The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe 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, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Amen.
See other forms at CRTA, CCEL, Wikipedia.
Tags: Apostles-creed, Christianity, creed
November 5th, 2006 at 7:54 pm
what does “he descended to the dead” mean? i’ve never really figured out what was going on for those 3 days; any scriptures shed light on this?
November 6th, 2006 at 3:29 am
There’s not universal agreement on the origin or meaning of “descended into hell”, so I posted this version of the creed because “descended to the dead” seems more generally acceptable.
You can find a conversation on CCEL which refers to a passage in Grudem discussing this phrase. Creeds.net also has a page that refers to some of the scripture passages that relate to this topic.
November 6th, 2006 at 3:36 am
In this creed, our connection to the church throughout history becomes really striking. Christians have confessed this creed for nearly two millennia, and we do so today. Another thing that is particularly gripping is the fact that our faith is a flesh-and-blood, real, historical faith. We don’t confess abstract spiritual ideas: our redeemer was incarnate and lived and died in a particular time and place.