The Christmas Creed

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good afternoon, everyone. It is Tuesday, December fourth, twenty twenty four. It is currently four to twenty nine pm Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, I hope my introduction here does a little better than the last one. In the last live broadcast, my introduction kind it kind of was a little scattered, It wasn't really focused. I think I was somewhat distracted. And I know this from doing all of the years of public speaking that I have done, broadcasting public speaking, at least for me, when I'm listening to someone do public speaking or broadcasting, I can almost immediately tell, oh, something's going on, thing is distracting them. You could just tell for a second that they kind of like they're talking, but you can just kind of you can just kind of tell that something else is going on that's pulling them away, and just it's hard to describe what it sounds like, but you can tell if you've ever been doing years of public speaking and years of broadcasting. So there are times when you're sitting there and you're you're really trying to focus, but your brain is like pulling you away. Sometimes it's something you know around you that's distracting you. It can be a sound, it can be the it depends on

1:32 it depends on the setting, it can be a million things. But you sometimes get distracted. So you're talking and then all of a sudden, once you get the distraction put aside, whether it's your mind going somewhere else and you try to pull it back in, you try to. Then you kind of like you almost have to kind of do a restart, like you almost kind of like, wait a minute, what just happened. I know I was saying these words, but I was thinking about this, and then all of a sudden, you got to get it back on track. That is frustrating when it happens, right, it's very frustrating. Sometimes as speakers, some pastors, some broadcasters will just acknowledge and tell everyone, look, this was happening, or this was happening. Sometimes you don't really know what it was that pulled you.

2:14 Like you're talking, but your brain just starts going somewhere else. Sometimes it's hard to explain, and for the most part the people listening, they don't really care. They're just like, get to the point. Get to the point. That's all I care about. Just get to the point. I don't care about why you were distracted. Get to the point. And I understand that. So in the last one, I kind of got a little scattered in the introduction, but I think it worked out pretty good because it served as an illustration, or at least I turned it into an illustration about well not being perfect, being flawed, because inherently all of us are flawed. Inherently we none of us are perfect. We fall short of it all the time.

2:56 We constantly fall into well sin okay, not just being perfect, we are sinners. So I utilized it kind of for a spiritual illustration. I hope it worked. I hope it was good. But I'm hoping for this I can be a little bit more precise. So it's Tuesday afternoon. Okay, nothing special about that. But it's Tuesday, December the twenty fourth. Now there's something a little special about that. It's Christmas Eve. It's Christmas Eve, so people are busy going here, going there. Maybe some people are running to the store. Maybe people are trying to get some last minute gifts purchased and delivered or going to pick them up and getting them wrapped.

3:43 People are maybe traveling to see their family, maybe they're getting together at their house. There's all kinds of things going on on this Christmas Eve, and a lot of things are happening. I was watching the sermon's two point zero app and I knew that there was going to be a lot of services, you know, for Christmas Eve. I thought they were going to start maybe in an hour, maybe two hours. No, they've already started. There are a lot of them already going on. So a lot of people are at church, a lot is happening, A lot is happening. Which, of course, now I'm going to use my opening illustration, which can be distracting for all of us. Right, we can get scattered brain, we can get distracted and distracted from what. Well, we can get distracted for what we at least claim as Christians this is all about, right, we claim as Christians, Christmas Eve, Christmas, it's about Christ.

4:43 We like to say, Jesus is the reason for the season, and all of those things. Right, it's Christmas. It's about Christ. It's about Christ. That's what we claim. And I think our intentions are good. I think when we say those things, I think there's a part of us that really means it. Theory, but we know theoretically, and theory is far different than practical, right, It's very you can have all the right ideas, but it's very difficult sometimes to live those ideas out any practical way. I think we really do believe, you know, that it's all about Jesus. We want it to be about Jesus, we really do. But I've said it so many times, as far as from a philological perspective, from a spiritual perspective, from a Christianity perspective, the worst thing that could have ever happened for Christmas being about Jesus is it becoming a federal holiday. The minute it became a federal holiday, then it just becomes about all these other things. Once the world got on board with the concept of Christmas, right, well, then gifts and shopping and then all the nostalgia and sentimentalism and all of these other feelings, and it just just it took over the entire culture. Well, I Christianity, as much as we like to believe it, somehow operates independently from the culture. It's greatly influenced by it. And you see that we talked

6:14 about that already. I want a couple of broadcasts ago about Christmas sermons and how it borrows from that sentimentality, it borrows from the nostalgia, the warm feelings, that Hallmark idea. It almost tries to create its own Christian version of that because we are influenced by it. And guess what happens. As much as we're trying to stay focused, get well, get distracted, we become scatterbrand. I get I'm just using that term. I don't know if that's a good term to utilize, but we were our thoughts are here, and our thoughts are here and this and that, and we're like, oh, it's about Jesus, But really it becomes about the time with your family. You love that feeling, the decorations, all of that, the music, all of the things, and it's perfectly okay to enjoy all of that. I think sometimes as Christians we live in a never ending cycle of guilt shame because we're always we always know that we need to be more this, we need to do more of this, we need to be more of this, and we're always we get caught up in this kind of performance, you know, just trap, a performance trap. We're always trying to perform and do more and do more, and we know we never make it. We never can quite get there, just like I, you know, over, I mean, there's never been a broadcast where I say everything perfectly, I do everything perfectly. I don't repeat myself too much, I don't do this, I don't do that. There's never a broadcast where I've ever been perfect, but I'm always striving for

