The Asian Church’s Aversion to Creeds

In our Sunday morning services, we occasionally recite the creeds, an uncommon practice among many Filipino churches. A newcomer recently told me she was surprised when she heard us recite the Apostles’ Creed. I suspect her surprise is not unusual, since many Filipino evangelical Christians are generally unfamiliar with the creeds. The exceptions are those who have a Roman Catholic background, but might frown when they hear phrases like “he descended into hell” and “the holy catholic church” in the Apostles’ Creed.

The word “creed,” which came from the Latin credo, simply means, “I believe.” Church historian J. N. D. Kelly defines a creed as “a fixed formula summarizing the essential articles of [our] religion and enjoying the sanction of ecclesiastical authority.”¹ Even without using the term “creed,” almost every church has what we often call a “statement of faith.” A creed is also a statement of faith, but has a more universal acceptance, geographically and historically speaking. If that is the case, why are many church leaders in our region hesitant—and even resistant—to incorporating the creeds into their church life? What factors may have contributed to this aversion to using the historic creeds, confessions, and catechisms in many Asian churches?²

I can think of at least three. One contributing factor is a kind of biblicism that misunderstands the Protestant motto of sola Scriptura. The second is our culture’s fascination with everything new and contemporary. The third is the influence of pragmatism in doing ministry. In this piece, I will address the first factor—a misunderstanding of sola Scriptura—and will address the other two in a second post.

Sola Scriptura is Not Solo Scriptura

We evangelicals confess the Reformation motto sola Scriptura, submitting to the Scripture’s supreme authority over our lives and ministry. However, sola Scriptura is not the same as solo Scriptura, as some “biblicists” would say. Instead of holding on to “no creed but the Bible”—which ironically is also a creedal statement!—J. V. Fesko contends that “biblically subordinated” confessions like the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed should play a crucial role in the church.³ While they do not possess inherent authority, they do carry derivative authority over us, since they point us to the Scriptures and are beneficial to the life of the church.

Fesko also argues that creeds actually have more biblical basis than might first appear, since Scripture clearly shows that God expects us to take his authoritative revelation, reflect on it, study it, restate it in our own words, and pass it on to the next generation.⁴ In what follows, we’ll consider four passages that reflect this arc in Scripture. While these passages do not argue directly for the use of written creeds, they lend support to that claim.

Four Biblical Evidences

The first biblical basis is related to Israel’s Passover celebration to regularly commemorate God’s work in rescuing them from slavery in Egypt. When their children ask them why they celebrate the Passover, they are expected to retell the exodus story: “With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (Exod 13:14). God is concerned that they should not merely perform rituals without understanding the meaning and purpose behind those acts. God intends for parents to retell his salvation story to their children, explain what it means, and make God and his works known to them—in other words, to teach them right doctrine.

The second is the Shema, which was given to Israel 40 years after the exodus and before they entered the Promised Land: “Hear (Heb. shema), O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deut 6:4–5). This creedal summary of Israel’s faith contains a statement of who God is, the only God Yahweh, and how they should respond to him in love and obedience. They were then commanded to take these words to heart and teach them to their children (vv. 7–9).

The third is Paul’s use of the phrase “trustworthy saying” several times in his letters to Timothy and Titus (1 Tim 1:15; 3:1; 4:7–9; 2 Tim 2:11–13; Tit. 3:4–8). Fesko argues that these are “objective restatements” of what Jesus taught about himself, which are recorded in the Gospels or restatements of other biblical teachings. For example, in 1 Timothy 1:15, Paul said, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” We can find the same phrase in 2 Timothy 2:11–13, “Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him…” He also charged Timothy to follow and teach others “the pattern of sound teaching,” and to “guard the good deposit that was entrusted” to him (1:13–14). This is important because the church has a God-given mandate as “the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15) to not only hold on to gospel doctrine but also to guard it and pass it on to others.

This mandate is made very clear in Jude 3, the fourth biblical evidence Fesko cites: “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (ESV). “To contend” signifies the reality of struggle or warfare as part and parcel of the church’s calling that makes standing firm necessary. “The faith” here that we need to guard does not refer to the personal or subjective state of our faith but to the unchanging, objective truth that is the basis of our faith, namely, the gospel. And that gospel is “once for all delivered to the saints” (ESV). It is not subject to change and must not be changed. As Carl Trueman notes, “The faith once for all delivered to the saints did not need innovation.”⁵ Because this gospel is given to us, what we need to do is to faithfully pass it on to others.

Creeds as Allies, not Foes, of Sola Scriptura

These are just some of the pieces of biblical evidence indicating the important role creeds and confessions can play in helping us accomplish our church’s God-given mandate. Our allegiance to sola Scriptura should not cause us to be allergic to the use of creeds in our churches. Rather, we confess, sing, and proclaim what we as a church believe together with all the churches worldwide. As we do so, we do not merely parrot words found in our Bible translations, which is done even by cult members and nominal Christians posting on social media. Creeds and confessions can help give us not merely biblical words but also doctrinal terms and categories to teach others and the next generation the meaning, wonders, and riches of the Christian faith.

In my conversations with other Filipino pastors, I regularly hear them bemoan the scarcity of biblical resources to aid them in corporate worship and discipleship. This will change when we realize that the Holy Spirit has used the creeds in guiding thousands of churches—including Asian churches—for centuries. So I hope that a practical appreciation of the creeds will increase in our churches in the near future. Instead of rejecting them, may we embrace these creeds, subordinate to Scripture they may be, as part of our rich Christian heritage and as a helpful guide in our Christian pilgrimage.

Derick Parfan is the leading pastor of Baliwag Bible Christian Church in Bulacan, Philippines since 2009. He is also founder and executive director of Treasuring Christ PH (treasuringchristph.org), a ministry dedicated to publishing gospel-centered resources in English and Filipino. He is author of Five Solas, One Gospel: Mga Foundational Doctrines para sa Filipino Church Ngayon (Treasuring Christ PH, 2021). He holds a ThM degree in Theological Studies from AGST. He is married to Jodi (since 2008) and has two sons (Daniel and Stephen) and one daughter (Kyrie).