The Apostles’ Creed

 

[This creed] first appeared in southwest France sometime in the late 6th or 7th century. Its present text is found in the De singulis libris canonicis scarapsus of Priminius, which is dated between 710 and 724.^[1]

I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Creator 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,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended into hell;
on the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.

Amen.

            This creed was not developed to deal with any specific heresy. It appears to be a simplification of the Nicene creed, perhaps for children. It is widely used in protestant denominations today. This creed emphasizes the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Father and the Holy Spirit get only brief mention.

Prayer:

            Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you for the work of the early church, which gave us the Nicene and Apostles’ Creed. Help us study them so that we can learn and teach the essential doctrines of the church. May we not get bogged down in irrelevant details but always seek to promote the essentials of the faith. Let us be faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ and tell others about our salvation in Him. Amen.

---

^[1] Leith, John H. 1992. “Creeds, Early Christian.” In The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman, 1:1205. New York: Doubleday.