Profession of Faith

Creeds Examined

Both the  Apostles'  and the  Nicene  Creeds have been revised
by the Christian Church at different times during its history
Recommended Revisions near end of this document.
Three Revised Creed Versions
The Filioque - Eastern Church Confusion

Content in GREEN has Approval.                                  Content in RED is Problematic.

Comments are in BRONZE type
APOSTLES CREED
See Directory for Masses with Children, no. 49.
 

We1 ( I ) believe in God, the Father
  almighty, creator of4 heaven and earth .
 
We1 believe in Jesus Christ,
  his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived
  by the power of the Holy Spirit2 (Ghost)
  and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
  was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again13.
He ascended into heaven,
  and is seated at the right hand
      of the Father.
He will come again
  to judge the living and the dead.

We1 believe in the Holy Spirit2 (Ghost),
  the holy catholic Church,
  the communion of saints,
  the forgiveness of sins12 (sin),
  the resurrection of the body,
  and the life everlasting.    Amen.
NICENE CREED – Current
On the Solemnity of Christmas we genuflect
during the words "and became man."

 We1 believe in one God, the Father, the3 Almighty, maker
    of4 heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen5 .

 We1 believe in one Lord,6 Jesus Christ,
    the only Son of God,
    eternally begotten7 of the Father,
    God from God8, Light from Light9,
    true God from true God10,
    begotten7, not made, one in Being with the Father11.
    Through him all things were made.
    For us men and for our salvation
        he came down from heaven:
– all bow during the following two lines –
 by the power of the Holy Spirit2
    he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.

 For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
    he suffered, died, and was buried.
    (He descended – into Hell – to the Dead)
    On the third day he rose again13
        in fulfillment of the Scriptures;
    he ascended into heaven
        and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
 He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
    and his kingdom will have no end.

 We1 believe in the Holy Spirit2, the Lord, the giver of life,
    who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
    With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
    He has spoken through the prophets.
    We1 believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
    We1 acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins12.
    We1 look for the resurrection of the dead,
        and the life of the world to come.    Amen.



































  1. We – One can not include others in their Profession of Faith.  Even in church there are those of other beliefs and / or present for demonic purposes, such as the stealing of consecrated Hosts.  Proper term is:  I .  (See below)
  2. Spirit – All intelligent life forms are spirit including each member of the holy Trinity.  The term Ghost identifies more clearly the third person of the holy Trinity, but after learning that the personal name of the Paraclete is Ruwach (proper translation into English is Ghost) which metaphorically describes both His form of existence and His function. – The term Ghost was gradually changed to Spirit during the middle of the 20th century.  While the terms Ghost and Spirit are acceptable, neither one adequately identifies Him for who and what He is and how He exists.  In English the best usage is "Holy Ghost".  ( Best translation in Latin for Ghost is "Ventus". )
  3. the – singular usage.  The Father,Yahweh, is almighty, but also are the Son, and the holy Ghost.

  4. creator of or maker of – best term:  essential to - the necessary being for all existence.  While God the Father, together with the Son and the holy Ghost, is the maker/ designer/ architect of the heavens, the earth, and everything on and within them, He is more importantly the essential or necessary being for all other existence.  The presence of both the Second and Third Persons of the Holy Trinity is required for the universe, as we know it, to exist.

      Isaiah 45:18 – For thus says the Lord (collective usage of term), The creator of the heavens, who is God (the holy Trinity), The designer and maker of the earth who established it, Not creating it to be a waste, but designing it to be lived in: I am the Lord (ibex.), and there is no other.
      Acts 4:24 – And when they heard it, they raised their voices to God (the holy Trinity) with one accord and said, "Sovereign Lord (ibid.), maker of heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them,
      Heb. 11:10 – for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God (the holy Trinity).
  5. of all that is seen and unseen – Jesus is certainly seen and the Father is unseen.  Did He make or create Himself, or God the Father?
  6. one Lord – While we consider Jesus as our Lord, He is only one of three Lords.  The heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost are also referred to in Scripture as Lord.  There are three Lords, not one.
  7. begotten – eternally dependant upon the Father is proper terminology.  Jesus did not have a beginning as is indicated by the usage of the term "begotten".  The Father is essential / necessary for the second person of the Trinity to have existence.
  8. God from God – Is Jesus the Son of God as stated in the New Testament many times?  In John 20:17 Jesus states, "I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."  Jesus did not come from Himself.  Of and by Himself Jesus is not God.   See:  Discussion on the Trinity
  9. Light from Light – the second person of the holy Trinity always existed.  He did not come from anyone or any thing.
  10. true God from true God – Jesus did not come from Himself.  Jesus refers to Himself as the "Son of God."  Alone He is not God, though He is a Divine being, due full worship, as are both the Father and the holy Ghost.
  11. one in Being with the Father – There are supposed to be recognized three persons / beings in the Godhead, not one.  Jesus is a divine being but is not of and by Himself God.   See:  God the Trinity
  12. sins – All sin is based upon the Great Commandment:  Jesus said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and the first commandment." (Mt. 22. 37-38)  All sins relate back to this commandment.  If one truly endeavors to love God fully, he or she will eventually succeed and obtain Jesus' blessing on judgement day enabling him/ her to enter Heaven.
  13. again – Jesus rose from the dead only once.
APOSTLES' CREED
Penny Catechism, 1971 – modified

