ta; te trite hemerai anastanta ek nekron,
anabanta eis tous ouranous, kathemenon en dexia tou patros, hothen
erchetai krinai zontas kai nekrous. kai eis pneuma hagion, hagian
ekklesian, aphesin hamartion sarkos anastasin, amen]. To estimate this
very important article aright we must note the following: (1) It is not
a formula of doctrine, but of confession. (2) It has a liturgical form
which is shewn in the rhythm and in the disconnected succession of its
several members, and is free from everything of the nature of polemic.
(3) It tapers off into the three blessings, Holy Church, forgiveness of
sin, resurrection of the body, and in this as well as in the fact that
there is no mention of [Greek: gnosis (aletheia) kai zoe aionos], is
revealed an early Christian untheological attitude. (4) It is worthy of
note, on the other hand, that the birth from the Virgin occupies the
first place, and all reference to the baptism of Jesus, also to the
Davidic Sonship, is wanting. (5) It is further worthy of note, that
there is no express mention of the death of Jesus, and that the
Ascension already forms a special member (that is also found elsewhere,
Ascens. Isaiah, c. 3. 13. ed. Dillmann. p. 13. Murator. Fragment, etc.).
Finally, we should consider the want of the earthly Kingdom of Christ
and the mission of the twelve Apostles, as well as, on the other hand,
the purely religious attitude, no notice being taken of the new law.
Zahn (Das Apostol. Symbolum, 1893) assumes, "That in all essential
respects the identical baptismal confession which Justin learned in
Ephesus about 130, and Marcion confessed in Rome about 145, originated
at latest somewhere about 120." In some "unpretending notes" (p. 37 ff.)
he traces this confession back to a baptismal confession of the Pauline
period ("it had already assumed a more or less stereotyped form in the
earlier Apostolic period"), which, however, was somewhat revised, so far
as it contained, for example, "of the house of David", with reference to
Christ. "The original formula, reminding us of the Jewish soil of
Christianity, was thus remodelled, perhaps about 70-120, with retention
of the fundamental features, so that it might appear to answer better to
the need of candidates for baptism, proceeding more and more from the
Gentiles.... This changed formula soon spread on all sides. It lies at
the basis of all the later baptismal confessions of the Church, even of
the East. The first article was sl