Creeds
The main creed which the early
church used is known as the old roman symbol, which became the apostles creed, which then became the Nicene creed. The
creed itself is quite old and comes from the early church and is quoted by early
church fathers. The creed changes form as even some authors might skip a line
depending on when they wrote it, or they might add some additional bits to it.
The myth that the apostles themselves wrote the creed is relatively laughed at
since the creed was known to have taken liberty with minor pieces so long as
the core beliefs were held firm as the persons
baptism.
Possible Precursor of
the Old Roman Symbol
I will start with this, a
possible precursor from the 1st century, maybe as early as 55 AD,
some 22 years after Jesus died. This is a possibility, which we will see below in
the earliest official forms, the Old Roman Symbol and from the writings of the
early church father known as Tertulian. Thus with
knowledge of what additions would have been seen due to sects like the Judaizers and the Gnostics, we can estimate how this, a
possible earliest creed, would change over the centuries to by 600 AD become
the Athanasian Creed.
I believe in God
and in Christ Jesus His Son
was crucified
on the third day (he) rose
ascended to heaven
he will come to judge the living and the dead;
The Old Roman Symbol:
This creed is a very old one; in
fact, it is the precursor of the Apostles creed, which became the Nicene Creed in
325. The original old Roman symbol is dated to the late1st century, and so is a
part of the very early Christian church. One will be able to see the small, yet
important differences between this and the later apostles
creed due to the ongoing fight verses the Gnostic heresies. Note that the Old
Roman Symbol below is a more recent form. Most likely from the early 2nd
century, maybe 200 to 225 AD, as the Apostles Creed farther below obviously
changed its’ form to become the Nicene Creed in 325 AD.
Note the differences between the
Precursor and the Old Roman Symbol. One will be able to see the changes done to
the Creed. Thus one can see that heresy and other ideas had crept into the
church, and so by expanding on the creed, it sought to fight off those
heresies.
Latin text
Credo in deum
patrem omnipotentem;
et
in Christum Iesum filium eius unicum, dominum nostrum,
qui natus est de Spiritu sancto et Maria virgine,
qui sub Pontio Pilato crucifixus est et sepultus,
tertia die resurrexit a mortuis,
ascendit in caelos,
sedet ad dexteram patris, unde venturus est iudicare vivos et mortuos;
et in Spiritum sanctum,
sanctam ecclesiam,
remissionem peccatorum,
carnis resurrectionem.
Greek Text
Πιστεύω οὖν εἰς
θεòν πατέρα
παντοκράτορα·
καὶ εἰς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν, τὸν
υἱὸν αὐτοῦ
τὸν μονογενῆ,
τὸν κύριον
ἡμῶν,
τὸν γεννηθέντα
ἐκ πνεύματος
ἁγίου καὶ Μαρίας τῆς
παρθένου,
τὸν ἐπὶ
Ποντίου Πιλάτου σταυρωθέντα
καὶ ταφέντα
καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρα ἀναστάντα ἐκ τῶν
νεκρῶν,
ἀναβάντα εἰς τοὺς οὐρανούς
καὶ καθήμενον
ἐν δεξιᾳ
τοῦ πατρός,
ὅθεν ἔρχεται κρίνειν
ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς·
καὶ εἰς τò ἅγιον πνεῦμα,
ἁγίαν ἐκκλησίαν,
ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν,
σαρκὸς ἀνάστασιν,
ζωὴν αἰώνιον
The
only difference between the two is found in the last line which states in the greek (life everlasting) which is then later found in the
more commonly used Apostles Creed, and even there is a source of controversy,
since the line (life everlasting) came from the church in Lyon, while the
eastern churches didn’t use that addition. Also note that the center/head of
the church at that time was in Asia Minor, while
English text
I believe in God the Father
almighty; and in Christ Jesus His only Son, our Lord,
Who was born from the Holy Spirit
and the Virgin Mary, Who under Pontius Pilate was crucified and buried, on the
third day rose again from the dead, ascended to heaven, sits at the right hand
of the Father, whence He will come to judge the living and the dead; and in the
Holy Spirit, the holy Church, the remission of sins, the resurrection of the
flesh
(the life everlasting).
