This paper argues that nearly every doctrine in the Old Roman Creed (an early variant of the Apostles’ Creed) appears in seminal form in Psalms 1-2. Despite differences in the level of clarity and precision as well as the literary medium (poetry vs credal statement), the doctrine of the Creed is not fundamentally different from that of Psalms 1-2; it is only more developed.
The paper will walk through the Creed, line by line, showing how the seeds of each doctrine are present in these two psalms.
The fact that we find these doctrines in Psalms 1-2 (as opposed to some other passage of Scripture) is significant, because Psalms 1-2 are a kind of poetic epitome or abstract of the Old Testament. They not only function as an introduction to the Psalter, which has been regarded as a microcosm of the Old Testament (so Luther, Athanasius, Aquinas), but they are also intertextually connected in a strategic way to every part of the Old Testament canon (cf. allusions identified by Creach 1999.00 and Schnittjer 2021).
My exegesis of Psalms 1-2 in relation to the Creed is an attempt at “trans-figural interpretation” or “grammatical-eschatological exegesis” (Vanhoozer 2024). This mode of interpretation gives careful attention to “the way the words go” (the literal sense) and thus makes the most of historical-grammatical methods of exegesis. But it also acknowledges that historical-grammatical exegesis is not sufficient. In order to do justice to the nature and purpose of Scripture as a unified divine discourse, we must also attend to “where the words go” (the eschatological referent), which only becomes clear in the context of the canon as a whole (Old and New Testaments). Thus, in addition to engaging in historical-grammatical exegesis, with careful attention to grammar, semantics, Ancient Near Eastern context, etc., the paper also engages with the New Testament’s use of the Psalms 1-2 as well as the interpretation of these psalms in the Church Fathers.
By demonstrating how Psalms 1-2 encapsulate the core theological claims of the Old Roman Creed, this paper offers a fresh perspective on the interrelationship between Old Testament theology and early Christian doctrine. It provides a biblical-theological reading that bridges the Old and New Testaments, shedding new light on the theological significance of these psalms within the Christian tradition.