General Information
A creed is a brief, authorized summary of the Christian
doctrine that is sometimes recited in church services as an
affirmation of faith. Formulations of the Christian faith,
presumably taken as the basis of teaching and evangelization,
are to be found in the New Testament, although in a rudimentary
form as in 1 Cor. 12:3. St. Paul wrote of believers who
submitted without reservation to the creed that they were
taught (Rom. 6:17).
Of the two classical creeds, the Apostles' Creed belongs in its
essential content to the apostolic age, although it is not the
work of the Apostles. It had its origin in the form of a
confession of faith used in the instruction of catechumens and
in the liturgy of Baptism. The creed may have been learned by
heart and at first transmitted orally (to protect it from
profanation). It is based on a formula current at Rome c. 200,
although the present form of the text did not appear before
the 6th century. It is used by Roman Catholics and many
Protestant churches but has never been accepted by the Eastern
Orthodox churches.
The other classical creed, the Nicene, was an expression of the
faith of the church as defined at the Councils of Nicaea (325)
and Constantinople (381), and later reaffirmed at the Councils
of Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451). Based probably on the
baptismal creed of Jerusalem, the Niceno - Constantinopolitan
Creed contained a fuller statement concerning Christ and the
Holy Spirit than the earlier formula. Its use in eucharistic
worship is not much earlier than the 5th century. The so - called
Filioque ("and the Son") clause, expressing the double
procession of the Spirit, was added at the Third Council of
Toledo (589). The Nicene Creed is used by Roman Catholics, many
Protestants, and the Eastern Orthodox; the last, however, reject
the Filioque clause.
The Athanasian Creed (sometimes known as the Quicumque, from the
opening Latin word) was first clearly referred to in the 6th
century, and the attribution to Athanasius is untenable. It is
Latin in origin, and in the Middle Ages it was regularly used in
church services. Since the Reformation the liturgical use of the
Athanasian Creed has been confined mainly to the Roman Catholic
church and the Anglican Communion, although it is now
infrequently recited.
Ross MacKenzie
Bibliography
J N D Kelly, Early Christian Creeds (1972); J H Leith,
ed., Creeds of the Churches (1982); P Schaff, The Creeds of
Christendom (1977).
Creed, Creeds
Advanced Information
"Creed" derives from the Latin credo, "I believe." The form is
active, denoting not just a body of beliefs but confession of
faith. This faith is trust: not "I believe that" (though this is
included) but "I believe in." It is also individual; creeds may
take the plural form of "we believe," but the term itself comes
from the first person singular of the Latin: "I believe."
Biblical Basis
Creeds in the developed sense plainly do not occur
in Scripture. Yet this does not put them in antithesis to Scripture,
for creeds have always been meant to express essential biblical
truths. Furthermore, Scripture itself offers some rudimentary
creedal forms that provide models for later statements. The Shema
of the OT (Deut. 6:4 - 9) falls in this category, and many scholars
regard Deut. 26:5 - 9 as a little credo. In the NT many references
to "traditions" (2 Thess. 2:15), the "word of the Lord" (Gal. 6:6),
and the "preaching" (Rom. 16:25) suggest that a common message
already formed a focus for faith, while confession of Jesus as
Christ (John 1:41), Son of God (Acts 8:37), Lord (Rom. 10:9),
and God (John 20:28; Rom. 9:5; Titus 2:13) constitutes an
obvious starting point for the development of creeds in
public confession.
Indeed, if Acts 8:37 is authentic, it offers at the very first a
simple creedal confession in baptism. This is, of course,
exclusively Christological (cf. baptism in Christ's name in
Acts 8:16; 10:48), leading to the theory that creeds consisted
originally only of the second article. Nevertheless, the NT also
contains many passages, culminating in Matt. 28:19, which include
either the Father or the Father and the Holy Spirit in a more
comprehensive Trinitarian formulation of a doctrinal,
confessional, or liturgical type.
Creedal Functions
Baptismal. When more fixed creedal forms began
to emerge out of the biblical materials, they probably did so first
in the context of baptism. A creed offered the candidates the
opportunity to make the confession of the lips demanded in
Rom. 10:9 - 10. At first the form of words would vary, but familiar
patterns soon began to develop. Fragmentary creeds from the second
century, e.g., the DerBalyzeh Papyrus, support the thesis that
creeds quickly became Trinitarian, or were so from the outset.
