An Exposition of the Symbol
or Creed of the Apostles
According to the tenor of Scripture
and the consent of orthodox Fathers
of the church
Reviewed and corrected
by William Perkins
Edited and simplified by Geoffrey Stonier
william PERKINS
(From Wikipedia)
William Perkins was an influential English cleric and Cambridge theologian, receiving both a B.A. and M.A. from the university in 1581 and 1584 respectively, and also one of the foremost leaders of the Puritan movement in the Church of England during the Elizabethan era. Although not entirely accepting of the Church of England's ecclesiastical practices, Perkins conformed to many of the policies and procedures imposed by the Elizabethan Settlement. He did remain, however, sympathetic to the non-conformist puritans and even faced disciplinary action for his support.
Perkins was a prolific author who penned over forty works, many of which were published posthumously. In addition to writing, he also served as a fellow at Christ's College and as a lecturer at St Andrew's Church in Cambridge. He was a firm proponent of Reformed theology, particularly the supralapsarian theology of Theodore Beza and John Calvin. In addition, he was a staunch defender of Protestant ideals, specifically the five solae, with a particular emphasis on solus Christus and sola Scriptura.
Biography
Perkins was born to Thomas and Anna Perkins at Marston Jabbett in the parish of Bulkington, Warwickshire, England in 1558,[1] the year in which the Protestant Elizabeth I succeeded her Catholic sister Mary as Queen of England. Perkins lived his entire life under Elizabeth I, dying one year before the Virgin Queen's own death in 1603. Perkins's relationship with Elizabeth was ambiguous: on the one hand, she was Good Queen Bess, the monarch under whom England finally and firmly became a Protestant nation; on the other hand, Perkins and the other members of the Puritan movement were frustrated that the Elizabethan settlement had not gone far enough and pushed for further Reformation.
Little is known of Perkins' childhood and upbringing. Sometime in his early life he was rendered lame which forced him to write with his left hand. His family was evidently of some means, since in June 1577, at age 19, Perkins was enrolled as a pensioner of Christ's College, Cambridge being trained in the tradition of the Reformed scholastic framework. He would receive his BA in 1581 and his MA in 1584.
According to an unverifiable story, Perkins was convicted of the error of his ways after he heard a Cambridge mother say to her child, “Hold your tongue, or I will give you to drunken Perkins yonder.” Whether or not the story is true, it is clear that Perkins had a religious awakening sometime between 1581 and 1584 during his time at Cambridge.
Perkins thus began a lifelong association with the “moderate-puritan” wing of the Church of England which held views similar to those of the continental Calvinist theologians Theodore Beza, Girolamo Zanchi, and Zacharias Ursinus. Perkins's circle at Cambridge included Laurence Chaderton and Richard Greenham.
Perkins as clergyman and Cambridge fellow
Following his ordination, Perkins also preached his first sermons to the prisoners of the Cambridge jail. On one celebrated occasion, Perkins encountered a young man who was going to be executed for his crimes, and who feared he was shortly going to be in hell: Perkins convinced the man that, through Christ, God could forgive his sins, and the formerly distraught youth faced his execution with manly composure as a result.
In 1584, after receiving his MA, Perkins was elected as a fellow of Christ's College, a post which he would hold until 1594. In 1585, he became a Lecturer of St. Andrew's Church in Cambridge, a post he would hold until his death.
Perkins's churchmanship
As a “moderate Puritan”, Perkins was firmly opposed to non-conformists and other separatists who refused to conform to the Church of England. On the other hand, he also opposed the Elizabethan regime's program of imposing uniformity on the church. For example, when Archbishop of Canterbury John Whitgift imprisoned Francis Johnson for Johnson's support of a Presbyterian form of church polity, Perkins loudly defended Johnson. This was not an isolated incident, and he appeared before the commission more than once.
On 13 January 1587, Perkins preached a sermon denouncing the practice of kneeling to receive Communion, and was ultimately called before the Vice-Chancellor as a result. During the final set of trials against Puritan ministers in 1590–91, Perkins confirmed that he had discussed the Book of Discipline with Puritan ministers, but claimed that he could not remember whom he had talked to. Perkins married Timothye Cradocke of Grantchester on 2 July 1595. (He had previously resigned his fellowship at Christ's College, since only unmarried men could be fellows.) Eventually, the couple would have seven children, three of whom would die from various causes, with one being born after Perkins's death.
Theological opinions
Perkins was a proponent of “double predestination”, and was a major player in introducing the thought of Theodore Beza to England. He viewed the Reformed concept of the Covenant of Grace, which is central to Reformed soteriology and double predestination, to be a doctrine of great consoling value. He was responsible for the publication in English of Beza's famous chart about double predestination. In addition to adopting a Reformed soteriology, he also strongly held to the doctrines of solo Christo and sola Scriptura which “serve as the twin foundation stones for what Perkins conceived as biblical preaching.”He was also a major proponent of literal interpretationutilising the regula fidei, or Rule of Faith. This principle advocates that the unclear portions of scripture ought to be interpreted by the clear portions rather than by tradition or speculation.He did, however, leave room for figurative or analogical language when context demands.
