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We believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator 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, died, and was buried. He went down to the dead; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; wherefrom He shall come to judge the living and the dead. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Apostolic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

Introduction
I realize that many so-called Christians today are able to recite creeds containing biblically orthodox truth, even though they do not know the Lord personally.  I myself used to be one of those people.  For that reason, we evangelicals tend to diminish the value of sound doctrine and emphasize the relational aspects of the Christian walk.  And I'll be the first one to say that you can know all the right things about the Lord, but if you don't know the Lord Himself, you've missed the most important part. 

However, I don't necessarily think we should throw out the baby with the bath water either.  Creed is simply a derivative of the Latin word "credo", meaning “I believe”.  The early apostles and Church Fathers thought it was essential for every Christian to believe the basic tenets of the faith and be able to clearly state these eternal truths as well.  If it was important to them, then it's important to me as well.  As we raise our children in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord, these are the foundational truths we have already begun to teach our children. 

Our beliefs must be based solely on the Word of God, not on traditions or the Church Fathers.  However, where the Church Fathers and tradition agree with the Word of God, they confirm our beliefs.  In each of the following sections, you will find the Scriptures upon which our beliefs are based.  And where the Church Fathers agree with the Scriptures, I have included quotes from them as well.

With the increase of false doctrine sweeping the world today, may the Lord help us to heed the inspired words of the apostle Paul to young Timothy: “Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.  Watch your life and doctrine closely.  Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Tim. 4:15,16).

Doctrines Taught in the Creed
The following links will take you to posts that explain each of the corresponding parts of the creed, based on Scripture and what the Church Fathers believed. The Church Fathers include those men who immediately followed the original apostles and often had direct contact with them, as well as others who lived during the early centuries after them.

We Believe in God, the Father Almighty

Creator of Heaven and Earth

Creator of Heaven and Earth: Angels

Creator of Heaven and Earth: Man

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, Died and was Buried

He Went Down to the Dead, the Third Day He Rose Again from the Dead

He Ascended into Heaven; Sits at the Right Hand of God the Father Almighty Wherefrom He Shall Come to Judge the Living and the Dead.

We Believe in the Holy Spirit

The Holy Apostolic Church

The Communion of Saints

The Forgiveness of Sins

The Resurrection of the Body

And Life Everlasting. Amen. 

Attention DTS Students:  DTS Students must click on each of the links above and read each of the posts at those links. 

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Other Scriptures taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, unless otherwise noted. The Church Fathers writings are in the public domain and may be freely used and distributed.

Author's Note: You may also access my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

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___________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org. Partner with us online by giving to DMI.

God the Father Almighty

We Believe in God, the Father Almighty.

Scriptures
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord" (Deut. 6:4).

"There are three that give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit: and these three are one" (1 Jn. 5: 7).

“One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Eph.4: 6).

“Now this is eternal life; that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (Jn.17: 3).

Aristides of Athens,  Apology to the Emperor Hadrian Caesar 1 & 4 (C. 140 AD):
"When I saw that the world and all that is in it is moved by a force, I understood that He who moves and maintains it is God; for whatever moves something is stronger than that which is moved, and whatever maintains something is stronger than that which is maintained. I call the One who constructed all things and maintains them God: He that is without beginning and eternal, immortal and lacking nothing, and who is above all passions and failings such as anger and forgetfulness and ignorance and the rest...Let us proceed, then, O King, to the elements themselves, so that we may demonstrate concerning them that they are not gods, but corruptible and changeable things, produced out of the non-existent by Him that is truly God, who is incorruptible and unchangeable and invisible."

Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 2, 13, 3 (C. 180 AD):
"Far removed is the Father of all from those things which operate among men, the affections and the passions. He is simple, not composed of parts, without structure, altogether like and equal to Himself alone. He is all mind, all spirit, all thought, all intelligence, all reason, all ear, all eye, all light, all fountain of every good; and this is the manner in which the religious and the pious are accustomed to speak of God."

Tertullian, Against Marcion 1, 18, 2 (Inter 207-212 AD):
"It is our definition that God must be known first from nature, and afterwards He is authenticated from instruction: by nature, from His works; by instruction, from His revelations."