7:46 it right well. And as Christians, I think we all would love that, you know, we're so spiritually minded. We set our affections on things above. We do not love this world, we or the things that are in the world. We love God and we love him with all our heart mind. So there's a part that's what we want, but we never get there, and we live in a perpetual state of knowing we always fall short. And Christmas is a great On one hand, we've got this whole, you know, it's about Jesus, the incarnation, you know, the Son of God being born of a virgin and all of the we've got all of the biblical elements. It's right there. And then we have this marked on a calendar that this is the day we can celebrate it.

8:27 And it's like, great, we can't. But then we got all of these other things that come along going no, no, no, no, over here, look over here, Look look at the pretty lights, look at here, Look at the presents. Look look, look, look look your favorite foods, this your favorite drink? Oh look, Hallmark movies. Look, look the snow? What chestnuts roasting by the open? For all of these things and you and next thing, you know, you're like, well, it's about Jesus. But come on, You've got to be honest. Especially depending on your situation in life, you may have so many other things, and do you feel guilty that you get to enjoy all these other things? Do you try to balance it out? Sometimes I think we try to throw in a little Jesus so that we feel like, okay, we haven't forgotten Jesus. But then it becomes about all these other things. But should we feel guilty? Well, some people will say yes, you should put Jesus first, and you should remove all of these other things. And then it turns almost into a legalistic kind of thing. Should Christmas become a legalistic kind of thing? It should be just something that we can It shouldn't be all of this, but it turns into all of this. So using my imperfect intro, the last time you could call this one imperfect that talks about our imperfection, I think that's fine.

9:48 My imperfection was being kind of scattered, brained or distracted. That fits perfectly with Christmas. So what do I want to do right now in the midst of everything going on? Because there's a lot going on right now. Yeah, and there's just there's so many broadcasts happening, people doing their Christmas Eve services, you know, all the things going on around you. Is there a way that we can just stop? And many of most people are not even going to hear this on Christmas Eve. They're not even going to hear I don't even know when you're gonna hear it. But guess what, whether Christmas it may be, it may be in twenty twenty five by the time you listen to this, because you're going to be busy from now till the new year. But I know this, in that new year, there's still going to be distractions and all the different things. And guess what, you're also going to be confronted with your own imperfections. But in the midst of all of that, what do I want to say? Well, I want to say, let's attempt, no matter if it's December the twenty fourth, December the twenty fifth, January twenty twenty five, April twenty twenty five, August twenty twenty five, no matter when it is, let's take a moment and try to grasp onto something we can really really focus on.

10:58 And in the last broadcast, asked, I referred to it as the Christmas Creed, the Christmas Creed. Now, for now, we're going to call it the Christmas Creed. We may want to call it the twenty twenty five Creed, the twenty twenty six. We may give it different names depending on what season we find ourselves. But for today, we're gonna call it the Christmas Creed. And we were reviewing a sermon, kind of reviewing a sermon in the last broadcast, and the name of that sermon was a Christmas sermon, and the text for that was First Timothy, chapter one, verse fifteen, and I spoke of how this verse is really becoming more and more important to me because of well, just all of the craziness and Christianity and all the things that we've talked about throughout twenty twenty four. I won't try to put that all together with everything else.

11:51 I'm trying to connect all the pieces here. But when the verse was read once again, just hit me one Timothy one to fifteen. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. And I refer to that as a creedal statement, that it takes the structure of an early creed. And I'm like, okay, and I broke the creed down into three parts, and I kind of gave you that creed. I want to do a little bit more work on that because I wanted to really challenge, Okay, is this really a creed?

12:38 And that third part, because if we break it down into three parts, the creed itself, Christ Jesus came into the world. There's part one to save sinners, there's part two, Part three of whom I am Chief. I broke it into three parts. Now I knew is second. I said that that probably historically that last part of Whom I Am Chief, it would not be part of the Creed. But I'm like, there's got to be a way we can incorporate it, maybe into a modern creed. So we really could break it down into the following parts. You ready, Christ Jesus, there's Part one of the Creed. Part two Came into the World, Part three two Save Sinners? Part four of whom I Am Chief? Christ Jesus Came into the World two Save Sinners? Of whom I am Chief?

13:42 I think we can break it into four parts of the Creed. Christ Jesus, you may want to write this down to Christmas Creed. Part one of the Creed, Christ Jesus. Part two Came into the World? Part three, two Save Sinners? Part four whom I Am Chief? Or I am Chief? Now I'm gonna break this down. I still think we could break it down into four parts. I have gone back and forth what we're going to do right now. I'll just try to get us thinking about this. In the middle of all your busyness, in the middle of all of your imperfection, and the middle of you being scattered brain, if you could just grab on and put this creed wherever and whenever things are going wrong or going right, you can grab on and go, Okay, I'm gonna focus on this right here. I'm gonna focus on this right here. So are you ready to do that?

