Beth-El Baptist Church
6/20/04
Can we study Creeds and Catechisms in the context of a Bible Study?
Many people use different aids and guides to help them with their study of the Bible. There are some people who believe it is contrary to scripture to study anything other than the Bible for it to be a Bible Study. The question about the use of creeds and catechisms in a Bible Study will be addressed.
1. What is meant by a “creed”?
A creed is simply any system of principles and beliefs. They are generally statements that are treated as fact. They can also be viewed as statements of faith or statements of belief. Every person has a creed of some sort. Some are written down and shared while others are internalized and held as personal.
2. What is meant by a “catechism”?
According to W.R. Downing, a Catechism is a manual of Christian doctrine in catechetical format. Which is essentially a list of questions and their answers. In many ways it could be said that it is a lot like this class in which questions are raised and then the scriptures are searched to find the answers.
3. Who wrote these documents? (Boundary of use)
Generally speaking these documents were written by men in order to extract out fundamental teachings of the Bible to make it easier for people to quickly understand the beliefs and teachings.
Matthew 5:19
Matthew 15:1-9 (Mark 7:5-13)
Men wrote the documents and as such can only be obeyed in as much as they agree with the actual word of God.
4. What authority do these documents have?
1 Kings 2:3
2 Kings 23:21
Ezra 3:2-4
Ecclesiastes 12:13
Daniel 9:13
Daniel 10:21
Jeremiah 30:2
Matthew 4:3-10
John 5:39
John 17:17
John 18:37-38
Acts 10:13-17
1 Corinthians 15:24
2 Timothy 3:16-17
Hebrews 10:7
2 Peter 1:20-21
2 Peter 3:16
The only document with real authority over men is the scripture, the Bible.
5. What authority did the writers have?
1 Kings 22:7 (2 Kings 3:11, 2 Chronicles 18:6)
Matthew 7:29 (Mark 1:22)
Matthew 28:18
Mark 13:34 (Luke 9:1)
Luke 19:17
John 5:27
John 14:6
Acts 9:14
Acts 23:5
2 Timothy 2:2
Titus 2:11-15
The highest authority that exists is God. He has given limited authority to rule and judge to men over the years. They were still bound by the authority of God and could not go beyond it.
6. How would you study a catechism or creed?
Act 17:11
1 Corinthians 2:13
2 Timothy 2:24
1 John 2:5
1 John 4:1
1 John 5:2
Catechisms and creeds are not scripture but can be useful to verify the stated beliefs and teachings of organizations and people with the written Word of God. The statements that are made need to be compared with scripture, not just the scripture that the creed/catechism write has applied to their statements but other scriptures as well. Also verify that the interpretation is made in accordance with the context of the passage (Matthew 22:29).
Since men write them, they will have good statements and bad statements. Each statement should be evaluated independently to see how they adhere to the Word of God.
7. Is it ok to study creeds and catechisms by themselves in a Bible Study?
John 5:46-47
John 6:63
John 6:68
John 12:48
Acts 5:20
Hebrews 4:12
Where scripture may support the creeds and catechisms, they are not scripture and cannot change the lives of people. Only the very word of God can change lives. Never should the words of men replace the word of God and be studied as such.