The Apostles' Creed

The Holy Catholic Church and the Communion of Saints

The creed confesses one holy catholic Church and the communion of saints. Here catholic does not mean the Roman Catholic denomination; it is an old word that simply means universal, the whole church of all times and places. The communion of saints is the deep fellowship that binds all God's people together in Christ, across every barrier and even across death, as one family united to their one Lord.

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.1 Corinthians 12:13 (KJV)

What catholic really means

This is the line most often misunderstood, so it is worth being clear. The word catholic comes from the Greek katholikos, meaning universal or according to the whole. When the creed says the holy catholic Church, it does not mean one denomination. It means the entire church of Jesus Christ, in every nation, language, and century, everyone who belongs to him.

The word was used this way long before there were the divisions we know today. A Christian of any tradition, Protestant, Orthodox, Catholic, or otherwise, can say the holy catholic Church and mean the one universal people of God. The church is called holy not because its members are sinless but because it belongs to God and is being made holy by his Spirit. It is one because it has one Lord, one faith, one baptism.

The communion of saints

The second phrase, the communion of saints, describes the fellowship that this universal church enjoys. In the New Testament, saints does not mean a special class of heroes; it means all believers, all who are set apart in Christ. The communion of saints is the sharing of life that binds them together: shared faith, shared prayer, shared burdens, shared bread, one body with many members.

This fellowship reaches across every human division, of nation, class, and race, for in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free. It reaches even across death, for those who have died in the Lord are not lost but alive with him, and the whole family in heaven and on earth is named in him. How exactly the living and the departed relate is understood differently across the traditions, but all confess that death does not sever the bond, because all are joined to the same living Christ.

Its biblical basis

Paul teaches that by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, and given to drink into one Spirit. He calls the church the body of Christ, of which he is the head, and the household of God. Jesus prayed that his people would all be one, as he and the Father are one. The communion of saints is simply this oneness lived out.

Scripture also shows the church as universal from the start. On the day of Pentecost people of many nations heard the gospel in their own tongues, and John sees in his vision a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, standing before the throne. That countless, worldwide, worshiping family is the holy catholic Church the creed confesses.

The four marks: one, holy, catholic, apostolic

The Nicene Creed adds two more words to describe this same church, calling it one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, the four marks the church has confessed ever since. It is one because it has one Lord and one faith, however scattered its members. It is holy because it belongs to God and is being made holy by his Spirit, not because its people are already perfect. It is catholic, universal, spread through all times and places. And it is apostolic, built on the foundation of the apostles and holding fast the faith they handed down.

It helps to remember that the church is both visible and hidden. There is the visible company of all who gather in Christ's name, with all its mixture and failing, and there is the true church known perfectly only to God, all who genuinely belong to him. The creed confesses the church in faith, trusting that beneath the divisions and weaknesses we can see, God is keeping one people for himself.

Christians understand the marks somewhat differently across the traditions, especially how the church's unity and authority are ordered. But the confession itself is shared, and it is humbling and hopeful at once. It reminds every congregation that it is not the whole church but a part of something vast and ancient, and it calls all who name Christ toward the unity he prayed for, that they may all be one.

One body across every barrier

One of the most striking things about the church the creed confesses is how wide it is. From the day of Pentecost, when people of many nations each heard the gospel in their own tongue, the church was never meant to belong to one people or place. Paul writes that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, for all are one in him. The walls that divide humanity are not merely tolerated in the church; they are torn down.

John was given a vision of where this is heading: a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, standing before the throne and worshiping together. That countless, many-colored family, drawn from every corner of the earth, is the holy catholic Church in its fullness, and every local gathering is a small foretaste of it.

This is why the communion of saints crosses every human barrier of race, class, and language. To belong to Christ is to be given brothers and sisters utterly unlike you, and to discover that what you share in him runs deeper than anything that once divided you. The church at its best is a sign to a fractured world that its divisions are not the last word, because one Lord has made one family out of all the peoples of the earth.

What it means for us

To confess the holy catholic Church is to know you are not a solitary believer but part of an immense family. When you trust Christ you are joined to brothers and sisters you have never met, in villages and cities across the world, and to the saints of every past age. You belong. The Christian life was never meant to be lived alone.

And to confess the communion of saints is to be encouraged in every season. You are held up by the prayers and love of the whole body, and when you grieve those who have died in Christ, you grieve in hope, for the fellowship is not broken. This is why the church gathers, why it bears one another's burdens, and why it welcomes the stranger. Finding your place in this family is part of what it means to follow Jesus. There is room here for you.

Perhaps that is the word you most need to hear: there is room here for you. The holy catholic Church is not a club for the qualified but a family for the forgiven, drawn from every nation and every kind of person, and its doors are wide. If you have felt like an outsider, this is the family that was always meant for outsiders, gathered by the One who came to seek and to save the lost. Come and find your place among them, for the same Lord who made this vast family is calling you by name.

A note for all traditions: the creeds are not a fourth authority above Scripture but a faithful summary of it. Christians hold them in different ways, some reciting them weekly in worship and others rarely, yet the faith they confess is broadly shared across the church. Where believers differ on secondary matters, the creeds mark the ancient center that unites us: one God, and one Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and risen.

Related: I believe in the Holy Spirit · The forgiveness of sins · Find a church near you · The Christian creeds