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What Christians Believe
The Articles of Faith
Standard
The Apostles' Creed functions as a doctrinal standard because it presents several of the biggest, most important ideas of Christianity. These ideas are taught so clearly in Scripture that they should be recognized and embraced by everyone. As we said earlier in this lesson, these teachings are essential to Christianity. As a result, every other doctrine that we embrace must be compatible with these teachings. We cannot accept any idea that contradicts these essential teachings.
Have you ever seen a ventriloquist? A ventriloquist is a performer who can speak in way that makes it look like he is not speaking. Ventriloquists often perform with puppets, making it look like the puppet is carrying on a conversation with the ventriloquist. A skilled performer can make the puppet seem almost as if it were alive. But no matter how convincing the performance is, we know that it is really the ventriloquist who is speaking and not the puppet. Why?
Well, the answer is simple. We know that puppets aren't alive, and that they can't really talk. So, when we observe a puppet that appears to talk, we judge our experience by the standard of what we know to be true. No matter how much it looks like the puppet is talking, our standard tells us that the appearance is deceptive. And so we refuse to believe it. We may not be able to explain how the puppet can appear to be alive and to speak its mind. But we know that there must be a logical explanation that is consistent with our standard.
In a similar way, the Apostles' Creed summarizes those central beliefs that we hold so strongly that we will never change them. We believe that the Bible is so clear on these points, and that they are so important, that we cannot compromise on them. So, no matter what other perspectives people present to us, we refuse to believe anything that conflicts with these central teachings of Scripture.
Using the creed as a standard helps us remain faithful to Scripture when convincing false teachers present us with bad theology. Many of us have met people who are so good with their arguments, and who are so compelling as individuals, that we are inclined to believe most things they say — even when they are mistaken or lying. So, it helps to have a short list of essential beliefs that can anchor us to the teachings of Scripture. And the Apostles' Creed provides such an anchor.
For example, there were several major heresies that the church responded to in the early centuries of its life. And one of these was Gnosticism. Among other things, Gnosticism taught that our physical bodies are evil, and that salvation involves freeing our souls from their imprisonment in our bodies. Now, not every Christian in the early church knew how to refute this error. But those who had been trained in the doctrines of the Apostles' Creed could confidently reject this heresy on the basis that Scripture teaches the resurrection of the body. That is, it teaches that Jesus came to redeem us as whole persons, including not only our souls, but also our bodies.
Many of us have been confused by a clever argument, or misled by mistaken or misrepresented data. Now, we can't always explain what is wrong with these arguments and findings. But even so, we can confidently reject those things that contradict the Apostles' Creed, because we know that the creed is faithful to Scripture.
Of course, we never want to raise the Apostles' Creed or any other statement of faith to the level of Scripture. The Bible alone is absolutely unquestionable. And even the articles of faith in the Apostles' Creed should be rejected if they can be shown to contradict Scripture. But the Apostles' Creed has stood the test of time since the earliest centuries of the church. It has been shown repeatedly to be an accurate representation of the Bible. So, we should feel confident using it as a standard for judging the many doctrines we encounter in the modern world.
Having considered the way the Apostle's Creed can serve as a useful doctrinal standard, we are ready to talk about another of its foundational aspects: its use as the logical basis for other theological viewpoints.