        I believe in God / the Father Almighty / essential to heaven and earth / and in Jesus Christ / His only Son / our Lord / who was conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost / born of the Virgin Mary / suffered under Pontius Pilate / was crucified / died / and was 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 / from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead .  I believe in the Holy Ghost / the Holy Catholic Church / the Communion of Saints / the forgiveness of sin / the resurrection of the body / and life everlasting .
        Amen .

        "You heard me tell you, 'I am going away and I will come back to you .' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I" .
                                (Jn. 14:28)
NICENE  CREED
Proposed – Preferred

        I believe in one God . I believe in the almighty Father / essential to heaven and earth / of all that is seen and unseen .
        I believe in our Lord / Jesus Christ / the only Son of God . True Lord / with His / and our true God ; eternal being / not created / dependant upon the Father / yet universally existing with Him .  Because of Jesus all things were created .  He became our Teacher / so that we might be saved :
 
 (BOW: kneel)  He became incarnate / when conceived in the Virgin Mary / by the power of the Holy Ghost .  Our Lord was man .  He grew in her / and was born .
 
         For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate ; he suffered / died / and was buried .  On the third day / He rose in fulfillment of the Scriptures ; He ascended into heaven / and sits at the right hand of God .  From there He will come / to judge the living and the dead / and His kingdom will have no end .
        I believe in the Holy Ghost / the Lord / the giver of life / Who is eternally dependant upon both the Father / and the Son / for existence . With the Father and the Son He is worshiped and glorified .  He has spoken through the prophets . I believe in one / holy / catholic / and apostolic Church . I acknowledge one baptism / for the forgiveness of the original sin generated by Adam . I look for the resurrection of the dead / and the life of the world to come .        Amen .






































NICENE  CREED
Alternative – a completed Creed

        I believe in three person in one God / the Holy Trinity .  (term God collectively used)

        I believe in the primacy of the almighty Father / referred to by all as God / since He is essential to heaven and earth / to all that is seen and unseen .  (term God singularly used)
        I believe in the only Son of God / our Lord / Jesus Christ . True Lord / with His / and our true God ; eternal being / not created / dependant upon the Father / yet universally existing with Him .  Because of Jesus all things were created .  He became our Teacher / so that we might be saved :
 
 (BOW: kneel)  He became incarnate / when conceived in the Virgin Mary / by the power of the Holy Ghost .  Our Lord was man .  He grew in her / and was born .
 
         For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate ; he suffered / died / and was buried .  On the third day / He rose in fulfillment of the Scriptures ; He ascended into heaven / and sits at the right hand of God .  From there He will come / to judge the living and the dead / and His kingdom will have no end .
        I believe in the Divine Ghost of God the Father and His Son .  He is the Lord / the giver of life / eternally dependant upon both the Father / and the Son / for existence . With the Father and the Son He is worshiped and glorified .  He has spoken through the prophets . I believe in one / holy / catholic / and apostolic Church . I acknowledge one baptism / for the forgiveness of the original sin generated by Adam / that closed Heaven . I look for the resurrection of the dead / and the life of the world to come .        Amen .

Council of Toledo:  (A minor council - Not Refuted)

  • "We believe in one true God, Father and Son and Holy Ghost, maker of the visible and the invisible.
    . . . The Ghost is also the Paraclete, who is himself neither the Father nor the Son, but proceeding from the Father and the Son. Therefore the Father is unbegotten, the Son is begotten, the Paraclete is not begotten but proceeding from the Father and the Son" (Council of Toledo [A.D. 447]).

