What is a personal creed

Personal Creed On Christology

To complete this assignment- USE THE TEMPLATE ATTACHED. This is not a "paper".

For the Critical Assignment the students will write a creed on the Christian faith. A creed (from the Latin, credo, "I believe") is simply a statement of belief, or a doctrinal summary. The creed in this case will include two components: it will express the beliefs of evangelical Christianity as presented in the course material (lectures and readings), but it will also express the students’ own personal beliefs and reflections on the course material. The lectures and the McGrath book will be important resources for this assignment.

The creed is divided into 8 sections:

Scripture and Truth
God, the Holy Trinity
Humanity and Sin
The Person of Christ
The Work of Christ
Soteriology
Ecclesiology
Eschatology
For each of these 8 sections, the students will write about 2 sub-sections:

1.) 1-2 paragraphs on the beliefs of evangelical Christianity on the doctrine in question. By "Evangelical Christianity," I simply mean conservative, gospel-believing Protestantism, that is, the viewpoint expressed in the lectures. This section is more objective, and you will be graded on the accuracy and thoroughness of your presentation of the evangelical view.

2.) 1-2 paragraphs on your own personal beliefs and reflections on the doctrine in question. If you are in fundamental agreement with the course material, you may choose to reflect on the significance of the doctrine for your own personal faith and practice. Or you may choose to register some disagreement with the doctrine in question or to interact critically with the course material. This is your chance to reflect upon what you believe and why you believe it. As such, this section is more subjective. Disagreement will not be penalized, but you will be graded on the thoughtfulness of your interaction.

For each section, be sure to include Scripture references in parentheses that support the beliefs in question. You do not need to cite any sources beyond the McGrath book, but if you do use other sources (in print or online), be sure to cite them. Plagiarism is taken very seriously in higher education; so do not use any material that is not your own without proper citation.

Use the template provided (there is no need to make this assignment conform to MLA or APA style). See the rubric attached to the assignment for more details on how the creed will be assessed.

This is the Critical Assignment for this course and must be passed at an acceptable rate in order to pass the course.

**See the example creed attached for what the assignment should look like.

**See pictures of the rubric attached for what is expected. Use the far left column of the rubric titled "exemplary" to guide you in completing this assignment.

Sample Creed

Note that this sample creed does not include all of the topics that your creed will. Also note that it does not include the two sub-sections that each of your sections will. This creed just gives you a sense of what a statement of faith (with Scripture references) should look like. See the instructions in the syllabus for more information on what your creed should include.

CHRISTOLOGY

By K. Erik Thoennes

We Believe:

Deity of Christ:

That Jesus Christ was fully God. He claimed that the angels of God were "his angels" and that God's Kingdom was His Kingdom (Mt. 13:41). He claimed the authority to forgive sins (Mk. 2:5) and the role of divine Judge (Mt. 25:31-46). He claimed authority over the Law, even the Sabbath (Mk. 2:27-28) and a unique unified pre-existent relationship with the Father and (Jn. 3:16; 5:58; 10:30-33; 14:7-9,23; 17). He claimed to be the Son of God (Jn. 19:7; Mt. 26:63ff.) allowed his disciples to attribute deity to Him (Jn. 20:28; Mt. 16:16), and the power over life and death (Jn. 5:21; 11:25). His miracles demonstrated His divine authority over creation. Jesus is described as the eternal preexistent Logos (Jn. 1:1). His resurrection was the ultimate witness to His deity. Other references that ascribe deity to Jesus are; (Heb. 1:1-4,8; Col. 1:15-20, 2:9; Phil. 2:5-11; Titus 2:13). It is necessary that Jesus be God if we are to have; true knowledge of God, sufficient redemption and salvation (because an infinite God died in our place), knowledge of true complete fellowship with God (because He took the initiative and came to us), and worship of Jesus.

Humanity of Christ:

Jesus was also fully man. He had a physical human body (Lk. 2:52; 1 Jn. 1:1-4). He experienced hunger (Mt. 4:2), thirst (Jn. 19:28), fatigue (Jn. 4:6), suffering and death (Jn. 19:28-34). He exhibited of the human emotions of love (Mk. 10:21; Jn.11:3, 13:23), compassion (Matt. 9:36, 14:14, 15:32, 20:34), sorrow (Mt. 26:37; Jn. 15:11, 17:13; Heb. 12:2), anger and grief (Mk. 3:5), indignation (Mk.10:14), wonder (Lk. 7:9), disbelief (Mk. 6:6), and anguish (Mk. 14:32-34, 15:34). Jesus was at times limited in His intellectual abilities (Mk. 9:21, 13:32). It is necessary for Jesus to be fully human in order that; His death be real and therefore a true sacrifice for sin, He can truly sympathize with us and intercede for us, He can be an example for us, we can see what human nature was intended to be like.

Relation between Divine and Human Natures:

The human and divine natures of Jesus were distinct yet fully unified. The mystery of the incarnation is best described as the Son taking on human nature and flesh (Jn. 1). His deity was in no way diminished in the incarnation and Jesus' human nature has no independent existence apart from the eternal Logos.

Work of Christ:

Jesus was without a sin nature (Jn. 8:46, 1 Pete. 2:21-22; Heb 4:15) and was therefore an absolute sacrifice, was born of a virgin (Mt. 1:18-25; Lk. 1:26-38), was killed for our transgressions as a substitutionary atonement, was resurrected from the dead, and ascended to reign with the Father and will return again (1 Cor. 5:24; Rev. 19:11).

Jesus came to restore the right relationship between God and man. This restoration profoundly effects man's relationship with society and the environment as well. To fulfill this great task Jesus took on the roles of Prophet, Priest and King. As Prophet He represented God before man in being the direct revelation of God (Heb 1:1-3; Col 2:9). As Priest He represented God before men as mediator, intercessor and sacrifice (Heb. 7; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Jn. 2:2; Heb. 9:23-26). And as King in re-establishing His reign over all creation (Col. 2:15; Eph. 1:20ff; 1 Cor 15:45-59).