The Apostles’ Creed

This is the fourth in my series on Apostolic Tradition. The first was Apostolic Tradition, the belief that the Apostles’ wrote some things down and delivered other things orally. The Bible would be the written down things, the inspired, authoritative Word of God. Apostolic Tradition would be the orally handed down things. What was it they handed down? The Faith, as I explain in The Rule of Faith from Irenaeus and from Origen.

Today I want to present

First, the creed itself

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, dead, and buried; [he descended into hell;]
the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit;
holy catholic Church;
communion of saints;
forgiveness of sins;
resurrection of the flesh;
life everlasting. AMEN

I need to point out two things.

First, Since sme versions of the creed include the phrase, he descended into hell between crucified, dead, and buried and the third day he rose again, and some do not I have put it in brackets.

Second, The traditional English version says resurrection of the body while both the Latin and the Greek have resurrection of the flesh. I really like this strong emphasis!

This is traditionally accepted as the faith handed down by the Apostles’. (Don’t worry, I will address “holy, catholic Church!)


The Apostles’ Creed and the old Roman Symbol

The Apostles’ Creed has descended to us from what is known as the old Roman Rule of Faith. Here is the creed of the early church in Rome:

I believe in God the Father Almighty;
and in Christ Jesus His only Son, our Lord,
Who was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary,
Who under Pontius Pilate was crucified and buried,
and on the third day rose again from the dead,
ascended into heaven,
and sits at the right hand of the Father,
whence He will come to judge the living and the dead;
and in the Holy Spirit,
holy Church,
remission of sins,
resurrection of the flesh
life everlasting.

As you can see, they are very similar.

Hippolytus of Rome (170-235), in his book on Apostolic Tradition, reveals the baptismal creed used in Rome:

"When the person being baptized goes down into the water, he who baptizes him, putting his hand on him, shall say: "Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty?" And the person being baptized shall say: "I believe." Then holding his hand on his head, he shall baptize him once. And then he shall say: "Do you believe in Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who was born of the Virgin Mary, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and was dead and buried, and rose again the third day, alive from the dead, and ascended into heaven, and sat at the right hand of the Father, and will come to judge the living and the dead?" And when he says: "I believe," he is baptized again. And again he shall say: "Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, in the holy church, and the resurrection of the body?" The person being baptized shall say: "I believe," and then he is baptized a third time."

Here you can see the essence of the Apostles’ Creed, which suggests to me the Apostles’ Creed was a baptismal confession of faith.

Rufinus (340-410) wrote a commentary on the Creed of Aquileia, which he believed was composed by and handed down from the Apostles’ (and used in Rome), therefore the book is titled, Commentary on the Apostles’ Creed. You can read it here. I recommend it! Here is his version:

I believe in God the Father Almighty, invisible and impassible.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord;
Who was born from the Holy Spirit, of the Virgin Mary;
Was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and buried;
He descended to hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to the heavens; he sitteth at the right hand of the Father;
Thence he is to come to judge the quick and the dead.
And in the Holy Spirit;
The Holy Church.
The remission of sins.
The resurrection of this flesh.

Again, essentially the Apostles' Creed.

Augustine (354-430), preached A Sermon to Catechumens, which you can read here, in which he expounds the creed, which is once again essentially the Apostles’ Creed.

I share all this simply to point out that the Apostles' Creed came down to us through Rome. As the church in Rome grew in power and stature, it is natural that her confession would rise in prominence.

The Apostles’ Creed and the Greek Orthodox Church (Eastern Orthodox)
“The Apostles’ Creed is widely used by many Western churches” (Roman Catholic and Protestants) but “is never used by the Orthodox Church. One of the major reasons the Orthodox Church does not accept the authority of the Apostles’ Creed is that it does not have the approval of a major ecumenical council.” (The Apostles' Creed and the Orthodox Church)


All that to say, I believe the Apostles’ Creed is an accurate and succinct presentation of The Faith handed down by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.



Tuesday: St Patrick’s Confession of Faith
Wednesday: Apostles’ Creed and the earlier Rule of Faith
Monday: The Nicene Creed