Apostles' Creed
        A formula containing in brief statements, or "articles," the fundamental tenets of Christian belief, and having for its authors, according to tradition, the Twelve Apostles.

Origin of the Creed
        Throughout the Middle Ages it was generally believed that the Apostles, on the day of Pentecost, while still under the direct inspiration of the Holy Ghost, composed our present Creed between them, each of the Apostles contributing one of the twelve articles. This legend dates back to the sixth century (see Pseudo-Augustine in Migne, P.L., XXXIX, 2189, and Pirminius, ibid., LXXXIX, 1034), and it is foreshadowed still earlier in a sermon attributed to St. Ambrose ( Migne, P.L., XVII, 671; Kattenbusch, I, 81), which takes notice that the Creed was "pieced together by twelve separate workmen".
        About the same date (c. 400) Rufinus ( Migne, P.L., XXI, 337) gives a detailed account of the composition of the Creed, which account he professes to have received from earlier ages ( tradunt majores nostri ). Although he does not explicitly assign each article to the authorship of a separate Apostle, he states that it was the joint work of all, and implies that the deliberation took place on the day of Pentecost. Moreover, he declares that "they for many just reasons decided that this rule of faith should be called the Symbol ", which Greek word he explains to mean both indicium , i.e. a token or password by which Christians might recognize each other, and collatio , that is to say an offering made up of separate contributions.
        A few years before this (c. 390), the letter addressed to Pope Siricius by the Council of Milan ( Migne, P.L., XVI, 1213) supplies the earliest known instance of the combination Symbolum Apostolorum ("Creed of the Apostles ") in these striking words: "If you credit not the teachings of the priests. . . let credit at least be given to the Symbol of the Apostles which the Roman Church always preserves and maintains inviolate." The word Symbolum in this sense, standing alone, meets us first about the middle of the third century in the correspondence of St. Cyprian and St. Firmilia, the latter in particular speaking of the Creed as the "Symbol of the Trinity", and recognizing it as an integral part of the rite of baptism ( Migne, P.L., III, 1165, 1143).
        It should be added, moreover, that Kattenbusch (II, p. 80, note) believes that the same use of the words can be traced as far back as Tertullian. Still, in the first two centuries after Christ, though we often find mention of the Creed under other designations (e.g. regula fidei, doctrina, traditio ), the name symbolum does not occur. Rufinus was therefore wrong when he declared that the Apostles themselves had "for many just reasons" selected this very term. This fact, joined with the intrinsic improbability of the story, and the surprising silence of the New Testament and of the Ante-Nicene fathers, leaves us no choice but to regard the circumstantial narrative of Rufinus as unhistorical.

The Catholic Encyclopedia – 1917


Filioque refers to the Procession of the Holy Ghost from both Father
and Son as one Principle; and, it was the occasion of the Greek schism.

        The Filioque was denounced it in the ninth century, and it formed the main doctrinal issue in the rupture between East and West in 1054. An attempted compromise at Florence in 1439 came to nothing. Among the fathers Hilary, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, Epiphanius, and Cyril of Alexandria may be cited in its favor; Theodore of Mopsuestia and Theodoret against it; with the Cappadocians occupying the middle ground of "from the Father through the Son."

Note - October 2011:  Better statement - "from the Father  with or and  the Son."

Councils of the Catholic Church:  http://www.piar.hu/councils/
Correct usage of term God:
  1. The existence of the First Person of Holy Trinity (commonly referred to as the "Father") is necessary for all other existence.  In the singular form properly termed God.  (Necessary but does not preexist the Son and / or the Holy Ghost.)  
  2. The Second Person of the Trinity (commonly referred to as the "Son of God") is necessary for any further form of existence.  Together with the Father they are collectively the Holy Ghost's God.  (Dependant upon the existence of the Father but the term generate does not properly reflect their relationship.)  
  3. The Third Person of the Holy Trinity (commonly referred to as the "Holy Ghost" or the "Power of God") is necessary for any further action to take place.  Collectively these Three Divine Beings are, or at least should be referred to as, God.  The Son and the Holy Ghost are Divine Beings (without beginning, eternal, unlimited, etc.) are not properly referred to as God by intelligent life.  (While dependant upon the existence of both the Father and the Son, the term spirate does not properly apply as His existence is also without beginning.)  
The Trinity is comprised of three separate Divine Beings (Persons)
who achieve their separate eternal goals through perfect harmony.


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