NO CREED BUT CHRIST

Beware the “Church” that Requires You to Accept a Human “Creed”

Creeds. Human statements of belief. The Nicene Creed, the Apostles’ Creed, the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dort, the Augsburg Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Larger Catechism, the Shorter Catechism, the 39 Articles of Faith, and so on. All man-made and all unnecessary.

Man-made denominations often require you to agree to their “creed” or doctrinal statement before you can join their fellowship of believers. You have to agree with what they say is the Bible’s true teaching.

Certainly, you cannot blame a group for wanting its leaders to agree with what it believes about church doctrine. But to teach or imply that one who does not adhere to some man-made creed is not a true Christian, and therefore cannot be accepted into the fellowship of God’s community of believers, is wholly incorrect. That is the spirit of the world, is it not?

Christ is our creed. That should be the perspective from which we view interpreting the Bible and living the Christian life together in the fellowship of God’s family. “No creed but Christ” is a wonderful slogan, but it means nothing if we do not really apply it. But what does it mean?

“I believe” is what the Latin word credo, from which we get the English word “creed,” means. So to say that Christ is our creed means that He is what we believe. He is our faith. Remember He said, “I am the truth” in John 14:6. Remember Paul said that we live “by the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us” (Galatians 2:20).

No creed but Christ means that our statement of faith is a person. We believe in Jesus the person. It is not that we believe certain things ABOUT Him. It is that we believe in HIM. We trust in HIM. We love HIM. And everyone who loves Him and trusts in Him is on the same side that we are on and is part of the same group that we are part of.

Having Christ as our creed means that we put our trust in Him and have Him as the unity of our faith. We build our community and our unity around Him, personally. It is the same as saying, “I am a Christian only,” as opposed to saying I am a Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, etc. Christians is all we should be and Christ should be our only creed.

It also means that the Christian life is not about believing a complex system of doctrines or knowing anything about “systematic theology.” It is not being concerned about what “historic Christianity” teaches as much as it is about being united with Jesus in a living communion of faith. It is about knowing, loving, and following Christ rather than focusing on believing the right “things.” And no one can tell me there is not a difference. We see people all the time who are focused on their denomination’s doctrines, but have no interest in talking about Christ Himself. This is what must change. Christianity is about Christ.

Our creed should be Paul’s creed: “I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Union with Jesus. Loving Jesus and living for Jesus. That should be the focus of our faith.

The Christian life is defined by Christ in us. It is not defined primarily by “what we believe.” The world has seen enough of “Christians” who “believe correct doctrine,” but who do not have the Spirit of Christ in them. Christ lived for us so that we can live for Him. He took our sins so that we can take His righteousness.

We exchange places with Christ in the eyes of God. We get to live the life of righteousness because we are united with Jesus. That is why He is our belief, our faith, our creed. We do not depend on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6). We do not get caught up in empty and vain philosophies and traditions of men. “Don’t let anyone take you captive with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in human form. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority” (Colossians 2:8-10). We trust in Christ “in whom lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). That means Christ is our creed.

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Jesus’s words here make it clear that there is only one path and it is not a system, it is a Savior. It is not a plan, it is a person. Or to say it another way, the system is the Savior and God’s plan is the Person. Jesus is God’s plan of salvation. What we must believe is in Christ. Period. Someone trusting in their church or their own understanding does not accept who Jesus is or what the good news of Jesus is about. The true Gospel will cause you to trust in nothing but Jesus.

He is the Way

Jesus is the only way to the Father. That is the same as saying He is the only way to heaven. He does not just enlighten our path, He IS the path. We are not looking for directions, we are looking for a deliverer. It is true that those who trust in Jesus will seek to follow His lead and His direction. We have pointed that out many times. But it is only by focusing on Christ Himself that we can follow Christ. When it comes to the basis of our faith and what it is all about, Jesus does not point to a way, He IS the way. Jesus stands alone in a world of competing philosophies, ideologies, and “paths.”

He is the Truth

Outsiders often ask why can’t Christians agree with one another and work together? And the answer is very simple. Christianity, to many, means a religion where you believe the right things and go to the right church. But what Christianity really is is a personal relationship with a man named Jesus. He does not just speak and teach the truth, He IS the truth. And by knowing Him, the truth, we will be made free from sin, self, Satan and from human doctrine (John 8:31–32).

He is the Life

The life that Jesus gives is union with Himself. He told Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Again, He does not just give life, He IS life. There is no living without Him, and there is no true life without Him. Being united with Christ through faith and trust in Him gives us victory over the struggles of life here and now and takes us to eternity to live with Jesus forever (John 10:10; John 16:33: 3:16).

Paul chose to focus on Christ as his doctrine. He told the Corinthians, “I did not come to you with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony about Christ.” Instead, he says, “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). For Paul, Christ was his creed. He was determined to preach and focus on nothing but Christ. There is no reason for believers to be divided over anything if we all love and follow Jesus.

Faith rests on the power of God, not on human wisdom or the ability to decipher puzzles and put together “orthodox” systems. You cannot focus on a man-made system and on Jesus at the same time. We must resist the constant temptation to “assist” the Gospel with our personal opinions and ideas. We must resist the temptation to “editorialize” on the Gospel in any way. We must not add to or take from God’s message, which is Jesus.

Let us lay our self-sufficient intellect in the dust. It is not impressive to God and it should not be impressive to you or anyone else. We are not here to show how theologically intelligent we can be. We are here to lead the world to Jesus. He is the only way of salvation. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

This declaration means that Christ is the only way. Which means that FOCUSING ON Christ is the only way. It is not our “busyness” for Jesus. It is not our works. It is Christ and Christ alone. Other things will flow from faithful allegiance to Christ as a person, but the emphasis must be on Him. And the unity must be in Him. And in nothing else.

The only thing that matters is, do we love and trust Jesus, and are we seeking to please Him with the way that we live. Christ. He is our creed.

      Bryan Dewayne Dunaway