Credo

16 April 2015
Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem, Creatorem caeli et terrae,

et in Iesum Christum, Filium Eius unicum, Dominum nostrum,

qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto, natus ex Maria Virgine,

passus sub Pontio Pilato, crucifixus, mortuus, et sepultus,

descendit ad inferos, tertia die resurrexit a mortuis,

ascendit ad caelos, sedet ad dexteram Patris omnipotentis,

inde venturus est iudicare vivos et mortuos.

Credo in Spiritum Sanctum,

sanctam Ecclesiam catholicam, sanctorum communionem,

remissionem peccatorum,

10

carnis resurrectionem, vitam aeternam.

11

Amen.

O. Sydney Barr organizes the Apostles Creed into three separate articles.1 The first
article includes line 1 and deals with the doctrine of God. The second deals with Jesus
Christ and goes from lines 2-7 and the final article deals with the doctrine of Holy Spirit
and includes lines 8-12 of the Creed. In other words, the what the Credo says about the
church, the communion of saints, forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the
life everlasting are works of Holy Spirit. This reading of the Creed affects Barrs
soteriological views.2 In this reading, salvation is a process. The new birth in Christ is the
beginning of salvation. God the Holy Spirit forgives sins on the basis of the finished work
of Christ and baptizes the new creation into the Body of Christ, which is the church. This
event is salvation past. The church is holy and it is catholic involving the communion of
the saints. Here salvation is an ongoing process in the present. Finally, at the eschaton,
1

O. Sydney Barr. . From the Apostles Faith to the Apostles Creed. New York: Oxford University Press,
1964.
2

Or perhaps it is the other way around, that Barrs soteriology gave him insight into how to read the Credo.

the resurrection of the body and life everlasting is salvation future. In this
conceptualization of the Apostles Creed, the first two articles are confessional, doctrinal
proclamation whereas the third article is what happens in the lives of those who make a
profession of faith. It is a more accurate heuristic view of what actually happens in the
life of a believer and so will be adopted here.3
I believe in Holy Spirit
the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Amen

Accordingly the format of my Credo will change accordingly and will not be a line by
line amplification of the Apostles Creed. Instead it is more pedagogically sound to
elaborate on doctrine following the outline in class: Humanity; Sin; Salvation; Church
and Eschatology.

Humanity

Sin

Salvation

Barr, 157-9.

Church

Eschatology
It is possible to get lost amid the details of eschatological speculation and lose the broad
strokes of the doctrine. This is the doctrine of the final eschatological salvation in Christ.
After this time comes the final Judgment and a great division in humanity. There will be
those whose established relationship with God through Christ will endure and those who
have no relationship with God. These last will continue eternally in that condition.4

Biblical eschatology is the final but by no means least section of my credo. The Bible is
clear. The earth as presently constituted will come to an end. Its end will be by fire. There
are various positions the church has taken to conceptualize this end. The most likely
conceptualization, in my view and belief, is that believed by the early first generations of
the church: postribullational premilleniarism. What Jesus has to say in Mat 24 and par is
the spine of last day events before his return. As we are now two thousand years after He
said this, it is important that doctrine is clear and focused. In view of the following
events, I will elaborate:

Eternality is not a concept of temporality, but is one which points to an existence outside time. Our brains
are not designed in such manner as to perceive what this may be like.

Converging global events especially since the end of WWII point to the soon return of
Christ.

Population explosion

Discovery, use and proliferation of nuclear technologies, as well as biological and

chemical warfare technololies

Global environmental degradation, despoliation and destruction

Rapacious corporations

Proliferation of wars and ethnic conflicts

Information technologies explosion; the digital revolution;

Bio engineering technologies revolution; robotic technologies revolution and nano

technologies revolution;

Transhumanism, also known as humanity 2.0, the augmentation of the humanity

through science made capable by convergence of technologies in previous two

Degradation of earths magnetosphere at exponential rate.

In view of the rapidly converging global events, it is easy to lose hope in any kind of
viable future. Without Christ there is no hope in any kind of viable future. Anyone who
has had the opportunity of traveling in many regions of the world today, afflicted by war,
poverty and famine would agree. However as Christians our hope is in Christ.

and the life everlasting.

Resurrection to life everlastion.

Ressurection to eternal disconnection from God

New heaven and new earth.

God will reign on earth just as He reigns in heaven.

Bibliography
Barr, O. Sydney. From the Apostles Faith to the Apostles Creed. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1964.
Brown, Colin. (General Editor) The New International Dictionary of the New Testament.
Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1975.

Downing, W. R. A Cathechism on Bible Doctrine. Morgan Hill, CA: P.I.R.S.

Publications, 2008.
Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic,
2013.
Olson, Gordon C. The Truth Shall Make You Free. Bible Research Corp. 1993.
McGrath, Alister. I Believe: exploring the Apostles Creed. Downers Grove, Ill:
Intervasity Press, c1997.
McGrath, Alister E. The Christian Theology Reader. 4th ed. Chichester, UK: Blackwell
Publishing Ltd., 2011.
Migliore, Daniel L. Faith Seeking Understanding. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: William B
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014.
Witherington, Ben. The Problem with Evangelical Theology: Testing the Exegetical
Foundations of Calvinism, Dispensationalism and Wesleyanism. Baylor University Press,
2006.