The Apostles' Creed

1. I believe in one God, the Father, the almighty Creator of heaven and earth.

2. And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord.

3. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the virgin Mary.

4. Who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.

5. Rose from the dead on the third day.

6. Ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, the almighty Father.

7. From there He will come to judge the living and the dead.

8. I believe in the Holy Ghost.

9. I believe in a holy general Christian church, the communion of saints.

10. Forgiveness of sins.

11. Resurrection of the flesh.

12. And an eternal life.

This is the most ancient and simple creed, which, it appears, was confessed already in or about the time of the apostles; and for which many, indeed the greater part of the first Christian believers, sacrificed their lives. But since, in the course of time, the true and simple meaning of the confession set forth was attacked and disputed by the contradiction and perverse interpretation of contentious and, no less, erring persons going under the name of good Christians, the true believers of the church of God were compelled, as often as this happened and necessity required, to declare how they understood and interpreted this or that article. [n32-1]

So it has come about that today there are found among those who are called Anabaptists various confessions, which differ in style but not in faith (we speak of the foundation of the same), in which confessions the creed set forth above is more fully interpreted and explained.

Of these we will present here mainly three, which were acknowledged and adopted without contradiction as a unanimous confession by a great number of teachers, assembled from various districts, in the year 1649, in the city of Harlem. Two of these had been drawn up at Amsterdam, in 1627 and 1630, and the third at Dort, on the 21st of April 1632; all on account of certain church unions that took place later in those years.