©2002 Matthew A. C. Newsome

Our word “creed” comes from the Latin word credo, which means, “I believe.”  A creed is therefore a statement, a summary, or a symbol of faith.  It is very convenient for one today to place their hand upon the Bible and say, “I believe everything contained in this book.”  However, this sort of affirmation would have been useless to the early Christian, who did not have the Bible.  And if we are honest with ourselves today, such a statement may sound sincere but how certain can we really be?  I do not hesitate to say that most professed Christians have not read the entirety of the Bible, and even if you have read it two or three times over, its meaning and depth remains mysterious.  The Creed, therefore, is a compact statement that can be learned, memorized, and studied, for the benefit of the faithful.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that “Communion in faith needs a common language of faith, normative of all and uniting all. . .” (CCC 185).  The great commission given by Christ to the Apostles in Matthew 28:19-20 implies that the teachings of Christianity were to be encapsulated in some definite form.  They were charged to teach all nations to observe all that Christ had commanded, and since this teaching was to be authoritative, it was necessary to formulate the essential doctrines of faith.  This formula, this creed, is the authoritative declaration of the truths taught by the Church.

From the very beginning of the Church, a profession of faith was required of those about to be baptized.  The baptismal formula of “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” is itself a creed expressing the truth of the Trinity.  Added to this, even before the New Testament was written, was some profession of faith that would ensure uniformity of belief among those being admitted into the Church.

The creed has, of course, undergone modification over the history of the Church.  This is not because of the introduction of new doctrines but rather to clarify points where necessary.  The creed is not a lifeless formula, but a living expression of the Church’s faith.  Specific creeds may be devised to help teach the faith in a particular time or place, and the creed may be modified and expanded in order to clarify the Church’s teaching in response to challenge or heresy.

You will find that the creeds used by the Church today have undergone change.  However, the Catechism tells us that “None of the creeds from the different stages in the Church’s life can be considered superceded or irrelevant.  They help us today to attain and deepen the faith of all times by means of the different summaries made of it” (193).  This is to say that when a new form of the creed is introduced, it does not make the old creed any less true.

The three creeds that are still used throughout the western Church are the Apostles’, the Nicene, and the Athanasian.  The latter is generally unfamiliar to the laity, but the first two we are called to be familiar with.

The Apostles’ creed is so called because, according to tradition, it was written by the Twelve Apostles.  Throughout the medieval period, it was generally believed that the Apostles, on the day of Pentecost, composed the Creed together (some say one article each), under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  However, the silence of both the New Testament and the Ante-Nicean fathers on this matter calls the historical validity of this origin into question.  Added to this is the fact that we do not have a written version of the Apostles’ Creed until the fourth century.  However, tradition further says that the Creed was to be learned by heart and never committed to writing, which would explain the lack of early written evidence.

It is evident that some form of creed did exist early on.  Early Church Fathers such as Tertullian and St. Irenaeus attest to the fact that the “rule of faith” was part of the Apostolic Tradition.  Therefore the most academically honest opinion is that taken by Herbert Thurston, author of the Catholic Encyclopedia article on “The Apostles’ Creed,” who says, “we cannot safely affirm the Apostolic composition of the Creed,” while also admitting that, “to deny the possibility of such origin is to go further than our data at present warrant.”

The original Apostles’ Creed was much simpler than our present version.  However many of the additions were likely made by the time of St. Jerome, c. 380.  The final version that we are familiar with took shape in Rome sometime prior to 700 AD.  History is unfortunately silent as to the circumstances that gave rise to the additions.

The Nicene Creed is the one that is professed by the faithful each Sunday at Mass and is therefore perhaps the most familiar.  It is more correctly called the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed because it was approved in an expanded form at the Council of Constantinople in 381.  It is this expanded creed that is common to the Catholic Church, the Eastern Churches that are in schism with Rome, and most of the Protestant denominations.

The Nicene Creed, as its name implies, was first formulated at the Council of Nicea in 325.  However, shortly after this, new versions of the Creed came about in reaction to the growing Arian heresy that denied the divinity of Christ.  Thus the present version contains much stronger language expressing what the Catholic Church has always taught about Christ’s divinity and relationship with the Father.

These additions are attributed to the Council of Constantinople by the later Council of Chalcedon in 451.  However, they are not in the Acts of the 381 council, and there is no evidence of them in the writings of the fathers until the middle of the fifth century.  Nevertheless, the church fathers assembled at Chalcedon adopted and authorized it as a true expression of the faith.

Recitation of the creed in public in association with baptism dates from the very beginning of the Church.  But soon after the composition of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed it was adapted for use at the Eucharist in certain areas, such as Antioch and Constantinople.  This practice was adopted by Rome in the eleventh century.

Today, all rites of the Catholic Church use the Nicene Creed as part of the declaration of fellowship at the Eucharist (though in different places in the liturgy).  In the Roman Rite, it follows immediately after the Gospel reading.  The Apostle’s Creed is used by the Roman Rite at baptisms.

In all forms, the Creed is broken into three parts, in reflection of the baptismal formula given to us by Christ.  “The first part speaks of the first divine Person and the wonderful work of creation; the next speaks of the second divine Person and the mystery of his redemption of men; the final part speaks of the third divine Person, the origin and source of our sanctification” (CCC 190).

The creeds, in their various forms, are called “symbols of faith,” because they are a sign of recognition and communion between those who profess them.  “A symbol of faith is a summary of the principle truths of the faith and therefore serves as the first and fundamental point of reference for catechesis” (CCC 188).

The beauty of the creed is that it both simplifies and condenses the faith so that it can be easily learned by all, and yet within it’s few words it contains all the great mysteries that theologians and saints have contemplated for centuries and yet have not exhausted.  St. Cyril of Jerusalem wrote that, “just as the mustard seed contains a great number of branches in a tiny grain, so too this summary of faith encompassed in a few words the whole knowledge of the true religion contained in the Old and New Testaments.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, and consequently the popular catechisms based upon it, follows the outline of the Apostle’s Creed.

The Apostle’s Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.  He descended into hell.
On the third day He rose again.
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  He will come again 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.

The Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father.  Through Him all things were made.  For us men and for our salvation He came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit He was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered, died, and was buried.
On the third day He rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures;
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.  With the Father and the Son He is worshipped and glorified.  He has spoken through the Prophets.  We believe in one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.  We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.  We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.  Amen.