Customer Reviews

Affirming the Apostles' Creed

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I read this book to my wife almost every morning before she went to work. We really liked it. J.I Packer walks us through the Apostles' Creed phrase by phrase. He says that the Creed was originally written in Latin, and that "I believe in God the Father" translate a phrase that literally means "I am believing INTO God." It conveys the idea of total dependence.

In the chapter about the only begotten Son, Packer says that the phrase literally means "one of a kind Son." The expression "He descended into hell" means that Christ went down into the netherworld after He died on the cross and proclaimed victory over the powers of darkness to the disobedient angels in prison - see 1 Peter 3:19-22.

Believing in the Holy Spirit means trusting in Him as our advocate, counselor, guide, and helper. and as the One who highlights and glorifies Jesus.

The communion of saints refers to the fellowship we can have with believers in this life and in the common bond we have with the saints of all times.

This is a great little book! The sentences are little long and cumbersome at times. Perhaps a good editor could have tightened up the screws. But this is a minor thing because we really enjoyed this book.

Like many evangelicals I come from a church background where the creeds were not part of our worship. We never read them and never studied them. It seemed it was enough for us to abide by the Bible and that was enough. And while I agree with that, I do think that we can learn from the creeds and the catechisms. In this book Packer deals with the Apostles' Creed and each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of the creed itself. I had heard of the creed and had even repeated it when we would have inter-denominational services but until I read Packer's book, I had never really studied what the creed teaches.

The chapters are not long and are easy to read. While Packer has the ability to go deep into theology, in this book he takes his time and is light reading when considering the subject at hand. I enjoyed the fact that Packer begins his book by pointing out that one of the main weaknesses in the modern Church today is that we don't know what we believe. We have made Christianity so "simple" that we have missed the reality of sound doctrine (1 Timothy 4:16). Jesus said that we are His disciples if we abide in His teachings (John 8:31-32) and sadly so few today spend time studying His teachings and so we don't know what we believe. The devil uses this to his advantage and brings in cults and other false teachers to lead people astray (2 Corinthians 11:13-14; 1 John 4:1-4). The Apostles' Creed can help disciples know what they believe and why. And I believe Packer does a good job of showing that the Apostles' Creed is a trustworthy creed worth repeating and studying in our churches.

Overall I enjoyed this book. As an Arminian, I did disagree here and there with some of Packer's Calvinistic leanings but for the most part he stays on track and tries to stay true to the Bible. The short chapters make this a perfect book for reading before bed or while you are on a break at work (a Bible break instead of a smoke break!). You can read this book in three days easily. I do recommend it.

This is a great book. I used it for a youth series on the Apostles' Creed.
Be advised, Kindle user that this is just one third of a larger book by Packer called "Growing in Christ" (...) - the other sections covered in Growing in Christ are the "10 Commandments" and "the Lord's prayer". At the time of my writing this, the full book "Growing in Christ" is just $1 more than this book. So spend a dollar more and get two other works by Packer for "free"!

The author spends a large number pages attacking early Christan sects. Refering to groups of early Christians as "sheep stealing Gnostics" while quoting Old Testament books and CS Lewis in the same paragraph does little to inspire confidence in the author's ability to teach and lead.

A book that focuses on attacking other understandings of Christ's teachings does nothing but further place modern Christianity in a hateful, short-sighted light.