It is a well known idiom that those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it. Creeds are not merely statements of faith from ancient churches. There were historical events that precipitated the need for each creed and shaped what select few doctrines were included. It is easy to look at historical creeds merely as faith documents and assign them doctrinal value for contemporary churches. Creeds did not merely purport what the church must accept as primary, fundamental doctrine, but were a response to doctrinal threats arising in the Church. There were specific doctrinal issues growing in Christianity in ancient times that the creeds sought to protect the church against. Being unaware of such historical context to the creeds not only leads to misunderstanding their initial purpose but robs the churches of learning from real life examples of how churches can unify themselves with sound doctrine to resist false teaching. This paper will urge that the history surrounding these documents not only reveals the purpose for their formation and use, but how those historical purposes can serve a didactic and admonishing role for churches today regarding doctrinal threats and division. Demonstrating the relevance of the history of the creeds, this paper will also posit that there is broad agreement concerning the doctrinal content of the creeds, and that new, more subtle doctrinal threats exist in contemporary American Christianity that churches need to address and stand against.