This is my belief about God the Father, Jesus Christ and Holy Ghost. It is
a statement of my Christian faith, i.e., summary of what I believe. And why I
believe, you can navigate this website for details.
The Apostles' Creed is a statement of the basics of the faith. The Apostles' Creed was not written by
the Disciples of Lord Jesus. The name is deemed this as a sum and substance of the
early Apostolic teaching which the disciples would have originally held to. Earliest
version found is A.D. 215. The current version is A.D. 542.
The Apostles' Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord: Who was conceived of the Holy
Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified,
died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.[1]
The third day He arose again from the
dead.
He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy
Spirit, the holy catholic [2] church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness
of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.
Amen.
Notes:
1. "Descended into hell" may refer to literally going down into hell
to another part called paradise before the Cross but not the pits of hell itself to be subject to
the Devil. During his death, Jesus went to paradise (Luke 23:43) and not ascended to his Father (John 20:17).
2. The word "catholic" refers not to the Roman Catholic Church, but to
the universal church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Did Jesus descend
into Hell [1] and raise a great Multitude from Hell on Easter Sunday?
Matthew 27:52-53
"And the graves
were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
And came out of
the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared
unto many."
Psalm 16:10 (written around 1440 B.C.):
"For thou will not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou
suffer thine Holy One to see corruption."
When Christians recite the Apostles' Creed
they affirm their belief that Jesus descended into hell (Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek ). Early church fathers, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Origen, among others,
regarded the descent literally into Hell.
Reports
of
Saints who rose from the dead with Jesus on Easter
The Ante-Nicene Library is a
collection of manuscripts written by important Christians from the time of Jesus
Christ to the Council of Nicea (325 AD). These manuscripts were not
included in the Christian Bible, so they are non-canonical.
Within this library are numerous writings about how Jesus descended into Hades
while His body lay in the tomb, and that numerous saints (one report 12,000)
rose from the dead with Jesus on Easter Sunday. These reportedly remained on
earth for the 40 days Jesus remained after having risen and ascended into Heaven
with Jesus. There are many reports of these risen saints having been seen in
Jerusalem after Easter Sunday.
The Gospel of Nicodemus, Vol 8, Chapter I:
Then Rabbi Addas and Rabbi Finees, and Rabbi Egias, the three men who had come
from Galilee, testifying that they had seen Jesus taken up into heaven, rose up
in the midst of the multitude of the chiefs of the Jews, and said before the
priests and the Levites, who had been called together to the council of the
Lord: "When we were coming from Galilee we met at the Jordan a very great
multitude of men, fathers who had been some time dead"...And they went, and
walked around all the region of the Jordan and of the mountains, and they were
coming back without finding them. And, behold, suddenly there appeared coming
down from Mount Amalech a very great number, as it were, twelve thousand men,
who had risen with the Lord. And though they recognized very many there, they
were not able to say anything to them for fear and the angelic vision; and they
stood at a distance gazing and hearing them, how they walked along singing
praises, and saying; "The Lord has risen again from the dead, as He has
said; let us all exult and be glad, since He reins for ever. Then those who had
been sent were astonished and fell to the ground for fear, and received the
answer from them, that they should see Karinus and Leucius in their own houses.
And they rose up and went to their houses, and found them spending their time in
prayer.
Concerning the King of Edessa, Vol 8, Page 653:
"He humbled and emptied and abased Himself, and was crucified, and
descended to Hades and broke through the enclosure which had never been broken
through before, and raised up the dead, and descended alone, and ascended with a
great multitude to His Father".
Pilate quotes Ben
Isham, a sentry at Christ's Tomb
Below from Acta Pilati (Pilates
report to Caesar)..from Archko Volume. The Archko Volume is a
controversial document written by Rev. W. D. Mahan, a Boonville, Missouri
minister.
Christians should
keep in mind that only Holy Scripture is deemed to be inspired by
God. See the controversy surrounding the Archko Volume here
See more on the Archko Volume
here: http://www.bibleprobe.com/archko.htm
BELOW IS A PORTION ONLY taken
from "Acta Pilati", said by Rev Mahan to have been found by him in the
Vatican Archives. Rev. Mahan said it is from a letter by Pontius Pilot to
his emperor Tiberius Caesar...
BEGINS WITH:
"To Tiberius Caesar, Emperor of Rome. Noble Sovereign, Greeting: The events
of the last few days in my province have been of such a character that I will
give the details in full as they occurred,
"He said that about the beginning of the fourth watch they saw a soft and
beautiful light over the sepulcher. He at first thought that the women had come
to embalm the body of Jesus, as was their custom, but he could not see how they
could have gotten through the guards. While these thoughts were passing through
his mind, behold, the whole place was lighted up, and there seemed to be crowds
of the dead in their grave clothes. All seemed to be shouting and filled with
ecstasy, while all around and above was the most beautiful music he had ever
heard; and the whole air seemed to be voices praising God."
