What Christians Believe

The Bible states in Acts 11:26 that "the Disciples were first called Christians in Antioch." This city, located in present day Turkey was the starting place of Paul's ministry and missionary journeys.

From the earliest times, Christians have established Creeds or statements of belief, primarily in response to doctrinal errors that had crept into the Church. The earliest of these is called The Apostle's Creed, although there is no actual evidence that it was written by the Apostles. The earliest manuscript dates to about 200 A.D., or roughly 100 years after the death of the last of the Apostles.

Other creeds include :

Athanasian Creed

Belgic Confession

Belhar Confession

Canons of Dort

Heidelberg Catechism

Nicene Creed

Our Song of Hope

The Apostle's Creed states:

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
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there 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.

-->*that is, the true Christian church of all times and all places.

A common misunderstanding is the line that states, “I believe in . . . the holy catholic church.” In this creed the word catholic means “general, universal, concerning the whole” and does not refer exclusively to the Roman Catholic Church. (To avoid the confusion some churches say “holy Christian church.”) As the Southern Baptist theologian Timothy George explains, “When we say that we ‘believe in the holy catholic church,’ we are confessing that Jesus Christ himself is the church’s one foundation, that all who truly trust in him as Savior and Lord are by God’s grace members of this church.”

This course takes a closer look at the beliefs encapsulated in the Apostle's Creed.