This Bible class presented an overview of the historic and ecumenical creeds of the Christian church.  The Apostles' Creed is the oldest of the creeds.  Although it is first quoted at the end of the fourth century (390 and then 404), it has its roots in the old Roman Creed of the second century.  The Nicene Creed was approved at the council of Nicea in 325 A.D. and revised at the Council of Constantinople of 381 A.D.  The third Council of Toledo of 589 A.D. added the words, “And from the Son” (filioque).  This creed confesses the full divinity of the Son and the Holy Spirit against the Arians and others.  The Athanasian Creed was most likely not written by Athanasius, even though the topics which it addresses are contemporaneous with Athanasius.  It was already in use in the 6th century and serves as a detailed explanation of the Trinity and the person of Christ.

The relationship between the Scripture and the Creeds can be summed up by two Latin phrases:  Scripture is norma normans (“the rule that rules”) but the creeds are norma normata (“a rule that is ruled”). Finally, we took a look at Mark 8:27-29 in which Jesus asks Peter, "But who do you say that I am?"

Note: At the beginning of each class, there will be a 5-minute quiz, which will be included in the links below. Immediately after the quiz, we will go over the answers to that quiz.  If you don't want to hear the answers, take the quiz first, then start the audio of the class.  Written answers will be included in the second link, which is the present class outline.

Quiz #2 (Pink sheet):  Quiz-for-Sep-8-Book-of-Concord-Creeds.pdf
Handouts (white sheet with answers to the quiz on the back):  Book-of-Concord-Class-2-Student-Guide.pdf
Extra Source Materials: Three-ecumenical-creeds.pdf  and Apostles-Creed-Background.pdf

The following is a reading guide (through December) for those who would like to read along with us.
Reading Guide for Tappert, Kolb, English only of Triglotta, Concordia Reader's Edition: Book-of-Concord-Reading-2019-2020-Chart-1-Page-1-2.pdf
Reading Guide for Triglotta, Jacobs, Henkel, Die BekenntnisSchriften, Tappert, Kolb: Book-of-Concord-Reading-2019-2020-Chart-2-pages-1-2.pdf