I Believe: The Apostles' Creed

Good Book Guides

by Tim Chester

'I believe in God, the Father Almighty...'

The Apostles' Creed is recited by Christians throughout the world each Sunday. For many it is a dull routine, and for others, it is spoken with confusion or doubt, rather than with confidence and joy.

Do we really need creeds? Increasingly, people do not like the idea of pinning truth down. Others want to stick to the Bible alone, and think that creeds have no place in our worship.

But most churches have found it helpful to have a summary of Christian beliefs. Creeds summarise who we are, they teach us what is important and they help us avoid error. In modern business language, they are our 'identity documents'.

This Good Book Guide aims to fill out the content of the short statements of this creed which are so familiar to us. In ten studies, it shows how they are derived from the Bible - the teaching of the apostles - and what the significance of this momentous formula is for our daily lives. Saying the creed need never be dull, confused or joyless again...

110 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Dr Tim Chester is involved in The Crowded House, a church planting initiative in Sheffield, UK. He was previously Research & Policy Director for Tearfund UK, and has been published widely on prayer, mission, social issues and theology. He is married to Helen and has two daughters.

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read/Studied this for D-Group.

There was not much 'substance' for this study than I would have liked. I felt it lacked some narrative. I do like that it used questions to bring everything back to scripture. The answers in the back were definitely needed to understand what the author was getting at at least 1 time per study chapter.

[Sara Cross · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I don’t think that even the most studied theological scholar cannot learn from simple Truth, this study was not thought provoking. Our Bible study group often had to fill our time with discussing other things. I think this would be better as an individual study for someone who is not familiar with Christian orthodoxy, and would prove a powerful tool.

[Jessica Larsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lacking depth in general. A very surface level study of the apostles creed

[David Campton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good resource book for a group Bible Study based around the Apostles' Creed, not atomising each phrase/clause, but looking at the Biblical principles behind them. It is conservative in tone, with little contextual exegesis of the passages turned to, and it is perhaps a little pietistic for my liking but there is plenty of material for group leaders to build on, although there seem to be expected answers to the questions asked, rather than using the questions to prompt genuine group discussion and joint learning. But that is more of an issue of style than substance and a good Bible study leader will use the material to stimulate discussion.