Minucius Felix, The Octavius 18, 4 (Inter 218-235 AD):
"If upon entering some home you saw that everything there was well-tended, neat and decorative, you would believe that some master was in charge of it, and that he was himself much superior to those good things. So too in the home of this world, when you see providence, order, and law in the heavens and on earth, believe that there is a Lord and author of the universe, more beautiful than the stars themselves and…the whole world."

Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 4, 5 (C. 350 AD):
"This Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not circumscribed in any place, nor is He less than the heavens...He knows beforehand the things that shall be, and is mightier than all. He knows all, and does as He will. He is not subject to the consequences of events, neither to astrological geniture, nor to chance, nor to fate. He is in all things perfect, and possesses equally every absolute of virtue, neither diminishing nor decreasing, but remains ever the same and unchanging."

Back to Home page, or go to Next Phrase of Apostles' Creed.

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Other Scriptures taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, unless otherwise noted.

Author's Note: Also see Who is God? and The Bodily Form of God the Father. You may also access my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Creator of Heaven and Earth

Creator of Heaven and Earth

Scriptures
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Gen. 1:1).

"All things came into being through Him, and without Him not one thing came into being." (Jn.1:3).

"Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created." (Ps. 148:5).

“For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him.” (Col.1:16).

The Shepherd of Hermas, Mand. 1, 1 (C. 140 -155 AD):
"Believe first of all that God is one, that He created all things and set them in order, and brought out of non-existence into existence everything that is, and that He contains all things while He Himself is uncontained."

Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 4, 20, 1 (C. 180 AD):
"God had no need of others to make what He had already determined of Himself to make, as if He had not His own hands. For with Him always are the Word and the Wisdom, the Son and the Spirit, through whom and in whom He had made all things freely and spontaneously; and to whom He spoke, saying: ‘Let us make man in our image and likeness’."

Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus 2, 4 (C. 181 AD):
"And what great thing were it, if God made the world out of existing Matter? Even a human artist, when he obtains material from someone, makes of it whatever he pleases. But the power of God is made evident in this, that he makes out of what does not exist whatever He pleases; and the giving of life and movement belongs to none other, but to God alone."

Origen, Fundamental Doctrines 2, 9, 6 (Inter 220-230 AD):
"...God, the Creator of all things, is good and just and almighty. He, when in the beginning He created those things which He wished to create, that is, rational beings, had no other cause for creating them except on account of Himself, that is, His own goodness."

Back to Home page, or go to Next Phrase of Apostles' Creed.

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Other Scriptures taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, unless otherwise noted.

Author's Note: Also see Who is God? and The Bodily Form of God the Father. You may also access my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Creator of Heaven and Earth: Angels

...Creator of heaven...

Scriptures
“Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” (Heb. 1:14).

"A thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood attending him" (Dan. 7:10).

"His ministers that do his will" (Ps. 103:21).

“Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.” (Rev. 5:11)

Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle of Ignatius to the Trullians (c. 35-107)
"...Might I not write you things more full of mystery? But I fear to do so, lest I should inflict injury on you who are but babes (in Christ). Pardon me in this respect, lest, as not being able to receive their weighty import, ye should be strangled by them. For even I, though I am bound (for Christ), and am able to understand heavenly things, the angelic orders, and the different sorts of angels and hosts, the distinctions between powers and dominions, and the diversities between the thrones and authorities, the mightiness of Aeons, and the pre-eminence of the Cherubim and Seraphim, the sublimity of the spirit, the Kingdom of the Lord, and above all, the incomparable majesty of the Almighty God–though I am acquainted with these things, yet am I not therefore by any means perfect..."

Clement of Rome, Epistle to the Corinthians XXXIV (c. 96 AD.)
"Let us think of the whole host of angels, how they stand by and serve his will, for Scriptures say: "Ten thousand times ten thousand were doing service to him, and they cried out: Holy, holy, holy, Lord Sabaoth; the whole of creation is full of His glory." Then let us gather together in awareness of our concord, as with one mouth we shout earnestly to him that we may become sharers in his great and glorious promises."

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata of Miscellanies (c. 150-215 AD)
"...angels, whether seen or not, the divine power bestows good things. Such was the mode adopted in the advent of the Lord. And sometimes also the power 'breathes' in men’s thoughts and reasonings, and 'puts in' their hearts 'strength' and a keener perception, and furnishes 'prowess' and 'boldness of alacrity'..."

