of sola scriptura, which means Scripture alone. This means that we believe that the Bible and the Bible alone is the word of God. Indeed, the Bible is God’s complete word and therefore is the only infallible rule for Christian faith and Christian practice. The Bible teaches us infallibly what we are to believe about God and what duty God requires of us as his creatures.
But if we believe the Bible is complete and that it is the final standard for Christ’s Church, then why is it that we use uninspired, man-made creeds, confessions, and catechisms? Well, dear ones, from our passage for today, I hope to demonstrate that the Bible itself supports the legitimacy of using faithful, Bible-based, though man-made creeds and confessions, not of course to replace or to supplement or to add to the Bible, nor in any way to be an equal authority in the church along with the Bible, but rather as summaries and echoes of Bible truth. And so let’s dive into our text for today, and I would first of all point out, beloved, that the church’s calling as a pillar and buttress of the truth supports the legitimacy of creeds and confessions. This is the first point in your sermon outline.
The church’s calling as a pillar and buttress of the truth supports the legitimacy of creeds and confessions. Now, let me just set this passage in its context. 1 Timothy is often referred to as a pastoral epistle. You see, most of Paul’s letters or epistles were written to local churches, but unlike most of the epistles penned by the Apostle Paul, the pastoral epistles, which include 1 and 2 Timothy along with Titus, were written to individuals rather than to local churches. 1 Timothy was written to a young man named Timothy who was trained by Paul to be a pastor. Timothy is described as Paul’s son in the faith, the one whom Paul had trained for the gospel ministry. As Paul makes it clear to Timothy in this passage, the focus of this letter that he’s writing to Timothy is on how one ought to behave in the household of God.
Look at verse 15. He says, he says, I want you to know how one ought to behave in the household of God. In other words, friends, Paul’s focus is on proper behavior within the household of God, namely within the church. Now, verse 16 of our passage for today is likely an early Christological creed or creedal hymn, and it is in the text of this creedal hymn that Paul speaks of Christ as the one who was manifested in the faith, in the flesh. As it says in verse 16, great indeed we confess is the mystery of godliness, he or as some ancient texts write, God was manifested in the flesh. It’s clearly speaking of Christ as the one, the God who was manifested in the flesh. So this speaks of our Lord’s incarnation, when the eternal Son of God took upon himself our humanity, when the Word became flesh and came to dwell in our midst.
Now, with all of this in mind, what is the context of our passage for today? Well, in the first part of chapter 3 and verses 1 to 13, Paul had been describing the qualifications of men who would serve in the church offices of overseer and deacon. The word overseer could also be translated as bishop, the Greek word is episkopon, and the word deacon comes from the Greek word diakonos. As it says back in chapter 3, verse 2, therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, and so forth, laying out the qualifications for one who would serve as a bishop or overseer in the church. And then skipping down to verse 8, he says deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, and so forth. Now, you may wonder, well, why are you pointing this out?
What’s so important about this? Well, it’s important because it instructs us that the church that Paul has in view here is what we might call the visible, organized church. In this context, in the context of this passage, the church of the living God that Paul refers to in verse 15 is clearly referring, primarily at least, to what has been called the visible organized church, or sometimes called the institutional church. So our passage for today is then followed in the early verses of chapter 4 by a prediction and warning about the apostasy from the faith that the Holy Spirit says will take place in later times or latter days, as it says in chapter 4, verse 1. Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times, some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons and so forth.
Now however we are meant to understand these later times, the point here my friends is that the visible organized church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and local congregations of the visible church must continue to be a pillar and buttress for the truth. That is part of our calling. That is part of our mission. We have a mission of holding up and bearing faithful witness to the truth about who Jesus is and what he has done for us and for our salvation. That is our function. That is our calling as a church to be the pillar and buttress of the truth. And as an example of the gospel truth that the church is to hold up and to which it is to bear faithful witness, in verse 16 Paul quotes from what many scholars believe to be an early Christian creed or creedal hymn.
Perhaps one that had been familiar to Timothy and to the church in Ephesus where Timothy labored. So Paul incorporates into scripture itself one of these creeds that was commonly used in the early apostolic church, at least in that region. And the reason that the scholars believe that this is a quotation from an early creed or creedal hymn, it has to do with the literary structure and the poetic style and all of this supports the conclusion that it is indeed a creed or creedal hymn that Paul has chosen to incorporate in this letter to Timothy. Now let’s go through these verses verse by verse. In verse 14, Paul says, I hope to come to you soon Paul had planned and intended to go and meet with Timothy to visit him so that he might have face-to-face fellowship with Timothy.
