A creed is a statement of faith. The word “creed” comes from the Latin credo, which means “I believe.”

The purpose of the creeds is to declare and safeguard for all generations essential truths about God, the Church, and the world, as revealed in Holy Scripture.

Belief in the creeds signifies acceptance of God’s revealed truth and the intention to live by it. To reject any element of the creeds signifies a departure from the Christian faith.

This church believes the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.

I receive and believe these creeds with the Church because they are grounded in Holy Scripture and are faithful expressions of its teaching.

I should know these creeds because they state the essential beliefs of the Christian faith.

The Apostles’ Creed says:

Holy Scripture is “God’s Word written” (Articles of Religion, 20), given by the Holy Spirit through prophets and apostles as the revelation of God and his acts in human history, and is therefore the Church’s final authority in all matters of faith and practice.

The thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament together form the whole of Holy Scripture.

The Old Testament proclaims God’s creation of all things; mankind’s original disobedience; God’s calling of Israel to be his people; his Law, wisdom, and saving deeds; and the teaching of his prophets. The Old Testament bears witness to Christ, revealing God’s intention to redeem and reconcile the world through Christ.

The New Testament proclaims Jesus Christ’s birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension; the Church’s early ministry; the teaching of the apostles; the revelation of Christ’s eternal kingdom; and the promise of his return.

The Old Testament is to be read in the light of Christ, and the New Testament is to be read in light of God’s revelation to Israel. Thus the two form one Holy Scripture, which reveals the Person of Jesus Christ and his mighty works. As Saint Augustine says, “The New is in the Old concealed, the Old is in the New revealed.”

Holy Scripture is “God-breathed,” for the biblical authors wrote under the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit to record God’s Word.

The Old and New Testaments are inspired by the Holy Spirit and are therefore the Word of God written. God is revealed in his mighty works and in the incarnation of our Lord, which are made known through the inspired writings of the biblical authors. God “has spoken through the prophets” (Nicene Creed) and continues to speak through Scripture today.

The fullness of God’s revelation is found in Jesus Christ, who not only fulfills the Scriptures, but is himself God’s Word, the living expression of God’s mind. The Scriptures testify about him, “In the beginning was the Word,” and “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 14). Therefore, “ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.”

Because Holy Scripture was given by God to the Church, it should always be understood in ways that are faithful to its own plain meaning, to its entire teaching, and to the Church’s historic interpretation. It should be translated, read, taught, and obeyed accordingly.

Through Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit will teach, rebuke, correct, and train me in the righteousness that God desires. The prayerful study of Scripture forms me for life in Christ and the service of God and my neighbor.

The fourteen books of the Apocrypha, historically acknowledged by this church, are pre-Christian Jewish writings that provide background for the New Testament and are included in many editions of the Bible. They may be read as examples of faithful living but “not to establish any doctrine.”