Within some religious denominations, to become a member of a particular church within that denomination, one must promise to confess the creeds of such........typically: "The Apostles' Creed and The Nicene Creed.
In the process, one gets the impression that the precise contents of those creeds is as canonical and a part of The HOLY BIBLE (in terms of their presumed importance and alleged accuracy) as the actual Sacred-66 Scripture of Holy Writ itself!
Let's examine them more carefully to see if they really do jive with the Word of God.
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"I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth."
The phrase would better be render: "God Almighty" rather than "God THE FATHER Almighty. The "Father" sort of was the Three-in-One Trinitarian-Godhead Maker of heaven and earth. Consider the following verses from Colossians and Hebrews proving that the Son (rather than the Father) is the One who built the universe and all therein:
Colossians 1:13 He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
Colossians 1:14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation;
Colossians 1:16 for in Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities--all things were created through Him and for Him.
Colossians 1:17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Colossians 1:18 He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything He might be pre-eminent.
Colossians 1:19 For in Him all the fulness of God was pleased to reside,
Colossians 1:20 and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.
Hebrews 1:1 In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets;
Hebrews 1:2 but in these last days hHe has spoken to us by a Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world.
Hebrews 1:3 He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power....
Hebrews 1:8 But of the Son he says, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever, the righteous scepter is the scepter of thy kingdom.
Hebrews 1:9 Thou hast loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of gladness beyond thy comrades."
Hebrews 1:10 And, "You, Lord, did found the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of Your hands;
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"And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy [Spirit], born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried."
A few things to note here. Why is the suffering blamed on Pontius Pilate alone, when jealous and disbelieving jews caused Pilate to violate his own Roman sense of justice? And it is NOT "antisemitic" to state that!
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"He descended into hell"
Oh oh. Whoa! Hold it right there!
Descended into HELL?
Sort of flies in the face of Christ declaring from His cross to the penitent thief: "Today you will be with Me in Paradise [Gr. paradeis(o)] (Luke 23:43). And is such "Paradise" in Hades? According to Revelation 2:7, the Paradise [Gr. paradeisou] of God is where the Tree of Life is.......obviously not hell.
So maybe Christ took a quick excursion (sometime during the remainder of that same day) to burn in Hades before ascending up with the penitent thief to Paradise?
Where in the duce did the Apostles' Creedmakers ever get that idea that Christ "decended into hell?"
Search-engine-assisted website postings suggest Bible references perhaps inferring such are:
"The Son of man was in the heart (Gr. kardia) of the earth three days and 3 nights" (Matthew 12:40)
And what is singularly and literally meant by the [molten-lava-Earthcore?] "heart" of the earth?
"Who shall descend into the deep [Gr. abusson] to bring up Christ from the dead" (Romans 10:7)
The abyss is a place where demons can be confined, according to Luke 8:31. Not the never-never-land of "purgatory," exactly. Perhaps neither Paradise nor Hades? Maybe Sheol?
"When He ascended, He lead captivity captive....he first descended into the lower parts of the earth" (Ephesians 4:8-9 KJV)
"When He ascended, He lead a host of captives....and also descended into the lower parts of the earth" (Ephesians 4:8-9 RSV)
Here, being that my knowledge of Greek wording is not that great, I do not know if the correct phrase is "lead captivity captive" or instead "lead a host of captives." Either way, what "captivity" or "host" is referring to is vague.....as is the phrase in both versions: "the lower parts of the earth" (metaphorical apart from a singular and literal molten-lava-Earthcore meaning)? Besides that, which "ascension" is being referred to: Easter day and/or when He ascended into the clouds as His disciples looked upward?
"...he preached to the spirits in prison" (I Peter 3:19).
And what is singularly and literally meant by "prison?"
"The gospel was preached even to the dead" (I Peter 4:6)
And what is singularly and literally meant by "the dead?"
Perhaps the most perplexing verses of Scripture pertaining to this are found in Acts 2:27,31 and 13:34 in which the RSV states:
Acts 2:27 For thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let thy Holy One see corruption.
Acts 2:31 he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
Acts 13:34 And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he spoke in this way, 'I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.'
Acts 13:35 Therefore he says also in another psalm, 'Thou wilt not let thy Holy One see corruption.'
Acts 13:36 For David, after he had served the counsel of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid with his fathers, and saw corruption;
Acts 13:37 but he whom God raised up saw no corruption.
whereas the KJV states:
Acts 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Acts 2:31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
Acts 13:34 And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.
Acts 13:35 Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Acts 13:36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:
Acts 13:37 But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.
Notice that the RSV and KJV are discrepant against each other, in that the former [correct to the precise Greek word adou) says: "Hades" and the latter [incorrectly] says: "hell." Also notice the slight but significant discrepancy between the RSV stating: "abandoning my soul to..." contrasted with the KJV stating: "leave my soul in...." Again, not knowing the meaning of the precise Greek words in the inerrant Scrivener/Trinitarian Greek Text, I am not sure which it is. However, I am inclined to go along with the RSV, because it does not make sense to me that either righteous David or even-more-righteous Jesus burned in the tormenting flames of Hades upon their physical-bodily descent into Sheol, in accord with the RSV description of what happens in Hades by the Lord Himself as recorded in Luke 16:23-26:
23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.'
25 But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.
26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.'
Thus, it is questionable whether either righteous David or Jesus ever even got into and deserved to get into tormenting Hades at all, let alone not being "left" or "abandoned" there, rather than both entering a blissful Paradise reminiscent of the transfigured Christ speaking with glorified Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:2 and Mark 9:2) [and both the KJV and RSV use the same word: "transfigured"].
With THAT in mind, the creed stating that Christ "descended into hell" is quite questionable, to say the least.
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"He rose AGAIN from the dead"
Again? No, it was only a once-for-all event!
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"sitteth ON the right hand of God the Father"
It might hurt to sit on anyone's hand, including the Father's. Sitting at the right hand is correct terminology.
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"the QUICK and the dead"
Some of the living are not so quick. Living is the correct word to use.
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"I believe in.......the holy CATHOLIC Church"
Why get sectarian here? Catholicism conjures up not the popular-among-ecumenical-heretics presumed idea of "universalism," but rather heresies of non-canonical apocrypha alleged to be "part of the entire Bible," worshipping and praying to Mary, human-pope infallibility, second-chance purgatory, eucharistic self-sacrifice for presumed self-atonement, etc. "At Antioch were the disciples first called Christians" (Acts 11:26, both KJV and RSV). [NOT "Catholics"].
We could continue on, but suffice it to say that the Nicene Creed is overly redundant in its repetition of Christ being begotten, that Christ is "very God of very God, begotten not made." Added to that, Christ is not "of one substance" (as if He was physical matter). He did not merely come down "for us men" but also "for us women." He was not simply crucified "under Pontius Pilate" but instead "because of jealous disbelieving jews." He not merely "suffered" but rather "died." He did not rise again from the dead but instead did rise from the dead. He does not sit on the right hand of the Father but instead sits at the right hand of the Father. We Christians do not believe "in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church" but rather in one holy Christian and apostolic church. And we do believe in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the dead, and life everlasting.
But only "life everlasting" for the penitent, in contrast to never-ending eternal-destruction "death" for the impenitent.