Читать книгу Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church - Bente Friedrich - Страница 13

The complete form of the present textus receptus of the Apostles' Creed, evidently the result of a comparison and combination of the various preexisting forms of this symbol, may be traced to the end of the fifth century and is first found in a sermon by Caesarius of Arles in France, about 500. – In his translation, Luther substituted "Christian" for "catholic" in the Third Article. He regarded the two expressions as equivalent in substance, as appears from the Smalcald Articles, where he identifies these terms, saying: "Sic enim orant pueri: Credo sanctam ecclesiam catholicam sive Christianam." (472, 5; 498, 3.) The form, "I believe a holy Christian Church," however, is met with even before Luther's time. (Carpzov, Isagoge, 46.) – In the Greek version the received form of the Apostles' Creed reads as follows: —

Pisteuo eis theon patera, pantokratora, poieten ouranou kai ges. Kai eis Iesoun Christon, huion autou ton monogene, ton kurion hemon, ton sullephthenta ek pneumatos hagiou, gennethenta ek Marias tes parthenou, pathonta epi Pontiou Pilatou, staurothenta, thanonta, kai taphenta, anastanta apo ton nekron, anelthonta eis tous ouranous, kathezomenon en dexia theou patros pantodunamou, ekeithen erchomenon krinai zontas kai nekrous. Pisteuo eis to pneuma to hagion, hagian ekklesian, hagion koinonian, aphesin hamartion sarkos anastasin, zoen aionion, Amen.

As to its contents, the Apostles' Creed is a positive statement of the essential facts of Christianity. The Second Article, says Zahn, is "a compend of the Evangelical history, including even external details." (264.) Yet some of the clauses of this Creed were probably inserted in opposition to prevailing, notably Gnostic, heresies of the first centuries. It was the first Christian symbol and, as Tertullian and others declare, the bond of unity and fellowship of the early Christian congregations everywhere. It must not, however, be regarded as inspired, much less as superior even to the Holy Scriptures; for, as stated above, it cannot even, in any of its existing forms, be traced to the apostles. Hence it must be subjected to, and tested and judged by, the Holy Scriptures, the inspired Word of God and the only infallible rule and norm of all doctrines, teachers, and symbols. In accordance herewith the Lutheran Church receives the Apostles' Creed, as also the two other ecumenical confessions, not as per se divine and authoritative, but because its doctrine is taken from, and well grounded in, the prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New Testaments. (CONC. TRIGL. 851, 4.)