The changing nature of belief

I Believe....   How words change meaning with time

The two words "I believe" start the creeds.

Those who are antagonistic to the Christian faith may wonder if, when we utter them, we are crossing our fingers behind our backs before going through a list of all the impossible things to which we give intellectual assent.

But the word "believe" we now use has changed in meaning over the centuries. "Believe" has its roots in the German "Ich liebe" - I love, or more precisely "Ich belieben" - I like or I am attached to. The word we translate as "believe" was "credo" in Latin and before that it was "pisteuo" in Greek. The ancient creeds were written in Greek.

In Latin, Credo comes from cor do - I give my heart. It's not simply about making mental affirmations but about making a commitment. It can also be translated as “to have confidence in or to trust”  Likewise the Greek word pisteuo translates best as "I place confidence in" or "I engage myself with".  Creeds are not intellectual propositions requiring agreement but something we give our heartfelt commitment to live out in the muddles of daily life.

This can be seen in the way the words were used at the baptismal ceremony for welcoming new members into the ancient church. From the writings of Cyril (Bishop of Jerusalem c.315 -386) baptism took place in the early hours of Easter Sunday. All through lent the converts had been prepared by fasting, vigils, prayer and being instructed about the faith. But they did not have to believe anything. In the baptism ceremony the convert would be immersed in the water three times and were asked in turn do you have pistis in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and each time as they came up out of the water they would shout Pisteuo (I give my heart, my loyalty my commitment!) In the Latin church the cry became Credo. It was like saying "I will" at a wedding.

After the baptism they would be instructed in the deeper truths of Christianity because these dogmas would only make sense after the transformative experience of the ritual.

In those days faith was a matter of active commitment and had little to do with philosophical thought. Until the fourth century the emphasis was on orthopraxis (right practice) rather than orthodoxy(right belief) but it didn't stay that way.

I can see the advantage of taking a similar approach with new church members today. There is a limit to how much can you tell converts in a course for membership. Faith grows and develops as it is lived out daily and saying the creed is just a way of expressing commitment to a way of life.