But then he gives his purpose statement at the end of verse 14 and into verse 15. He says, but I am writing these things to you, that’s the purpose statement, this is why he’s writing 1 Timothy, I’m writing these things to you that if I delay, if I’m providentially hindered from coming and visiting you, Timothy, If I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God. Now, how does Paul describe the church here in verse 15? He describes the church as the household, the oikos of God. And this reminds us, this language reminds us, dear friends, that we as Christ’s church, we are the family of God. We are brothers and sisters together in union with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Paul also describes the church as a pillar and buttress or support.
We are a pillar and buttress of gospel truth. The word pillar, the word is Greek, is stulos in the Greek. Pillar means a visible witness. A building with large pillars is visible for a long way off. The temple in the Old Testament had two gigantic pillars in front of it. And so we have this imagery of holding up and being a public witness to the truth of the gospel. The word buttress in the Greek is hedreoma. It means an enduring support. The church is to support, bear witness to, hold up the truth of the gospel. And so what this implies, beloved, what these images highlight is the church’s calling to hold up before the world a visible witness for the gospel of Jesus Christ and therefore against false teaching. And in verse 16, Paul indicates that God’s church is called to confess openly the good news about Jesus.
As Paul writes in verse 16, great indeed what? Great indeed we confess. Notice he doesn’t say great indeed I confess. He says great indeed we, we in the church, we together as the church confess could be translated by common consent. The Greek word for confess here is the word homologoumenos. This word is found only here in the New Testament, and it may be translated by common agreement or confessedly, and it indicates truth that is affirmed together by the church corporate. And what does the church together confess before a watching world? Paul describes it as the mystery of godliness. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness. The Greek word is musterion. Now what does Paul mean by this mystery of godliness? Well, when the New Testament, especially Paul, speaks of the gospel as a mystery, it means that which had previously been hidden but is now made known through the coming of Christ.
Our Old Testament brothers and sisters who lived before the coming of Christ, yes, there was enough gospel truth in the ceremonial law and in the sacrifices to point their faith to the promised Messiah yet to come. But they didn’t know his name and they didn’t know all the details. They hadn’t pieced together all of the parts of this mystery. So there were many things hidden from them, though there was enough gospel truth to lead them to faith in the promised Messiah. But nonetheless, now with the coming of Christ, that which had previously been hidden is now open, and it is to be openly confessed, openly declared. One Bible commentator describes or explains this phrase, mystery of godliness, with these words. He says, the phrase means the revealed secret of true piety. In other words, the secret that produces piety in people.
That secret, as the following words indicate, is none other than Jesus Christ. His incarnation in all its aspects, particularly his saving work, is the source of genuine piety. Right faith and right living, in other words, are meant to go together. The one is meant to be a source of and to produce the other. So in other words, the gospel message centered on the incarnate person and saving work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that is the mystery of godliness. And that is the mystery that this quotation from this early creed or creedal hymn brings forth or displays. as Paul quotes from it in verse 16. He was manifested in the flesh. This is talking about Christ becoming a man, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, vindicated by the Spirit. Well, we’re told in Romans 1 that the Spirit raised Christ from the dead.
Seen by angels, angels were present, not only at the birth of Christ, but also after his resurrection. Proclaimed among the nations, this speaks of the Gentile mission as the gospel goes out into the nations. Believed on in the world, taken up in glory, this speaks of Christ’s ascension and exaltation at the Father’s right hand. Now what does all of this have to do with creeds and confessions, bringing that back to our topic under consideration as we consider that topic, bringing this portion of God’s Word to bear upon the topic. Well, dear ones, the church has been commissioned by Christ to be the pillar and buttress of the truth, to hold up and bear witness to the good news about Jesus Christ. And the church does that, as Jesus commands us to in Matthew 28, by going and making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Trinity, teaching them to observe all that Christ has commanded for us to observe.
And how is this done? Well, this is done not merely by reading and quoting scripture verbatim, and that’s it. No, the church also makes disciples and is the pillar and support of the truth by summarizing and explaining scriptural truth. This is why God has raised up preachers and teachers and theologians in his church. Christ, the ascended Christ has gifted certain individuals in his church to be pastors and teachers and theologians, giving them gifts to teach, and it is my job as a pastor and your preacher, not just to get up here and quote scripture verbatim, that’s part of what is done, and that’s very important and edifying to read the scriptures in public, but it’s also my commission to explain with my own uninspired words, to explain the scriptures. and to apply the scriptures. Our passage for today also shows us that one of the ways that the church can do this, to hold up the truth, is by composing written summary statements of gospel truth, such as this creedal hymn that we see in verse 16.
