The Creed: The Meaning Of The Creed

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Meaning of the Creed A Creed is a set of guidelines that all of a particular group follows. Creed coming from the word “credo” simply means I believe. Despite that creed and confessions of belief are not interchangeable. While a statement of faith, such as “I believe” only pertains to the person speaking; a creed specifically unites all persons. In a general sense a creed defines the way in which a person or group live out their life, including all of their actions and morals. In this way a creed allows for a sense of personal identity, ergo a way of personal and social morals to be constructed. However, morals never necessarily have a right or wrong where a creed provides specific conditions in which deviation from would be heresy. The creed acting as a guideline to life allows for a more structured and centered personal identity. In the Christian sense a creed is a "statement of belief to which the orthodox are to adhere to.” (Young 1) Meaning a creed is something all Christians consider as fact; no matter what denomination of Christian they personally relate to. Similarly, in this way Christians have morals or guidelines to which all …show more content…

The pastor would ask three questions representing the holy Trinity and each the professor would answer with " I believe." But what did the credo statement of "I believe" mean? "The creed functions not as a recitation of "beliefs" but as an affirmation of loyalty" (Jennings 12) This meant that to all Christians the creed would never become stagnant. The creed would never become just a recitation of words at the beginning of the church; it would reaffirm a loyalty, commitment and relationship with God and the person. Although there’s been several versions of the creed created throughout history. The two primary texts are the original the Old Roman Symbol which later influenced the Apostles Creed, and then the reformed widely accepted Nicene

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