Apostles' Creed, The

The Apostles' Creed is the oldest and most widely accepted summary of Christian faith in the Western church, structured in Trinitarian form: God the Father and creation; Jesus Christ, his Son, and the events of his incarnation, passion, death, resurrection, ascension, and return; and the Holy Spirit and the community he indwells and will ultimately glorify. Despite its name, the creed was not written by the apostles; the legend that each apostle contributed one article arose in the fourth century. Its earliest form (the Old Roman Symbol) dates to the second century and was used as an interrogatory confession at baptism. The creed's current form was essentially fixed by the seventh century.

The creed is not found verbatim in the NT but is widely recognized as a faithful summary of apostolic teaching. Its clauses draw on multiple Pauline formulas (1 Cor. 15:3-7; Phil. 2:6-11; Rom. 1:3-4) and the baptismal formula of Matthew 28:19. The phrase 'descended into hell' (descendit ad inferna), absent from the earliest versions and added by the fourth century, has been variously interpreted as referring to Christ's burial in Sheol, his triumph over death, or his proclamation to the imprisoned spirits (1 Pet. 3:19). The Apostles' Creed remains in liturgical use across Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, and Reformed traditions as the normative baptismal and catechetical confession, functioning as a concise boundary marker of orthodox Christian identity.