14:30 All right? So I did a little bit of research, and I wanted to ask this question. Was One Timothy one fifteen in early creed? Right? I believe it clearly takes on the creatle structure of early creeds, but I wanted to verify. So I did a little research and I found this First Timothy, chapter one, verse fifteen is widely regarded by scholars as an example of an early Christian creed or statement of faith. So One Timothy one point fifteen is an example of an early creed or an early statement of faith. The phrase is that first part of verse fifteen that really gives it away. And we discussed this last time. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. This introduces kind of the formula that many believe reflect an early succinct confession of Christian belief. Such creeds are sayings. Such creeds or sayings, let me read correctly.

15:37 We're likely used in the early Church for teaching, worship and catechises. So these early creedle statements had three parts for teaching, for worship itself, to recite it for everyone to so that everyone will remember it catechises. That was instruction basically for new believers, We're going to catechize them. And that's using question and answer said they would turn this creedal formula. You could break it into outlines for preaching or teaching right, you could recite it and worship, and then you could take it and then build questions and answers for your catechisis time? Oh? Is there evidence to support the creedal nature of for Timothy one to fifteen. Well, let's look at the basic evidence that this was a creed First, that introduction for Timothy one to fifteen, let me read it to you again. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that as a formulaic introduction that has the particular formula of an introduction for a creed. This phrase that some would translate trustworthy right is a hallmark of Creedle traditional sayings and the pastoral epistles.

16:58 It appears five times in Paul's letter is one Timothy one to fifteen, Chapter three, verse one of First Timothy, Chapter four, verse nine of First Timothy Titus chapter three, verse eight, and two Timothy two eleven. So one Timothy one fifteen. That's that's the first place we have it, right, Firs, Timothy, this is a faithful saying or this is trustworthy. Right. We see it again in chapter three, verse one. This is a faithful saying or a trustworthy saying. We see it show up again in chapter four, verse nine, and this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. So Paul uses that formulaic introduction to basically a Creedle type statement or a statement of faith, something that's very succinct, very very simple for you to grab onto. So such introductions typically were signs that what followed was a well known and widely accepted truth in the early Christian community.

18:01 So typically when whenever he would use that saying like one Timothy one and fifteen, again, this is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptance. This is like, hey, guys, this is a creedal statement that everyone seems to know, everyone accepts, everyone understands this all right. So it's the formulaic introduction is the first piece of evidence that this was an early Creedle statement. Second, it's conciseness and memorability. It's concise and easy to remember. You can put it that way. It's concise and easy to remember. Everyone should be able to remember. Right, the basic parts have now repeated it multiple times. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I am chief. The statement Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners is concise and easy to memorize, fitting the characteristics of oral tradition. Early creeds were often brief and doctrinally rich to aid and instruction and recitation. Now, just remember the early Church. They didn't have physical copies that they could just hand out to everyone.

19:16 So if you had, if you could break these things down into a creedal statement, everyone could memorize it then orally teaching, you could have people recite it. Then once you could then add questions and answers, and it could you could just build off of it without anyone having to have an actual physical copy of the Bible. So what is the evidence that this was a creed? It's formulaic introduction, it's how concise and how easy it is to remember. Number three, it's crystological focus or it's christological focus. Crystological focus. It's focused on Christ. I want to say chrystal logical so that you really catch on to what it's about. Christ's ological It's about Christ. This declaration is focused on Jesus, It's focused on his mission, and it's focused really on the core of the Gospel. It's about the salvation for sinners through Christ. This emphasis aligns with the foundational doctrines of the Early Church, similar to other Creedle statements such as found in other places. And we could get to some of the other early Creedle statements, but if we go that direction, then this is going to turn into a six month series. Now I talked about doing some kind of a series on the chrystological heresies.

20:35 Now I'm going to use the term christ logical. Those are heresies about Christ. This is a Christological christallogical. I'm really emphasizing that about Christ and the early Church was facing a lot of these crystological heresies which denied certain things about Christ. While this is Christ Jesus. There's significance by putting those two together. Christ. We talked about it in the last episode in the sermon we were listening to Christ, the anointed One, Messiah Jesus that deals with salvation comes into the world. There's the incarnation two save sinners. There is death, Baryl resurrection and ascension of whom I am chief. They're all of the theoretical let me say, all of the theology of Christ, who he is, his character, his incarnation, and his death, Baryl resurrection. It all has significance to me because I'm a cheat, I'm the chief of sinners, and so are you? All right, So what is the proof that One Timothy one to fifteen is a Creed. It's formulaic introduction, how concise it is, and how easy it is to memorize. It's christological I'm getting I'm gonna state christ logical focus. And then it's universal relevance.

