3. Reliability of the Text of the NT (3)

The early church formulated creeds – even before the books of the New Testament were written – and used them to proclaim and share the faith. A creed (from the Latin “credo” which means: “I believe”) is a memorized statement which was declared, shared and passed between believers at early church meetings. Many of the creeds were incorporated into the New Testament books; some as early as the gospels but others in apostolic letters.[22]

These verbal statements of faith were originally in Aramaic and are easily recognized, because they use a different style than other passages, contain Aramaic words, and/or often are introduced by an “I-pass-on-as-I-received” constructions. If translated back to the original, most creeds exhibit poetic features and sound like old hymns.[23]  This made for easier and better memorizing.

The, by far the most important, two creeds are the recollections of the sharing of the bread and wine at the Lord’s supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23-29 and Paul’s testimony about the resurrection appearances in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 (we will visit this creed in more detail when we discuss the resurrection evidence in a later chapter[24]).

Other creeds are found in Romans 1:3-4 and 10:9, 1 Timothy 3:16, 2 Timothy 2:8 and Philippians 2:6-11. Creeds can also be found in the sermons of Peter and Paul in Acts.

These creeds are the oldest Christian testimonies to Jesus’ ministry, His teachings and resurrection; some date even to the mid-30s AD, within a few years of the resurrection!  Even the most critical scholars acknowledge that these creeds are to be considered reliable eyewitness testimony exceptionally close to the actual events.