Caressing the Creed: Reflections on the Apostles' Creed

By Richard Allen Farmer

It is possible to recite creeds week after week and not think about what we are saying. These sermons on the Apostles Creed give fresh insights to the worshiper. You may never recite I believe in the same way again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jan 19, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512723984

Richard Allen Farmer

Richard Allen Farmer is the pastor of the Crossroads Church in Stone Mountain, Georgia. A concert pianist and Bible expositor, Farmer has blended the arts and preaching, for more than thirty years. A graduate of Nyack College (B. Mus.) and Princeton Theological Seminary (M.Div.), Farmer has also served as Dean of the Chapel at Gordon College and Taylor University. A renaissance man, Rev. Farmer is an instrument-rated pilot, a SCUBA diver, Segway rider, motorcyclist, Scrabble player, and foodie. He is the happy husband of Rosemary and the delighted father of Timothy.

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Copyright © 2016 Richard Allen Farmer.

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Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-2397-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-2398-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015920525

WestBow Press rev. date: 01/15/2016

Contents

Foreword

Chapter 1    I Believe in God the Father Almighty

Chapter 2    Maker of Heaven and Earth

Chapter 3    And in Jesus Christ, His Only Son, Our Lord

Chapter 4    Who Was Conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary

Chapter 5    Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was Crucified, Died, and Was Buried

Chapter 6    He Descended into Hell. The Third Day He Rose Again from the Dead

Chapter 7    He Ascended into Heaven and Sitteth on the Right Hand of God, the Father Almighty

Chapter 8    From Thence He Shall Come to Judge the Quick and the Dead

Chapter 9    I Believe in the Holy Ghost

Chapter 10    I Believe in the Holy Christian Church

Chapter 11    (I Believe in) the Communion of Saints

Chapter 12    (I Believe in) the Forgiveness of Sins

Chapter 13    (I Believe in) the Resurrection of the Body

Chapter 14    (I Believe in) the Life Everlasting

Chapter 15    Amen

Foreword

Since January 1, 2014, it has been my joy to serve as pastor of the Crossroads Presbyterian Church in Stone Mountain.

I love to preach, and I have not lost my love for and commitment to the discipline of research, writing, editing, praying over, and delivering expositions of Scripture. What a joy it has been to prepare spiritual food for the saints at Stone Mountain. They are a most receptive congregation with whom it is my joy to worship, week after week.

For fifteen weeks of my first year, I preached my way through the lines of the Apostle’s Creed, which we recite at least once a month in our morning worship experience. I offer these sermons so that we are reminded of what we believe and that to which we hold.

I am grateful to the congregation that journeyed with me as I mused on this historic doctrinal statement.

To them, the Crossroads Presbyterian Church family, I fondly dedicate this book.

Richard Allen Farmer

Stone Mountain, GA

April 2015

Chapter 1

I Believe in God the Father Almighty

Text: Genesis 17:1–8; 2 Corinthians 6:14–18

Trinity Sunday is celebrated on the Sunday after Pentecost. On that day we celebrate, and we specifically celebrate the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. In some churches they recite the Athanasian Creed. That creed is named after Athanasius, who was a fierce champion of orthodox faith. The Athanasian Creed reads as follows:

Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith. Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic Faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all One, the Glory Equal, the Majesty Co-Eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Ghost uncreated. The Father Incomprehensible, the Son Incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost Incomprehensible. The Father Eternal, the Son Eternal, and the Holy Ghost Eternal and yet they are not Three Eternals but One Eternal. As also there are not Three Uncreated, nor Three Incomprehensibles, but One Uncreated, and One Incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not Three Almighties but One Almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not Three Gods, but One God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not Three Lords but One Lord..)

Without apology, we are Trinitarians. We believe that God has made Himself known in three distinct yet equal persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.