21:57 The phrase deserving of all acceptance right there in One Timothy one fifteen. May read it to you again. This is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptance. This suggests that this was not a localized teaching, but a statement intended for all Christians. Further indicated indicating that it was a universal creed or confession. This was for everyone, all right? So what is the proof? First Timothy one p. Fifteen is a Creed, formulaic introduction. It's concise, it's easy to remember. It has christological, christological focus, it has universal relevance. Number five, it seems to parallel with other early Church creeds, it seemed, or early Christian creeds. We could go that direction. It seems to be similar to early Christian creeds. And this includes First Corinthians fifteen three through four. Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures that it was buried, it was raised the third day. One Corinthia's fifth three four is a cradle statement in the Early Church and in early Christianity Romans ten to nine. If we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. These are very short, they're doctrinally rich statements.

23:17 They're central to the Christian message. And One Timothy one point fifteen fits the pattern perfectly. So it parallels with the other creedle statements. It's a cradle statement. It's a creed ladies and gentlemen. So those are one Let me go through those again. Why how do we know what is the evidence that One Timothy one p. Fifteen is a cradle statement. It's formulaic introduction, is how concise and easy it is to memorize, it's christological focus, it's universal relevance, and how it parallels with other cradle statements. Now, what was the purpose of the early Christian creeds? What was the purpose? Number one was doctrinal clarity. Creeds summarize the Gospel in a clear and authoritative way, providing a foundation for faith and practice. Doctrinal clarity, right, I think that's important. Look, as I started talking about being scattered brain or distracted by the holiday, sometimes, look, Christianity itself. Let me just state this way, Christianity itself. I know Christians don't like to believe this. Sometimes can feel like there's no clarity, there's no agreement, there's never ending fighting and arguing. Nobody can agree on how to interpret anything. It can Sometimes you can just feel like, look, I don't even know what to do anymore. I give up. I'm sick and

24:48 tired of hearing the arguing and the fighting, and everyone thinks that their theology is right. Well, these little credle statements, in a sense, they summarize things in such a clear way that in the midst of the confusion, you can grab on to at least these clear statements, and I think, well, and they offer you something to grab onto to keep you from all of the distractions that happens in life. But doctrinal clarity is the main point. Number two, these creedle statements. What was the purpose for catechises. We've already talked about this, right, Early creeds were tools for teaching new believers the essentials of the faith, typically used to prepare them for baptism. Before someone could be baptized, they had to be catechized, right, They had to go through catechises.

25:33 And you take these creedal statements, you can formulate that. You can take the creedal statement and then you can build questions and answers off the creedal statement. And we see this throughout church history. You have the Apostles Creed. You could formulate an entire catechism off the Apostles Creed. The Nicene Creed. You can formulate and entire catechises off the Nicene Creed, the Athenation Creed. You can do the same thing. The Creeds give you the all the content. Now you just turn it into a catechism, which is question and answer typically, So, what was the purpose of the Creeds, doctrinal clarity, catechises, defense against heresy the churches, especially in the Early Church and well throughout. I guess it's that it's not even accurate to say the Church has always faced challenges from false teaching. Concise creeds helped ensure theological consistency and orthodoxy. If you give people concise philological statements that can be memorized in a creedal form, it at least gives them something to hold on to when everyone's running around going no, it means this, no, this is interpreted this way. No, you're wrong. No, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're right, And you can just you can just kind of, in a way, scream a spiritual shut up. I'm going to cling to these creedal statements and hold on to them. You guys can fight, leave me alone. Liturgical use these creatle statements

27:06 were likely recited in worship within Christian liturgy. There, especially early Christian liturgy, there was a time to recite creedal statements, to recite the Apostles Creed, to recite the nice and Creed. You do it as a group, because as a group you may disagree on seventy five billion things because Christians disagree on seventy five billion things, and that's not even high perple. Okay, maybe a little hyph perpole, you get the idea. But if we can at least say, for three minutes, two minutes, one minute, as a collective body, we're going to recite this cretle statement. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and we all are the chief of sinners. If everyone can do that, there's at least some unity in that same thing with the early Church and having a public confessionist sin, Lord, God, we confess to you that we have sinned and thought word indeed, by what we have done and left undone with everyone confesses that. Then we are all acknowledging we are sinners. We are all acknowledging that we at least agree on this doctrinal statement, whichever creed would be confessed.

28:30 So one Timothy one point fifteen seems to be a brief christ centered confession that encapsulates the Gospel's core message, its formulaic structure, doctrinal focus, and inclusion in a context emphasizing sound teaching strongly suggests that it function as an early Christian creed. This reflects the Church's effort to preserve and proclaim the essentials of the faith amidst a diverse and often hostile cultural environment. All right, so it seems to be clearly able. Does most scholars believe? And I think there's enough evidence to argue for Timothy one to fifteen was an early creed? All right, good, we've got that sold. Great. Now what well, remember, typically the way the creed would have actually been structured would have been Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Stop.

