📖 Biblical Definition
The Apostles’ Creed is the early Christian baptismal creed, summarizing the faith in twelve articles structured Trinitarianly — confessing the Father (creation), the Son (incarnation, crucifixion, burial, descent, resurrection, ascension, return, judgment), and the Holy Spirit (church, communion of saints, forgiveness, resurrection of the body, life everlasting). Its earliest form (the Old Roman Symbol) dates to the second century AD and was used as the basic confession of baptismal candidates; its present full form was largely fixed by the fifth or sixth century. Not literally composed by the twelve apostles, but ancient and apostolic in substance. The Reformed tradition retains it as one of the three ecumenical creeds. Reciting it weekly binds the church across centuries.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
(Composite.) The early Christian baptismal creed summarizing the faith in twelve Trinitarian articles.
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Twelve articles, three sections (Father / creation, Son / redemption, Holy Spirit / sanctification and consummation).
Distinct from the Nicene Creed (325 / 381), which expanded Christological articles to address Arianism, the Apostles' Creed is shorter and older. Both are received in nearly all Christian traditions.
📖 Key Scripture
1 Corinthians 15:3 — "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures."
1 Timothy 3:16 — "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit."
Romans 10:9 — "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
Ephesians 4:5 — "One Lord, one faith, one baptism."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern Christianity often skips creeds; the Apostles' Creed preserves the irreducible apostolic faith in twelve memorizable lines.
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1 Corinthians 15:3 records what is, in form, an apostolic mini-creed: that which I also received... that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Paul preserves a fixed received form of the gospel. The Apostles' Creed is a longer and older descendant of this kind of fixed confession.
The household that learns the Apostles' Creed by heart has memorized the apostolic faith in compressed form. Recitation at family worship and at baptism keeps the household anchored in the faith once delivered.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Latin credo (I believe).
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Latin credo — I believe; opening word of every line in the Latin Apostles' Creed.
Note: Latin liturgy refers to creeds as symbola (tokens) — the verbal sign by which Christians recognize one another.
Usage
"Twelve articles; one apostolic faith."
"Memorized by the household; recited at baptism; anchoring across generations."
"Paul preserved a fixed received gospel-form; the Creed is a longer descendant."