For a long time now it has been customary in our churches to confess our faith with the Apostles’ Creed during the second service on Sundays. It is a distinct moment in the church service, which is often introduced by the minister with, “We will now confess our faith together with the church of all ages.”

That is an excellent introduction. For it tells us that as we profess our faith, we are connected with all who have preceded us in faith and with all who share our faith today. This introduction indicates the catholic/universal character of our meetings. We belong to the church, which the Son of God has been gathering together throughout the ages and throughout the world.

When we confess our faith, we are standing in that great ecumenical choir that has been singing for so long and is still singing of God’s great works in Christ Jesus. We take the ancient song of the church on our lips and we sing in turn with the church of all ages.

It is therefore an improvement that we are now able to sing the Apostles’ Creed. Why would the minister speak this confession on our behalf when we can do it ourselves? It is about the faith of the church, is it not? In that case, there is much to say for letting the church itself speak!

In this chapter I want to pay attention to this old confession. Where lies its origin? How did it end up in the church service? And why did it specifically get a place in the afternoon service?

History of Origins⤒🔗

The Apostles’ Creed is indeed a very old confession.¹ Until the Middle Ages, people even thought that this confession was called “apostolic” because each one of the apostles had formulated an article under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Its name was an indication of its venerable origin. Scholars now agree that this story is based on fiction. The name “apostolic” does not testify to its origins, but it is representative of its content. The Apostles’ Creed proclaims the apostolic faith, summarizing for us the doctrine of the apostles.

For its origin we have to go back to the second century after Christ and specifically to the church at Rome. The Christian church at that time had to deal with an influx of converts from paganism. This demanded instruction in, as well as a brief statement of the faith. Anyone who came to the church and wanted to be baptized, had to be tested in order to determine to what extent he had made the gospel his own through faith.

All of this led to a confession taking shape, probably in the church in Rome at first. Indeed, one of the earliest local confessions is the so-called Old Roman Symbol, which already contained most of what would later become the Apostles’ Creed. The ancient confession of the church in Rome is not the Apostles’ Creed. However, we can say that the Apostles’ Creed is based on it.

The Old Roman Symbol was a typical baptismal confession. Not only does its format remind one of the command to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but also its use. It had its place at baptism. The convert would agree with this confession and could then be baptized. At that early time, the believers in Rome did not yet have the custom of having the church confessed its faith during the church service. The division of the articles in the Apostles’ Creed (see LD 8, answer 24) and the “I”-form in which it is worded, still show us that its origin cannot be separated from the baptismal font and that, in its primary form, it was a personal baptismal confession.

Our Apostles’ Creed is a later enrichment of the ancient baptismal confession of the church in Rome. In the opinion of many experts, the current text found its final form in the southwest of the empire of the Franks, in the sixth or seventh century at the latest. It gained influence through the actions of emperor Charles the Great, who wanted to replace the many local confessions with one text that would promote unity of faith in his empire. It is particularly thanks to this ruler that what we now know as the Apostles’ Creed, became commonly accepted in the Western Church.

A highlight in this development was when the papal church of Rome, from the twelfth century onwards, accepted the Apostles’ Creed as its confession. With this the circle was completed: this church received back its old confession, but improved and enriched!

In the Church Service←⤒🔗

We see a confession appearing in the church liturgy for the first time in the Mass, as it was finally given its fixed form by the Council of Trent in 1570. Remarkably, however, it was not the Apostles’ Creed, but the Nicene Creed that was settled on. This was given a place in the transition from “the Mass of the Catechumen” to “the Mass of the Faithful,” just before the celebration of the Eucharist. This shows us that, traditionally, confession of faith took place in preparation for the Lord’s Supper! We will see how this continued to be the case in Reformed liturgies.

At the same time, the Apostles’ Creed also received a place in a church service, but in a service with a very different character from that of the Mass. It is the so-called pronaus, a late-medieval preaching service that has a strong catechetical character. Here, faith is confessed after the preaching. The confession does not serve as a transition to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. The use of the Apostle’s Creed in our churches does therefore not go back to the Mass, but to this late-medieval preaching service. Yet, the fact that faith is confessed in the church service is something that goes back to the Roman Mass.