29:31 Then Paul added of whom I am chief? Now to me, I want of whom I am chief? That I wish it would have been added originally to the Creedle statement. All right, now Paul adds it here. So scripture. So if we want to build a creed off that scripture, we've got all the elements. But I just want to be historically accurate that most likely the early Creedle statement is that went around did not include of whom I am chief? But it's right there in scripture. So if we want to build the creed out of this scripture, I would say we include all of those parts Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief, and then you make it personal. I am chief, just as Paul made it personal. We make it personal. But I wanted to do a little research in this case. I turned to AI, and I asked AI this question. Would it be acceptable to add that I am chief to the creed, making the creed containing three specific elements declarations and confessions. AI responded with this, adding the phrase of whom I am chief, or of whom I am the foremost to the creed in one Timothy one point fifteen would be philologically significant and appropriate if the aim is to emphasize both doctrinal truth declaration

31:05 and personal confession. However, the addition would change the focus slightly, expanding it to include a personal element that underscores humility and awareness of sin. Let's analyze this is what AI tells me to do. Analyze whether this addition aligns with creedal nature of the passage. So AI is going to get into an argument here whether it should or shouldn't be added to the creedal statement. Now again, scripturally, I can put it all together and we can make our own creed, right as long as the creed comes from scripture, then we would be okay. But I just wanted to be historically accurate. If this was an early creedle statement going around at that time, I don't want to misrepresent it as of whom I am chief, treat it as if that would have been added to the creedal statement historically.

31:55 I don't think we could prove that right. And AI is going to at least make an argument here. So it goes through the creeds and their purposes. What were the purpose of the creeds. We've already talked about some of these doctrinal declaration, communal agreement, and liturgical use. So AI says creeds typically had three functions. Doctrinal declaration, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I think that's all right there. They articulate cortruths about God, Christ and salvation, communal agreement, they unify the church and shared beliefs. That's what I said just a little while ago the things about the creedal statements was, Hey, all of these things that just distract you and Christians fight about can we at least agree on this creedal statement. So I think communal agreement. Though see to me, Because there's three purposes for the Creeds. Doctrinal declaration. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. There is a doctrinal declaration communal agreement. How much more power is the creed if it not only we all agree Christ Jesus, He's Christ, Jesus, Messiah Jesus. Okay, we put that together. Came into the world in of the incarnation. All right, two save sinners, all right? Of whom we are chief or I am chief?

33:20 How much more powerful is the communal agreement if we all agree that we're all sinners. There was a third use for the Creeds doctrinal declaration, communal agreement, liturgical use. The Creeds provided a framework for worship and confession, well for crying out loud. If that's the case of whom I am chief? Definitely makes it sounds like it's part of the Creed right because it fits in perfectly with the liturgical use. Now see this is where Ai, though disagrees, AI says adding I am chief enterduce is a personal confession, which, while valuable, is less common in traditional creeds. Creeds often focus on universal truths applicable to all believers rather than individual perspectives. I do agree that it is more personal than creeds are. Creeds typically don't add a personal part.

34:18 So I do agree that, at least historically, that would argue that my inclusion of the phrase doesn't fit. I think now scripturally, I can make this a creed and it fits perfectly. I still think it fits perfectly because because if you look at the apostles creed, well, hang on, let me look at the Apostles creed really quick. Let me look at the Apostles creed. Let me look at something here, because. I'm gonna look at I'm gonna look at uh, give me a second here, I'm gonna look here at the Apostles creed. Because the apostles creed. I think it hasn't Yeah, okay, the Apostles creed does not say we believe. It says I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. It's it goes with these personal I believe. I believe, So I think it can have a personal element. So I'm gonna argue that, yes, the creeds do have specific purposes, but I think that the the uh, I think it fits see a AI says, you are introducing a personal confession, which is valuable. It's less common and traditional creeds. It's not the Apostles Creed is the that is the traditional that is the original creed. And it's like, I believe, well, what what is it? What's the problem saying I am Chief?

35:48 Then Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I am Chief. I think I think the personal part. I think it fits. I think it fits. It'd be different if the Apostles Creed said we, but it says I. I'd have to verify that if that's how it was in the oldest documents manuscripts that we have. But okay, so AI provides us arguments for including I am Chief, I am Chief. They argue that if you wanted to make an argument that it should be included, that it does offer theological depth. Including I am Chief personalizes the Creed, highlighting humanity's shared sinfulness and need for grace, and reflect Paul's acknowledgement that the Gospel is not just theoretical but deeply personal. This would this addition would create a three part structure chrystological declaration. Christ Jesus came into the world, salvafic purpose, to save sinners, personal confession of whom I am chief. Now, I think you could break it down.

36:52 Christ Jesus, there's the crystological declaration right came into the world. There is the incarnation, and then to save sinners there's the salvation or soterrological and then personal confession of whom I am chief. I think you could break it down into four parts personally speaking, but it does offer theological depth. I agree the AI goes on it says a pastoral application. This confession models humility, reminding believers that salvation is an act of grace, not merit. It encourages a posture of repentance and gratitude. And then there's scriptural precedent for adding it.

