My Creed     
 

by Morris Norman

 

The word creed is from the Latin root credo, meaning "I believe." It is an authoritative formula or reli­gious belief. Personally it is whatever one has accepted as his standard for life and activities. Every religious order has a creed. Some are "based" on the Bible, some are not. All but one are formulated by man. My creed is the Bible, nothing more, nothing less. I have no book other than the covenant of Jesus Christ up­on which to establish my faith and practice. I do not look to some official organization or conference to tell me what to believe. My creed is the New Testament. Let me tell you something about it. My creed is God given. "I make known unto you, brethren, as touching the gospel that was preached by me, that it was not after man, nor was I taught it, but it came by revelation of Jesus Christ" (Gal. 1:11,12; see also John 16:13; 1 Cor. 2:7-10; 2 Peter 1:20,21; 1 Thess. 2:13). No other creed can make this claim. Oh, some creed writers may claim they were inspired when they formulated these latter day creeds, but such are false claims. A close study shows all of them to differ from each other and from the Bible. When the perfect and complete will of Christ was revealed, inspiration was to be no longer (1 Cor. 13:8-13). The Bible is the only book available to man that reveals the mind of God. My creed needs no revision. The creeds of men are revised from time to time; even those who claim to be inspired have had to be corrected. One   creed,   produced by men, taught prior to 1900 that babies were born totally depraved; it has been revised to teach that babies are born inno­cent. Many creeds that once taught that the Bible is the infallible word of God no longer so teach. Some, once opposed to social sins, now condone them. The Bible remains the same, unaltered, the same as the day it was revealed. It still meets all the needs of mankind. It shows man in his lost condition and how he can be saved in Christ. It is the only book that is completely relevant to man. My creed is infallibly correct. Although not a book of science, it is scientifically and geographically correct in its utterances. Archaeology has proven it correct historically. All its prophecies, though made centuries ahead, have been faithfully fulfilled. It could not have been written by fallible man. Being infallibly correct, there are no inconsistencies in it. Al­though written by about 40 men over a period of 1500 years it is a complete whole. The Bible is a divine record of God's dealing with man because of sin. It relates man's fall, God's bringing the Redeemer into the world by the Jewish race and then tells man how he may be saved through Him. It does not contradict itself as do the creeds of men. My creed is sufficient. "All scripture inspired of God is profit­able for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in right­eousness, that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work" (2 Tim. 3:16,17). "Seeing that His divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain to life and god­liness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us by his own glory and virtue" (2 Peter 1:5). Man needs nothing more than the Bible to supply everything needed for His salvation. Writers of human creeds admit that we can be saved without having ever seen their creeds. You do not need the creeds of men, they are fallible and insufficient; In fact, they are confusing and lead men away from the truth revealed in the Bible. My creed will judge all men. "He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him; the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the last day" (John 12: 48). This cannot be said of any other creed. No man will be judged by the Methodist creed, Baptist manual, the Catholic church dogmas, Book of Mor­mon, Watch Tower publications, Key to Science and the Scriptures, or any other formulation of man. All these are the judgments of men whereas the Bible is the revelation of God's mind and will be the only standard of judgment for men before God. Someone has rightly said that if a creed contains more than the Bible we do not   need it   because it contains more than the Bible; if a creed contains less than the Bible we do not need it because it contains less than the Bible; if a creed contains just what the Bible says we do not need it because we have the Bible. Sometimes man reads the Bible with the shades of human creeds on his eyes. With such man is hampered from believing Christ. When the Bible plainly says, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16: 16), and human creeds say that man is saved apart from obeying Christ's command, the human creed becomes a stumbling block to understanding and obeying Christ. When a man can't be just a Christian (Acts 11:26; 1 Peter 4:16) because he has a human name forced on him by a creed he has espoused, the creed hampers the man from being just what Christ wants him to be. When a creed formulates denominational or­ganizations not spoken of in the Bible, the creed draws man away from the word of God. Man-made creeds keep men from having God's word as their exclusive guide. Man needs nothing more than the word of God, yea, he must have nothing more if he is com­plete in Christ. "If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book" (Revelation 22:18,19).       Other Articles by Morris Norman Joseph Courtesy How to Avoid a Divorce Self-Conscious I Hate Sin A Matter of Choice   For Past Auburn Beacons go to: www.aubeacon.com/Bulletins.htm   Anyone can join the mailing list for the Auburn Beacon! Send your request to: larryrouse@aubeacon.com