Apostles' Creed

In the Christian church, the oldest of the creeds (Latin credo ‘I believe’), a list of important Christian beliefs. A 4th-century legend states that it was composed by the 12 apostles, but it is generally agreed that the Apostles' Creed was only based on their teachings.

Most of the Creed was written in the 2nd century AD, although some of the clauses originate from the 4th or 5th centuries. The present Creed, formulated around 450, is the end product of gradual development and may originally have been used as a pre-baptismal declaration of belief. The Apostles' Creed contains the central beliefs of the Christian religion and can be split up into three sections: the first is about God, the middle is about Jesus, and the last section is about other Christian beliefs. The Alternative Service Book, published in 1980, contains the most commonly-used form of the text today.