The Creeds of Nicaea and Constantinople were not novelties that characterized innovations in theology or ecclesiology in order to combat the novel threats of Arianism and Eutychianism but were rooted in longer traditions that predated even Irenaeus’ and his own battles with the Marcionites and other gnostic teachers. As for back as the Didache, we find rules on church order and right faith and practice. However, in Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Ephesians, we find early credal statements that were applied as a test of right teaching in the earliest post-apostolic days by a local bishop across civic and regional lines against the new docetic and Judaizing threats in the eastern churches. Looking at Ignatius’ early Trinitarian and Christological credal affirmations, a connection with later, more formalized credal statements can be established so that the possibility of this mechanism of doctrinal quality control can be discerned as a way that bishops and synods dealt with heresy formally and pastorally. This paper will seek to evaluate the contents, the recipients, the context, and the implied authority of the credal affair of Ignatius in his letters en route to martyrdom, with a particular focus on his letter to the church in Ephesus.