What We Believe (The Apostles Creed)

We Believe in God the Father Almighty creator of heaven and earth.
God is almighty and no other gods come before Him. This is a clear commandment from
Deuteronomy 5:7, “You shall have no other gods before me.” This commandment compels us to
daily love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our mind, and with all our strength;
Deuteronomy 6:5 so that we may not sin by serving other gods in our lives.
God is the creator of heaven and earth. Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth.” While humans debate the origins of the heavens and the earth, we
believe that God alone is the creator and sustainer of creation.

We believe in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord.
The second part of the Apostles Creed, in its entirety, is the longest and will take several
weeks to examine each petition of what We Believe.
The Nicene Creed developed a more in-depth statement of faith when heresies of the day
(Heresies still exist) that claimed our Lord was not fully human and divine for instance. Below is
the section from the Nicene Creed that fully expresses What We Believe.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
The Only Begotten Son of God,
Born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
True God from true God,

Begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father,
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation.

We Believe that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
Luke’s gospel defines the conception of our Lord in this way, “And behold, you will
conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” Luke 1:31
“And the angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the
Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the
Son of God.’” Luke 1:35.
Angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary is a text we often only visit once a year during
the Christmas season. One thing to note here is that the conception is the beginning of
the reveling of the Son (Our Lord Jesus Christ). We often only highlight the Holy Spirits
work at Pentecost. However, the Holy Spirit who will come upon Mary and being
overshadowed by the Most High (God the Father) at the moment of conception is
something we may miss about the conception of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We Believe that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary.
We should take time to remember the revelation of Jesus through God’s power of the
Holy Spirit in the virgin birth of our Lord. Matthew’s gospel following Mary’s yes and the
Angel of the Lord appearing to Joseph, tells us the following, “She will bear a son, and
you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place
to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the Prophet; (Matt 1:21-23) ‘Look,
the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which
means, God is with us.’”
The Prophet Isaiah’s (Isa 7:14) prophecy of the Lord’s virgin birth is then realized
through Mary.

We Believe Jesus Suffered Under Pontius Pilot
Jesus suffering under Pontius Pilot included his trial, scourging, humiliation, and
crucifixion. Often, the focus at the end of Holy Week, when the church remembers what
our Lord did for us as a suffering servant reminds us that we should take time to
meditate on these things and the cross so that as followers of Jesus we too might
remember our sufferings as a sacrifice to the Lord.

We Believe Jesus was Crucified, Dead, and Buried.
This is the reason for which Jesus came, “For this reason the Father loves me, because
I lay down my life, that I may take it up again.” (John 10:17) Jesus was crucified, “There
they crucified him, and with two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.”
(John 19:18) Jesus died, “Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said ‘Father, into your
hands I commit my spirit!’ And having said this he breathed his last” (Luke 23:46) Jesus
was buried, “And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down
from the tree and laid him in a tomb.” (Acts 13:29)

We Believe Jesus Descended to the Dead.
In the traditional creed it reads “he descended into hell.” In Hebrew Sheol and in Greek
Hades both referring to a hollow place in the earth. In Lukes gospel the parable of the
Rich Man and Lazarus in chapter 16 as a part of Jesus’ teaching in the chapter and
Jesus reference to Jonah in Matthew 12:40 when our Lord said, “Just as Jonah was
three days and three nights in the belly of the whale (a hollow place), so will the Son of
Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” While often speculated as
to why, we might consider that the dead, like the Rich Man needed the good news of
salvation. A cup of cool water to those who thirst.

We Believe Jesus Rose from the Dead on the Third Day
Following our Lords time in the heart of the earth he overcame death as he said he
would as the angel proclaimed, “He is not here; for he has risen, as he said. Come see
the place where he lay.” (Matthew 28:6) Thus our hope is in Jesus’ resurrection that first
Easter morning. He has risen! He has risen indeed!

We Believe Jesus Ascended into Heaven and Sits at the Right Hand of God the
Father Almighty
Following Jesus’ resurrection, he ascended into heaven as told in Mark 16:19, “So then
the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at
the right hand of God.” And Luke 24:51, “While he was blessing them, he withdrew from
them and was carried up into heaven.”

We Believe That Jesus Will Judge the Quick (Living) and the Dead
At the final judgement Jesus will judge those who are living and those who have died.
“For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in
himself, and has given him authority to execute judgement, because he is the Son of
man.” John 5:26-27

We Believe in the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit has been known to humanity since the creation of the world, “And the
Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:1); at the baptism of
our Lord, “the Spirit descending upon him like a dove.” (Mark 1:10); on the day of
Pentecost, “and there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on
each one of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:3-4) And is present
with us today as promised by our Lord. “But the counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things.” (John 14:26).

We Believe in the Holy Catholic (Universal) Church
The term Catholic was first used by Ignatius of Antioch around 107 AD, while being
taken to Rome for execution. The meaning come from the Greek word kata, the whole
and holos meaning universal.
Three creeds found in the United Methodist Hymnal use the original term: Apostles
Creed, Nicene Creed, and Athanasian Creed. Catholic in the creeds are usually written
with a lower-case c (catholic) to differentiate from the Catholic Church. Some churches
will substitute the word universal for catholic.
Setting aside the differences of our Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant brothers and
sisters, we can all believe that the church of Jesus Christ is universal and for all people.

We Believe in the Communion of the Saints
In the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, we read about those who showed great faith and
died, some even tortured and martyred. This is just a small sampling of those who have
gone to their heavenly reward. “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of
witnesses…let us run with perseverance the race set before us.” (Hebrews 12:1).
We also share in this faith in communion with the living through a unity of faith in Jesus
Christ. The sharing in our one baptism, Holy Communion, and the church.

We are all connected because we are one body through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We Believe in the Forgiveness of Sins
Since sin entered the world mankind has needed God’s mercy. It is through our
confession of being truly sorry for our sins that we receive the grace of forgiveness. “If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from
all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

We Believe in the Resurrection of the Body
We hear the words of the angel on the day of our Lord’s resurrection, “He is not here; for
he has risen, as he said.” (Matthew 28:6) Our faith is rooted in this holy mystery and our
hope lies in our own bodily resurrection as we recall our Lord’s words,” For this is the will
of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal
life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:40) and “blessed are those who have
not seen and yet believe.” (John 20:29).

We Believe in Life Everlasting
We believe that when a person is born of “water and the Spirit” as our Lord said in John
3:5 they are born anew and receive the promise in John 3:16, “For God so loved the
world that he sent his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have
eternal life.”