The Elementary Articles.
Heb. vi. 1, 2.
Dio aphentes ton tes arches tou Christou logon, epi ten teleioteta pherometha; me palin themelion kataballomenoi
Therefore, leaving the word concerning the beginning of [the] Christ, let us go unto perfection [maturity], not laying again a foundation
metanoias apo nekron ergon,
of repentance from dead works,
kai pisteos epi theon,
and of faith in God,
baptismon didaches,
of the doctrine of baptisms [washings],
epitheseos te cheiron,
and of laying on of hands,
anastaseos te nekron,
and of resurrection of the dead,
kai krimatos aioniou.
and of eternal judgment.
Note.--Many commentators suppose that the sacred writer here refers to the fundamental and elementary articles of catechetical instruction in the apostolic Church; but the articles mentioned were held by Christians in common with the Jews, and are distinguished from the fullness of Christian knowledge ( teleiotes ), or 'the strong meat for those who are of full age' (ver. 14). The passage has only a remote bearing on creeds. For details, see the commentaries of Bleek, Tholuck, Delitzsch, Lünemann, Alford, Moll and Kendrick.
Other Allusions to Creeds.
The duty of confessing the faith is taught by our Lord, Matt. x. 32, 33, and by St. Paul, Rom. x. 9, 10.
Allusions to a creed may be found in the following passages:
Acts xvi. 31, where Paul and Silas, in answer to the question of the jailer at Philippi, say: 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved, and thy house.'
Rom. xii. 6: ' The analogy of faith' ( kata ten analogian tes pisteos ).
1 Cor. xv. 3: 'I delivered unto you among the first things that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures,' etc.
2 Tim. i. 13, 14: 'Hold fast the form of sound words [ hupothuposin ton hugiainonton logon , a sketch or outline of the healing words] which thou hast heard from me, in faith and love, in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee [ ten paratheken , or parakatatheken, the deposit] keep, by the Holy Ghost, which dwelleth in us.' Comp. ver. 12, and 1 Tim. vi. 20 ( ten paratheken phulaxon ).
Heb. v. 12: 'Ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of god' ( ta stoicheia tes arches ton logion tou theou ). Comp. vi. 1, 2.
1 John iv. 2: 'Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh [ homologei Iesoun Christon en sarki eleluthota ] is of God.'
2 John 10: 'If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine [ tauten ten didachen , viz., the doctrine of Christ, ver. 9], receive him not into your house.'
Jude 3: 'Exhorting that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints' ( te hapax paradotheise tois hagiois pistei ).
[1] So Oehler (Theologie des A. Test. Vol. I. p. 159), and others: 'Our Elohim' is in apposition to the first Jehovah, and 'chd is predicate to the second Jehovah.
[2] So our English Version, Keil, and others, who take 'Jehovah, our Elohim' as the subject, and 'one Jehovah' as the predicate, of the sentence. The Mohammedans have borrowed their monotheistic watchword from the Jews, with a heretical addition--'There is no God but Allah; and Mohammed is his prophet.'
REGULÆ FIDEI
ECCLESIÆ ANTE-NICÆNÆ ET NICÆNÆ.
ANTE-NICENE AND NICENE RULES OF FAITH
AND BAPTISMAL CREEDS.
REGULÆ FIDEI ECCLESIÆ ANTE-NICÆNÆ ET NICÆNÆ
ANTE-NICENE AND NICENE RULES OF FAITH AND BAPTISMAL CREEDS.
REGULÆ FIDEI
ECCLESIÆ ANTE-NICÆNÆ ET NICÆNÆ.
Ante-Nicene and Nicene Rules of Faith and Baptismal Creeds.
Introductory Remarks.
