Christian symbols

What Are the Creeds?

We get the word creed from the Latin, credo – which means I believe. A creed is simply a brief statement of belief. In the early days of the Church, creeds were used as a confession of faith when a person was baptized. Because they are concise and easily memorized, they became the basis for teaching new believers about the faith in preparation for their baptism.

The purpose of a creed is two-fold. First, it clearly states the essential beliefs of the Christian faith. Second, it stands in contrast to heretical (or false) teaching. In other words, the trustworthiness of teaching could be measured by whether it conformed to the creeds.

There were variations of wording in the earliest recorded creeds, but eventually these became formalized as what we know today as the Apostles’ Creed, so named because they represented the fundamental teaching of the Apostles.

As years passed, heretical teaching arose on points of doctrine that weren’t clearly addressed by the Apostles’ Creed, so new creeds were crafted to specifically counter these false ideas. The best known of these is the Nicene Creed, composed by the First Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. The Nicene Creed was formulated as a slightly longer version of the Apostles’ Creed that answered certain points of false teaching that had plagued the Church.

The Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds express the Christian faith in a manner that transcends denominational and doctrinal differences. These creeds express the foundational beliefs of all true Christians.

Keep in mind, these creeds are ancient and were not originally written in the English language. Therefore, you will find slight variations in wording as they are updated for contemporary English speakers.

Apostles' Creed

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,
was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven
and sits 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 Christian Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

Nicene Creed

We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.