09/04/2026
The Apostles’ Creed is one of Christianity’s oldest and most widely used summaries of belief. Despite its name, historians do not think the twelve apostles personally wrote it line by line. Rather, it grew out of the baptismal teaching and “rule of faith” of the early Church, especially the creed used by Christians at Rome.
Its roots reach back into the second and third centuries. An early form, often called the Old Roman Creed, was used to prepare converts for baptism. By the early Middle Ages, this tradition had developed into the form of the Apostles’ Creed familiar today. A later Christian legend said that each of the twelve apostles contributed one article to the Creed; that tradition helped explain the name, but it is not regarded as historical evidence of authorship.
The Creed is fundamentally Trinitarian. It moves through the Christian faith in three great sections:
The Father: “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth."
The Son: It summarizes Jesus Christ’s conception, birth, suffering under Pontius Pilate, crucifixion, death, resurrection, ascension, and future judgment.
The Holy Spirit and the Church: It confesses the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, communion of saints, forgiveness of sins, resurrection of the body, and everlasting life.
The word "catholic” in the Creed originally means "universal” or “according to the whole.” It is therefore older than the later divisions between Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant churches. Many Protestant churches still recite the Apostles’ Creed while understanding “the holy catholic Church” as the universal body of believers.
The Creed was especially connected with baptism. Early converts were asked questions resembling: “Do you believe in God the Father? Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?” Their answers were a public confession of the faith into which they were being baptized. That helps explain why the Creed begins personally: “I believe.”
In short, the Apostles’ Creed is not a miniature theology textbook. It is a compact confession of the Christian story: God created; Christ came, died, rose, and will return; the Holy Spirit gives life to the Church; sins are forgiven; the dead will rise; and eternal life awaits.
