The so-called fundamentalists of our day join hands with liberals on this point with their well-known slogan: “No creed but the Bible”. Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 33. Tradition is the fruit of the Spirit’s teaching activity from the ages as God’s people have sought understanding of […]
It is sometimes said that you cannot describe the Trinity without committing some sort of heresy. Either you make God out to be three gods, or you make the three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) into a sham and pretense. The reason for this […]
Sudden chaos overtook Alexandria in 318. A riot broke out and people streamed into the street chanting, “There was a time when Christ was not!” Historical Background The slogan expressed an idea that had become popular: that Christ was a created being. But that idea […]
Following the apostles, the early church maintained that heresy means directly denying the central orthodox beliefs of the church. Early church creedal statements codified orthodoxy into a widely accepted form. Even before important Christian beliefs such as the canon of Scripture (list of books in […]
This article originally appeared in Christianity Today (October 2016). A group of bloggers seeking reform in Southern Baptist circles recently decried pastor Rick Warren for teaching that God communicates to believers via dreams. The bloggers named Warren and other speakers at a 2015 Hillsong conference “heretical preachers that […]
Ashley Null is one of the world’s foremost experts on Thomas Cranmer. He is canon theologian for the Episcopal Diocese of Western Kansas, visiting fellow at Cambridge, visiting research fellow at Humboldt-Universität in Berlin. Recently, I had the opportunity to interview him. What are you […]
In Know the Creeds and Councils, I introduce the church’s most important statements of faith over the centuries and explain why those statements still matter today.
There is a lot of talk about heresy these days. The frequency and volume of accusations suggest that some Christians have lost a sense of the gravity of the word. On the other hand, many believers have little to no familiarity with orthodox doctrine or […]
Here is an overview of the Apostles’ Creed. For more, check out Know the Creeds and Councils.
The Nicene Creed is one of the most famous and influential creeds in the history of the church, because it settled the question of how Christians can worship one God and also claim that this God is three persons.