RELEVANCE OF THE RECITAL OF THE APOSTLES’ CREED BY THE CHURCH

TODAY

The Apostles’ Creed is a statement of faith that is recited frequently by millions of Christians
worldwide. It originally served to combat heresy among the faithful and thus was an
important part of the early Church’s Baptismal ritual. The Creed continues to be used in both
Baptism and other worship expressions across Catholicism and Protestantism today. 1 This
paper will try to establish why the Apostles’ Creed was developed and adapted to, why it is
still relevant today as well as the irrelevance of reciting the Apostles’ Creed in church today
every Sunday.

History tells us that the Apostles’ Creed was handed down from the Apostles themselves. 2
This is because the Creed was believed to be a more precise summarization of what the
apostles taught. It was widely believed that each of the twelve apostles contributed one article
to the creed under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the Catholic Church still traditionally
attributes each article of the creed to a specific apostle.3 The Apostles’ Creed was developed
in ancient Rome, in the last half of the second century when Christians faced constant threat
from persecutions and heresies. There was also a lot of schisms between bishops, who
supported different Christian leaders and disagreed about who was the rightful bishop of
Rome. And yet, in this context of external threat, internal division, and danger of heresy, the
Roman church devised this unified creed for new converts to profess at baptism. And this
creed became their symbol of the Christian fight, a way of stating Christian beliefs that every
Christian could profess.4

Over the years now, the Creed has become something of vital importance to Catholics as well
as some Protestants. It is so important to them that each member actively takes the time to
know the Creed by heart and they all recite it together during mass on Sunday. Why is this
such an important aspect to them?

Creed we recite together is not just a statement about our belief in some sort of set of ideas or
concepts, but rather a belief in something or someone personal. The Creed is about our belief
in God; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and in God’s life revealed to us and given to
us personally through the Bible. We believe in and we love a personal God. 5 The recital of
1
Joshua D. Allison, On the Development of the Apostles’ Creed, 2021
2
Michael Pennock, This is Our Faith, (Notre Dame: Ava Maria Press, 1998)
3
ZA Blog, What Is the Apostles’ Creed, 2018
4
Ibid
5
Anthony Barrat, Reflections on the Creed, 2017

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the Creed is more about making a proclamation of our faith and firmly deciding who we are,
how we wish to live and what we hope for. The Creed makes sure that Christians develop an
accurate understanding of the hope the gospel offers, and that we have a shared belief system.

Secondly, the creed affirms the person and work of the Holy Spirit, the existence of a "holy"
and "catholic" church, a reference to the universal church (the body of Christ) that will exist
from the time it was founded until Jesus returns. The creed affirms the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins by Christ through his death, the resurrection of the body at the end of
the times and eternal life with new heavens and earth. 6 This is to say that it effectively
summarizes the basics of the Christian faith therein defining what is Christianity and what is
not.

Additionally, the Creed is also relevant today because it serves as a rule of faith for members
of the Church. The Creed guides understanding of Scripture because it was developed
through an interpretive process of the Bible. The Creed helps us with clarity, making clear
who God is because clarity is a more specific focus on what we believe about God and the
world.7 This means that the Creed is there to offer more clarity about our faith and how to
perceive things surrounding that which makes it difficult for people or churches to be led
astray by strange doctrines.

The Apostles Creed may have all these factors that make it seem very tangible but is it still
significant and applicable to modern day churches?

The Apostles’ Creed is rarely recited in most churches because of indifference and neglect of
the creed infect the present-day-church.8 Most people have taken a wrong turn in their
Christian journey and there is no difference in behaviour between people who identify as
Christians and those who do not. Even in the way people think and act when it comes to
certain aspects of life which should be guided by the Christian doctrines which are enlisted in
the Apostles’ Creed as guidelines. This is even done by some of the church members who
recite the Creed every Sunday but clearly, it can be seen that the recital does very little to
guide their lives and decisions which was what the Creed was initially developed to help us
do.

6
Ibid
7
Jeremy Maxfield, The Apostles’ Creed, (Nashville: LifeWay Press, 2017)
8
Stephen W. Robbins, Transforming Beliefs: Spiritual Guidance through the Apostles’ Creed, (Eugene: Wipf and
Stock Publishers, 2006)

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Another problem is that the Creed has been around for years and is something that is
mandatory knowledge for members of the church. It is believed that even though a person can
recite the whole Creed by heart, it does not actually ensure that they are putting it into
practice. They may not reflect belief that is authentically Christian. There is always a danger
that we can say the Creed on auto-pilot; just rattling the words off without thinking about
them or taking them to heart.9 This portrays the image of insignificance of the Creed because
it does not do the thing it is supposed to which is guide the members in the journey of faith.

In conclusion, this essay has defined Apostles’ Creed as a statement of faith which was
developed to combat heresy among the faithful and be an important part of the early Church’s
Baptismal ritual because it was seen as an accurate summarization of what the Apostles has
taught. It also discussed that the recital of the Creed every Sunday is essential because is
more about making a proclamation of our faith and firmly deciding who we are, how we wish
to live and what we hope for and it makes sure that we develop an accurate understanding of
the hope the gospel offers, and it effectively summarizes the basics of the Christian faith
therefore defining what is Christianity and what is not, and lastly, it serves as a rule of faith
for members of the Church and guides understanding of Scripture because it was developed
through an interpretive process of the Bible. The paper also looked at how the recital could be
insignificant and stated that most churches are indifferent and neglect Creed and this is seen
through how they handle certain aspects of their lives which the Creed is meant to guide, and
the Creed is just viewed as something they have to do so they only memorize it on that basis
but never put it into practice. Looking at all that has been said, however, one can come to
conclude that the recital of the Apostles’ Creed is still very important seeing as to all the
importance it holds to a true Christian and their religious life regardless of how some people
would like to downplay the role the Creed plays.

REFERENCES
9
Anthony Barrat, Reflections on the Creed, 2017

3
Allison, D. J. (2021). On the Development of the Apostles’ Creed. Athens: Athens State
University Press

Barrat, A. (2017). Reflections on the Creed. Retrieved on 19 December, 2021 from

http://orderofmaltaamerican.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Reflections-on-the-Creed-02-
2017.pdf

Maxfield, J. (2017). The Apostles’ Creed. Nashville: LifeWay Press

Pennock, M. (1998). This is Our Faith. Notre Dame: Ava Maria Press

Riddlebarger, K. (2013). Why Do We Recite the Apostles’ Creed. Tabletalk. Retrieved on 18

December, 2021 from https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/why-do-we-recite-
apostles-creed

Robbins, W. S. (2006). Transforming Beliefs: Spiritual Guidance through the Apostles’

Creed. Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers