The Invitation of The Creed
How the Apostle's Creed invites us into belief, belonging and living
At my church, we have recently begun preaching through the Apostle’s Creed, taking one line at a time and exploring the theological depth of each of these short, foundational statements of the Christian faith. Below is the basic text of my sermon introducing the series and the creed. The preaching text was John 14:1-14.
What is the Apostle’s Creed?
Here’s the historical, factual, Bible Dictionary answer:
It is an ancient statement of faith that defines some of (but not all of) the key doctrines of the Christian faith.
It evolved organically over time. Somewhere along the way, it got the reputation of being written by the 12 apostles, apparently one for each line, which one commentator calls “a charming legend that conveys deep truth”. In other words, it’s not at all true that it was written by the 12 apostles, BUT, it does accurately communicate their beliefs about who Jesus is and what he taught.
Our earliest fragments are from c.250, and the first complete text is from c.750.
The Apostles Creed and all those earlier fragments that we know about were from the process of baptism. When someone became a Christian, they had to affirm what they believed, and these doctrinal statements and creeds became a formalised way of affirming the truths of the Christian faith.
While there are many differences between Church traditions, every single one—Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant—accepts the Apostles Creed as true doctrine.
So that gives you some background on what the Apostle’s Creed is. But, as we start this season of preaching through the Apostle’s Creed, I am less interested in the historical answer to the question, and more interested in what it is to us. How does it function within the Church? How are we to approach the Creed, hear the Creed and recite the Creed? How does the Creed shape us as disciples of Jesus?
The Apostle’s Creed is an invitation:
… to believe
… to belong
… to live
More specifically, the Apostle’s Creed is an invitation from Jesus:
… to believe in Christ Jesus
… to belong to Jesus’ people
… to live in the way of Jesus
An Invitation to Believe
This invitation to believe is inherently trinitarian.
I believe in God, the Father Almighty …
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord …
I believe in the Holy Spirit …
Christians believe in the triune God, three persons, one God. And as I say to my Scripture kids, if that makes your brain hurt, join the club.
It is not completely comprehendible. It is beyond our brain’s capacity to fully grasp and understand. But it is the description of God that we see through the Scriptures, especially in the ministry of Jesus.
Here’s what we’ve already heard read:
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.’
John 14:1
Jesus puts himself in the same theological category as God. One in whom we ought to put our belief in.
He gives us some language to try and explain what is going on in the trinity; that he and the Father are “in” one another.
‘Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.’
John 14:11
Interestingly, Jesus also gives us the foundation for this belief: the evidence of his ministry. This is something that we will come back to in a few weeks when we look at the “Jesus” section of the creed. But a good reminder again that the invitation to Christian faith, the invitation to BELIEVE is not a blind leap, not a “leave your brain at the door” kind of decision, but one in which we trust in a person based on the prior experiences and historical reliability of that person.
Jesus goes on to talk about the role of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the trinity.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you for ever – the Spirit of truth.
John 14:16
Again, we will return to this topic in a few weeks. Enough to say for now that the Holy Spirit is a distinct person in the Triune God, who is God, who is not the Father nor the Son, but comes from the Father to help us and be with us.
The Apostle’s Creed is an invitation to believe. But this does not mean that belief is an easy thing to do. Belief is difficult. How do I know that this is true? Is there really a God? What can I actually know about him? I’m not really a spiritual person, this sounds very foreign to me. OR I have had other spiritual experiences with other religions, or while meditating, how do I know which one is real?
In Australia in 2025 we tend towards being very sceptical and cynical when it comes to claims about absolute truth. And with good reason. We have had authority figures and institutions betray our trust, lie to us, and show up to be hypocritical and morally bankrupt, including the Church. Why should I believe in any of this God, Jesus, Spirit stuff?
If that’s where you are, I would love to have a coffee with you after the service, or even better, during the week, and hear your story.
But within this preaching context, let me reaffirm the invitation to BELIEF that is in the creed. We trust all sorts of things in this life. Almost nothing that you know or believe is something you discovered for yourself first-hand. I don’t know that the coffee I drank today is actually derived from the bean of a so-called “coffee plant”. I haven’t personally verified which country of origin it came from, where it was roasted, much less explain to you the science of water pressure, flavour extraction and the chemical influence of caffeine in my body. But I can drink coffee on the faith—the belief—that these things are true and experience the goodness of this magical bean.
This is the same kind of invitation that God offers to us in Jesus. To trust in God and trust also in Jesus.
‘Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.’
Psalm 34:8
The early Christian, Saint Augustine, once wrote:
“If you can’t understand, believe, and then you’ll understand.”
The invitation to believe, as I said, is not without understanding or evidence. But neither are we required to fully comprehend and understand before we accept the invite. Both these quotes from Psalm 34 and Augustine echo the invitation of the Apostle’s Creed, and invitation into belief.
An Invitation to Belong
The question I am asking here is “Why recite the creed?”. Why have a creed, a statement of faith, that we say corporately together?
Once again, we’re cynical when it comes to traditions handed down to us from others. We often think that the truest and most authentic expressions of ourselves are things that we come up with. We may borrow a little from here, a little from there, but remember, “we are all individuals”. [Yes, we are all individuals!]