37:32 They say that Paul's testimony in One Timothy one point fifteen is personal, but it is meant to be universal. Every believer could adapt this confession as their own. I think that's the whole point. Paul is confessing his own, but it's to serve as a model for all of us, ladies and gentlemen. Christ Jesus, yes, Messiah, Jesus Savior all right, came to save his people from their sins came into the world incarnation two save centers of whom I am Chief it is? It's I think it's it's designed for all of us to confess it. So I think it does fit. I know, I don't know if I can prove it historically, but AI is at least giving me some support from my perspective. It offers another idea, all right, So for some of the proof that are arguments for including it philological depth, pastoral application, scriptural precedent, and then incorporates a personal response. Creeds like the Nicene Creed or the Apostles Creed primarily primarily declare philological truths. Adding I am Chief shifts the creed from a general declaration to a confessional prayer, blending doctrine with personal application. Right, So, AI at least says, here's some arguments for it. But AI did not stop there, said, wait a minute, here's some arguments against including it, all right. Number one, it

39:03 deviates from universal application. A creed is meant to articulate truths acceptable to all believers. The phrase I am Chief reflects Paul's personal testimony. While all believers are sinners, they may not see themselves as the foremost. But I think that I disagree with that argument. It is universe. Look, someone may not believe, someone may not understand Christ Jesus, but you're declaring the truth that he is the Christ. He is Jesus who saves these people from say who came into the world. Whether they understood the incarnation or not, they are declaring it okay to save sinners. Whether they understood it, you're declaring it of whom I am chief.

39:46 Whether they see themselves that way or not is irrelevant. We need to confess that way when we confess our sins, and in historical Christianity as a general confession, a part of liturgy, Lord, I have sent against you and thought word. Indeed, you may not feel it, you may not even see it, but you're confessing the truth of it is. It is personally applicable. It's universally applicable for every person to say I am the chief of sinners, because we all are, because we're all perpetually in a state of sin. But AI says if we add I am chief, we lose some doctrinal precision. I don't know about this. AI says, creeds aim to declare timeless, objective truths, including I am Chief, might shift the focus from Christ's work to an individual subjective experience. It's not a subjective say I disagree with AI.

40:45 There's nothing There's nothing subjective at all about saying I am the chief of sinners. That's not subjective. That is a factual statement. We are all and AI even are at least acknowledged beforehand. There seems to be scriptural precedent that Paul is calling for all people to confess this and a since we are all the chief of sinners because we're all in it's for all of us to be aware of how sinful we are. There's nothing subjective. It is a fact. God's Law says, be holy as He is holy. That means we are to be holy in thought, word, deed, desire action, and what we do and don't do, and internally and externally nobody does that.

41:31 That means we're in a perpetual state of sin. The Bible says, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. No one does that, So we're in a perpetual state of sin. So it would be person it would be it would be universally applicable to say it, and it would be doctrinally precise to say it, it's not nothing subjective about it. Now, AI does make this argument, it would have an unfamiliar structure. Traditional creeds don't tip blend universal declarations with personal confessions. But see I would disagree the apostles creed starts with I believe that is a personal confession. So I don't necessarily agree with that, all right.

42:13 So I was then okay that I if I can find this all right? So then I was like, okay, let's then try to build. Let's try to build in a sense kind of a study of the section as a creed. Right, So let's do that. Right, So let's take one Timothy one p. Fifteen. So there's kind of the proof that it's a creed. The kind of the argument about adding that part, I'm the chief of sinners to it. Look, no matter what they did historically biblically, I can take it and add it to a creed, because it would be a creed coming directly from the scriptures.

42:55 That would not be doing any disservice to it. However, the early Church may have used it as a creed statement. Once it was placed in the Bible as inspired scripture, then I can build a creed off that, and it would be it would be who cares if it follows the structure of how creeds were done. I'm not bound by creatle structure. I can create my own creed and it would come perfectly with this. All right. So if we see we could we let me. Let me do this, Let's do this, let's do this. So let's break it down, all right, let's break it down one Timothy one fifteen.

43:35 All right, I broke it down, but I could have done it even a little more. So I could have done a little more. So, so this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. All right. So that tells us, Hey, this, this is trustworthy, This is worthy of all acceptance. We should grab onto this. This is a true statement. So in the midst of distraction, confusion, whatever, grab on to this, and I'm to break it down into these parts. You're ready, okay. I already told you to break it down numerous times. Now, if you want to just write it down again, even if you've already written it down, write it down one more time. We're going to break it down. I think we put down Christ Jesus. We put those two together Christ, Jesus, Christ Jesus.

44:19 Then we need to understand the term Christ. We need to understand the word Jesus, right, the word Christ, the word Jesus. We need to understand both words. So that's the first part of the creed. We are confessing that Christ Jesus. That's identifying the person Christ Jesus. He is. Christ, he is. Jesus came into the world. That's the incarnation, all right, that's the incarnation. Two save sinners, that's his salvafic purpose. That's the soteriological implications to save centers. Then the last part is of whom I am chief. That is the personal confession. So I think we should break it down. I think we should break it down into those parts, is what I think we should do. I think we should break it down into those parts, all right.

