Introduction: The gospel is given to us so that fellowship with God might be restored. God created us without fault or failing, and yet through our father Adam we all grasped for the fruit, and fell into spiritual death. When we reached for the knowledge of good and evil, we were attempting to seize the …
The Apostles Creed 20: The Resurrection of the Body
Introduction: We began by confessing that God the Father is the Maker of heaven and earth. This means, among other things, that the material created order is good. There is nothing wrong with being made of matter, and there is nothing wrong with being finite. The difficulty that has plagued our race since the Fall …
The Apostles Creed 19: The Forgiveness of Sins
Introduction: One of the central features of the new covenant is the glorious reality of forgiveness of sins. In Hebrews 8, Jeremiah’s prophecy of the new covenant is quoted at some length (Heb. 8:8-12). But several chapters later, it is quoted again, but this time in abbreviated form. This abbreviation shows what aspects of the …
The Apostles Creed 17: The Holy Catholic Church
Introduction: So as we approach the 500th anniversary of the commencement of the Protestant Reformation, it is fitting that we have now come to this phrase in the Creed — why do we, stout Protestants that we are, confess that we believe in the holy catholic Church. Maybe in addition to being stout Protestants, we …
The Apostles Creed 16: I believe in the Holy Ghost
Introduction: The fact that the Holy Spirit is mentioned by name late in the Creed does not make Him an afterthought. He is not present here as a postscript. When we begin the Creed with the words I believe, this is only possible because the Holy Spirit has been at work. He is the one …
The Apostles Creed 15: From Thence He Will Come to Judge the Living and the Dead
Introduction: We believe that there was a time when the world was not. God spoke, and all of it came into being out of nothing. We believe that there will be a time when the world (as it is now) will cease to be. That will come about in the same way—God will say the …
The Apostles Creed 14: And Sits at the Right Hand of God the Father Almighty
Introduction: In the creation of Adam as pictured on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, God the Father has a right hand. But the God of the Bible is Spirit, and has no right hand—for He has no body at all. At the same time, with few exceptions (e.g. Acts 7:55), the Scriptures repeatedly tell us that …
The Apostles Creed 13: Ascended into Heaven
Introduction: The intersection of heaven and earth, the boundary between the two, is not the same kind of boundary that we might find between two countries. If you were not on a marked road, crossing between countries is not necessarily something you would even notice. But crossing between earth and heaven necessitates a qualitative difference …
The Apostles Creed 12: On the Third Day He Rose Again From the Dead
Introduction: Since the first century, the Christian church has commemorated the resurrection of Jesus from the dead by meeting on the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day (Rev. 1:10). The Sabbath was ordained, as the Old Testament makes abundantly clear, for as long as the old creation lasted. Therefore, nothing would be adequate …
The Apostles Creed 11: He Descended Into Hades
Introduction: And so now we come to an odd one, one which reveals a fairly large gap in cosmology between a child of the biblical era and a child of the modern era. It is also a testing point, sometimes, for the most stalwart inerrantist. Wait, what? You think that an actual star came down …