The Rules of Faith and Baptismal Confessions which we find among the ecclesiastical writers of the second and third centuries mark the transition from the Bible to the OEcumenical Creeds. They contain nearly all the articles of the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, and some are even more full, especially those of the East; for the Greek Church was, at an early period, disturbed by heretical speculations and perversions, and had a greater talent and taste for metaphysical theology than the less learned but more sober, practical, and steady Church of the West. I have included here also some creeds of the fourth century, to facilitate the comparison with the Apostles' and the Nicæno-Constantinopolitan symbols. In addition to the valuable collections of Hahn (Bibliothek der Symbols und Glaubensregeln, 1842) and Heurtley (Harmonia Symbolica, 1858, and De Fide et Symbolo, 1869), I have examined the more recent works of Caspari (Quellen zur Geschichte des Taufsymbols and der Glaubensregel, 1866-75, 3 vols.), Lumby (History of the Creeds, 1873), Swainson (Literary History of the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds, 1875), and Hort (Two Dissertations, etc., 1876).
Ignatius of Antioch. A.D. 107.
Epistola ad Trallianos, cap. 9.
The following passage is no creed nor part of a creed, but it shows what facts of the gospel history were most prominent in the mind of the famous bishop and martyr Ignatius, of Antioch, and the Church of his age, in opposition to the Gnostic heretics, who resolved the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ into an unreal and delusive show or phantom ( dokesis, hence Docetæ}. A similar passage of greater length occurs in the commencement of his letter to the Christians at Smyrna.
The text is from the shorter Greek recension of the seven Epistles, with the chief interpolations of the longer Greek recension added in brackets. The latter mentions also Christ's lonely descent into Hades ( kathelthen eis haden monos ). In the short Syriac Ignatius there is no Epistle to the Trallians. On the Ignatian controversy and literature, see my Church History, Vol. I. § 119, pp. 463 sqq.
Kophothete oun, hotan humin choris Iesou Christou lale tis
Be deaf, therefore, when any would speak to you apart from (at variance with) Jesus Christ [tou huiou tou Theou] [the Son of God], tou ek genous [genomenou] Dabid who was descended from the family of David, tou ek Marias, born of Mary, hos alethos egennethe who truly was born [ kai ek theou kai ek parthenou ... [both of God and of the Virgin ... alethos anelabe soma; ho Logos truly took a body; for the Word
gar sarx egeneto kai epoliteusato aneu hamartias ...],
became flesh and dwelt among us without sin ...],
ephagen te kai epien [alethos], ate and drank [truly],
alethos ediochthe epi Pontiou Pilatou, truly suffered persecution under Pontius Pilate,
alethos [de, kai ou dokesei] estaurothe kai apethanen ... was truly [and not in appearance] crucified and died ...
hos kai alethos egerthe apo nekron [kai aneste dia trion hemeron],
who was also truly raised from the dead [and rose after three days],
egeirontos auton tou Patros autou ... his Father raising him up ...
[kai tessarakonta hemeras sundiatripsas tois Apostolois, [and after having spent forty days with the Apostles,
anelephthe pros ton Patera; was received up to the Father,
kai ekathisen ek dexion autou, and sits on his right hand,
perimenon heos an tethosin hoi echthroi autou hupo tous podas autou]. waiting till his enemies are put under his feet].
Irenæus. A.D. 180.
Irenæus was a native of Asia Minor, a pupil of Polycarp of Smyrna (Adv. Hær. Lib. III. cap. 3, § 4; Euseb. H. E. v. 20), and through him a grand-pupil of St. John the Apostle. He was bishop of the church at Lyons (Lugdunum), in the South of France, in 177, wrote his great work against the Gnostic heresies about 180, while Eleutherus (d. 185) was bishop of Rome (Adv. Hær. Lib. III. cap. 3, § 3), and died about 202.
He was therefore a connecting link between the East and the West, as well as between post-apostolic and ante-Nicene Christianity, and altogether the most important witness of the doctrinal status of the Catholic Church at the close of the second century. The ancient Massilia (Marseilles) was a Greek colony, and the churches of Lyons and Vienne in Gaul were probably planted by Eastern missionaries, and retained a close connection with the Eastern churches, as appears from the letter of those churches to their brethren in Asia Minor after the fierce persecution under Marcus Aurelius, A.D. 177 (see Euseb. H. E. v. 1).
