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July 5, 2025 19 mins

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Join us on Faithfullyliven as we explore the Apostles' Creed. Whether you're new to Christianity or seeking to deepen your faith, this episode promises to illuminate how this creed and others can serve as both a guide and a bridge to the historic church, nurturing a sense of unity with believers across generations.

References from the show

Did Jesus go to hell between His death and resurrection? 
https://www.gotquestions.org/did-Jesus-go-to-hell.html

What is the difference between the universal church and local church? https://www.gotquestions.org/universal-local-church.html

Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical Notes: The History of Creeds. (1878)

John H. Leith, ed., Creeds of the Churches: A Reader in Christian Doctrine from the Bible to the Present. (1982)

Historic Creeds and Confessions, electronic ed. (1997).

What is the Apostles' Creed? https://www.gotquestions.org/apostles-creed.html

Holcomb, Justin S.,  Know the Creeds and Councils (2014) 

Do you want to learn how to study the Bible? Check out the YouTube channel Faithfullyliven youtube.com/@faithfullyliven

Do you want to read about how to live faithfully? Check out the blog http://lyfe102.org

Get a free Road Map to get started learning how to study the Bible https://mailchi.mp/88f9c9405da0/bible-study-road-map

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to Faithfully Living, the podcast where we
learn how to live for Christ inour daily lives.
I am Dwan, your host, and Iwould like to invite you on a
journey with me to explore andlearn how to be a faithful
follower of Christ.
Hi everyone, welcome toFaithfully Living, the podcast,

(00:33):
where we strive to encourage youto live for Christ faithfully.
We're offering guidance on howto study the Bible, how to
understand the Bible better andhow to remain faithful to
historic Christianity in acontemporary society.
So as believers, we know thatwe should know what we believe

(00:53):
and why it's important.
And early in Christian history,creeds, confessions and
catechisms were written to helpbelievers summarize the key
tenets and doctrines of theChristian faith.
So over the next couple ofepisodes we're going to dive
into three of the common creedsof the Christian faith the

(01:16):
Apostles' Creed, the NiceneCreed and the Athanasians' Creed
.
So Christian creeds are likefoundational statements of faith
that articulate core Christianbeliefs and they serve several
functions in the life of thechurch.
And I have about six of them,so I'm just going to go through

(01:40):
so we can better understand howcreeds can help us in our faith.
So they one they providedoctrinal clarity by giving a
clear, unified expression ofChristian faith, such as the
nature of God, christ, the HolySpirit, and then salvation, the

(02:04):
Holy Spirit and then salvation.
Two they guard against heresiesand doctrinal errors by clearly
defining what Christiansbelieve.
So it gives kind of like asummary.
And for creeds, usually withcreeds or confessions or
catechisms, those are thingsthat people memorize and when
you memorize you have it stuckin your head.
So if you hear something like afalse teaching or something

(02:29):
that's concurrent, contrary towhat you know to be true, that's
how a creed can help you guardagainst heresies and doctrines.
All right.
Number three they're helpful toinstruct new believers and
guide in Christian education.
So, like I said, it's a summary, so it's something that new

(02:50):
believers can commit to memory,like I said, to help them
understand what the Christianfaith is all about.
Number four they serve asconcise summaries of the faith,
making it easier to teachfoundational Christian beliefs.
Number five by reciting thecreeds in worship, it helps to

(03:11):
connect believers with thehistoric faith of the church.
And then, lastly, number six,it fosters a sense of community
with past generations ofChristians, reminding us of our
shared beliefs.
All right, so if you havelistened to my podcast for a

(03:43):
while now.
You know that I always like togive a definition of the things
that we're talking about, of theterms that we're talking about,
so it can be on the same pageof what we're exploring and
learning.
So I have two definitions of acreed.
So I'm going to read those andthe books that I get them from

(04:04):
from.
I'll put those resources in theshow notes so you can go check
those out.
So the first one is from a bookcalled the Creeds of
Christendom with a history andcritical notes, a history of

(04:38):
creeds.
So it says for the well-beingof the Christian church, a creed
may cover the whole ground ofChristian doctrine and practice
or contain only such points asare deemed fundamental and
sufficient or have been disputed.
And then the second definitioncomes from a book called Creeds

(05:03):
of the Church a Reader Christiandoctrines from the Bible in the
present.
So this definition says a creedis simply a church's
understanding of the meaning ofscripture.
The creed says here is how thechurch reads and receives
scripture.
The whole history of theologyis the history of the

(05:26):
interpretation of scripture.
Even though the theologians didnot always cite biblical
references, in general thevictories in the great
theological debates have gone tothose who have been convincing
interpreters of scripture.
The creeds are the record ofthe church's interpretation of

(05:48):
the Bible in the past and theauthoritative guide to human
utics in the present.
So you can see, all of thesedefinitions tell us that a creed
is a summary of the scripture.
It's not to replace scripturebut it's a way to help believers
verbalize and remember whatthey believe.

