The Apostle's Creed

The Apostles’ Creed is a summary confession of vital Christian doctrines used liturgically throughout the Western church. It was once believed that the Creed originated with the apostles on or around Pentecost, but now most historians reject this view, seeing the Creed as containing the apostolic faith while not actually having been written by the apostles themselves.

The Background to the Apostles’ Creed
How did the Creed originate? First, it is important to recognize that creedal formulations are common in holy Scripture. The Hebrew shema of Deuteronomy 6:4 was itself a kind of confessional statement used daily by pious Hebrews. The language of 1 Corinthians 15 is creedal, where Paul mentions the transmission of the gospel message which he received and passed on to the Corinthians.[1] Brief summaries of the faith were used devotionally and liturgically under the old covenant, and later among the apostles. It makes sense then that the church would adopt this custom.

In the postapostolic period, the need for clear and concise articulations of the faith was due in part to the rapid growth of the church throughout the first few centuries of her existence. It is widely believed that the Apostles’ Creed evolved as a kind of baptismal confession. The articles in the Creed were the elementary principles of the faith which the catechumenate – think ancient new members class – were instructed in prior to being baptized. After a period of learning, they would confess the Creed and then receive the sacrament.

Does this ancient Creed really contain the apostolic “ABC’s” which the first Christians taught initiates? Yes! Consider what the author to the Hebrews said,
Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. (Heb. 6:1-2)
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From as early as Hebrews was written, the foundational doctrines taught to new converts centered on Christ, repentance, faith toward God, instruction about washings (perhaps an allusion to sacramental theology?), the laying on of hands (ordination and ecclesiology?), the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. These fundamental teachings (all of which are present in the Apostles’ Creed) made up what the Fathers referred to as the regula fidei, or Rule of Faith. Men like Irenaeus and Tertullian believed this Rule had come down from the apostles, and that they were passing the baton to subsequent generations. The holy deposit of “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ”[2] matured into creeds like the Apostles’ Creed between the 4th and 6th centuries, although each article of the Creed traces its lineage to the earlier teachings of Scripture.
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The Apostle's Creed - Credo Magazine