Theologically it seems sounder to say that we believe the holy catholic church. The church is not a potential. It is a reality that is manifested in the world. This is what we say in Belgic Confession art. 27. “We believe and confess one only catholic or universal church (une seule Église catholique ou universelle). The confession twice thereafter says “cette Église ” (this church) in art. 27 and “cette sainte assemblée” (this holy assembly) in art. 28. We believe that there is a true church (art. 29) and that the true church is manifested visibly and has marks that are empirically verifiable.

Recently I received a query about which English translation of the 9th article of the Apostles’ Creed is correct: “a holy catholic church” or the holy catholic church”? As far as I can tell the evidence is overwhelmingly on the side of translating the received Latin text of the Creed as “the holy catholic church.” The 8th and 9th articles are usually translated, I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church….” Most English translations use the definite article but there are three influential English translations that use the indefinite article. The 1912Psalter uses the indefinite article (an) as does the 1959 Psalter Hymnal, which uses “a.” The 1959 Psalter Hymnal is widely used in conservative Dutch Reformed Churches. The Canadian Reformed Book of Praise (1984) also uses the indefinite article. The Latin text says:

Credo in Spiritum Sanctum; sanctam ecclesiam catholicam….¹

There is, of course, in the Latin text, a definite article before neither “Holy Spirit” nor “holy catholic church” but grammatically and theologically, if we believe “the” Holy Spirit (and we do) then on what ground would one proceed to say “a holy catholic church” but then proceed to confess “the communion of the saints, the remission of sins…”? It seems arbitrary to move between the definite and indefinite that way. One counter argument would be say that, if the way we speak of the Spirit should control the way we speak of the church, then we should say we believe “in” the church as we believe “in” the Holy Spirit.

The response is theological. Both Perkins and Witsius argued against this on the grounds of the distinction between the Creator and the creature. We do not believe “in” the church in the same way we believe “in” the Holy Spirit. We confess “the holy catholic church” but the Holy Spirit is an object of faith. The church is not an object of faith.

Other translations give us some help.

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