And that brings me to my next main point. Friends, various creed-like statements of faith are incorporated into the text of the Bible itself, and this also supports the legitimacy of creeds and confessions. Various creed-like statements of faith are incorporated into the text of the Bible itself, which also supports the legitimacy of creeds and confessions in the life of the church. Again, notice this creed, In verse 16, He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. But our text for today is not the only place in the Bible that incorporates creed-like or creedal statements. Other passages would include passages such as Deuteronomy 26, verses 5 through 9, which I read earlier in the service. That’s sort of an old covenant confession of faith that was to be recited as an act of worship before the Lord when you presented the firstfruits in the promised land.
We also think of, you might also think of 1 Corinthians 15 verses three through eight, where Paul summarizes the basics of the gospel. For I declare to you what I also received. Paul received this by tradition, by that which is handed on to him, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and so forth. Many scholars believe that that statement in 1 Corinthians 15 reflects, again, the incorporation of an early Christian creed into the apostles’ writings. Or we think of Philippians 2, verses 5 through 11, which again we read together earlier in the service as part of our responsive reading. Many biblical scholars believe that that also incorporates an early Christian creed into the text of the scriptures itself.
So what are some of the lessons that we learn from this? Well, first of all, friends, Just a couple points of application. If the Bible itself incorporates creedal statements, then how can it be, to use the words of Mr. Phillips, whom I quoted earlier, how can it be objectionable under any and all circumstances for the church to use creeds and confessions in its life? The anti-credal position is unbiblical because the Bible itself contains creeds and creed-like statements. if in the church’s teaching office. And remember, the church has been commissioned not just to proclaim the gospel, not just to quote verbatim from scripture, but to explain the scriptures and declare the scriptures to the nations. And the church does that through its evangelists, preachers, and teachers, and witnesses who go out and share Christ. And if you’ve ever had opportunity to share the gospel with an unbeliever, Do you just, when an unbeliever asks you, well, what is the Christian gospel, or what do you believe, do you simply quote scripture verbatim?
Well, I imagine you might do some of that, that’s important, to bring the word of God to bear in such a witnessing situation. But I imagine that you also explain the gospel and what you believe about the gospel. You confess, you give your creed, your credo, in your own words. Do you have the gift of inspiration? Can you speak only the words of God? No, we don’t have the apostolic gift of inspiration, but we can explain faithfully with our own fallible words. We can explain faithfully to others the infallible scriptures using words, using our own words. So if in the church’s teaching office it is legitimate for preachers and teachers and theologians in the church to use their own uninspired words to explain and to summarize Bible truth, whether they explain or summarize that orally or in writing, if that’s legitimate, then why would it be wrong for the church to compose biblically faithful though uninspired creeds and confessions for use in the church?
Indeed friends, by the logic of opponents, of the opponents of creeds such as Mr. Phillips, who by the way wrote a whole 350 page book explaining his understanding of the scriptures and the gospel, if it’s legitimate to do that then why wouldn’t it be legitimate to use uninspired speech to explain what we believe the Bible teaches in the form of creeds and confessions? By the logic of the anti-credalists, the only thing that should be done when preaching and explaining the gospel is to quote the scriptures verbatim and nothing else. After all, to use any other words would be to add to the word of God by that kind of logic. And so friends, In fact, when they use their own uninspired words to teach their anti-credal position, ironically, they’re offering to us their own creed in the place of the church’s historic creeds.
And go back to that assertion, no creed but Christ. Did you notice that itself is a creed? To say, I don’t believe in any creed, I just believe in Christ. Well, when you say, I believe, that’s your creed, your credo. You’ve just contradicted yourself. A more contemporary form goes like this. Deeds, not creeds, right? which I have issues with that particular statement, many issues, but one issue I have with it is that it is a creed about deeds. It is giving your creed about deeds. And this brings me to some concluding thoughts on this subject. First of all, brothers and sisters, creeds are unavoidable. Everyone, all of us have a creed of one sort or another. Dr. Carl Truman, in his book, The Credal Imperative, writes the following. I think this is very insightful. He says, Christians are not divided between those who have creeds and confessions and those who do not.
