Our Subordinate Standards of Doctrine
As Protestants we affirm the principle of Scripture Alone as the only infallible rule of faith and practice. The historic confessions of faith we subscribe to are our secondary standards of belief which summarize the teachings of scripture and have authority in so far as they are agreeable to the word of God.
“What, then, is necessary for a Christian to believe?”
asks the Heidelberg Catechism. “All that is promised us in the gospel, which the articles of our catholic, undoubted Christian faith teach us in summary,” is the reply. Though this creed was not penned by the Apostles, it summarizes the Bible’s teaching with simplicity, brevity, and beauty. Originally used as a baptismal formula in the second century, it reached its present form in the sixth. It gives a concise expression of the fundamentals of historic Christianity.
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 Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius
Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried;
He descended into hell;
the third day He rose from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
and sits at the right hand of
God the Father Almighty;
from there He shall 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.
Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ,
His only-begotten Son, our Lord:
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius
Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried;
He descended into hell;
the third day He rose from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
and sits at the right hand of
God the Father Almighty;
from there He shall 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.