The creeds and confessions in which the church has confessed the faith it learned from Scripture, each with an introduction and its full text.
The ecumenical creeds
The Apostles' CreedThe Apostles' Creed grew from the questions asked at baptism in Rome and became the common creed of the Western church. In a few lines it confesses the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and the story of the gospel, and churches still use it in worship, baptism and teaching.The Nicene CreedThe Nicene Creed was confessed at Nicaea in 325 against Arius and completed at Constantinople in 381 with a fuller confession of the Holy Spirit. At its centre is the Son, true God, of one substance with the Father; it is the creed most widely shared by the churches of East and West.The Definition of ChalcedonThe Definition of Chalcedon is the Council of Chalcedon's confession of Christ in 451. It confesses one and the same Son, truly God and truly man, known in two natures without confusion, change, division or separation, and most churches have confessed Christ in its words ever since.The Athanasian CreedThe Athanasian Creed is a Latin creed of the Western church, probably from the late fifth or sixth century, that sets out the Trinity and the incarnation more fully than any other ancient creed. It teaches the church to worship one God in three persons and one Christ, truly God and truly man.
The Westminster standards
The Westminster Confession of FaithThe Westminster Confession was written in the 1640s by the Westminster Assembly, called by the English Parliament and joined by Scottish commissioners. Its thirty-three chapters confess Scripture, God's decree and covenant, Christ and salvation, the Christian life, the church and the last things; under Scripture, it remains the doctrinal standard of Presbyterian churches worldwide.The Westminster Larger CatechismThe Larger Catechism is the Westminster Assembly's fuller catechism of 196 questions, written in 1647 beside the Shorter as a fuller guide for ministers' teaching and preaching. It opens out the Confession's doctrine, above all on union with Christ, the duties and sins of each commandment, and the Word, sacraments and prayer.The Westminster Shorter CatechismThe Shorter Catechism is the Westminster Assembly's catechism of 1647, 107 short questions and answers for children and new believers. Beginning with the chief end of man, it teaches what we are to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of us, and Presbyterians in many lands, Korea among them, have learned the faith from it.
The Three Forms of Unity
The Heidelberg CatechismThe Heidelberg Catechism is a book of 129 questions and answers written in 1563 for the churches and schools of the Palatinate. It begins with our only comfort in life and death and teaches the gospel in the first person under three heads, misery, deliverance and gratitude; many Reformed churches still preach through it in fifty-two Lord's Days.The Belgic ConfessionGuido de Brès wrote the Belgic Confession in 1561 for the persecuted Reformed churches of the Low Countries. Its 37 articles confess God and his Word, Christ and salvation, the church, the sacraments and the last judgement; with the Heidelberg Catechism and the Canons of Dort it is one of the Three Forms of Unity.The Canons of DortThe Canons of Dort are the judgment of the Synod of Dort (1618–1619), where Dutch and foreign Reformed delegates answered the five articles of the Remonstrants. Their five heads of doctrine confess that salvation is God's work from first to last, and they aim as much to comfort troubled believers as to settle a dispute.
Texts: public domain (Creeds.json; Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, 1877). Scripture quotations: BSB.