Unit 2 - Apostles' Creed

After you have watched this video together, discuss the target questions for this lesson.

• What is the Gospel?

• What is belief?

Discussion questions for AFTER confirmation class

Discuss with your child what the Law and the Gospel are and what they do. The Law shows us our sin and tells us what God commands and forbids, while the Gospel shows our salvation. God forgives us our sins, and gives us heaven and salvation through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Continue your discussion about the need for both the Law and Gospel.

We typically use three creeds in church: the Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds. The word “creed” itself means “I believe.” We confess that we cannot believe without the Holy Spirit working faith in us through the Gospel. In what ways do these creeds accurately confess our beliefs as the Lutheran church? What statements do you struggle with?

Discussion questions for AFTER confirmation class

Recite together the Third Article and its meaning.

Who is the Holy Spirit and what does He do?

The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. The Spirit is fully God, and comes to us from the Father and the Son. He is not an energy or the “power” of God.

The Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies individual Christians as well as the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.

What it means when we say, "calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies, and keeps us."

• Call: by the Gospel news

• Gather: together into God’s family

• Enlighten: bring to faith, conversion

• Sanctify: make us holy, set us aside for God’s purposes

• Keep: guard and protect us in the faith

Discuss faith with your child. What is faith? How and when did you receive your faith? How and when did your child?

While everyone has their own story of coming into the LCMS faith—some as infants, some as adults, some through experiencing many other churches first, the origin of HOW always leads us back to the Church, the Holy Spirit, and Holy Baptism.

Discussion questions for AFTER confirmation class

Discuss how and why we “cannot by our own reason or strength believe.”

Discuss with your child: What is the Church?

The Church is the gathering of believers where the Gospel is preached and the Sacraments are given out. The Word being taught and the Sacraments being administered is what makes us Christ’s Church here on earth.

In what ways do we find God in the Church?

God is only found where He has promised to be:--in His Word, the Bible, and those who preach it--but He is also present in the Sacraments: Baptism, Absolution, and Communion.

Discussion questions for AFTER confirmation class

The Second Article tells us who Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, is and what He has done for us. Talk with your child about this.

In Mark, Jesus asks His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”

Discuss with your child:

What do people say today?

What do you think?

Has your child ever had to talk to his or her friends or classmates about who Jesus is? How did he or she approach this? Was it easy or difficult? What resource could your child (or you!) use in the future to talk about who Jesus is?

Discuss this experience with your child. The resource that we can go back to as Christians and as Lutherans to help us find the words for who Jesus is is the Apostles Creed, specifically the Second Article.

Discussion questions for AFTER confirmation class

Jesus won our salvation for us. This salvation is given to us in church through the Sacraments. What are Sacraments? What are the Sacraments in the Lutheran church?

The Sacraments are tangible ways that we can receive Christ’s forgiveness in the Church. In the Lutheran church these include Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Some people rely on their feelings or what is in their heart to judge if their faith is strong enough or if it is working enough. Are there times in your life you have done this? Your child? Did this approach make that time in your life easier to deal with? Why is it dangerous to rely on feeling “moved” by your faith in order to judge if it is working?

Sometimes when times are hard, we are guided back to our faith. But sometimes when times are hard, it can feel like we have been left behind or forgotten about. During these times, we may not feel “moved” but may especially need Christ.

Only relying on our feelings during these times can lead us to think that either Christ has abandoned us (which He has not) or that it is completely up to us to turn things around.

Our religion is not one of looking inward to find the strength, or feeling, to keep going. It is a religion of looking outward to what has been done for us and given to us.

Discuss with your child Jesus vs. Jesus FOR YOU.

Discussion questions for AFTER confirmation class

What does each article of the creed tell us and teach us about who God is?

Review the Apostles Creed with your child. This will tell you what you need to know about who God is!

God made humans different from other creatures. In what way has He done this? Who are more precious to God: humans or angels?

Humans were made in the image of God. Angels were created by God and are precious to Him, but they were not made in His image.

Discuss with your child how he or she would respond to theories of evolution in light of the First Article.

The First Article clearly tells us that God is the maker of heaven and earth. God made the earth and made humans as humans. We have faith that the words He has written in the Scriptures are true.

Discussion questions for AFTER confirmation class

What is the Law and what is the Gospel?

What has your child learned while studying the Ten Commandments and the Apostles Creed that has stayed with him or her the most? What have you as the parent learned that has stayed with you the most?