The creeds of the early church

The English word creed is derived from the Latin Credo which means I believe and trust

The Nicene Creed (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, being of one substance with the Father;
by whom all things were made, both in heaven and on earth;
who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate and was made man;
he suffered, and the third day he rose again, and ascended into heaven;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

And in the Holy Spirit.

But those who say: ‘There was a time when he was not’; and ‘He was not before he was made’; and ‘He was made out of nothing,’ or ‘He is of another substance’ or ‘essence,’ or ‘The Son of God is created, or changeable, or alterable’ — they are condemned by the holy catholic and apostolic Church.

The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (381)

We 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 the Father before all worlds; 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 Spirit 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 in the Holy Spirit, 🔵 the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spake by the prophets.

🔵 And in one holy catholic and apostolic Church; we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Nicene Creed vs. Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed

Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;
He descended into hell;
the third day He rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit;
the holy catholic Church;
the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body;
and the life everlasting. Amen.

The title “The Apostles Creed” symbolum Apostolorum or Symbolum Apostolicum first appears in the writings of Ambrose to Pope Siricius from the Synod of Milan in the year 390 AD.

Ambrose was referring to the Old Roman Creed from which the Apostles Creed was derived.

The Old Roman Creed read:

I believe in God the Father almighty;
and in Christ Jesus, His only Son, our Lord,
who was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary,
crucified under Pontius Pilate and buried; the third day He rose from the dead,
He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father;
from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead;
and in the Holy Spirit;
the holy Church;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the flesh.

Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem;
et in Christum Iesum, Filium eius unicum, Dominum nostrum,
qui natus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine,
crucifixus sub Pontio Pilato et sepultus, tertia die resurrexit a mortuis,
ascendit in caelos, sedet ad dexteram Patris,
inde venturus est iudicare vivos et mortuos;
et in Spiritum Sanctum,
sanctam ecclesiam,
remissionem peccatorum,
carnis resurrectionem.

Roman Creed and later adapted Apostles Creed

“The earliest appearance of what we know as the Apostles’ Creed was in the De singulis libris canonicis scarapsus (‘Excerpt from Individual Canonical Books‘) of St. Pirminius (Migne, Patrologia Latina 89, 1029 ff.), written between 710 and 714.^[15] Bettenson and Maunder state that it is first from Dicta Abbatis Pirminii de singulis libris canonicis scarapsus (idem quod excarpsus, excerpt), c. 750″
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostles%27_Creed

It likely adapted from the Old Roman Creed into the apostles Creed around the 5th Century in Gaul.

The Old Roman Creed remained in the liturgy of the Catholic church until the 7th Century.

It seems to have been replaced in the 8th Century under Charlemagne.

The Eastern Orthodox Church does not use the Apostles Creed.

Comparative Table of the Creeds

The Chalcedon confession 451(The inclusion of the 2 natures) 

We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach people to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body; consubstantial [co-essential] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the Manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; (ἐν δύο φύσεσιν ἀσυγχύτως, ἀτρέπτως, ἀδιαιρέτως, ἀχωρίστως – in duabus naturis inconfuse, immutabiliter, indivise, inseparabiliter) the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person (prosopon) and one Subsistence (hypostasis), not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten God (μονογενῆ Θεόν), the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.

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