The Apostles creed is probably the first and most well known profession of the Christian faith known from the early Christian era. It is often considered to be a statement of faith to be expressed by those seeking fellowship with early Christian believers. The name "Apostles creed" is misleading however because there is no indication that the apostles of Jesus had anything to do with its origin. Instead, it appears to have been developed over the first couple of centuries, most likely as a reflection of core Christian beliefs.
It should be noted that the modern day Apostles creed is different than the original early church creed (note 1). The original creed is often called the "old Roman form" to distinguish it from the modern day version, which is generally called the "Received form". The difference between the two are the addition of several statements to the original creed which occurred over time. The original creed reads thus:
Apostles creed (original form):
I believe in God the Father Almighty. And in Jesus Christ His only (begotten) Son our Lord, who was born of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary; crucified under Pontius Pilate, and buried; the third day He rose from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father, from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. And in the Holy Ghost; the holy Church; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; (the life everlasting).
In the creed quoted above, parentheses indicates slight differences between the Greek version and the Latin version (Latin differences in parentheses). For comparison, here is the so called Received form:
Apostles creed (Received form):
I believe in God the Father Almighty; Maker of Heaven and Earth; and in Jesus Christ His only (begotten) Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose 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 Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.
Additions to the original creed are highlighted blue. Among the more notable additions (note 2) is the phrase "He descended into hell", which is discussed below. What should be noted though is that neither version of the Apostles creed, the original or the later revision, specify what punishment awaited those who were not followers of Christ. This is a bit strange given that today the doctrine of hell and eternal punishment is one teaching that virtually all church creeds include to some degree. In fact, many consider this a core or foundational Christian belief. Yet in this earliest of creeds used for profession of faith there is no mention of such a teaching. Does this mean they thought it so evident in Scripture that it wasn't necessary to spell it out, or does it indicate sufficient controversy on the subject that it was not listed as a core or essential belief?
The argument that the punishment of unbelievers is so evident that it wasn't necessary to spell it out doesn't explain, for example, why other very "evident" truths are spelled out in the creed, like the resurrection of the body, the forgiveness of sins, the judgment of the living and dead, etc. All these things are equally evident in Scripture, yet they were included. Because of this it is more reasonable to think that the reason the fate of unbelievers is not specified is because there was some controversy on the subject. It is important to note that the point of controversy was not whether unbelievers are to be punished, but how unbelievers are to be punished.
He Descended into Hell
As indicated above, the original Apostles creed did not include "He descended into hell". Instead, this phrase was added by a later revision. It should be noted that in the original creed, written in Greek, actually said "He descended into Hades". The basis for such a statement comes from a merging to two Biblical verses:
Act 2:27 because You will not leave My soul in Hades, nor will You give Your Holy One to see corruption.
Eph 4:9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
Acts 2:27 speaks of Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades. This verse doesn't say Christ descended into Hades, only that he was "in" (Greek εις = to, into) Hades. Now Ephesians 4:9 on the other hand does speak of Christ "descending" (lit: going down), but not into Hades, but rather "into the lower parts of the earth". While many commentators assume "lower parts of the earth" is a reference to Hades, there is no Biblical rationale for such a link. In fact, if Hades were in fact in view here, one would fully expect the verse to say Hades, but it doesn't. At this point one can see how the phrase "He descended into Hades" came about, but also see that it is clearly not a Biblical quote, but rather an idea based on a interpretation of two verses.
In regard to the Apostle's creed, there are no records indicating why this phrase was added to the creed nor what it was thought was meant by the phrase. However it would seem apparent that it was added because the existing statement in the creed was seen to be insufficient by the revisionists, and they thought an addition was warranted in order to support a particular belief. This change,
From: "and buried, the third day He rose from the dead"
To: "and buried, He descended into Hades, the third day He rose from the dead"
Very likely indicates that the revisionists considered Jesus' descent into Hades to be in addition to his burial in the earth. It should be noted that in the Bible the Greek word Hades, which is generally recognized to answer to the Hebrew word Sheol (based on a comparison of Acts 2:27 and Psalm 16:10), can refer to the grave (e.g., Gen 37:35, Ps 141:7, Hosea 13:14, 1 Cor 15:55). So it is possible that early creed writers were content to say Jesus was buried (in the grave), while later revisionists, who may have rejected the association of Hades/Sheol with the grave, would have felt it necessary to revise the creed to specifically mention Hades.
