The Apostles' Creed, also known as the Twelve Articles of our catholic, undoubted Christian faith, is an early and widely received confession of the Christian church. It was not written by the apostles themselves, but it sums up the heart of the apostolic teaching. It gives an overview of the fundamental beliefs of the Christian faith and is used in the worship of many churches, Reformed, Lutheran, Anglican and Roman Catholic alike. In the Reformed churches it is commonly confessed in public worship, and the Heidelberg Catechism (Lord's Days 7–22) is built around it.

The Twelve Articles of the Faith

1. I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
2. And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord;
3. who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary;
4. suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell;
5. the third day he rose again from the dead;
6. he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
7. from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
8. I believe in the Holy Ghost.
9. I believe an holy catholic church; the communion of saints;
10. the forgiveness of sins;
11. the resurrection of the body;
12. and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Three Parts

As the Heidelberg Catechism (Question 24) explains, these articles are divided into three parts: the first is of God the Father and our creation; the second, of God the Son and our redemption; the third, of God the Holy Ghost and our sanctification.

Notes on the Wording

• Catholic means universal: the one church of Christ gathered from all times and places, not a particular denomination.
• The quick and the dead means the living and the dead.
• He descended into hell is confessed by the Reformed churches as the comfort that Christ, by his inexpressible anguish, pains and terrors on the cross and before, has redeemed us from the anguish and torment of hell (Heidelberg Catechism, Question 44).