However, the Apostle’s Creed invites us into a counter-cultural reality. A reality in which I am not an individual, but someone who BELONGS to others.
One of the commentators on the Creed that I’ve been reading this week, puts it like this:
“When we say the creed we are not just expressing our own views or our priorities. We are joining our voices to a great communal voice that calls out across the centuries from every tribe and tongue. We locate ourselves as part of that community that transcends time and place.
The truest and most important things we can ever say are not individual words but communal words…
In confessing the faith of the church, I allow my own individual “I” to become part of the “I” of the body of Christ.”1
Here’s the downside: when you come to Christ, you don’t get to invent your own theology.
Here’s the upside: when you come to Christ, you are freed from having to invent your own theology.
Inventing yourself, being “authentic” by crafting your own understanding of who you are, what you believe, and what you stand for, can seem fun and freeing for a while, but in the end is exhausting. There is a freedom that comes from accepting the true and important words that belong—not just to this congregation, not just to this church, not just to Anglicans, not just to Protestants, not just to the western church, but to all Christians throughout all time and space.
Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestants, Reformed, Baptists, Presbyterians, Anglicans, Congregationalists, Methodists, Uniting, Pentecostals, Lutherans, Quakers, Seventh Day Adventist, Amish, Hutterites, Mennonites, Brethren, all believe in the statements of The Apostle’s Creed, and when we stand and say the creed, it is an invitation to belong to the worldwide, universal, church, throughout all time and space.
To stand and say the creed is a rejection of the excessive individualism of our age, and to be immersed in a reality beyond ourselves and add ourselves to the communal voice that transcends all of us. THAT is the invitation to belong.
An Invitation to Live
Many years ago, when I was on staff at another church, we had Bishop Reg Piper come as our interim minister for 3 years. During this time, he reintroduced elements of liturgy that we hadn’t used in the previous years. We did more call and response, more rote prayers and said the Apostle’s Creed more regularly. And I remember a number of my peers grumbling about this and wondering why we were “chanting” together. It seemed all a bit weird and a bit creepy.
I can’t remember my original impression of these changes, but unlike many of my peers, I had grown up in church and Sunday School with Christian parents, and already knew the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostle’s Creed, and some of the other prayers, so I don’t think I was as shocked as some of those who had become Christians from non-Christian homes.
What I do remember thinking was that these rote prayers and corporate creeds were all pretty dry and dull. Compared to the songs we sang and even the sermons that were preached, these liturgical moments were repeated monotonously and pretty boring.
That was, until the day I was standing next to Reg Piper and heard him say The Apostle’s Creed. As a young twenty-something, Reg was an old man; post-retirement, grey hair, wrinkled skin… yes, always a joy about him, and a cheeky fire in his eyes, but… old.
And then he said The Apostle’s Creed.
I had never seen him so vibrant and so full of energy. And I had never seen anyone say The Apostle’s Creed with such vibrancy and so full of energy.
That was the day that The Apostle’s Creed clicked for me. Oh… he actually believes this. Like, REALLY, believes this. This creed is who he is. The creed wasn’t just a formula to recite; it was the “truest and most important things” that Reg could say. Also, the Creed wasn’t just about what Reg knew; being on staff with Reg and seeing him every day, I could see that these truths shaped the way he lived.
As we go through this series, we will be studying the doctrines of the Christian faith. The key ideas, the central knowledge, of who we are and what we believe. But if we finish each week with mere knowledge, then we haven’t fully grasped the significance of this Creed.
This Creed is an invitation to LIVE the way of Jesus.
Once again, here is what Jesus says in our text for today:
‘Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing.’
John 14:12‘If you love me, keep my commands.’
John 14:15
Jesus here ties together the three aspects of belief/faith: knowledge (of who he is), love (for him) and actions (obedience); head, heart and hands.
Karl Barth in his commentary on the Apostle’s Creed writes this:
“The knowledge of God is not absolute, abstract knowledge, a knowledge important in itself. It is not knowledge for its own sake…
This knowledge has no value except that of its object, its task, its goal: to honour God.”
It is not the knowledge of the doctrines of the Creed that matters. It is the life of obedience to King Jesus, a life that honours God, a life that flows out of doctrine and into our everyday moments that matters.
Barth again:
The knowledge of God is not a knowledge that leaves us untouched; it draws us along.”
Here is my hope and prayer for you, for me, for us as a church over this next season. I want you to learn the Apostle’s Creed. I would love you to know it so well that you can recite it from memory. But I don’t want it to be merely memorised words, but words that shape who you are, your beliefs, your identity, your actions.
The Apostles Creed is an invitation from King Jesus, to step into an ancient faith, to believe in and pledge allegiance to Jesus as King and Christ; an invitation to belong to the people of this faith, through all tribes and tongues, from every nation and every time in history; and an invitation to live in the way of Jesus, that has you more fully grasp an understanding of the doctrines of the Church, that you may live a life that honours the King.
So, I invite you now to stand, and if you are willing, to say with me the words of the Apostle’s Creed, and accept the invitation to believe, to belong, and to live.
Ben Myers, The Apostles' Creed: A Guide to the Ancient Catechism