South Park
Presbyterian Church
1501 30th Street,
Rock Island, IL 61201
Click [map] to our location
Church Office Hours:
8:00 am - 4:00 pm Mon - Thurs
8:00 am - Noon Friday
Phone: (309) 786-6466
Fax: (309) 786-6470
Click [Web Site Map]
Daily Upper Room
Devotional www.upperroom.org/daily/
South Park Presbyterian Church is a congregation
of
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) www.pcusa.org
The Presbytery
of Great Rivers www.greatriverspby.org
The
Synod of Lincoln Trails www.lincolntrails.org
and is affiliated with
Churches United of the Quad
Cities www.churchesunited.net
Online
community website: www.webjam.com/southpark_pcusa
The Apostles’ Creed
More About The Apostles' Creed from the Book of Confessions, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Although not written by apostles, the Apostles’ Creed reflects the theological
formulations of the first century church. The creed’s structure
may be based on Jesus’ command to make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In a
time when most Christians were illiterate, oral repetition of the Apostles’
Creed, along with the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments, helped
preserve and transmit the faith of the western churches. The Apostles’
Creed played no role in Eastern Orthodoxy.
In the early church, Christians confessed that “Jesus is Lord” but did
not always understand the biblical context of lordship. The views of Marcion,
a Christian living in Rome in the second century, further threatened
the church’s understanding of Jesus as Lord. Marcion read the Old Testament
as referring to a tyrannical God who had created a flawed world.
Marcion believed that Jesus revealed, in contrast, a good God of love and
mercy. For Marcion, then, Jesus was not the Messiah proclaimed by the
prophets, and the Old Testament was not Scripture. Marcion proposed
limiting Christian “Scripture” to Luke’s gospel (less the birth narrative
and other parts that he felt expressed Jewish thinking) and to those letters
of Paul that Marcion regarded as anti-Jewish. Marcion’s views developed
into a movement that lasted several centuries.
Around A.D. 180, Roman Christians developed an early form of the
Apostles’Creed to refute Marcion. They affirmed that the God of creation
is the Father of Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified
under Pontius Pilate, was buried and raised from the dead, and ascended
into heaven, where he rules with the Father. They also affirmed
belief in the Holy Spirit, the church, and the resurrection of the body.
Candidates for membership in the church, having undergone a lengthy
period of moral and doctrinal instruction, were asked at baptism to state
what they believed. They responded in the words of this creed.
The Apostles’ Creed underwent further development. In response to
the question of readmitting those who had denied the faith during the persecutions
of the second and third centuries, the church added, “I believe
in the forgiveness of sins.” In the fourth and fifth centuries, North African
Christians debated the question of whether the church was an exclusive
sect composed of the heroic few or an inclusive church of all who confessed
Jesus Christ, leading to the addition of “holy” (belonging to God)
and “catholic” (universal). In Gaul, in the fifth century, the phrase “he descended
into hell” came into the creed. By the eighth century, the creed
had attained its present form.
Although not written by apostles, the Apostles’ Creed reflects the theological
formulations of the first century church. The creed’s structure
may be based on Jesus’ command to make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In a
time when most Christians were illiterate, oral repetition of the Apostles’
Creed, along with the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments, helped
preserve and transmit the faith of the western churches. The Apostles’
Creed played no role in Eastern Orthodoxy.
In the early church, Christians confessed that “Jesus is Lord” but did
not always understand the biblical context of lordship. The views of Marcion,
a Christian living in Rome in the second century, further threatened
the church’s understanding of Jesus as Lord. Marcion read the Old Testament
as referring to a tyrannical God who had created a flawed world.
Marcion believed that Jesus revealed, in contrast, a good God of love and
mercy. For Marcion, then, Jesus was not the Messiah proclaimed by the
prophets, and the Old Testament was not Scripture. Marcion proposed
limiting Christian “Scripture” to Luke’s gospel (less the birth narrative
and other parts that he felt expressed Jewish thinking) and to those letters
of Paul that Marcion regarded as anti-Jewish. Marcion’s views developed
into a movement that lasted several centuries.
Around A.D. 180, Roman Christians developed an early form of the
Apostles’Creed to refute Marcion. They affirmed that the God of creation
is the Father of Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified
under Pontius Pilate, was buried and raised from the dead, and ascended
into heaven, where he rules with the Father. They also affirmed
belief in the Holy Spirit, the church, and the resurrection of the body.
Candidates for membership in the church, having undergone a lengthy
period of moral and doctrinal instruction, were asked at baptism to state
what they believed. They responded in the words of this creed.
The Apostles’ Creed underwent further development. In response to
the question of readmitting those who had denied the faith during the persecutions
of the second and third centuries, the church added, “I believe
in the forgiveness of sins.” In the fourth and fifth centuries, North African
Christians debated the question of whether the church was an exclusive
sect composed of the heroic few or an inclusive church of all who confessed
Jesus Christ, leading to the addition of “holy” (belonging to God)
and “catholic” (universal). In Gaul, in the fifth century, the phrase “he descended
into hell” came into the creed. By the eighth century, the creed
had attained its present form.
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