The Apostles’ Creed (Latin: Symbolum Apostolorum or Symbolum Apostolicum), sometimes entitled Symbol of the Apostles, is an early statement of Christian belief—a creed or “symbol”. It is widely used by a number of Christian denominations for both liturgical and catechetical purposes, most visibly by liturgical Churches of Western tradition, including the Roman Catholic Church, Lutheranism and Anglicanism. It is also used by Presbyterians, Methodists and Congregationalists.
The Apostles’ Creed was based on Christian theological understanding of the Canonical gospels, the letters of the New Testament and to a lesser extent the Old Testament. Its basis appears to be the old Roman Creed known also as the Old Roman Symbol. Because of the early origin of its original form, it does not address some Christological issues defined in the Nicene and other Christian Creeds. It thus says nothing explicitly about the divinity of either Jesus or of the Holy Spirit. This makes it acceptable to many Arians and Unitarians. Nor does it address many other theological questions which became objects of dispute centuries later.
The first mention of the expression “Apostles’ Creed” occurs in a letter of 390 AD from a synod in Milan and may have been associated with the belief, widely accepted in the 4th century, that, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, each of the Twelve Apostles contributed an article of a creed.
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Author: Wikipedia
Keywords: Apostles Creed, Creed, Church Creeds
Bible reference(s): Matthew 28:19, Romans 10:9, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Ephesians 4:4-6, Eph 4:9, Hebrews 6:1-2
Source: This article uses material from the Wikipedia article “Apostles’ Creed,” which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.
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