Creeds, the authorised expressions of the doctrine of the church at large, or of the several main sections into which it is divided. Such statements of doctrine sprang up naturally in the course of the church's progress. As the doctrines taught by Christ became the subjects of thought, of argument, of controversy, they could not fail to receive a more defined intellectual expression, and to be drawn out into more precise dogmatic statements; and the great creeds, as they rise in succession, and mark the climax of successive controversial epochs in the church, are nothing else than the varying expressions of the Christian consciousness and reason, in their efforts more completely to realise, comprehend, and express the originally simple elements of truth as they are recorded in Scripture. Accordingly, the creeds of Christendom grow in complexity, in elaborate analysis and inventiveness of doctrinal statement, as they succeed one another.
What has been called the Apostles' Creed is probably the earliest form of Christian creed that exists, unless we give the precedence to the baptismal formula at the close of St Matthew's Gospel, out of which many suppose the Apostles' Creed to have grown. There were in the early church differing forms of this primitive creed: that which is received and repeated in the service of the Church of England has come to us through the Latin Church; and some of its clauses, as, for instance, 'He descended into hell,' and again, 'The communion of saints,' are at any rate additions to the earliest known forms, even if they are not developments of doctrine. A great variety of opinions has been held as to the origin of this creed. It has not only been attributed to the apostles directly, but a legend has professed to settle the clauses respectively contributed by the several apostles. The earliest account of its origin we have from Rufinus, an historical compiler of the 4th century. His statement is, that the apostles, 'when met together, and filled with the Holy Ghost, composed this compend of what they were to preach, each one contributing his share to the one composition, which they resolved to give as a rule of faith to those who should believe.' But Rufinus is no great historical authority, and even learned Roman Catholics (as Wetzer and Welte) regard the story as a legend. It is not improbable in itself, however, that even in the age of the apostles some formula of belief existed. The exact form of the present creed cannot pretend to be so ancient by four hundred years, but Irenæus repeats a creed not much unlike the present; and Tertullian also affirms that a similar creed had been 'prevalent as a rule of faith in the church from the beginning of the gospel.' The same thing is proved by the creeds administered to the candidates for baptism in the 2d and 3d centuries. They correspond, with slight variations, to the Apostles' Creed. The true view of this formula of church belief, therefore, seems to be that which regards it as the Roman or Latin form of the creed which prevailed in all the early churches. It is not strictly apostolic; but it is substantially apostolic—fairly representative of the different elements of Christian faith as handed down from the apostles.
The Nicene, or rather the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed is the next great expression of doctrinal truth that we meet with in the history of the church. It sprang out of the conflict, which had begun even in the 2d century, as to the dignity and character of Christ. (For the various Christological doctrines, see CHRIST, CHURCH HISTORY.) These debates continued more or less throughout the 3d century; and early in the 4th Arius denied that Christ was 'of the substance of God,' or 'without beginning;' he was only the highest of created beings, in a sense divine, but not the same in substance with the Father, nor equal with him in power and glory. Athanasius came forward as the opponent of Arius, and the contest raged throughout the church. The Council of Nicaea was summoned in 325 by Constantine, with the view of settling this controversy, and the Nicene Creed was the result. There were these three parties in the council—the Athanasians, or extreme orthodox party; the Eusebians, or middle party; and the Arians, or heretical party. The heretics were few in number, and possessed but little influence; but the Eusebians were a strong party, and for some time resisted certain expressions of the orthodox or Athanasians, which seemed to them extreme and unwarranted. At length the Homœousians, as the Athanasians were called, prevailed; and Christ was declared not merely to be of like substance (homoiousios), but of the same substance (homoousios) with the Father. At the later Council of Constantinople (381), the additional tenet of the divinity of the Holy Spirit was added, and the creed completed in the form in which it is familiar in the mass and in the communion service in the Book of Common Prayer, except the memorable phrase 'and from the Son' (filiogue). This phrase, teaching the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Son, which was destined to be the subject of controversy between the Eastern and Western Churches (see Greek Church), seems to have been added by the Western Churches in the 5th and 6th centuries.
The next remarkable monument of doctrinal truth in the church is what is called the Athanasian Creed, a product probably of the 5th century, much later than Athanasius himself, but representing, with great formal minuteness and fidelity, his doctrine of the Trinity, as apprehended and elaborated by the Western Church. See ATHANASIAN CREED.
The Apostles', the Nicene, the Athanasian, may be said to form the great catholic creeds of the church. After the time of the last-mentioned formula, there is no general symbol of faith that claims our attention till the period of the Reformation. When the eye of free criticism and argument was turned upon Scripture, new creeds, or rather confessions, began to spring up; these are treated at CONFESSIONS. The Professio Fidei Tridentina, commonly known as the Creed of Pope Pius, arose out of the Decrees of Trent, and is practically the Confession of Faith of the Roman Catholic Church (q.v., and see TRENT). This was published in 1564, but some important additions to it were made in 1870, in consequence of the decision of the Vatican Council.
It is remarkable that the oriental churches have never formally accepted any creed except the Nicene, without the insertion of the word filiogue in connection with the Procession of the Holy Spirit (q.v.).
See Smith's Dictionary of Christian Antiquities; the Encyclopædia of the Roman Catholics Wetzer and Welte; the works of Dr Heurtley of Oxford; of the Lutheran Dr Caspari; and the three volumes of the Presbyterian Dr Schaff (Lond. 1877). Among patristic treatises may be specially named the Catechetical Lectures of St Cyril of Jerusalem, in the 4th century, and somewhat later the tractates of St Augustine, De Fide et Symbolo; De Symbolo ad Catechumenos. In the 17th century an English prelate, Bishop Bull, received the thanks of the Gallican Church, led by Bossuet, for his Defensio Fidei Nicenæ, and Bishop Pearson and Dean Jackson won lasting fame by their respective volumes on the Apostles' Creed. On the Roman Catholic side the learned Jesuit Petau (Petavius) is conspicuous, and in 1832 Möhler published two volumes entitled Symbolik, which treated of the Reformed and Roman Confessions. See ARTICLES, ATHANASIAN CREED, CONFESSIONS, THEOLOGY.