He studied theology in Halle under Friedrich August Tholuck and at Tübingen as a pupil of Johann Tobias Beck.

From 1859 he served as pastor in Ostönnen (today part of the city of Soest), and in 1870 was appointed professor of systematic theology at the University of Greifswald.

[1] Cremer was the author of a biblico-theological lexicon of New Testament Greek, titled Biblisch-theologisches Wörterbuch der neutestamentlichen Gräcität.

[2] Another significant work was a book on the Pauline Doctrine of Justification called Paulinische Rechtfertigungslehre im Zusammenhange ihrer geschichtlichen Voraussetzungen (1899).

In 1897, with Adolf Schlatter (1852-1938), he founded the magazine Beiträge zur Förderung christlicher Theologie ("Articles for the Promotion of Christian Theology").