“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 again 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.
The Reformed Church in the United States, THE THREE FORMS OF UNITY, 12.
* The word “catholic” refers to the universal church.