Influence
Although relatively unknown to modern Christians, Perkins has had an influence that is felt by Christians all around the world. and was highly regarded in the Elizabethan Church. In addition, Perkins's views on double predestination made him a major target of Jacobus Arminius, the Dutch Reformed clergyman who opposed the doctrine of predestination. He also was influential in the theological development of the American puritan philosopher and theologian Jonathan Edwards. In addition, some consider the hermeneutics of Perkins to be a model that ought to be emulated.
In his lifetime, Perkins attained enormous popularity, with sales of his works eventually surpassing even Calvin's. When he died, his writings were selling more copies than those of many of the most famous of the Reformers combined.
From his position at Cambridge, Perkins was able to influence a whole generation of English churchmen. His pupils include:
William Ames, Puritan who eventually become professor of theology at Franeker
John Robinson, the founder of congregationalism in Leiden and pastor of the group which went on to found the Plymouth Colony
Thomas Goodwin, Cromwell’s army chaplain, and Master of Magdalen College,
Paul Baynes, a Puritan worthy and close friend of Perkins
Samuel Ward, master of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
Phineas Fletcher, a poet
Thomas Draxe, who translated Perkins works into Latin
Thomas Taylor, author of “The assertion of grace”
James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh
James Montagu, master of Sidney Sussex and later bishop of Winchester
Richard Sibbes, a famous Puritan preacher and author
Death
In 1602, Perkins suffered from “the stone”. After several weeks of suffering, he died at age 44.
James Montagu preached his funeral sermon, taking as his text Joshua 1:2, ‘Moses my servant is dead’. He was buried in St. Andrew's, the church which he had pastored for eighteen years.
INTRODUCTION TO THE APOSTLE’S CREED
CREDO – I BELIEVE
No one can justly be offended at this: that I begin to deal with the doctrine of faith without a text, though some are of amind that, in catechising, the minister is to proceed as in the ordinary course of preaching, only by handling a set portion of Scripture; and therefore that the handling of the Creed being no Scripture, is not easy to fit in. Indeed, I grant that the other course is commendable; yet I doubt not but in catechising the minister has his liberty to follow, or not to follow, a certain text of Scripture, as we do in the usual course of preaching. My reason is taken from the practice of the primitive church, whose catechism (as the author of the epistle to the Hebrews shows) was contained in six principles, or grounds of religion, which were not taken out of any set text in the Old Testament; but rather was a form of teaching gathered from the most clear places there. Hence, I reason thus: that which in this point was the use and manner of the primitive church is lawful to be used of us now. But in the primitive church it was usual to catechise without handling any set text of Scripture; and therefore the ministers of the gospel at this time may, with similar liberty, do the same; so be it they confirm the doctrine which they teach with places of Scripture afterwards.
Now to come to the Creed: let us begin with its name or title. What in English we call the Apostles’ Creed in other tongues is called Symbolum, that is, a shot or a badge. It is called a shot because, as in a feast or banquet everyone plays his part; which being all gathered, the whole (which is called the “shot”) amounts. And so out of the several writings of the apostles arises this Creed, or brief confession of faith. It is a badge, because as a soldier in the field, by his badge and finery is known of what band he is, and to what captain he belongs; even so, by this belief, a Christian may be distinguished and known from all Jews, Turks, atheists, and all false professors; and for this reason it is called a badge.
Again, it is called the Creed of the Apostles not because they were the writers of it, but would own it. Besides the matter, the very style and frame of words, as we have them is now set down.
Reasons:
1. There are in this Creed certain words and phrases which are not to be found in the writings of the apostles; and namely these: he descended into hell; and the catholic church. The latter of the two, no doubt, first began to be in use after the apostles’ days,when the church was dispersed to all quarters of the earth.
2. If both matter and words had been from the apostles, why is not the Creed canonical Scripture, as well as any biblical writing?
3. The apostles had a summary collection of the points of Christian religion which they taught, and also delivered to others to teach by; which consisted of two heads, faith and love; as may appear in Paul’s exhortation to Timothy, wishing him to keep the pattern of wholesome words; which he had heard of him, in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3:15). Now, the Creed consists not of two heads but of one, namely of faith only, and not just of love also. Therefore, I rather think that it is called the Apostles’ Creed because it summarily contains the chief and main points of religion, handled and propounded in the doctrine of the apostles, and because the points of the Creed are conformable and agreeable to their doctrine and writings.