Greek Influence
It should be noted that the modern day idea of hell and eternal torment is very similar to ideas found in ancient Greek mythology. The ancient Greek author Homer wrote about Hades in the 8th century before Christ. The Greek myth goes that Zeus, Poseidon and Hades won a contest of the gods, and Zeus became ruler of the sky (heaven), Poseidon of the sea, and Hades of the underworld, where it was taught the dead go after they die. Gradually the underworld in which Hades ruled took his name and became known as Hades. A more thorough writing on Hades was done by Plato in his work "The Tales of Er", which is a part of his work "The Republic" (~380BC), in which he presented the idea that the souls of people, all people, are immortal and can never die. This then required people to exist somewhere, and so Plato wrote that the good go to a place of reward, while the evil go to a place of punishment, where they receive 10 fold for their evil. It is known that the early Christian bishop of Hippo, Augustine, was very familiar with Plato's writings, and in his book "The City of God", chapter 21 (XXI) was entitled "Eternal punishment of the damned". There Augustine presents ideas not unlike Plato, and meshes them together with Biblical quotes, particularly Jesus' parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Augustine's writings were highly influential on the fourth century church and Christianity in general.
Note 1 - History of the Apostles Creed:
1. The Roman Creed: the Old Roman Form of the creed was, as said above, certainly in use by the middle of the 2nd century, in Rome; probably a considerable time before. We have it in both its Greek and Latin forms (the Greek being probably the original). The Latin form is given by Rufinus about 390 AD who compares it with the creed of his own church of Aquileia — a very old church. The Greek form is preserved by Marcellus, of Ancyra,in the 4th century. The old shorter form of the creed long maintained itself. We find it in England, e.g. up to nearly the time of the Norman Conquest (in 8th or 9th century manuscripts in British Museum).
2. The Received Creed: the Received Form of the creed has a much more obscure history. The additional clauses came in at different times, though in themselves some of them are very old. The addition to the first article, e.g. “Maker of heaven and earth,” first appears in this form in Gaul about 650 AD, though similar forms are found in much older creeds. Another addition, “He descended into hell,” meets us first in Rufinus as part of the creed of Aquileia, but is probably also old in that church. It is known that the creed had assumed nearly its present shape (perhaps without the above clauses, and that on the communion of saints) by the time of Faustus of Reiz, about 460 AD. Thence it spread, and had reached Ireland apparently before the end of the 7th century. In England it appears a century later, about 850 AD (from the court of Charlemagne?), and from the beginning of the 10th century it largely superseded the older from. The same applies to other countries, so that the Gallican form is now the one in common use. Two significant changes may be noted in the form given to it. In England, whose form we follow, the Reformers substituted for “the resurrection of the flesh” the words, “the resurrection of the body,” and in Germany the Lutherans change the word “catholic” to “Christian,” in “the holy catholic Church.”
Reference:
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia Vol. 1, James Orr
Note 2 - John Calvin's commentary on "He descended into Hell" [including this author's remarks]
But we ought not to omit his descent into hell, a matter of no small moment in bringing about redemption.
[The issue here is not one of omission my dear Calvin but one of addition, for as we both agree, it was later revisionists that added the phrase "He descended into Hell", not the original writers of the Creed! And of course the really key issue is whether this is what the Bible says!]
Now it appears from the ancient writers that this phrase which we read in the Creed was once not so much used in the churches. Nevertheless, in setting forth a summary of doctrine a place must be given to it, as it contains the useful and not-to-be-despised mystery of a most important matter, at least some of the old writers do not leave it out.
[Here Calvin reluctantly admits this phrase "He descended into Hell" is not found in ancient writings of the Creed and therefore was not something that was used in the churches of that day. This then supports the claim that this was a later addition by revisionists, not a reflection of what was commonly believed by the "apostles".]
From this we may conjecture that it was inserted after a time, and did not become customary in the churches at once, but gradually.