Irenaeus refutes the heretics of his age by the Scriptures and the apostolic tradition. This tradition, though different in form from the New Testament, and perhaps older than the writings of the Apostles, agrees with them, being a summary of their teaching, and is handed down in all the churches through the hands of the presbyters. [5] The sum and substance of this tradition is the baptismal creed, called by him the kanon tes aletheias, apostolon didache, to archaion tes ekklesias sustema, gnosis alethe, traditio veritatis, vera fides, prædicatio ecclesiæ. He does not give the creed in full, but incorporates passages of it in several parts of his work. He gives most of the articles of the Apostles' Creed as it prevailed in the West, but has also several characteristic passages in common with the Nicene Creed ( hena ... sarkothenta huper tes emeteras soterias ... to dia propheton kekeruchos ). The ancient liturgies of Gaul likewise have a semi-Oriental character.
First Form
Contra Hæreses, Lib. I. cap. 10, § 1 (Opera, ed. Stieren, Tom. I. p. 119).
He men gar ekklesia, kaiper kath' holes tes oikoumenes heos peraton tes ges diesparmene, para de ton Apostolon kai ton ekeinon matheton paralabousa ten [pistin]
The Church, though scattered through the whole world to the ends of the earth, has received [6] from the Apostles and their disciples the faith
eis hena Theon, Patera pantokratora,
in one God, the Father Almighty,
ton pepoiekota ton ouranon, kai ten gen,
who made the heaven and the earth,
kai tas thalassas, kai panta ta en autois, pistin;
and the seas, and all that in them is;
kai eis hena Christon Iesoun, ton Huion tou Theou,
and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God,
ton sarkothenta huper tes hemeteras soterias;
who became flesh for our salvation;
kai eis Pneuma hagion,
and in the Holy Ghost,
to dia ton propheton kekeruchos tas oikonomias kai tas eleuseis [ten eleusin, adventum ],
who through the prophets preached the dispensations and the advents [advent],
kai ten ek Parthenou gennesin,
and the birth from the Virgin,
kai to pathos,
and the passion,
kai ten egersin ek nekron,
and the resurrection from the dead,
kai ten ensarkon eis tous ouranous analepsin tou egapemenou Christou Iesou, tou Kuriou hemon,
and the bodily assumption into heaven of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord,
kai ten ek ton ouranon en te doxe tou Patros parousian autou,
and his appearing from heaven in the glory of the Father,
epi to anakephalaiosasthai ta panta, to comprehend all things under one head,
kai anastesai pasan sarka pases anthropotetos,
and to raise up all flesh of all mankind,
hina Christo Iesou, to Kurio hemon, kai Theo, kai Soteri, kai basilei, kata ten eudokian tou Patros tou aoratou, pan gonu kampse epouranion kai epigeion kai katachthonion, kai pasa glossa exomologesetai auto, kai krisin dikaian en tois pasi poiesetai, ta men pneumatika tes ponerias, kai angelous parabebekotas, kai en apostasia gegonotas, kai tous asebeis, kai adikous kai anomous kai blasphemous ton anthropon eis to aionion pur pempse; tois de dikaiois, kai hosiois, kai tas entolas autou teterekosi kai en te agape autou diamemenekosi, tois ap' arches, tois de ek metanoias, zoen charisamenos, aphtharsian doresetai, kai doxan aionian peripoiese.
that, according to the good pleasure of the Father invisible, every knee of those that are in heaven and on the earth and under the earth should bow before Christ Jesus, our Lord and God and Saviour and King, and that every tongue should confess to him, and that he may execute righteous judgment over all: sending into eternal fire the spiritual powers of wickedness, and the angels who transgressed and apostatized, and the godless and unrighteous and lawless and blasphemous among men, and granting life and immortality and eternal glory to the righteous and holy, who have both kept the commandments and continued in his love, some from the beginning, some after their conversion.