The Apostles and their Successors…

Rummaging through the attic a couple of weeks ago, I ran across a pile of old posters rolled up in a cardboard tube.
One of them was a copy of the Creed of Nicaea, written out on a large piece of stiff paper about 40cm wide by 52cm high, in brown and green calligraphy, which I penned by hand when I was a new Christian, about 25 years old. The Creed is in the form I learned in the Episcopal Church which I belonged to after I accepted the Lord. Though a little different than the Pistévo, or the Symbol of Nicaea, which I now confess in its original Greek form (without the filioque), it is still an interesting relic of my early life in Christ. What is especially interesting is that I added, in the margins, verses of scripture that support each of the statements made, and I looked them up in the bible manually—no such things as computer or internet searches back then (1976), and I've never owned a concordance. If you click on the image of the creed, it will zoom to a size that you can read online, or download and print out on a color printer as I just did, and it comes out beautifully on 8½x11 stock.

Below is the exact text, brown is the Creed, green the bible verses and commentary.

The Apostles and their Successors with fear and trembling defined in human words the deposit of the Faith. As St. Hilary put it: We are compelled to attempt what is unattainable, to climb where we cannot reach, to speak what we cannot utter. Instead of the bare adoration of faith, we are compelled to entrust the deep things of religion to the perils of human expression. The Nicene Creed expresses the mind of the Church at the close of the struggle that followed upon the Council of Nicaea in 325. Its form is that adopted by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. It represents the whole Church's stand at the end of the Arian controversy.

I believe in One God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible;

For us there is one God, the Father from whom all things come and for whom we exist.
1 Corinthians 8:6
In the Beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1
In Him were created all things in heaven and on earth, everything visible and everything invisible.
Colossians 1:16

And in One Lord, Jesus Christ, the Only-Begotten Son of God, Begotten of His Father before all worlds,

There is one Lord Jesus Christ.
Ibid. (1 Corinthians)
He is the Image of the unseen God, and the First-born of all creation.
Colossians 1:15
All things were created through Him and for Him; before anything was created, He existed.
Ibid., v. 17
Not one thing had its being but through Him.
John 1:3
His state was divine, yet He did not cling to His equality with God, but emptied Himself to assume the condition of a slave and became as all men are.
Philippians 2:6-7
God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.
Acts 2:36
He was born not out of human stock, or urge of the flesh, or will of man, but of God Himself.
John 1:13

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;

The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1
The Word was the true Light that enlightens all men.
Ibid.
He is the radiant Light of God's glory and the perfect copy of His nature, sustaining the universe by His powerful command.
Hebrews 1:3
The Word was made flesh. He lived among us, and we saw His glory, the glory that is His as the Only Son of the Father.
John 1:14


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;

This is how Jesus Christ came to be born: His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they came to live together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 1:18
Now all this took place to fulfill the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet Isaiah: A virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel.
Ibid., vv 22-23.

And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried;
He descended into hell; is not found in the Nicene Creed,
but in the Apostles'.


And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures;

He sacrificed Himself for us in order to set us free from all wickedness.
Titus 2:14
Yes, God loved the world so much that He gave His Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not be lost, but may have everlasting life.
John 3:16
Christ Himself… was put to death… He was raised to life and… He went to preach to the spirits in prison.
1 Peter 3:18-19
Christ died for our sins. He was buried and… He was raised to life on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4


And ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father;

The mystery of our religion is very deep indeed: He was made visible in the flesh, attested by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed to the pagans, believed in by the world, taken up in glory.
1 Timothy 3:16
He has gone to take His place in heaven at the right hand of divine Majesty.
Hebrews 1:3

And He shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead;
Whose Kingdom shall have no end.

God has appointed Him to judge everyone, alive or dead.
Acts 10:42
Your throne, God, shall last forever and ever.
Psalm 45:6

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life,
Who proceedeth from the Father
and the Son; was added in the 6th Century (unscriptural, heterodox).

I shall send you from the Father the Spirit of Truth who issues from the Father.
John 15:26

Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified;
Who spake by the prophets.

God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets.
Hebrews 1:1

And I believe One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church;

There is one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, and one God.
Ephesians 4:4-6
I have given them the glory You gave to Me, that they may be One as We are One. With Me in them, and You in Me, may they be so completely One that the world will realise that it was You who sent Me, and that I loved them as much as You loved Me.
John 17:22-23
Christ loved the Church and sacrificed Himself to make her Holy.
Ephesians 5:25-26

I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins;

Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations; baptise them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 28:19
These remained faithful to the teaching of the Apostles, to the Brotherhood, to the Eucharist, and to the prayers.
Acts 2:42

And I look for the Resurrection of the dead, and the Life of the world to come. AMEN.

This I know: that my Redeemer lives, and He the Last will take His stand on earth. After my awakening He will set me close to Him, and from my flesh I shall look on God. Amen.
Job 19:25-26