A few years ago, I started to teach my children the Apostle’s Creed. Although there were some worship songs already out there that were based on this creed, none of them that I discovered were word for word. I wanted my kids to memorize this beautiful gem of antiquity in it’s original form. So I did what any other good homeschooler does when she wants her kids to memorize material they are not really interested in – I made up a song. It took about four or five times singing through it for my older two girls and me to memorize it. Quite an accomplishment considering, as a kid, I never did have it all memorized even after hearing it Sunday upon Sunday for 14 years.
Although early forms of this creed date back to 200 AD, the creed in its current form dates back to the 9th century AD. The Apostle’s Creed was written to combat the Gnostic heresy that denied the humanity of Christ. Although legend says that each line was written by one of the 12 apostles, that is unlikely, due to the dating of the text. It summarizes, however, the teachings of the apostles found in scripture. The words are as follows (*see notes below):
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe 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 to the dead. *
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and 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 the life everlasting.
Amen
While, this creed doesn’t address all points of doctrine such as the diety and holiness of Christ, salvation through Christ, etc., it provides an outline of the historical facts upon which Christianity is based. Some of the other creeds (such as the Nicene Creed), confessions and catechisms address these other theological points. All of these statements are meant to be summaries of scriptural, theological points, but of course, they cannot replace scripture. We still need to go to scripture to study these truths in depth.
Footnotes:
*Earlier translations translate the Greek word Hades (realm of the dead) into "Hell". Scholars debate about where Jesus went during the period of time between the crucifixion and the resurrection. Some believe he went to hell not to suffer punishment, but to proclaim victory over His enemies, others say He went only to Paradise, still others say He went to Hades/Paradise to release the old testament saints. Scripture is not clear on this issue.
Many Christian historians believe that the purpose of including this line is to emphasize the fact that Jesus actually died. He wasn’t asleep, in a coma, or pretending. Again, this was to disprove the Gnostic teaching that he was not human. A more thorough discussion of this can be found by doing a Google search.
**Not the Roman Catholic Church, but the body of all believers in general.
*** The Bible refers to all believers as saints
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