The Apostles Creed-The Catholic Catechism

It is interesting to note that the Catholic Catechism is written and based on the Apostles Creed, which
has its roots in biblical traditions, the teachings of the Apostles.
The Creed summarizes the history of Christianity and its foundation. As you can tell, they all
believed in the “Communion of the Saints”, as we do today. The belief that those in heaven can and do
pray for us. And we can and do ask for their prayers. The Apostle’s Creed is also known as the Rule of
Faith. The Apostle’s Creed was created to represent a uniform statement of Christian belief. To prevent God’s
word as getting lost as impostors interjected false teachings. Church leaders wanted one simple
statement that would define Christianity and stay true to Christian traditions.Although it is a uniform
belief of all Christians, the Apostle’s Creed does vary slightly between religious denominations.
Additions and changes were made to pertain to the different denominations. For example, “he descended
into Hell” is not found in the Catholic version of the Apostle’s Creed, but is found in the Lutheran
faith version. Why a creed?
Some Christians ask, “Why do we need creeds when we have the Bible?” If the Word of God comes down to
us through the Bible, why do we need anything else? The answer is found in Scripture itself. In I Corinthians 15:1-4, Paul writes: “Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, . . .”
This quote is from one of the earliest epistles, written about AD 57, before many other New Testament books had been written and long before the New Testament canon was finally settled. If the New Testament as a whole did not exist when Paul wrote his letter, what “gospel” is he talking about?

Apparently he had preached to them some standard summary of the Christian message, a message he had “received” just as they in turn “received it.” Later, in Romans 6:17 he says,”I urge you, brothers and
sisters, to keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that
you have learned; avoid them.” The word “teaching” can also be translated “doctrine.” These first
Christians had doctrine or teaching prior to having a complete New Testament. What was this teaching or
doctrine? It was a summary of the basics of the Christian message—of the good news of Jesus Christ. And
already at the time of Paul’s writing there were some who were distorting the words of the Old Testament Scriptures and the words of the apostles, leading people astray. The purpose of a creed or
doctrine is to summarize the meaning of the many words of Scripture and apostolic teaching. Whenever we try to explain Christianity to someone else we partake in this same summarizing action. This summary of
faith was used by the early church to 1) evangelize, 2) teach new converts, and 3) protect the church from distorted teaching. Christians today have the same three needs for a concise statement of the Christian faith. How did the Creed arise?
According to “the great commission” found in Matthew 28:18-20, an important part of being a Christian in the early church was teaching others and baptizing them in the name of the Triune God. A concise
summary of the Christian faith would help in both these tasks. In the table below, compare the version
of the Apostles’ Creed we have from AD 336 with the baptismal formula Hippolytus of Rome used with new
converts by the year AD 215. The key point is that Christians were doing this BEFORE the New Testament was finalized. So rather than the first creeds being tacked on AFTER the Bible was written, the
evidence we have points toward basic creeds similar to the Apostles’ Creed existing in the earliest churches. . We call it the Apostles’ Creed not because the apostles themselves wrote it, but rather
because the early churches viewed it as an accurate summary of the apostles’ teaching.