A creed (from the Latin ‘credo’, ‘I believe’) is a statement of belief and the Apostles’ Creed is one of the earliest statements of Christian belief. Last night, we looked at the opening statement from the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of Heaven and earth.”
I believe in God the Father
The fact that God is our Father is affirmed in both the Old Testament (Deut 32:6, Is 9:6, Is 63:15, Jer 31:9, Mal 2:10, to name but a few examples) and the New Testament (looking especially at Jesus’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount and John’s Gospel). The New Testament writers frequently began their letters with the phrase ‘grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Romans 1:7, see also 2 Cor 1:2, Gal 1:3, Eph 1:3, 1 Tim 1:2 and 1 Thess 1:1, for example.) God is the perfect Father (James 1:17), giving good gifts. Even when He disciplines us, it is for our own good (Prov 3:12, Hebrews 12:8-10). Our own earthly fathers may have been good or bad, but God is a good Father, a God who is not impersonal but who is keen to enter into a close, personal relationship with us.
I believe in the Almighty
God is not only our Father (indicating the personal relationship we have with Him), He is the Almighty, the all-powerful one. His power is demonstrated throughout the Bible: in the way He chose Abraham and made a whole nation from a childless couple, in the way He coordinated the safety of that nation when threatened by famine or tyranny, in the miraculous defeat of the Egyptians in the Exodus (see Ex 15:4-6), and most especially in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The disciples’ hopes were dashed and lay in tatters at the crucifixion (see Luke 24:24), but not even death could thwart the power of God (Luke 24:5-7, 1 Cor 15:55).
I believe in the Maker of heaven and earth
Nowadays, the belief in God as maker of heaven and earth is under constant, daily attack. If you hold to the Biblical account of creation given in Genesis and affirm that you believe in God as maker of heaven and earth, you are likely to be ridiculed and scorned. But the Bible is unequivocal in its declaration that God is the Creator of the universe, of all we see and of mankind. For those who are interested in the creation vs evolution debate, there are many resources available to help us defend the Biblical viewpoint (see http://creation.com/, for example), but for now, it’s enough to look at the Biblical defence of this credal statement. Gen 1 affirms God’s activity in creation, a fact echoed in John 1 and Col 1. Job 9 and Job 38-42 affirm God’s power in creation and the actual phrase ‘Maker of heaven and earth’ is used in Ps 121:2, Ps 124:8, and Ps 146:6
Our God is the all-powerful Creator, the One who sustains everything by His powerful word, giving us confidence to face tomorrow and grace and strength for today. Our beliefs shape the way we live and help us to live with our heads held high!