“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23)
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth
And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary
Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried;
He descended into hell*
The third day He rose again from the dead
He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty
From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead
I believe in the Holy Ghost
I believe a holy catholic*church; the communion of saints
The forgiveness of sins
The resurrection of the body
And the life everlasting. Amen.
Notes:
- J I Packer explains: ‘The English is misleading, for “hell” has changed its sense since the English form of the Creed was fixed. Originally, “hell” meant the place of the departed as such, corresponding to the Greek Hades and the Hebrew Sheol. That is what it means here, where the Creed echoes Peter’s statement that Psalm 16:10, “thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades” (so RSV: AV has “hell”), was a prophecy fulfilled when Jesus rose (see Acts 2:27–31). What the Creed means, however, is that Jesus entered, not Gehenna, but Hades—that is, that He really died, and that it was from a genuine death, not a simulated one, that He rose.’
- ‘catholic’ means universal