45:18 And in fact, I'm gonna go back here and look at my yeah, see, I yeah, I think that's how we should do it. So I'm gonna grab a piece of paper here. I'm gonna grab a piece of paper here, all right, So we're gonna do this. Christ Jesus came into the world one Timothy one. Point fifteen came, yeah, came into the world into the world two save centners. I am chief, all right, that's the way I think it should be broken down. That's the way I think it should be broken down. I'm just convinced of that. So Okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna type something out here. Okay, hang on, Okay,

46:54 here we go. So number one is Christ Jesus. Number two came into the world. Number three to save sinners, and number four I am chief sinner. All right. Now, we're gonna break it down this way. I think this works, all right. So if we if we take the Creedle statement and break it down this way, I think this is what we get Christ Jesus. Now you ready to break it down?

47:35 Just I'm gonna go through this quickly. We would get Christ. Now you could look up the definition right right, you could look up the that we could look up the Greek for Christ. Right if we go to first Timothy, if one fifteen. If we go to one Timothy one fifteen and the blue letter Bible app I think you already know the Greek word, but just so that you can hear it first the one fifteen. If we break this down all right. Christ is this Greek word, you know it Strongs G. Fifty five forty seven Christos Christas Christos Christos. Now it means anointed, the Messiah. It's Christ equals anointed. Christ was and is the Messiah, the son of God, the anointed one. All right. So when we when you're confessing this Christ, he is the Messiah, He's the anointed one. He's the one the Old Testament predicted and pointed to. All right, So let me go back to that, all right, So here we go. I'm gonna I'm gonna break this all down, all right. So there's Christos.

48:51 Then we have Jesus. We have Jesus, which is you know, you know this one right, hang on, I got to go back here to one Timothy one point fifteen. So there's Christas. Then we have Jesus, which is you know it right, come on, everybody knows it strong G. Twenty four, twenty four. Jeseus a SEUs eya SEUs ya SEUs. Jeseus means basically, Jehovah is salvation. So we have Christ, the anointed Messiah, who is salvation. Christ, Jesus the Messiah, the anointed one, who is salvation. That's literally what it's saying.

49:35 We have Christ, the Anointed Messiah who is salvation. Okay, great, we have Christ the Messiah who is salvation. Wonderful. That's all theoretical. But then we have the next part. We have the next part, which is even more important. Right, we have the next part. So I'm breaking this down in real time. I'm doing all of this in real time. Right. And if we wanted to look up some cross references, right, if we wanted to look at some chross, well, I'm not gonna I was gonna start trying to throw some cross references out, but you get the idea, all right. So Christ Jesus highlights the dual nature of his identity as the divine Savior and the incarnate son of God. Right, Because if you think about it this way, Christ, that's the Messiah, the anointed one. Jesus is the human name given to the Son of God, meaning y'all way saves right together, Christ suffers. Christ Jesus affirms both his divine role as Savior and his humanity. Humanity and a sense Christ the anointed one. You kind of see God man, right, you see both the divine and the human already kind of taking place. We could probably flush that out a little bit more. No pun intended, right, But so it highlights the divine nature of his identity as the divine Savior and the incarnate son of God. He fulfills the messianic hope of Israel. It becomes the hope of all nations.

50:54 Or you could say this the Anointed, the anointed One, the Messiah is Jesus, that's his human name. Becomes man, and he comes and already hinting at he's the one who saves. Jehovah saves in Jesus, who is the Christ. The anointed One came into the world. Now this is where it becomes even more important. This is the act of the eternal Son of God. This is we can say it this way. This is the act of the Christ, the anointed One, becoming human flesh and entering human history. This is the incarnation. The emphasis this emphasizes the purposeful mission of God. Jesus did not merely exist. He actively came into the world. And we could use some cross references.

51:47 The word became flesh and well among us Galatians four to four. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son born of a woman Hebrews two fourteen. Since the children share in flesh and blood, himself likewise partook of the same thing. So Jesus comes into the world shows the intentionality of God's plan. It affirms the pre existence and the divine initiative, and it demonstrates God's love and taking the initiative to save fallen man. So you have in this creedle statement, Christ Jesus, Christos, the anointed One. We have Jesus. So we have these all brought together Christ Jesus. So we could see it this way the diva are we could say this, the anointed Messiah is Jesus his human name. Who is Jehovah saves?

52:38 Yahweh saves, the God saves. He is salvation. He's the Messiah who saves. He's the anointed one who saves. We could see it that way. Came into the world. He's just not a theoretical salvation. He literally came into the world. He entered into history. It's not a theoretical thing. It's now something real, tangible and fleshly becomes into the world. Now, why did he come into the world to save sinners, to deliver us? Who did he come to deliver sinners, sinners or anyone who transgresses God's law or falls short of it. That's all of us. And then I am chief is the This is the idea of being foremost or first in rank or importance. Paul identifies himself as the worst sinner, recognizing the gravity of his sins. This is where we can all say, Christ Jesus, the Messiah, who is salvation, He is the salvation of God. Christ Christ Jesus, the Messiah, who is the salvation of God, came into the world the incarnation to save sinners. Okay, that's all great. And guess what, that's good news because I am the chief of sinners. Now if we wanted

54:09 to well, we'll just stop right there. We'll just stop right there. Because I wanted to build I was going to try to build a catechism. I was going to try to build a catechism in real time. I guess if I try in real time, I could say, who is Christ Jesus? Why did Christ Jesus come into the world? Who are the sinners? Christ came to save? Now? What does it mean to say I am the chief sinner? How should we respond to the truth of one Timothy one to fifteen. I could probably come up with like five questions right there, So I think we should build a Creed one Timothy one, p. Fifteen. Christ Jesus came into the world. Christ again anointed Messiah, Jesus, God saves, Yeah, Wah saves. Jehovah saves came into the world. The Word became flesh and twelft among us, and the fullness of time, God sent his son. For God's so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, who believe that the nymn shall not perish, but have everlasting life. He took on human flesh. He came to save sinners. What is a sinner? He came to save. How did he come to save? That could be a question. How does he save sinners? Does he save sinners by infusing righteousness or imputing richness? We could get in there, and I am chief because of this we acknowledge our own sinfulness.

55:41 He came to save sinners. If you don't acknowledge your sin, there can't be any salvation until you acknowledge you are a sinner and you are the chief of sin. You've got to see your sin, feel your sin, and You've got to see that sin not just before you're saved, you remain a sinner after you're saved. That is the Christmas Creed. There you go, Now, what's that perfect? No, some people are gonna say it's a little repetitive and you're gonna criticize it. And you know what, that's okay. I'm the chief of failures. I got no problem admitting it.

56:22 But isn't it good to know that Christ Jesus came into the world to save those of us who can't do anything perfectly? And that is all of us? So as you move forward into this Christmas Eve evening or Christmas Day, or whenever you hear this, grab on to this creed. Memorize it, write it down, build it, flash it out, do cross referencing, make it look literally, turn this into Christ and they're write all kinds of things about Christ Jesus. Really build on this, come up with through your own Catechism questions. It's been handed to us. Now what are we gonna do with it? All right? To everyone, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas Eve evening.

57:04 I really do. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas Day, all right, enjoy it. Don't get caught up in a performance. Remember, no matter whether you do things right or wrong, Christ Jesus came to save sinners, and that includes you because you are a sinner. Right, take rest in the fact that you are forgiven. I'm not saying that excuses any sin, but just rest in that. Don't turn this into a performance guilt based situation. Just enjoy everything you have. Be grateful to God. Thank God. If you are someone and you have all of the good things, be grateful for it. Right, be grateful if you have all of the good things. If you have it, I'll grab onto it, enjoy it and braise it. Be grateful for it. Okay, Now to those who I don't know where you are tonight, I don't know. You may be completely alone, house may be quiet, maybe dark. You may have bad memories of Christmas past.

58:07 You may feel abandoned, lonely. You don't get it. You don't know how your life ended up where you are. This is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's you and that's me. You may not have what everyone else has, and it may not make any sense. You may not know how you ended up where you've ended up. You may feel alone, abandoned, lonely. I don't know what you're feeling, but you know what, Christ Jesus came into the world to save you, and you can grab on to that and it doesn't take away all of those other feelings.

58:55 And I was saying, you should ignore those feelings and you should just say, well, everything is wonderful. You can ignore those feelings and cry out and be confused because it may not make any sense. How come some people's life right now is so perfect and great, and you know, they're sitting there with a glass of eggnog and or you know whatever, they're drinking and they're having a great time, and everybody's singing and there's fun and there's laughter, and there's food and it's wonderful. And other people the life never makes any sense. Life isn't fair, It doesn't make any sense. And I don't have any answers for you. That's what makes this credal statement so important, because you're never going to get those answers. They're never going to get them. They're never going to get those answers. There's people suffering right now, there's people right now suffering. I don't have any answers for why. How come? I don't know when is it going to go away? Maybe never?

59:52 In this life. It may actually get worse. But here's the faithful saying, Christ Jesus came into the world save sinners. Now. The good news is that saves us from the penalty of our sin, the condemnation of our sin, and it guarantees that. Hey, I don't know if this life's ever going to get better, but the good news is there's coming. At times, there's going to be no more pain, no more suffering, no more death, no more sin, And it's all an eternity of being better than it was. Maybe for your entire life filled with pain, suffering, misery, confusion, abandonment, being deceived, backstabbed, hurt, lied to. Just grab on to that.

1:00:42 I wish I had better answers, but that's what I can offer. Thanks for listening. Everyone, have a great night. I hear all the families outside the studio. That's the neighbors. There's a whole bunch of them. They're outside laughing. They're having a good time. That's great. Whether it's a good time, whether it's a horrible knight. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I am the Chief, and all of those things are factual, and my circumstances does not diminish or change them. In the slightest, God bless