Q. 4. Where is the good news of God’s Word summarized?

• Heidelberg Catechism 22–24
• AOR 8
• Belgic Confession 9
• Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.10.1
• Demonstration of the Apostlic Teaching 6

Summarized. The heart of the biblical revelation is that the God who created all things sent his Son to redeem all things (Q. 28) and poured out the Holy Spirit to apply the benefits of Christ’s redemption in and through the Church (Q. 37).

Three articles … Creed. The three articles of the Christian faith are commonly confessed at baptism in the Apostles’ Creed. The Creed (from credo, the Latin for “I believe”) was developed from early summaries of the faith, sometimes called the rule of faith. In the sense of having final authority, Scripture is our only rule of faith (Q. 3); however, these summaries derive authority from Scripture, since they faithfully summarize what the Bible teaches, and serve as a reliable guide for catechesis and biblical interpretation. In the Creed, “the Church has condensed the whole teaching of the Faith in a few lines” (Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 5.12). “We must keep the rule of faith unswervingly. … And this is the order of our faith, the foundation of [the] edifice and the support of [our] conduct: God, the Father, uncreated, uncontainable, invisible, one God, the Creator of all: this is the first article of our faith. And the second article: the Word of God, the Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord, who was revealed by the prophets according to the character of their prophecy and according to the nature of the economies of the Father, by whom all things were made, and who, in the last times, to recapitulate all things, became a man amongst men, visible and palpable, in order to abolish death, to demonstrate life, and to effect communion between God and man. And the third article: the Holy Spirit, through whom the prophets prophesied and the patriarchs learnt the things of God and the righteous were led in the path of righteousness, and who, in the last times, was poured out in a new fashion upon the human race renewing man, throughout the world, to God” (Irenaeus, Demonstration 3; 6).

Universal. While some things in Scripture are “hard to understand” (2 Peter 3:16), and good Christians disagree on how to interpret them, the matters of “first importance” (1 Corinthians 15:3), such as the death and resurrection of Christ, are universally received. “All possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all” (Vincent of Lerins, Commonitorium 2). The Creed summarizes “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3).

Father … Son … Spirit. Jesus authorized the Church to baptize “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). The Creed tells us, first, that “the Father” in whose name we are baptized is the Father of Jesus Christ and the same person who created all things in the beginning. Second, “the Son” is the same person as Jesus Christ, the one who became incarnate for us and our salvation. Finally, “the Spirit” is the third person of the Trinity, the one who sanctifies and gives life to the Church.

Apostles’ Creed … Nicene … Athanasian. The Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed are commonly called “ecumenical” (from oikoumenikos, Greek for “the whole inhabited world”), since they are widely received by the Church throughout the world (see p. 25, “Key Doctrinal Sources”). The Apostles’ Creed (p. 35) is commonly used at baptism and daily prayer. The Nicene Creed (p. 325) is commonly used at the Lord’s Supper. The Athanasian Creed (p. 317) is used on holy days throughout the Church year.

Received. “It is part of Christian modesty and gravity not to hand down our own beliefs or observances to those who come after us, but to preserve and keep what we have received from those who went before us” (Vincent of Lerins, Commonitory 6.16). Augustine told his catechumens, “Receive, my children, the Rule of Faith, which is called the Symbol or Creed. And when you have received it, write it in your heart, and be daily saying it to yourselves; before you sleep, before you go forth, arm yourselves with your Creed” (Sermon to the Catechumens 1).

Believed. The Creed provides a way for all people who believe the truth in their heart to confess the faith with their mouth and be saved: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (Romans 10:9–10). “Let us hold fast our confession” (Hebrews 4:14).

Proven with certainty. The Creeds derive their authority from Scripture because they faithfully interpret it (see Notes on Q. 3). They are the time-tested consensus of the Church on how to properly interpret the essential doctrines of Holy Scripture. “Those who acknowledge no creed but the Bible must, in the nature of things, adopt some method of settling the meaning of Scripture. … This they unquestionably have done; and disguise it as they may, they are governed, not ‘by the Bible alone,’ but by their interpretation of the Bible, and this interpretation, however it may be arrived at, and settled, or agreed to, is, de facto, their creed” (Thomas Ralston, Elements of Divinity 935).