The need for confessions of faith

Confessions of faith have always played an important role in the life of Christians, because Christians always want to give a clear testimony to the hope which we have.  (1Peter 3:15; 1Corinthians 14:8)  One of the very earliest formal confessions of the New Testament church was the Apostles’ Creed, originally written just a few dozen years after the time of Jesus and His apostles, and named in their honor. 

Faced with a growing church which was spreading all over the Roman Empire, the church felt it needed a “standard” of teaching, a minimum amount of knowledge that would be taught before a person would become an adult member of the church.  The Apostles’ Creed was therefore developed.  It’s first purpose was to serve as the standard for the instruction of adults; it then served a secondary purpose – it was the confession of faith used by adults who, after instruction, desired to be baptized. 

Living Word Lutheran Church uses the Apostles Creed as one of our official statements of faith, and as our standard of instruction, just as Christians have for many years.  (You’ll see the creed printed below.)  We also subscribe to the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, both of which are slightly longer confessions of faith.

Apostle's Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

maker of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

            who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

            born of the virgin Mary,

            suffered under Pontius Pilate,

            was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended into hell.

The third day he rose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven

            and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.

From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

            the holy Christian Church,

                            the communion of saints,

            the forgiveness of sins,

            the resurrection of the body,

            and the life everlasting.  Amen.

Because the truths of the Word are consistently under attack, periodically it becomes necessary for individual Christians or church groups to re-declare the truths which they believe, in order that everyone might be able to clearly know where that person or that church body stands.  The Lutheran church, just after the time of Luther, had that necessity, and from it developed the Lutheran Book of Concord, which contains six lengthy confessions of faith.  We do not hold them in the same regard as we hold Scripture – the Scripture is God’s Word!  However, because we want everyone to be able to clearly know where we stand, we point to our confessions as a clear testimony of what we’re convinced that Bible teaches.  Our entire church body does the same. 

Additionally, as time passes, different issues come to the fore, so there is an ongoing need for clear confessions of faith.  The WELS confession of that sort is called, “This We Believe.”   (If you’d like to check it out, please hit the WELS link, then follow the instructions. pdf version)

The other links contain some further thoughts regarding what Living Word Lutheran teaches.  Again, if you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail Pastor Kock at ThomasKock@cs.com.  Thank you!