Reformed Evangelical Synod of America

This creedal statement was not composed by the Apostles, but serves as a summary of their teaching and preaching which was handed down both orally and in written form to the early Church. As early as the late second century local gatherings of Christians were beginning to draft baptismal statements of faith that served both as instructional guides and as public confessions of faith in the presence of the bishop and of the Christian assembly. These early statements varied widely, and the Apostles’ Creed (which many scholars believe was first assembled in its present form by Ambrose of Milan) was the first attempt in the Christian West to develop a synthesis of these ‘local’ professions of faith.

The Apostles’ Creed is a distinctly western creed. It bears many of the hallmarks of western liturgical texts: a bare simplicity and a directness that is native to Latin liturgy and those which sprung from the Latin root. This creedal statement, while not discounted in the East, is not employed in a liturgical sense. The ‘fuller’ text of the Symbolum Nicaenum is preferred, which should surprise none. Because of its early and disparate origin, the Apostles’ Creed does not address the many Christological issues defined in the later Nicene Creed. It thus says nothing explicitly about the divinity of either Jesus or of the Holy Spirit. This makes it acceptable to many Arians and Unitarians, and given the extreme suffering that the Christian East faced in the Conciliar era at the hands of non-Trinitarians and other dissenters, this text never found a home among the Christians of those lands.

A clause within the Latin text of the Apostles’ Creed refers to Jesus as having ‘descended into the inferno’ (Latin: “descendit ad ínferos”). This particular clause has sparked much controversy and debate over the centuries. Many Reformers held that Christ descended into Hell (which is the traditional English wording of the statement in question) and actually confronted Satan. The Church Fathers, however, did not profess this opinion. It was their belief that Christ descended among the dead (i.e., into Hades). While this accords with the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning Christ’s descent among the dead, it does not answer the origins of the specific word ‘infernos’ in the Latin of the Creed. Some Protestant churches which use the Apostles’ Creed have omitted the clause entirely. Among those who lobbied for its omission was William White, the first Episcopalian Bishop of Pennsylvania. The Reformed Episcopal Church, which adapted White’s version of the Book of Common Prayer to  serve their needs, followed suit (though later editions mentioned the omission and explained it).

I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

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.