The Apostles' and Nicene Creeds: A Guide to the Historic Christian Creeds

For nearly two thousand years, Christians in every language and tradition have anchored their faith to two short confessions. Here is what they say, when they were written, and why they still matter.

What is a creed?

The English word creed comes from the Latin credo, "I believe." A creed is a short, memorisable statement that gathers the central claims of the Christian faith into a form that can be taught, sung, and confessed together. Creeds are not a substitute for Scripture; they are a summary of what the church has always understood Scripture to teach about God, Christ, the Spirit, and the church.

Two creeds have travelled further than any others: the Apostles' Creed, which grew out of early baptismal practice in the West, and the Nicene Creed, forged in the great councils of the fourth century. Together they are recited every Sunday by Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and many evangelicals.

The Apostles' Creed

The Apostles' Creed is the older of the two in feel, though not strictly in date. Its earliest form, the Old Roman Creed, was used in Rome by around AD 140–200 as a confession that new believers made at baptism. Legend later claimed each of the twelve apostles contributed a line — hence the name — but historians agree the apostles did not personally write it. The wording most churches use today was fixed in Latin by roughly the 8th century.

Text of 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.

What it teaches

The creed is structured around the Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — and closes with the church, forgiveness, resurrection, and eternal life. It is deliberately narrative: it walks through the life of Christ from conception to return, grounding faith in real events rather than abstract ideas. Because it grew out of baptism, every phrase answers a question once put to converts entering the water.

The Nicene Creed

By the early 300s, a priest in Alexandria named Arius was teaching that the Son of God was a created being — exalted, but not eternal and not fully God. The controversy split the church, and in AD 325 the Emperor Constantine called roughly 300 bishops to Nicaea (in modern-day Turkey) to settle the matter. They produced a creed that insisted the Son is "of one substance with the Father." A second council at Constantinople in AD 381 expanded the section on the Holy Spirit. The result is what most churches call simply the Nicene Creed (technically the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed).

Text of the Nicene Creed

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. Who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried; and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and he shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end. And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father [and the Son]; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets. And we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

What it teaches

The Nicene Creed is more precise than the Apostles' Creed because it was written to close specific loopholes. Every phrase about Christ — "God of God," "begotten, not made," "of one substance with the Father" — is aimed at the Arian claim that Jesus was less than fully divine. The expanded paragraph on the Holy Spirit does the same work for the third person of the Trinity.

One phrase has divided East and West: the Western church added and the Son (the filioque) to describe the procession of the Spirit. The Eastern Orthodox churches do not recite that phrase, and the split remains one of the oldest fault lines in the church.

How the two creeds differ

Both creeds confess the same faith. They differ in origin, length, and purpose.

• Origin. The Apostles' Creed grew organically from Western baptismal practice. The Nicene Creed was written by two ecumenical councils.
• Length. The Apostles' Creed is short enough to memorise in an afternoon. The Nicene Creed is roughly twice as long.
• Focus. The Apostles' Creed narrates. The Nicene Creed defines, particularly the full divinity of Christ.
• Use. Many Western traditions recite the Apostles' Creed at baptism and in daily prayer, and the Nicene Creed at the Lord's Supper.

Why the creeds still matter

In a moment when Christian identity is contested and public discourse is fractured, the creeds offer three gifts. They give a shared vocabulary that crosses denominations and centuries. They protect against the drift of every generation's fashionable heresies — the same Arian, gnostic, and moralistic errors keep returning under new names. And they bind the individual believer to a body of witnesses that stretches from the catacombs of Rome to the persecuted church today.

To recite the creed is to say: I do not stand alone, and I have not made this up.

Common questions

When was the Apostles' Creed written?

Its ancestor, the Old Roman Creed, was in use by roughly AD 140–200. The full modern wording was settled in Latin by around the 8th century.

Did the apostles write the Apostles' Creed?

No. The creed carries their name because it faithfully summarises their teaching, not because they composed it. The medieval story that each apostle contributed a clause is a later tradition.

Why does the Apostles' Creed say "he descended to the dead"?

The line — sometimes translated "he descended into hell" — confesses that Christ truly died and entered the realm of the dead before his resurrection. Christians have read it in more than one way, but its core claim is that no part of the human experience of death is foreign to him.

What does "one holy catholic Church" mean?

Catholic here is the Greek katholikos, meaning "universal." It refers to the whole body of true believers in every place and age, not to the Roman Catholic Church specifically.

Why do some churches leave out "and the Son" in the Nicene Creed?

The phrase filioque ("and the Son") was added in the Latin-speaking West and is not part of the original Greek text agreed at Constantinople in 381. The Eastern Orthodox churches consider the addition unauthorised and omit it.