"...these primitive and first created virtues are unchangeable in substance, and along with subordinate angels and archangels whose names they share, effect divine operations. thus Moses names the virtue of the angel Michael, by an angel near to himself and of the lowest grade.... Moses heard him and spoke to him face to face. On the other prophets through the agency of angels an impression was made as of beings hearing and seeing."

"On this account also they alone heard, and they alone saw....If the voice had been open and common, it would have been heard by all....It was heard by him alone, in whom the impression made by the angels worked."

"...by an ancient and divine order the angels are distributed among the nations...[and] the best thing on earth is the most pious man; and the best thing in heaven, the nearer in place and purer, is an angel, the partaker of the eternal blessed life. But the nature of the Son...is the most perfect..."

Origen (c. 185-254 AD)
...it is neither from want of discrimination, nor from any accidental cause, either that the “principalities” hold their dominion, or the other orders of spirits have obtained their respective offices; but that they have received the steps of their rank on account of their merits, although it is not our privilege to know or inquire what those acts of theirs were, by which they earned a place in any particular order.

Tertullian, Apology 22, 4 (197 AD):
"The business (of the fallen angels, who are the demons), is to corrupt mankind. Thus, from the very first, spiritual wickedness augured man’s destruction. Therefore do they inflict diseases and other grievous misfortunes upon our bodies; and upon the soul they do violence to achieve sudden and extraordinary excesses. Their marvelous subtlety and elusiveness give them access to both parts of man’s substance...Therefore are they everywhere in a moment. The whole world is but one place to them. What and where anything happens they can know and tell with equal facility."

Origen, Fundamental Doctrines 1, Preface, 6 (Inter 220-230 AD):
"In regard to the Devil and his angels and opposing powers, the ecclesiastical teaching maintains that these beings do indeed exist; but what they are or how they exist is not explained with sufficient clarity. This opinion, however, is held by most: that the Devil was an angel; and having apostatized, he persuaded as many angels as possible to fall away with himself; and these, even to the present time, are called his angels."

Back to Home page, or go to Next Phrase of Apostles' Creed.

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Other Scriptures taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, unless otherwise noted.

Author's Note: Also see Who is God? and The Bodily Form of God the Father. You may also access my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Creator of Heaven and Earth: Man

...Creator...of earth...

Scriptures
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Gen 1:1)

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him" (Gen. 1: 27).

God then "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being" (Gen. 2:7). Man was also given dominion over all the other creatures upon earth.

Tatian the Syrian, Address to the Greeks 15 (C. 165-175 AD):
"...it is necessary for us now to seek what once we had, but have lost: indeed, to unite the soul with the Holy Spirit, and to strive after union with God...The perfect God is without flesh; but man is flesh...Such is the form of man’s constitution: and if it be like a temple, God desires to dwell in it through the Spirit, His Representative; but if it be not such a habitation, then man excels the beasts only in that he has articulate speech, and in other respects his manner of life is like theirs and he is not a likeness of God."

Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 5, 3, 2 (C. 180 AD):
"God, taking soil from the earth, made man. And surely it is much more difficult and more incredible that from non-existent bones and nerves and veins and the rest of the human system, he makes him to exist, and in fact raises him up as an animated and rational living being..."

Tertullian, The Soul 22, 2 (Inter 208-212 AD):
"We define the soul as born of the breath of God, immortal, corporal (sic), having form, simple in substance, acquiring knowledge by its own operation, showing itself in various ways, free to choose, subject to misfortunes, changeable according to natural inclinations, rational, the mistress, she who divines, descended from a single source."

Cyprian of Carthage, The Advantage of Patience 19 (256 AD):
"The Devil bore impatiently the fact that man was made in the image of God; and that is why he was the first to perish and the first to bring others to perdition. Adam, contrary to the heavenly command, was impatient in regard to the deadly food, and fell into death; nor did he preserve, under the guardianship of patience, the grace he received from God."

Back to Home page, or go to Next Phrase of Apostles' Creed.

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Other Scriptures taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, unless otherwise noted.

Author's Note: Also see Who is God? and The Bodily Form of God the Father. You may also access my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.