Rather, they are divided between those who have public creeds and confessions that are written down and exist as public documents subject to public scrutiny, evaluation, and critique, and those who have private creeds and confessions that are often improvised, unwritten, and thus not open to public scrutiny, not susceptible to evaluation, and crucially and ironically, not therefore subject to testing by scripture to see whether they are true. So we all have a creed. It’s either a written down public creed that is shared with your brothers and sisters in the fellowship of the church, or it’s a private creed but we all have a creed, creeds are unavoidable. A second concluding thought I would offer to you about this subject. Brothers and sisters, Bible-based creeds and confessions are not only unavoidable, they are protective. They are protective in the sense that they can aid the church in guarding the church against innovative theological fads, false teachings, and even heresies.
And they can help the church to protect and pass on to future generations the corpus of biblical orthodoxy. The sound words of the faith are to be passed on from generation to generation. Now certainly not all anti-credal Christians are guilty of heresy or false teachings or of promoting innovative fads, theological fads. But nevertheless, it is often heretical groups and false teachers who oppose the historic creeds of the church. Just to give you a couple examples, think of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Maybe you’ve had those friendly neighborhood Jehovah’s Witnesses knock on your door. Well, the Jehovah’s Witnesses would claim to believe in Sola Scriptura. The Bible alone is our authority, they would say. In fact, it’s my understanding that in terms of their official doctrines, their doctrine of scripture is pretty much the same as our own.
They believe in the inspiration, authority, and inerrancy, and infallibility of Holy Scripture. They affirm that, and yet, they are a cult group because they deny the Trinity. They deny the deity of Christ. They teach a system of salvation by works and not by grace through faith alone, and so forth. And they’re very anti-credal. They oppose the historic creeds and confessions of the church. That’s just one example. the historic creeds and confessions can alert us to heretical groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Or we think of the Churches of Christ. The gentleman that I quoted from earlier in the service, the anti-credal gentleman, Mr. Thomas Phillips, is part of the Restorationist movement. And out of that movement came the Churches of Christ and the Christian churches, these non-denominational denominations, if you will. Now, in terms of the Restorationist movement, they have some aberrant views, and one of their aberrant views is their teaching that believers’ baptism by immersion is a condition of salvation.
And so, if you’ve only been baptized as a baby, doesn’t matter if you’re repentant, doesn’t matter if you have faith in Christ, doesn’t matter if you’re trusting Jesus alone for your salvation. If you have not been dunked, you’re outside the kingdom. That’s the kind of aberrant false gospel teaching that we might find among those who reject the historic creeds and confessions of the church. The bottom line, and this is my final takeaway or point of application, creeds are biblical. Bible-based creeds do not contradict the principle of Scripture alone. Instead, my friends, they are the natural outworking of our belief in the inspiration, completeness, and basic clarity of the Bible. You see, friends, it’s because the Bible is God’s infallible Word and therefore is clear in its basic message, it’s because of this clarity of scripture that the teachings of scripture are capable of being studied and understood, not just by isolated individuals, but by a community of interpretation, by the church.
It’s interesting that confessions of faith represent what the church corporate, how they’ve read the scriptures. The Bible says in Psalm 119, thy word is a what? A lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. There are difficult parts of the Bible, but in its basic message, the Bible is clear to all of those who are open by the grace of God, open to its message. And that is why The people of God historically have been able to study the scriptures together and come up with these confessions of their common Christian faith, such as the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, or more complex statements such as the Westminster Confession of Faith. Again, it is because the Bible is clear and is God’s word. that its basic message is capable of being understood and summarized in creedal and confessional documents.
So let me ask you in closing, dear listener, what do you believe? What is your credo? and who are you trusting for your salvation? Do you believe in and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ who is revealed in this creedal hymn recorded by Paul under the inspiration of the Spirit here in 1 Timothy 3.16? He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. He’s been believed upon throughout the world. Do you believe upon him? Do you receive and rest upon him and him alone as your Lord and Savior as he is offered to you in the gospel? May God in his grace grant you the grace to turn from your sins to Jesus Christ today. And God’s word promises that if you believe upon him, you will not perish, but have everlasting life.
Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you. for your blessings. We thank you for your word. It is indeed our soul and final authority for faith and practice, but we also thank you for raising up wise and godly pastors and theologians in your church. who have blazed the trail before us, who have studied the scriptures. We stand on the shoulders of giants, theological giants. Help us, Lord, to appreciate and learn from them, and help us to compare what they have written and given to us with the scriptures. Grant that we would all be good Bereans, students of your word, and deepen and strengthen our faith. We pray all of these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, amen. Before we celebrate the Lord’s Supper together, let’s rise for our closing hymn of faith, 277, Before the Throne of God Above.
We’ll sing together 277.
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