The Times are a-changin’! And life can seem so unpredictable. Yet there are some things which can be trusted to remain timeless and constant … our historic Christian faith. Over the coming weeks we will be exploring our inheritance from the Apostles and discover that Jesus is Lord even in the 21st Century. We’re beginning a new series entitled, “Credo: Exploring Our Historic Faith.” 

We will be exploring the Apostles’ Creed, bequeathed to us by the Church Fathers. However, is more implied by their term “I believe …,” than simply giving mental assent to certain facts? Put a different way, is there more to belief, as found in the Bible and in Christianity, than simply having some facts swimming around in our brains? Before we dive into the Apostles’ Creed, let us briefly consider what is meant by the term “belief” in the Scriptures.

John 6:22-29:

On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and the Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had done away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

When they found him on hteother side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?"

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”

Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent”  (ESV).

With our common evangelical eyes we read Jesus’s statement to mean that the only work of God is to believe in Jesus … lest we look too Catholic. Personally, I think if we could do far worse than appear a bit more Catholic. At any rate in our theology of grace we have graciously declined to work at all. After all our works don’t get us to Heaven … right?

Yet, the New Testament does not allow us to rip a theology of belief from the larger context of faith … without doing irreparable damage to Christianity itself. Let’s consider some further testimonies to the nature of belief in the New Testament.

James 2

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory(ESV).

(In our culture we separate belief and action, while we equate belief and faith. James from the first verse of chapter 2 allows no separation of works from faith. Let us continue.)

For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “you stand over there,” or “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are no the rich the one who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

If you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partialitity, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, “Do notcommit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment (ESV).

(Basically what James has said up to this point illustrates his the first verse in this section (2:1). Mercy to all is Scriptural. Yet in giving mercy to some but withholding it purposefully when you could very well have given it, is a violation of the whole of the Law and of their professed faith. Let’s keep reading.)

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe–and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”–and he was called a friend of God. you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead (ESV).

James 2 is what I call “That Other Faith Chapter.” What is significant is the emphasis that James puts on belief and action as being very integral to one another. Quite scandalously, he insists that even the demons believe God. But what good does that do them? Faith without works is __________. Yes, dead. Indeed “faith (is) completed by … works.”

But what about Abraham and his supposedly being justified apart from works and by faith alone? Let’s take a look at that passage.

Romans 4:1-8:

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but no before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” No to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungoldly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin” (ESV).

If we simply glance at this passage, it appears we have a bit of a contradiction on our biblical hands. James says we’re justified by faith and works. Paul says we’re justified by faith alone. What then are we to make of this? And make of this we must!

James is speaking about living the Christian life. Paul is talking about what primarily sets us apart from the world as the people of God. In other words James is talking about Christian life, while Paul is talking about Christian identity.

But what do I mean by identity? In reality you must read the whole of his letter to the Romans to more fully understand what is glimpsed at here. In sum, though, Paul was addressing a group of Christians … some of whom had been Gentiles … some of whom had been practicing Jews. Some Jews taught that Circumcision, as prescribed by Moses in Torah, set them apart as the people of God. These same people also taught that Gentiles becoming Christians must first submit to Moses before submitting to Jesus. Paul says NO! This is where he brings into the discussion Abraham. Paul declares that even before Abraham was given the covenant of circumcision, he was declared righteous on the basis of his faith. In other words his relationship with God was based on faith before it contained any behavioral prescriptions. What James brings to this discussion is that Abraham’s faith was completed when he freely obeyed God by offering up Isaac in human sacrifice.

Is Paul throwing out the works all-together as so many well-meaning … and some not-so-well-meaning … evangelicals contend? Let’s consider the verse preceding Romans 4: “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law” (Romans 3:31; ESV). If Paul intended on throwing out works from a life of faith, then what was he intending to accomplish with Chapters 12 – 15? Consider 12:1, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Having our bodies as “living sacrifices” is a pretty poor treatise on jettisoning works from faith.

Let’s think of the relationship of faith, belief and works in this way, “Faith is belief that spurs actions for a purpose.”

So, what actions will the statements of belief in the Apostles’ Creed spur in us? Or put a different way, how will the Apostles’ Creed impact our Christian walk?