Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 64:3 (Sep 2021)
Article: Origins Of Catholicity In The Apostles’ Creed
Author: Bryan M. Litfin

JETS 64:3 (September 2021) p. 545

Origins Of Catholicity In The Apostles’ Creed

Bryan M. Litfin*

* Bryan M. Litfin is Head of Strategy and Advancement at Clapham School, a classical Christian K–12 school in Wheaton, IL. He may be contacted at [email protected].

Abstract: Many evangelical churches today look askance at the word “catholic” in the Apostles’ Creed. The assumption is that the word is confusing to modern people, who too quickly equate it with the Roman Catholic Church. Pastors may feel less discomfort in dispensing with this term if it is viewed as the product of later ages of church history, when the Roman Catholic Church was well underway, than if the word has more primordial origins. This article proposes to search for the wellspring of the language—and indeed, the very idea—of catholicity. The eighth-century textus receptus of the Apostles’ Creed, found in the Merovingian church manual Sayings of Abbot Pirmin, serves as the starting place for a backward look at the sources that contributed to the creed and that contain the expression “catholic church.” Sources examined include creeds from seventh- to fifth-century Gaul and Spain; the fourth-century Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed and remarks from Cyril of Jerusalem; and various comments from writers of the third and second centuries. Special attention is given to Ignatius of Antioch, the first writer to use the expression ἡ καθολικὴ ἐκκλησία. The concept of the “whole church” (ἡ ἐκκλησία ὅλη) is then investigated in the NT as a verbal resonance with which Ignatius could have been familiar. The article concludes that the term “ecclesiam catholicam” in the Apostles’ Creed has a long history behind it—both conceptually and verbally—extending back to the era of the NT itself. Therefore, it cannot be easily dismissed as a term whose presence in the creed is alien to the intent of the original apostolic witness.

Key words: Apostles’ Creed, catholic, catholicity, catholic church, creed, ecclesiology, Gospel of Matthew, Ignatius of Antioch, whole church

The Apostles’ Creed, a confessional statement often used by churches around the world today, includes the formula “I believe in … the holy catholic church” (credo in … sanctam ecclesiam catholicam). The word “catholic,” of course, falls upon different ears in different ways.1 For Roman Catholic believers, it refers naturally to their mother church. But for Protestants, whose historical identity emerged in the context of a sharp break from Rome, the word can have problematic overtones.

Because of these issues, e...