I believe: Exploring The Apostles' Creed

By Alister McGrath

An exploration of the Apostle's creed in six weekly sessions for church or home group use.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IVP
• Release date: May 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781789740561

Alister McGrath

Alister E. McGrath is Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford. He is also the author of several books, including A Fine-Tuned Universe , C. S. Lewis: A Life, Surprised by Meaning, and The Dawkins Delusion.

Book preview

1

I Believe

The creed opens with a powerful assertion: I believe. This assertion is repeated two more times during the course of the creed. But what does it mean to believe?

The Ideas Explained

1. Faith means assent. Faith is believing that certain things are true. I believe in God means something like I believe that there is a God or I am of the opinion that God exists. Faith assents to the existence of God. It affirms a belief in the existence of God.

This is an essential starting point. After all, before we can begin to say anything about what God is like, we need to assume that there is a God in the first place. Many people outside the Christian faith, however, assume that there is nothing more to Christian faith than assent to God’s existence. For such people, I believe in God has roughly the same status as I believe in fairies. For them, faith is just assent to a list of propositions. There is nothing more to Christian belief than running through a checklist of propositions such as those contained in the creed itself.

It is very easy to see how this totally inadequate and misleading idea of faith arises. In part, the chief culprit is the English language. In the introduction I noted that the creed was originally written in Latin and that its first words—Credo in Deum—are traditionally translated I believe in God. This is only one of several possible ways of translating these words. More accurate translations would be I have confidence in God, I put my trust in God or simply I trust in God. The English translation I believe in God could just mean I am of the opinion that there is a God, when in fact it is meant to be a much stronger statement—I put my trust in God. I am certainly of the opinion that God exists—but there is more to faith than this!

2. Faith means trust. When I declare that I believe in Jesus Christ, I am not just saying that there once was a man called Jesus. I am affirming my trust in him. Faith cannot be equated with knowing. It is not a cold and cerebral idea, enlightening the mind while leaving the heart untouched. Faith is the response of our whole persons to the person of God. It is our joyful reaction to the overwhelming divine love we see revealed in Jesus Christ. It is the simple response of leaving all to follow Jesus. Faith is both our recognition that something wonderful has happened through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and our response to what has happened. Faith realizes that God loves us, and responds to that love. Faith is saying yes to God. It is a decision, an act of will to trust