(06:12):
We sort of have a creed fromPaul in 1 Corinthians 15, 3-7.
And he wrote this to theCorinthians church.
So I'll read that to you so youcan kind of see, you can kind
of hear kind of like a format ofwhat a creed is.
And then, as we go throughthese different creeds, you can

(06:34):
see some similarities in the, inthe structure of of a creed.
So first corinthians 15, 3through 7, says for I delivered
to you as a first importancethat I also receive that christ
died for our sins in accordancewith the scriptures, that he was
buried, that he was rose on thethird day in accordance with

(07:00):
the scriptures.
And he appeared to Cephas, thento the twelve, then he appeared
to more than five thousandbrothers at one time, most of
whom are still alive, thoughsome have fallen asleep.
Then he appeared to James, thento all the apostles.
So so that is a starter, whatthey call a creed in um

(07:25):
corinthians.
So let's dive into our firstcreed.
The apostles creed, which iswhat they say, is one of the
oldest creeds of the church,right?

(07:46):
So first I am going to read theApostles' Creed.
I believe in God, the FatherAlmighty, the creator of heaven
and earth.
I believe in God, the FatherAlmighty, the creator of heaven
and earth, and in Jesus Christ,his only Son, our Lord, who was
conceived by the Holy Spirit,born of the Virgin Mary,

(08:09):
suffered under Pontius Pilate,who was crucified, died and was
buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day he rose againfrom the dead.
He ascended into heaven andsits at the right hand of God,
the Father Almighty.
Hence he shall come to judgethe living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,the Holy Catholic Church, the

(08:31):
communion of saints, theforgiveness of sins, the
resurrection of the body andeverlasting life, amen.
Philip Scaff, in his Creeds ofChristendom, writes of the

(08:53):
Apostles' Creed as the Lord'sPrayer is the prayer of prayers,
the Decalogue is the law oflaws.
So the Apostles' Creed is theCreed of Creed.
It contains all the fundamentalarticles of the Christian faith
necessary to salvation in theform of facts, in simple

(09:13):
scripture language and in themost natural order the order of
revelation from God and thecreation down to the
resurrection and everlastinglife.
The simple doctrinal statementwithin this creed are clear and
concise and their meaning cannotbe misconstrued.
So where did the Apost creedresonate?

(09:39):
Are like who?
Who wrote the apostles creed?
So there are some legends outthere about how the apostle
creed came to be.
So till the middle of the 17thcentury there was a current
belief of the roman catholicchurch and protestants that the
apostles creed was actuallywritten by the apostles on the

(10:02):
10th day after ascension ofchrist and then after the holy
spirit came, on the day ofpentecost.
So when they?
They say that according to thislegend, the different apostles

(10:24):
wrote different parts of theApostles' Creed.
So they say Peter wrote underthe inspiration of the Holy
Ghost.
I believe in God, the FatherAlmighty.
Andrew, according to some, andsome people think it's john
continued and in jesus christ,his only son, our lord james the

(10:47):
elder went on to say, who wasconceived by the holy ghost,
then followed by john, and somepeople think andrew meta wrote
this part.
So it's kind of interchangeablebetween those two.
But they wrote the partsuffered under Pontius Pilate,
philip descended into Hades,thomas, the third day he rose
again from the dead and then andso on until Matthias completed

(11:12):
the work with the words lifeeverlasting.
So the legend is probably nodoubt addressed because they
probably think that it's beenthought that if the title of
Apostles' Creed is given to thiscreed it gave it more

(11:35):
credibility.
But the legend added prestige tothe creed, the thinking that
the apostles wrote this.
But it was exposed by a scholarnamed Lorenzo Valia and he
probably said most likely thecreed did not, was not written

(11:57):
until around AD 100, well afterthe, the apostles died.
So the ancestry of the apostlescreed, they say it can be
traced to a creed that wasdeveloped in Rome about the end
of the second century.
So, to be clear, the origin isnot really known but it's most

