THESE ARE THE MAIN CREEDS OR CONFESSIONS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH WHICH ARE COMMONLY USED IN MANY CHRISTIAN DENOMINATIONS. WE BELIEVE, CONFESS, AND PROFESS THESE CREEDS AS OUR NORM AND STANDARD.
This creed dates from the eighth century A.D. and is a revision of the Old Roman Creed which dates from the third century A.D., which in turn comes from various creedal forms or confessions dating from the time of the apostles.
"I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ, his
only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of
the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead,
and buried; he descended into hell, the third day he rose from the
dead, he ascended into heaven, and is seated on the right hand of
God, the Father almighty, whence he shall come to judge the living
and the dead.
I believe in the Holy
Spirit,the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the
forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life
everlasting. Amen."
This statement of faith is an expanded version of the Apostles' Creed and was adopted at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. upon the rejection of the teachings of Arius, who had rejected the divinity of Jesus. The final version, as we use it today, was adopted by the Church at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D.
"I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven
and earth and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus
Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before
all ages, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten
not made, being of one substance with the Father, through whom all
things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down
from heaven, was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary,
and was made man; who for us, too, was crucified under Pontius
Pilate, suffered, and was buried: the third day he rose according to
the Scriptures, ascended into heaven, and is seated on the right
hand of the Father; he shall come again with glory to judge the
living and the dead, and his kingdom shall have no end.
And in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the
Son; Who together with the Father and the Son is worshiped and
glorified: who spoke by the prophets.
And I believe in
one holy, Christian(catholic) and apostolic church.
I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for
the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come.
Amen."
This statement of faith is of uncertain origin and not written by Athanasius, the church theologian of the fourth century A.D.. It's use and prominence dates from the fifth or sixth centuries in the Western regions of the Roman world.
"Whoever wishes to be saved must, above all else, hold the true
Christian faith. Whoever does not keep it whole and
undefiled will without doubt perish for eternity.
This is the true Christian
faith: That we worship one God in three persons and
three persons in one God without confusing the persons or dividing
the divine substance. For the Father is one person, the
Son is another, and the Holy Spirit is still another, but there is
one Godhead, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
equal in glory and coequal in majesty. What the Father
is, that is the Son and that is the Holy Spirit; the Father is
uncreated, the Son is uncreated, the Holy Spirit is uncreated; the
Father is unlimited, the Son is unlimited, the Holy Spirit is
unlimited; the Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, the Holy
Spirit is eternal; and yet they are not three eternals, but one
eternal, just as there are not three who are uncreated and who are
unlimited, but there is one who is uncreated and unlimited.
Likewise the Father is
almighty, the Son is almighty, the Holy Spirit is almighty, and yet
there are not three who are almighty, but there is one who is
almighty. So, the Father is God, the Son is God, the
Holy Spirit is God, and yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
So, the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit
is Lord, and yet they are not three Lords, but one Lord.
For just as we are
compelled by Christian truth to acknowledge each person by himself
to be God and Lord, so we are forbidden by the Christian religion to
say that there are three Gods or three Lords. The Father
was neither made nor created nor begotten by anybody.
The Son was not made or created, but was begotten by the Father.
The Holy Spirit was not made or created or begotten,
but proceeds from the Father and the Son. Accordingly,
there is one Father and not three Fathers, one Son and not three
Sons, one Holy Spirit and not three Holy Spirits. And
among these three persons, none is before or after another, none is
greater or less than another, but all three persons are coequal and
coeternal, and accordingly, as has been state above, three persons
are to be worshiped in one Godhead and one God is to be worshiped in
three persons. Whoever wishes to be saved must think
thus about the Trinity.
It is also necessary for
eternal salvation that one faithfully believe that our Lord Jesus
Christ became man, for this is the right faith, that we believe and
confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is at once God
and man; he is God, begotten before the ages of the substance of the
Father, and he is man, born in the world of the substance of his
mother, perfect God and perfect man, with reasonable soul and human
flesh, equal to the Father with respect to his Godhead and inferior
to the Father with respect to his manhood. Although he
is God and man, he is not two Christs, but one Christ; one, that is
to say, not by changing the Godhead into flesh but by taking on the
humanity into God. One, indeed, not by confusion of
substance, but by unity in one person. For just as the
reasonable soul and the flesh are one man, so God and man are one
Christ, who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose
from the dead, ascended into heaven, is seated on the right hand of
the Father, whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.
At his coming, all men shall rise with their bodies and
give an account of their own deeds. Those who have done
good, will enter eternal life, and those who have done evil will go
into everlasting fire. This is the true Christian
faith.
Unless a man believe this
firmly and faithfully, he cannot be saved."
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