Apostles Creed:
This creed is quite old, and is
generally thought of coming from the mid 2nd century, or right about
150 AD. The changes from the old roman creed to what we can see as the apostles
creed is noted as changes made from the churches that were in southern France
(Gaul) Note that the old roman symbol and the apostles creed changed form and
became more ‘complex’ as time went on, and didn’t have it’s final form until
around 700 AD. Another thing to note is a rarely seen form of the 1st
line as ‘I believe in one God almighty’, whereby with using ‘father’, the usage
of ‘father’ is a means to fight the modalistic heresy
(Sabellianism).
Early form (around 150 to 200 AD)
·
I believe in God the
Father Almighty;
·
And in Jesus Christ,
His only Son, our Lord;
·
Who was born of the
Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary;
·
Crucified under
Pontius Pilate and buried;
·
The third day He rose
again from the dead,
·
He ascended into
Heaven,
·
Sits at the right
hand of the Father,
·
Whence He shall come
to judge the living and the dead.
·
And in the Holy
Ghost,
·
The
·
The forgiveness of
sins;
·
The resurrection of
the body.
Later finalized form (around 700 AD)
·
I believe in God the
Father Almighty Creator of Heaven and earth
·
And in Jesus Christ,
His only Son, our Lord;
·
Who was conceived
by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary,
·
Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and
buried;
·
He descended into
hell; the third day He rose again from
the dead;
·
He ascended into
Heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
·
From thence He shall
come to judge the living 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
·
life everlasting.
Note: the italicized
sections are additions from the western churches, and some refuse to use those
sections of the Apostles creed.
Scrutiny on
‘descended into hell’
Some people consider this statement a remembrance on 1
Peter 3.19 whereby others don’t use the clause whatsoever. There are lots of
squabbling over it, as the majority of the church didn’t use it, until
Why the creed came to be?
From multiple sources, especially NewAdvent
and a few other good sources on creedal history, the main idea is for baptisms
and to fight heresy. When the old roman creed first came out, the main issues
were Gnostic teachings and teachers. The other issue were the judaizers and their scripture twisting in how Jesus is
perceived. The below sections will quick talk about major notes of why each
section of the creed is there, and what force or doctrine it fought against.
The Gnostics, due to their belief that the physical
universe is evil & that God did not make it; the part on the first line
‘creator of heaven and earth’ was added.
Another important thing to note is the beliefs of the docetists whereby they thought that Jesus did not have a
human body & only an illusion, but that he was entirely spirit, and so
didn’t think that Jesus was born from Mary. The docetists
were in agreement that Christ was purely spirit and had no human nature
whatsoever, and so the line dealing with Jesus being born of Mary fought against
that heresy.
Also the docetists thought that
since Jesus was pure spirit, only pretended to suffer and never really died
from ‘hanging on a tree’. So the lines dealing with suffering and his death and
burial are important here.
Since the Gnostics believed that the ‘gnosis’ or secret
knowledge was only for a select few, the line speaking for the holy *catholic
church is appropriate, whereby for us in these days, we know that the old term
‘catholic’ means universal, which would then mean the ‘universal church’ or the
bride of Christ spoken of in scripture.
Again, the Gnostics thought different, here, the Gnostics
don’t believe in forgiveness, yet dwell on ‘enlightenment’. Some thought that
since the body was of evil matter, it mattered not what the body did, that it’s
actions had no affect on the soul. So for the creed, the line dealing with
forgiveness of sins is seen.
The last major note is that Gnostics thought that since
the body and the material world is so evil, that there will no resurrection,
that we will all live as pure spirits. So the line about coming back thru
resurrection is an important addition.
Actual creedal statements written down
Tertullian (155 – 220): quotations of the creed. There are
3 versions which we can see the simplicity and complexity of the creed. Note
that all 3 are different slightly, yet all 3 contain the meat of the doctrinal
statements that would be required of a new baptized believer. This is standard
as all baptism creeds before Nicene were slightly open to change so long as the
meat stayed in. Note (as said above), his creeds uses the line ’one God
almighty’ which was changed later to ‘God the father almighty’ to fight the modalistic heresy.
From “De Virginibus Velandis,1”
From De Praecept., 13
and 26