This is implied also in Didache VII.1 and substantiated by the
Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus. The common view is that the
mode of confession was responsive rather than declaratory.
Instructional
With a view to the baptismal confession, creeds
soon came to serve as a syllabus for catechetical catechetical
instruction in Christian doctrine. The level of teaching might
vary from simple exposition to the advanced theological
presentation of the Catecheses of Cyril of Jerusalem in the
fourth century. All candidates, however, were to acquire and
display some understanding of the profession they would make.
A sincere commitment was demanded as well as intellectual
apprehension.
Doctrinal
The rise of heresies helped to expand the first
rudimentary statements into the more developed formulas of later
centuries. A phrase like "maker of heaven and earth" was probably
inserted to counteract the Gnostic separation of the true God
from the creator, while the reference to the virgin birth and the
stress on Christ's death safeguarded the reality of Jesus' human
life and ministry. The Arian heresy produced another crop of
additions (notably "of one substance with the Father") designed
predominantly to express Christ's essential deity. These
modifications gave the creeds a new function as a key to the
proper understanding of Scripture (Tertullian) and as tests of
orthodoxy for the clergy.
Liturgical
Being used in baptism, creeds had from the very first
a liturgical function. It was seen, however, that confession of
faith is a constituent of all true worship. This led to the
incorporation of the Nicene Creed into the regular eucharistic
sequence, first in the East, then in Spain, and finally in Rome.
Placing the creed after the reading of Scripture made it possible
for believers to respond to the gospel with an individual or
congregational affirmation of faith.
The Three Creeds
Apostles'
In Christian history three creeds from the early church have
achieved particular prominence. The first was supposedly written
by the apostles under special inspiration and thus came to be
called the Apostles' Symbol or Creed (Synod of Milan, 390).
Lorenzo Valla finally refuted the story of its origin, which the
East never accepted, and scholars now recognize that while the
old Roman Creed (expounded by Rufinus, 404) no doubt underlies
it, it derives from various sources. In its present form it is
known only from the eighth century and seems to have come from
Gaul or Spain. Nevertheless it came into regular use in the West,
and the Reformers gave it their sanction in catechisms,
confessions, and liturgies.
Nicene
Despite its name, the Nicene Creed must be distinguished from the
creed of Nicaea (325). Yet it embodies in altered form, and without
the anathemas, the Christological teaching which Nicaea adopted in
answer to Arianism. It probably rests on creeds from Jerusalem and
Antioch. Whether it was subscribed at Constantinople I in 381 has
been much debated, but Chalcedon recognized it (451) and
Constantinople II (553) accepted it as a revision of Nicaea. The
West on its own added the filioque clause ("and from the Son") to
the statement on the Holy Spirit, but the East never conceded its
orthodoxy or the validity of its mode of insertion. In both East
and West this creed became the primary eucharistic confession.
Athanasian
The creed popularly attributed to Athanasius is commonly thought
to be a fourth or fifth century canticle of unknown authorship.
As a more direct statement on the Trinity it became a test of the
orthodoxy and competence of the clergy in the West at least from the
seventh century. It differs from the other two main creeds in
structure, in its more complex doctrinal character, and in its
inclusion of opening and closing monitions. The Reformers valued it
highly, the Anglicans even making some liturgical use of it, but the
East did not recognize it, and in general its catechetical and
liturgical usefulness has been limited.
Conclusion
The dangers of creed - making are obvious. Creeds can
become formal, complex, and abstract. They can be almost
illimitably expanded. They can be superimposed on Scripture.
Properly handled, however, they facilitate public confession, form a
succinct basis of teaching, safeguard pure doctrine, and constitute
an appropriate focus for the church's fellowship in faith.
G W Bromiley
Bibliography
F J Badcock, History of the Creeds; W A Curtis,
History of the Creeds and Confessions of Faith; O Cullmann, The
Earliest Christian Confessions; J N D Kelly, Early Christian
Creeds and Athanasian Creed; A C McGiffert, Apostles' Creed;
P Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom; H B Swete, Apostles' Creed.
Also, see:
Apostles' Creed
Nicene Creed
Athanasian Creed
subject=Creedcreed
creed
