QUESTION AND ANSWER
Does it really matter if I do not believe all the Creed?
Now, that is a difficult question. It may be that you do not understand parts of ft. For example, some people find difficult "He descended into hell" in the Apostles Creed because they are not aware that it means "to the place of the dead" not the place of punishment and alienation from God.
Others find it hard to believe the Nicene Creed when it speaks of the "Catholic and Apostolic church" because they think that it is referring to the Roman church when in fact it refers to the one universal church of God.
But, to approach the question more directly: Yes it does matter because the creeds sum up the faith of the Scriptures and because they describe how we may be saved eternally and the way in which that salvation was achieved. It is important that Jesus was truly man as well as God as, otherwise, he would not have been able to save us because he would not have been truly man but just playing at it. Again it is vital that He suffered and was buried" because Jesus truly shared in our nature; the pain on the cross was not just a pretence. He understands what it is to suffer and he truly sympathises with our pain and our sorrows.
It is important that there is "one Baptism" because we need to know that the outward sign of baptism is God's acceptance of our profession of faith and is a once for all thing. God has once and for all accepted us and loves us however much we may subsequently turn our backs on him. We continue to be his children because he has saved us and we, by faith, have received that for rareness and it has been sealed by the outward sign of baptism.
Again "the resurrection of the dead" is vital because it reminds us that human beings do not have eternal life as of right but that we receive the promise of resurrection through our union with the Lord Jesus and his Resurrection. "Because I live you shall live also". So the creeds do matter because there is rehearsed for us the vital facts by which we are loved and saved and can be sure of heaven.
John Pearce is Rector of Limehouse.