We Believe in God the Father
By Jeff Cranston
The Apostles’ Creed has been used for centuries by the people of God like a big map that gives us the big picture of what we believe. Millions of people recite the Creed every Sunday when they worship. I use it myself as part of my private devotions. It reads:
I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended into hell;
on the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting. Amen.
God’s Word is paramount
It's crucial to understand that our faith is not founded on any creed or statement of faith. The written Word of God is our ultimate source of authority. God reveals himself to us through His Word. The church's creeds and confessions are then derived from the Word. Because the creeds and confessions represent what God has stated in his Word, the church believes them.
This isn't to say that everything in every confession or creed is correct. However, it does imply that creeds and confessions of faith can be extremely beneficial if they accurately reflect what God's Word says.
The Importance of the Apostles’ Creed
Here’s how the Apostles’ Creed impacts every one of us: We live in a practical age where people want to know how the truth impacts them personally. The answer is found in the first two words of the Creed: “I believe.” It’s important that all of us know what and why we believe. To say “I believe” means that you are making a personal commitment to the truth. Romans 1:16 declares that the gospel is the power of God that brings salvation to “everyone who believes.”
In this blog post, we will take a look at the first three lines of the Creed: “I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth … ”
I Believe in God the Father …
Our faith is focused on the one and only God—God of the covenants, God of creation, and God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the God who, according to Scripture, created the world, called the patriarchs, sent the prophets, liberated Israel from Egypt's enslavement, forged a covenant with them, gave them the Law, and promised to save us all through the nation of Israel by sending the Messiah.
The imagery of God as our father is everywhere throughout Scripture. The Israelites were told that God is their Father in the sense that He created the nation to be the children of His covenant. The Psalmist tells us that God is “a father to the fatherless” (Psalm 68:5). This underscores His compassion and caring nature.
Jesus constantly talked about God as His Father in such a way as to make clear that He truly knows the Father. We have to look no further than the garden of Gethsemane, where we find Jesus praying to the Father in a mixture of despair and grief about His coming fate, yet still committing Himself to what the Father willed for Him.
Jesus teaches about God’s fatherly love with such beautiful imagery, like the story of the father running to meet his rebellious son who finally returned home (Luke 15). And there’s a beautiful promise that whoever follows Jesus’s teaching will be loved by “my Father” (John 14:23).
The resurrected Christ told Mary that He was going to ascend to “My Father and your Father, to my God and your God” because the risen Lord brings us into fellowship with the Father (John 20:17). Think about that for a second. If we know Christ as Savior, then we have His Father as our Father, and the Holy Spirit is our Comforter.
Perhaps the apostle John put it best when he wrote in his epistle: “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1, NIV) Lavish indeed that former rebels are now adopted children of the glorious Father!
When we become Christians, Romans 8 says that we receive the Holy Spirit who makes us children of God, “and by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ “(Romans 8:15, NIV). The word “Abba” means “daddy,” and communicates the intimacy and nearness of God. He is not indifferent or detached from His children.
God wants you to embrace Him as your Father, to come to Him without fear of retribution or shame. He wants you to come boldly into His presence, having the confidence that He is eager to hear your prayers—the prayers of His child. He wants you to come to Him as you are, in your own words, in your own language. Abba, Father…
I believe in God the Father Almighty …
Our Father in heaven is not just a god among the pantheon of gods. He is the Almighty God—the God who can do anything and possesses all power. Scripture tells us that he is named, El Shaddai, the God who is all–powerful (Genesis 17:1). The psalmists and the prophets tell us that the Lord Almighty is His name!
The word almighty in the Apostles’ Creed is meant to represent all of God’s attributes and the fullness of God’s perfection. He is holy, righteous, majestic, and far above every god. The affirmation of God the Father Almighty ought to rule everything we teach, everything we sing, every moment of our lives.
Author Michael Bird writes, “Affirming and acknowledging that God is almighty is a great source of comfort for believers. No matter how terrible or tragic circumstances, we can rest assured knowing that our God is able to do immeasurably more than what we ask and able to bring about the best for those who love him.”[1]
Maker of heaven and earth …
As Christians, we believe that everything that exists traces its existence and its reality to the sovereign act of God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. The creed begins with telling us who God is.
He is the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. The Bible also begins with God as Creator. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Right from the start, we discover foundational truths about God.
God is eternal, existing prior to creation. He is infinite, not bound by the limitations of this universe. He is omnipotent, speaking creation into existence. God is independent and outside of anything He has created. Some of the greatest words you and I will ever hear are, “ … in the beginning, God … ”
God has created things that warm the human heart and God’s created things that strike fear into the human heart. The poet William Blake put words to these thoughts. In his poem called “The Lamb” he writes, “Little lamb, who made thee, Dost thou know who made thee?” And he goes on to ask the lamb, “Do you know who gave you life, who gave you your softest clothing, woolly and bright, who gave you such a tender voice?” and the answer is God.
Later he poetically inquires of a tiger, “Tiger, tiger, burning bright, in the forests of the night, what immortal hand or eye could frame your fearful symmetry?”[2]
God created both the tiger and the lamb. Both the hawk and the sparrow were created by Him. He created the ferocious and the feeble. He created everything and everyone in the universe.
I believe in God, the Almighty Father, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. As Christians, we believe more than what the Creed says, but we don’t believe less.
My friend, do you so believe?
Jeff Cranston is the lead pastor of LowCountry Community Church in Bluffton, South Carolina.
References
[1] Michael F. Bird, What Christians Ought to Believe. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016, p. 66.
[2] William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience. London, 1974, 89-90.