(12:22):
likely one of the most earliestcreed there are.
It's just it's not written bythe apostles of the Bible.
So we know that this creed isnot in the Bible.
So, like I say, it's probablynot written by the apostles.
I've read one thing that saysit was probably written at least

(12:46):
150 years after the apostlesdied.
But like I say they put it.
They named the apostles creedto kind of give it some some
leverage.
But it is a record of becauseyou can see this in the bible of
what the apostles did teach inthe gospels.
All right, we're going to dive alittle bit into some of the

(13:15):
language of the Apostles' Creed.
We're not going to dive intoeverything, but the creed is
pretty straightforward, butthere are some parts that might
stand out and might have youscratching your head Like what
does this actually mean?
So on the websitegotquestionsorg, they point out
some of these, some of theseissues, so I'm just going to

(13:38):
read what they say here.
They said there are two primaryconcerns with the apostles
creed.
First, in regards to the phrasehe descended into hell, meaning
jesus, and they have an articleabout did Jesus go to hell
between death and resurrection?
And then the second thing thatthey point out is the phrase the
Holy Catholic Church, and thisdoes not mean the Roman Catholic

(14:02):
Church as we knew it today.
This word Catholic meansuniversal, so they were talking
about the true Catholic Church,which is the church in general
that placed their faith in JesusChrist for salvation.
They also have an article onthe Universal Church.
So both of those articles Ijust mentioned, I'll put those

(14:24):
in the show notes so you candefinitely take a look at it.
But I want to dive a little bitmore into that phrase.
He descended into hell.
Here's an explanation from umjustin hokum.
He wrote a book called nodecrees and counsel counsels and

(14:46):
he goes into like a little bitof a lengthy or explanation of
this phrase.
He descended into hell.
It's kind of it's kind of long,but I'm just going to read it
to you to kind of help you thinkabout it in a little bit.
Think about it a little bitmore.
So he says.
For those who grew up in aroman catholic context, the

(15:10):
expression he descended intohell may be familiar because it
is associated with the doctrineof the heroine of hell.
In Catholic theology, the ideais that after Christ's death on

(15:42):
the cross, his spirit descendedinto Sheol, the Hebrew word for
the.
It goes on to say.
Much of this discussion is notbased on the Bible.
The New Testament itselfemphasizes the consequences of
Christ's death and resurrectionfrom the dead, in which he
triumphs over sin, death and thedevil, rather than that Christ

(16:07):
did between death andresurrection.
Initially, the language of thesin into hell was borrowed from
the old testament.
It simply meant that jesus diedor passed into shoal, meaning
the pit or grave, just as anyother person did.
Dying was the final stage ofchrist's humiliation, a

(16:29):
necessary passage from hisbefore his triumph in the
resurrection.
He goes on to say Secondcentury theologian Tertullian
wrote that Christ, our God, who,because he was a man, died
according to the same scriptures, satisfied this law also by

(16:50):
undergoing the form of humandeath in the underworld and did
not ascend aloft to heaven untilhe had gone down to the regions
underneath the earth.
The latin translation of thecreed themselves and I agree on
how to phrase this doctrine somehave what he ascended into ad

(17:13):
inferna, into hell, and inothers at infernos, to death.
The latter reflects more close,closely it seems, the intention
of the creed.
A number of contemporarytranslations reflect this
understanding by changing thelanguage of the creed to he
descended to the death.

(17:33):
So they are kind of summarizing, like some debate or discussion
of what does it actually meanthat he descended into hell?
So it's probably more like theywere trying to say he died, he
experienced death and notnecessarily went to hell to

(17:54):
preach the gospel to the peoplethere.
So it gives us something tothink about, all right.
So I think the Apostles' Creed.
It provides a good summary ofwhat we believe as Christians,
even though it does bring upsome interesting questions such

(18:15):
as did Jesus actually descendinto hell?
So it kind of forces us to digdeeper.
I know I'm going to be doingjust a little bit more study on
that issue, but hopefully itwill prompt you to dig deep into
, like, did jesus actuallydescend into hell and what does

(18:36):
that actually mean?
And hopefully it will help youin your understanding of the
bible.
So I hope this episode washelpful and insightful also I
know it was for me and untilnext time, remember god is
always good and he's alwaysfaithful.
Thank you for listening to thepodcast.

(18:58):
Do me a favor by following thepodcast and leaving a review to
help spread the word.
I look forward to hearing fromyou.
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