HISTORICALLY ROOTED, PRESENCE DRIVEN, AND A FUTURE HOPE.
THE APOSTLE’S CREED,
OR THE
TWELVE ARTICLES OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord. Which was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary. Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, buried, and descended into hell. And the third day he rose again from death. He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost. The holy catholic church. The communion of Saints: The forgiveness of sins. The resurrection of the body. And the life everlasting. Amen.
As the Lord’s Prayer is the Prayer of prayers, the Decalogue the Law of laws, so the Apostles’ Creed is the Creed of creeds. It contains all the fundamental articles of the Christian faith necessary to salvation, in the form of facts, in simple Scripture language, and in the most natural order—the order of revelation—from God and the creation down to the resurrection and life everlasting. It is Trinitarian, and divided into three chief articles, expressing faith—in God the Father, the Maker of heaven and earth, in his only Son, our Lord and Saviour, and in the Holy Spirit (in Deum Patrem, in Jesum Christum, in Spiritum Sanctum); the chief stress being laid on the second article, the supernatural birth, death, and resurrection of Christ. Then, changing the language (credo in for credo with the simple accusative), the Creed professes to believe ‘the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the remission of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.’ It is by far the best popular summary of the Christian faith ever made within so brief a space. It still surpasses all later symbols for catechetical and liturgical purposes, especially as a profession of candidates for baptism and church membership. It is not a logical statement of abstract doctrines, but a profession of living facts and saving truths. It is a liturgical poem and an act of worship.*
Download J.I. Packer's, Affirming The Apostles Creed - HERE
*Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical Notes: The History of Creeds, vol. 1 (New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1878), 14–15
