“Neither Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, nor any ecclesiastical writer before the fifth century, makes mention of an assembly of the Apostles for the purpose of forming a creed. Had the Apostles composed it, it would have been the same in all churches and ages. But it is quite otherwise.” (McC.) So much for the well‐known “Apostle’s Creed,” which, it is alleged, “comprehends the leading articles of the faith in the triune God.”
But this was not triune enough, so the Nicene Creed improved the matter, A. D. 325:
“We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, Only‐begotten, that is of the substance of the Father; God of God; Light of Light; very God of very God; begotten, not made; of the same substance with the Father; by whom all things were made, both things in Heaven and things in earth; who for us men and our salvation became flesh, was made man, suffered, and rose again the third day. He ascended into Heaven; He cometh to judge the quick and dead. And in the Holy Ghost. But those that say there was a time when He was not; or that He was not before He was begotten; or that He was made from that which had no being; or who affirm the Son of God to be of any other substance or essence, or created, or variable, or mutable, such persons doth the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematize.”
Fifty‐six years later, at the second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople, A. D. 381, the Nicaeno‐Constantinopolitan Creed was put on the market:
“I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only‐begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from Heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And He shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose Kingdom shall have no end. And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spake by the Prophets. And I believe in the one catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.”