It is historically uncertain when, where, and how the first doctrinal statements were developed. But we do have some clues.

Scriptural Doctrinal Statements

It is likely that some of the first creeds are found in Scripture, in passages like Philippians 2:5-11, 1 Corinthians 15:3-6, and 1 Timothy 3:16. However, some believe that these were not exactly creeds, but were hymns. Furthermore, and I will return to this point later, these Scriptural statements are not exactly creedal confession of doctrine, but are summaries of stories about Jesus. They are narrative summaries; not doctrinal summaries.

Also, some like to point to the statement that came out of the Jerusalem council in Acts 15:23-29 as an early statement of belief. And while this statement from the church leaders is not a summary of the life of Jesus, it is not a doctrinal statement either. It is not a statement of beliefs, but a statement of behaviors. It is not telling Gentile Christians what they must believe, but rather, telling them what they must do.

Both of these points, that early statements were based primarily on the narrative of Scripture and the behavior of believers, will become critical later in this chapter for understanding how we as twenty-first century followers of Jesus can stand up for the truth without the damaging and destructive statements of doctrine that have divided Christianity for so long.

Church Doctrinal Statements

Once we get outside of Scripture, we see other doctrinal statements develop rather quickly as well. There are two statements that developed quite early, the Nicene Creed and the Apostles’ Creed. Some believe that the Nicene Creed was first, but I tend to believe that it was preceded by the Apostles’ Creed, even though the Apostles were probably not the ones who wrote it.

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In a previous series on preaching, we have seen one way that Christianity has become a religion of words.

Christianity should, however, be a life of loving action and service of others. As followers of Jesus, we are to live like Jesus and love others like Jesus, but far too often, Christianity degenerates into arguing about words related to Jesus, rather than living like Jesus.

Saddest of all is when as a result of our war of words, Christians not only fail to love others, but actually go and kill others instead. Even as early as the 4th century AD, continuing all the way through the Middle Ages and the Reformation up until even modern days, it is not uncommon to hear about one group of Christians seeking to slander, destroy, imprison, and even kill other Christians with whom they disagree theologically.

Murder in Church

Though for the first 350 years of church history, Christians were persecuted by others, after Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire and gained all the power inherent within that position, the persecuted quickly became the persecutors, hunting down and killing not only those who refused to convert to Christianity, but also those Christians who held to different theological beliefs than those of the church leaders in power.

For example, one of the major theological debates in the Fourth and Fifth century AD concerned the nature of Jesus Christ. Was He fully God? Was He fully man? If He was God and man, did He have one nature, or two? Was He one person, or two? And in regard to both, how did His divinity and humanity interact? Though the theological scuffle waged for many years, the church eventually decided in 451 AD that Jesus had two natures in one person.

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