In the Reformed churches of the sixteenth century, faith was usually confessed during the morning service. From the pronaus came the practice of confessing the faith using the Apostle’s Creed. That these people — unlike the Roman Church — preferred the Apostles’ Creed above the Nicene Creed was due to the first being regarded as simpler and more compact.

Yet the confession was not always put in the same place. Calvin, who wanted to stay more true to the basic pattern of the Mass, gave the Apostles’ Creed a place in the transition from Word to sacrament, while — quite remarkably! — in the church book of Petrus Dathenus from 1566 (which played a significant liturgical role in the Dutch churches), the Apostles’ Creed is found in the first prayer, the prayer before the sermon. In the church order of the Paltz (1563), the Apostles’ Creed appears to have received a place in the prayer after the sermon and (uniquely!) in the afternoon service.

The Provincial Synod of Dordrecht, 1574, stipulated that confession of faith had to take place with the words of the Apostles’ Creed during the morning service, in the prayer after the sermon: “These words are to be confessed on Sunday mornings after the second prayer. The articles of our common faith will serve to strengthen us in the true faith.”²

I was not able to trace how the confession of faith ultimately moved to the afternoon service. What probably contributed to this was that, before the service — in order to quieten the noise and chatter — some Bible passages and the Apostles’ Creed were read. Gradually the Creed moved from the “pre-service” to the official afternoon service, immediately following the first song. From a liturgical perspective it is an odd placement, which was unfortunately sanctioned by the General Synod of Middelburg in 1933 in its order for the afternoon service. The practice in the Reformed Churches continued in the footsteps of Middelburg for a long time: faith was confessed with the Apostles’ Creed at the beginning of the second service. On Sundays when the Lord’s Supper was celebrated, it also occurred in the morning service as part of the prayer just before the celebration, as we also found with Dathenus and with the church order of the Paltz. 

The order of worship of Middelburg still has validity in the liberated churches. Faith can be confessed at the beginning of the second service. But since the General Synod of Kampen 1975 we also have an order in which we confess our faith after the sermon, closer to the end of the service.

A Special Moment←⤒🔗

When we confess our faith during the church service, it is a special moment in the entire scope of our meeting. First of all, because we are really doing it together. Today it is trendy to speak of “your personal faith,” your relationship with the Lord Jesus. Of course, believing has a very personal character. The words “I” and “our” are important in our faith. The Heidelberg Catechism puts these words on our lips time and again. I myself must say “Amen” to the gospel.

Yet this personal aspect is — or should be — embedded in the communal aspect. It is about “your [plural!] most holy faith” (Jude 20). Although the Apostles’ Creed is written in the “I”-format, it testifies to the faith of the church of all ages.

How wonderful it is that when it comes to matters of life and death, we can go back to the ancient words of the church! We do not need to find our own words for it. How would I be able to! But together with all the saints, we express the rich mysteries of our faith (see Eph. 3:18). At that moment we are very intimately involved in the communion of the saints, in solidarity with all who have received “a faith as precious as ours” (2 Peter 1:1).

At the same time, we are united by confessing our faith together. We may have many differences of opinion in the church. But in the Apostles’ Creed it is all about what we stand for together, about our “common faith” (Tit. 1:4). Here we are all in agreement. By saying it together, unity in the faith is at the same time confirmed and strengthened. Here the confession indeed functions as a “form of unity.” It speaks of everything that binds us together into one body (see Eph. 4:4-5).

When we confess our faith, we are also testifying (see 1 Tim. 6:13). We openly confess to the world around us what it is that a person can live and die with. We proclaim God’s great deeds in Jesus Christ (see 1 Peter 2:9) and publish the name of Christ (Matt. 10:32). All confession has something of a public nature. We put something out in the open. When we say the Apostles’ Creed, we lift up the truth of the gospel; we show that the church is “the foundation and pillar of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15).

