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The Apostles' Creed
"The Old Roman Creed"
BELIEVE in God almighty [the Father almighty(Rufinus)]
And in Christ Jesus, his only Son, our Lord
Who was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
Who was crucified under Pontius Pilate and was buried
And the third day rose from the dead
Who ascended into heaven
And sitteth on the right hand of the Father
Whence he cometh to judge the living and the dead.
And in the Holy Spirit
The holy church
The remission of sins
The resurrection of the flesh
The life everlasting. [Rufinus omits this line.]
The Apostles' Creed (sixth-century Gallican version)
BELIEVE in God the Father almighty,
I also believe in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord,
conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.
suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, dead and buried; he descended into hell,
rose again the third day,
ascended into heaven,
sat down at the right hand of the Father,
thence he is to come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost,
the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints,
the remission of sins,
the resurrection of the flesh and life eternal.
The Apostles' Creed (as usually recited today)
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 Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was
crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose
again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right
hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the
quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic church; the communion
of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life
everlasting. Amen
The Apostles' Creed vs. Gnosticism
By James Kiefer, L-Soft list server at ASUACAD
CREED generally emphasizes the beliefs opposing those
errors that the compilers of the creed think most dangerous at
the time. The Creed of the Council of Trent, which was drawn up
by the Roman Catholics in the 1500's, emphasized those beliefs
that Roman Catholics and Protestants were arguing about most
furiously at the time. The Nicene Creed, drawn up in the fourth
century, is emphatic in affirming the Deity of Christ, since it
is directed against the Arians, who denied that Christ was fully
God. The Apostles' Creed, drawn up in the first or second
century, emphasizes the true Humanity, including the material
body, of Jesus, since that is the point that the heretics of the
time (Gnostics, Marcionites, and later Manicheans) denied. (See
1 John 4:1-3)
Thus the Apostles' Creed is as follows:
* I believe in God the Father Almighty,
* Maker of Heaven and Earth,
The Gnostics held that the physical universe is evil and
that God did not make it.
* And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord,
* Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
* Born of the Virgin Mary,
The Gnostics were agreed that the orthodox Christians were
wrong in supposing that God had taken human nature or a human
body. Some of them distinguished between Christ, whom they
acknowledged to be in some sense divine, and the man Jesus, who
was at most an instrument through whom the Christ spoke. They
held that the man Jesus did not become the bearer or instrument
of the Christ until the Spirit descended upon him at his
baptism, and that the Spirit left him before the crucifixion, so
that the Spirit had only a brief and tenuous association with
matter and humanity. Others affirmed that there was never a man
Jesus at all, but only the appearance of a man, through which
appearance wise teachings were given to the first disciples.
Against this the orthodox Christians affirmed that Jesus was
conceived through the action of the Holy Spirit (thus denying
the Gnostic position that the Spirit had nothing to do with
Jesus until his Baptism), that he was born (which meant that he
had a real physical body, and not just an appearance) of a
virgin (which implied that he had been special from the first
moment of his life, and not just from the baptism on.
* Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
There were many stories then current about gods who died
and were resurrected, but they were offered quite frankly as
myths, as non-historical stories symbolic of the renewal of the
vegetation every spring after the seeming death of winter. If
you asked, "When did Adonis die, you would be told either, "Long
ago and far away," or else, "His death is not an event in
earthly time." Jesus, on the other hand, died at a particular
time and place in history, under the jurisdiction of Pontius
Pilate, Procurator of Judea from 26 to 36 CE, or during the last
ten years of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius.
* was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into Hades.
Here the creed hammers home the point that he was really
dead. He was not an illusion. He was nailed to a post. He died.
He had a real body, a corpse, that was placed in a tomb. He was
not merely unconscious his spirit left his body and went to
the realm of the dead. It is a common belief among Christians
that on this occasion he took the souls of those who had died
trusting in the promises made under the Old Covenant Abraham,
Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah, and many others and brought
them out of the realm of the dead and into heavenly glory. But
the creed is not concerned with this point. The reference to the
descent into Hades (or Hell, or Sheol) is here to make it clear
that the death of Jesus was not just a swoon or a coma, but
death in every sense of the word.
* The third day he rose from the dead, he ascended into heaven,
* and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
* From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.
* I believe in the Holy Ghost,
* the holy catholic church,
The Gnostics believed that the most important Christian
doctrines were reserved for a select few. The orthodox belief
was that the fullness of the Gospel was to be preached to the
entire human race. Hence the term "catholic," or universal,
which distinguished them from the Gnostics.
* the communion of saints,
* the forgiveness of sins,
The Gnostics considered that what men needed was not
forgiveness, but enlightenment. Ignorance, not sin, was the
problem. Some of them, believing the body to be a snare and
delusion, led lives of great asceticism. Others, believing the
body to be quite separate from the soul, held that it did not
matter what the body did, since it was completely foul anyway,
and its actions had no effect on the soul. They accordingly led
lives that were not ascetic at all. Either way, the notion of
forgiveness was alien to them.
* the resurrection of the body,
The chief goal of the Gnostics was to become free forever
from the taint of matter and the shackles of the body, and to
return to the heavenly realm as Pure Spirit. They totally
rejected any idea of the resurrection of the body.
* and the life everlasting. AMEN
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