And so much for the title. Now let us hear what the Creed is. It is a sum of things to be believed concerning God and concerning the church, gathered out of the Scriptures.
For the opening of this description, first I say, it is a summary of things to be believed, or an abridgement. It had been the practice of teachers, both in the New and Old Testament, to abridge and contract summarily the religion of their time. This the prophets used to do. For when they had preached their sermons to the people, they abridged them, and wrote them down briefly; putting them in some open places, that all the people might read them. So the Lord had Habakkuk write the vision which he saw, and to make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it (Hab. 2:2). And, in the New Testament, the apostles abridged those doctrines which otherwise they handled at large, as may appear in the passage from Timothy referred to earlier (2 Tim. 1:13). Now, the reason why both in the Old and New Testament the doctrine of religion was abridged is that the understanding for the simple, as also their memories, might be helped, and they better enabled to judge of the truth, and to discern the same from falsehood. And for this end, the Apostles’ Creed, being a summary collection of things to be believed, was gathered briefly from the Word of God to help the memory and understanding of men. I add that this Creed concerns God and the church. For in these two points consists the whole sum of it. Lastly, I say that it is gathered from the Scriptures to make a difference between it and other writings, and to show the authority of it; which I will more fully declare on this manner:
There are two kinds of writings in which the doctrine of the church is handled, and they are either divine or ecclesiastical.
1. Divine are the books of the Old and New Testament, penned either by prophets or apostles. And these are not only the pure Word of God, but also the Scripture of God; because they are not only the matter of them, but the whole disposition of them, with the style and the phraseset down by the immediate inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And the authority of these books is divine, that is, absolute and sovereign; and they have sufficient credit in and by themselves, needing not the testimony of any creature; not subject to the censure either of men or angels; binding the consciences of all men at all times, and being the only foundation of our faith, and the rule and canon of all truth.
2. Ecclesiastical writings are all other ordinary writings in the church consenting with Scriptures. These may be called the word or truth of God, so far as their matter or substance consents with the written Word of God; but they cannot be called the Scripture of God because the style and phrase of them were set down according to the pleasure of man, and therefore they are in such the Word of God as that also they are the word of men. And their authority in defining of truth and falsehood in matters of religion is not sovereign, but subordinate to the former; and it does not stand in the authority and pleasure on men and councils, but in the consent they have with the Scriptures.
Ecclesiastical writings are either general, particular or proper. General, are the creeds and confessions of the church dispersed over the whole world; and, among the rest, the Creed of the Apostles, made either by the apostles themselves or by their hearers and disciples, apostolic men delivered to the church, and conveyed from hand to hand down to our times. Particular writings are the confessions of particular churches. Proper writings are the books and confessions of private men.
Now, between these we must make a difference; for the general Creed of the Apostles (other universal creeds in this case not excepted), though it be of less authority than Scripture; yet it has it more authority than the particular and private writings of churches and men. For it has been received and approved by universal consent of the catholic church in all ages, and so were never private. In it, the meaning and doctrine cannot be changed by the authority of the whole catholic church; and if either the order of the doctrine, or the words by which it is expressed, should on some occasion be changed, a particular church of any country cannot do it without the catholic consent of the whole church. Yet particular writings and confessions made by some special churches may be altered in the words, and in the points of doctrine by the same churches, without offence to the catholic church. Lastly, it is received as a rule of faith among all churches, to test doctrines and interpretations of Scriptures by, not because it is a rule in itself, for that the Scripture is alone, but because it borrows its authority from Scripture with which it agrees. And this honour no other writings of men can have.
Here some may demand the number of creeds.
Answer:
I say but one creed, as there is but one faith. And if it is alleged that we have many creeds, as besides this of the Apostles, the Nicene Creed, and Athanasian Creed etc., I answer, the different creeds and confessions of churches contain not several faith and religions, but one and the same; and this, called the Apostles’ Creed, is most ancient, and principal; all the rest are no new creeds in substance, but in some points written more largely for the exposition of it, that men might better avoid the heresies of their times.
Furthermore, it may be demanded in what form the creed was penned?
Answer:
In the form of an answer to a question. The reason for this: in the primitive church, when anyone was converted from Gentilism to the faith of Christ, and was to be baptised, this question was asked him: What do you believe? Then he answered according to the form of the Creed: I believe in God, etc. And this manner of questioning was used even from the time of the apostles. When the eunuch was converted by Philip, he said, What will let me be baptised? Philip said, If you believe with all thine heart,thoumayest (Acts 8:37). By this, it appears that, although all men for the most part among us can say this Creed, yet not one in a thousand can tell the ancient and first use of it; for commonly at this day among the simpler sort it is said as a prayer, being indeed no prayer; and when it is used in this way, men make it no better than a charm.