Confessing our faith is also a service to each other. In the church service, we are calling on each other to believe. We also put the ancient words of the church on each other’s lips. Perhaps there is someone who doubts, another who has experienced a bad week and is certainly not full of the hope of faith. There are always those in the church whose faith is wavering. But the congregation puts in the ancient song! And we are again drawn to sing along.

I am also thinking here about our young people. They have not publicly professed faith yet. They may still be struggling with a lot of questions. But the church goes before them, gives them the ancient words of the worldwide church, and invites them to join in. In the process, they learn what a Christian can and should believe (see LD 7, question 22).

I have saved the most important aspect for last. To confess is especially to proclaim praise, to express the great deeds of our God in Jesus Christ. When the church confesses the faith, it proclaims the Lord’s praise. Indeed, confession and praise often coincide in the Bible (see Ps.147; Phil.2:11; Rev. 4:11). In this praise we express our Amen to the Word of God, we give our response to it in our words. One could call it the echo of the sound of the Word. Thus, confessing faith together is a climax in what Paul calls “the obedience that comes from faith” (Rom. 1:5).

Last but Not Least←⤒🔗

In our churches it is customary to confess the faith in the afternoon service. I think that is a good custom, given the character of the second church service. This service is traditionally characterized by instruction in doctrine. In the catechism preaching this doctrine is explained (on the basis of the Apostles’ Creed, among others). It is fitting that this doctrine is confessed as well as taught.

The alternative orders of worship in the Reformed Church Book assign a place for this after the proclamation of the Word. Liturgically, that is clearly an improvement on the order of Middelburg 1933. The Lord speaks first. The church then responds to his Word in faith. We have seen how the “Credo” traditionally was given a place also before the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Fortunately, this place has been retained in most of our liturgical forms for the Lord’s Supper.
The Lord’s Supper is also the table where we “confess our faith and Christian religion” (BC Art. 35; Acts 2:46; 1 Cor. 11:26). It is then very appropriate to express our faith with the Apostles’ Creed as we sit at this table.

The Reformed Church Book points to the alternative possibility of confessing the faith with the Nicene Creed. This seems to me a great alternative for a Lord’s Supper Sunday, when the Apostles’ Creed has already been confessed in the morning service. Personally I’m not so fond of a “Trinitarian song” as an alternative. We confess our faith in communion with the church of the ages. Let the words therefore also be the words of the church of all ages — the words of the saints who have preceded us and of those worldwide with whom we share the bond of faith!

I conclude with a quote from S.G. de Graaf (1954): “As a member of the church, I share in her confession. Her confession is my confession. In this there is enormous comfort. I partake in this confession of the church, in which so much more is expressed than I can personally explain. Especially for someone who has felt the weakness of the response that he is able to give to the Word of God, and how slow the progress is that he makes in the understanding of what he confesses, there is consolation in this. The confessing church herself has much to grow in, but he knows he will grow together with her until they are filled with all the fullness of God. On the other hand, in one’s communion with the church, one is called by her confession to know what she knows, to understand what she understands, in order to meet God in worship, as she does.”

For Discussion←⤒🔗

1. When hearing or singing the Apostles’ Creed, do you think about the fact that we stand in community with the church of all ages and places?

2. Is it better to sing the Apostles’ Creed together in the service than to listen to it and to “say it in your heart”? What do you think of using a song such as “In God, our heavenly Father, I believe...” or other creedal hymns now and then?

3. Discuss the four functions of the Apostles’ Creed as mentioned above, which make of the confession of faith a special moment in worship. Do you agree with these four functions? Can you think of other functions?

4. Do you think it is important to know how the Apostles’ Creed found a place in the afternoon service? Why (not)?

5. Should the Apostles’ Creed always be read in the afternoon service, or can it –also in services without the Lord’s Supper — be alternated with the Nicene Creed? Why (not)?