Apostolic faith refers to the earliest Christian faith as held and proclaimed by the apostles after the death of Jesus. This faith was shaped less by preserving the ethical teachings of Jesus and more by the apostles’ beliefs about Jesus himself—especially their conviction that God had raised him from the dead and exalted him as Messiah and Lord.
Jesus did not leave written texts, and after his crucifixion the apostles began preaching what they believed God had done through him. Their message centered on who Jesus was, what his death and resurrection meant, and how these events changed humanity’s relationship with God. In this sense, apostolic faith was primarily confessional: a proclamation about Jesus, rather than a direct repetition of Jesus’ own teaching.
As Christianity spread, different interpretations of Jesus emerged. To safeguard what they believed to be the authentic message, early church leaders appealed to “apostolic faith”—the beliefs about Jesus that originated with the apostles and were handed down through their preaching and the churches they founded. Over time, these beliefs were summarized in early rules of faith and later in creeds such as the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed.
Thus, apostolic faith came to mean fidelity to the apostles’ witness about Jesus—his identity, death, and resurrection—rather than a simple preservation of Jesus’ ethical teaching.
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