Other places in the New Testament
Epistles provide additional indications of what have been termed creeds.
Traditions, formulas, and confessions that are being passed on to the readers.
In another example from the same book, Paul mentions the “traditions” that he
passed down to his audience at Corinth (1 Cor 11:2). Other texts employ
different words but speak similarly, such as receiving or holding to the
apostles’ traditions (krateite tas paradoseis, as in 2 Thess 2:15; 3:6)
or holding to the reliable or believable word (tou pistou logou) and
teaching sound doctrine (Titus 1:9). Several times in 1 and 2 Timothy,
the audience is told that a particular saying or teaching is reliable, and on
each occasion the Greek words are the same (pistos ho logos, similarly
Titus 1:9). The Greek is most often followed by a pithy statement regarding the
trustworthiness of the teaching (1 Tim 1:15; 3:1; 4:9). First Timothy 3:16 and
2 Tim 2:11-13 provide particular helpful examples of how these creeds appear in
their contexts.
Besides
the times where formal language is utilized concerning the receiving and
passing along of creeds, other traditions are pronounced as being reliable or trustworthy,
or readers are commanded to observe these important teachings, all of which
indicate the significance of these pronouncements. Many of these early creedal
statements read like the stanzas of a hymn, prayer, or other form of liturgy.
Increasingly, new translations render them this way too, setting off the
passages in verse style. Exceptional examples that are among the most
unanimously recognized by critical scholars, seemingly ready-made for
theological or liturgical use, are the following texts: Rom 1:3-4; 1 Cor 8:6;
Phil 2:6-11; Col 1:15-20; 1 Tim 3:16; and 2 Tim 2:11-13. Still other passages
use key words, such as “confess” (Rom 10:9), or as just seen above, mentioning
a “faithful saying.” (Gary R.
Habermas, On the Resurrection, 4 vols. [Brentwood, Tenn.: B&H
Academic, 2024], 1:483-84)