[So Calvin agrees this phrase was not original to the Apostles Creed but a later addition. As to the idea this was something "gradually" added to the churches, this should be of no comfort, as apostasy is almost always manifests itself incrementally rather than all at once!]
This much is certain: that it reflected the common belief of all the godly;
[Here Calvin presumes to speak for the apostles and the writers of the Creed, however the fact is Calvin is merely expressing an opinion based on his own personal beliefs, which without Biblical warrant, we must dismiss]
for there is no one of the fathers who does not mention in his writings Christ’s descent into hell, though their interpretations vary.
[As shown above, pieces of the phrase in question can be found in Acts 2:27 and Ephesians 4:9, so it would be expected that none of the fathers would fail to mention the subject in some manner. However Calvin's admission that "their interpretations vary" is very telling as it's a very strong indication the early church fathers held views contrasting with Calvin's! These varying views would involve the meaning of verses like Acts 2:27, and what it means that Christ was in "Hades", whether that meant a place of terrible suffering, or whether it meant the grave. Thus the fact that various fathers mention the issue in no way supports Calvin's earlier claim that "the common belief of all the godly" is that Christ descended into a place called Hell.]
But it matters little by whom or at what time this clause was inserted.
[I would disagree, if the phrase were added by proponents of the Roman Catholic church in order to better serve their doctrinal positions, then it does matter. In addition, Calvin seems to ignore the obvious question of why would such a statement, if it were in reality a core belief, be absent from a creed supposedly reflecting the apostle's core beliefs, especially if it truly was, as Calvin asserts, "the common belief of all the godly"! Further, I must wonder why Calvin didn't consider the possibility that the absence of this statement from the earliest creeds, coupled with his admission that ancient writers held divergent interpretations on the subject, to be evidence that this particular phrase was purposely left out of most creeds due to widespread disagreement about its meaning. This would make sense when we recall that the Apostle's creed was generally used as a profession of faith, and so it would be hardly logical to think such a creed would include a statement which few agreed upon!]
Rather, the noteworthy point about the Creed is this: we have in it a summary of our faith, full and complete in all details; and containing nothing in it except what has been derived from the pure Word of God.
[As indicated above, the phrase "He descended into Hades" is not a scriptural quote, but rather the merging of ideas from two verses (Acts 2:27 with Ephesians 4:9) based upon the very questionable premise that "the lower parts of the earth" is a synonym for Hades. So it is certainly a worthwhile pursuit to ask whether such a phrase is legitimately "derived from the pure Word of God", or whether it is the result of either revisionist corruption and/or just plain bad Bible study!]
If any persons have scruples about admitting this article into the Creed, it will soon be made plain how important it is to the sum of our redemption: if it is left out, much of the benefit of Christ’s death will be lost.
[The idea behind Calvin's statement here is his belief, following that of Anselm, and to some extent Augustine, that Hell is a place for payment (satisfaction) of sins, which IF TRUE, would then necessitate Christ descending into a place called Hell in order to pay for the sins of His people. However it should be noted that most conservative theologians reject the idea that Jesus descended into a place called Hell to pay for sins for at least two reasons: 1) Jesus proclaimed on the cross "It is finished" (John 19:30), and obviously He was still alive and on earth, not in a place called Hell; 2) Jesus told the thief on the cross next to Him that "Today you shall be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43), thus when Jesus died He went to a place called Heaven, not a place called Hell. So Calvin's attempt to necessitate a descent into Hell in order to provide an atonement fails when scrutinized by the scriptures. Further, Hebrews 9 and 10 indicate Jesus offered Himself in the holy place in heaven, not in Hell.]
On the other hand, there are some who think that nothing new is spoken of in this article, but that it repeats in other words what had previously been said of his burial, the word "hell" often being used in Scripture to denote a grave. I grant that what they put forward concerning the meaning of the word is true: "hell" is frequently to be understood as "grave".
[Finally Calvin addresses what he disapprovingly found among the writings of the early church fathers, that they interpreted Hades in Acts 2:27 to be a reference to the grave, the place where Jesus' body was laid after His death, and not to a place of horrible suffering for sin. Calvin even agrees that the scriptures themselves allow this meaning, in many instances the words Sheol and Hades clearly referring to the grave (while most other instances are non-specific, and but a very few could in any way be viewed as references to a place of horrible suffering). It's quite inexplicable that Calvin, having considered early church father writings, as well as the use of these words in scripture, would remain so persistent in his opinion, though it must be realized that in his day, as it is in ours, this idea was so pervasive that one would really be opening themselves up to second guessing by taking a stand.]
