“What, then, is necessary for a Christian to believe?” asks question twenty-two of the Heidelberg Catechism. “All that is promised us in the Gospel, which the articles of our catholic, undoubted Christian faith teach us in summary” is the reply.

Though this creed was not penned by the Apostles, it summarizes the basic truths of Scripture taught by them in simplicity, brevity, and beauty. More than any other creed of Christendom, it may justly be called a universal statement of the faith. Best known of the ecumenical creeds, it gives a concise and yet full expression of the fundamentals of historic Christianity.

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.