Church Creeds

Many denominations accept the ancient Christian creeds:

The Apostles' Creed: Opinions differ about the origin of this creed:

The traditional belief is that after Christ's execution, many of the apostles prepared to follow the Great Commission by leaving Jerusalem and teach the gospel throughout the world. In order to make certain that each apostle taught the same message, they jointly composed the Apostles' Creed before their departure. The creed thus was created in the early 1st century CE.

According to most religious liberals, there was little uniformity of belief in the early Christian church. "Even in the same geographical area and sometimes in the same cities, different Christian teachers taught quite different gospels and had quite different views of who Jesus was and what he did." 2 It was only in the 4th century CE that the Christian church became the official religion of the Roman Empire. This created a need for doctrinal consistency. The authors and the date of composition of this creed are unknown.

The Apostles' Creed describes belief in:

       1.God, as originally described in the Hebrew
         Scriptures (Old Testament), the creator of
         the universe.

       2.Jesus Christ, God's only son, who was born
          of a virgin, executed, descended into hell,
          rose again and ascended into heaven.

3.The Holy Spirit, the method by which God
communicates with mankind.

       4.The Church, communion of saints,
          forgiveness of sins, resurrection of the
          body after death, and eternal life.

Eastern Orthodox Churches do not formally recognize the Apostles' Creed, although there is little in it that they would disagree with.

Nicene Creed: Most Christian faith groups also recognize this longer creed. It was originally written and adopted at the Council of Nicea in 325 CE. It was then modified to its present form by the Council at Chalcedon in 451 CE. It is more properly called the Niceno-Constantinopolitan or Constantinopolitan Creed. It repeats the concepts of the Apostles' Creed and further describes:

       1.Jesus as having existed since before the
         creation of the world, and who will return
         to earth at some time in the future, to
         judge everyone, including the dead.

2.Jesus is "one substance" with God.

       3.Baptism is needed for the remission of sins;
          this implies that only baptised persons will
          be saved; the rest will spend eternity in
          hell after death.

Athanasian Creed: This much longer creed dates from the 5th century CE. It includes the beliefs of the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds and further describes that:

1.Only Christians will be saved.

       2.The three persons of the Trinity, none of
          whom were created or begotten, but have
          been in existence for all eternity.

3.The three persons are equal to each other
and are a unity.

4.Jesus Christ is both perfect God and
perfect man, yet "is not two but one."

The criteria for salvation are:

       1.Only those who were baptized, hold the
         correct religious beliefs and have done
         good works during their lifetime will go into
         life everlasting in Heaven.

      2.Persons who were not baptised or who do
         not believe the proper teachings or who
       have done evil during life will go "into
         everlasting fire". This is apparently a
         reference to never-ending torment in Hell.

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