But two reasons militate against their opinion [that "He descended into Hell" means the grave], and readily persuade me to disagree with them. How careless it would have been, when something not at all difficult in itself has been stated with clear and easy words, to indicate it again in words that obscure rather than clarify it!
[First, it's puzzling why Calvin would interpret the repetition of a statement, but in slightly different language, to be an obscuration of a statement rather than a reinforcement of it. Second, at this point Calvin is now attempting to determine what the revisionists were thinking by adding the phrase to the Apostle's creed, as if that really mattered! The question should not be why someone added it, but whether such an addition was biblical, or if one must delve into motivations, he ought explain why it was deliberately not included in the original! That said, I would think it obvious the revisionists desired to insert "He descended into Hell" in order to support a particular doctrine which the early church either did not support or did not think necessary to include in a statement of core beliefs.]
Whenever two expressions for the same thing are used in the same context, the latter ought to be an explanation of the former. But what sort of explanation will it be if one says that "Christ was buried" means that "he descended into hell"?
[Whether one should use such conjecture in attempting to gauge the context of the creed is questionable, but again, it is doubtful the revisionists intended such an understanding, but rather they likely sought to support the injection of a new doctrine into the statement of beliefs.]
Secondly, it is not likely that a useless repetition of this sort could have crept into this summary,
[Again, Calvin is arguing about the revisionists motives, which does nothing to ascertain the legitimacy of what they added! At this point what we can say is "likely" is that the phrase "He descended into Hell" crept into the Apostle's Creed by the hand of later revisionists because they did not view Hades to mean "grave", which itself supports the view that those who originated the Creed either did not view Hades to mean something different than grave, or because there was not widespread agreement on the true meaning of Hades, so it was excluded.]
which the chief points of our faith are aptly noted in the fewest possible words. I have no doubt that all who have weighed this matter with some care will readily agree with me.
[It is readily agreeable that "He descended into Hell" was not original to the Apostles Creed, nor is it a quote of the Bible. It should also be quite agreeable that the meaning of Acts 2:27 was by no means as obvious and clear-cut, at least to ancient writers, as Calvin would have us believe!]
[RETURN]
JOHN CALVIN'S: INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
EDITED BY JOHN T. MCNEILL
Auburn Professor Emeritus of Church History Union Theological Seminary New York
TRANSLATED AND INDEXED BY FORD LEWIS BATTLES
As published on CD-ROM by Ages Software
Apostles creed - Original Greek Text
Πιστεύω εις Θεον Πατερα, παντοκράτορα, ποιητην ουρανου και γης.
Και (εις) `Ιησουν Χριστον, υίον αυτου τον μονογενη, τον κύριον ήμων, τον συλληφθέντα εκ πνεύματοσ άγίου, γεννηθέντα εκ Μαρίας της παρθένου, παθόντα επι Ποντίου Πιλάτου, σταυρωθέντα, θανόντα, και ταφέντα, κατελθόντα εις τα κατώτατα, τη τρίτη `ημέρα `αναστάντα `απο των νεκρων, `ανελθόντα εις τους ουρανούς, καθεζόμενον εν δεξια θεου πατρος παντο δυνάμου, εκειθεν ερχόμενον κρϊναι ζωντας και νεκρούς.
Πιστεύω εις το Πνυμα το `Αγιον, αγίαν καθολικην εκκλησίαν, αγίων κοινωνίαν, άφεσιν αμαρτιων, σαρκος ανάστασιν, ξωήν αιώνιον. Αμήν.
Here, the phrase "κατελθόντα εις τα κατώτατα" means "he descended into the lower places", a rough quote of Ephesians 4:9,
Eph 4:9 Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
In Ephesians 4:9 the Greek is "κατέβη πρωτον εις τὰ κατώτερα", not identical but fairly close in meaning. While the expression "lower places" is often presumed to be a reference to Hades, one must question why Hades would not have been used in this verse if that were truly the intended meaning.