The Nicene Creed

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The Issue That Gave Rise to the Creed

The Nicene Creed was formulated by the Council of Nicea, held in 325 A.D. This council was called by the Roman Emperor Constantine, who first legitimized Christianity in the Roman Empire. Fundamental questions were being raised throughout the Christian world about the nature of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. The Council of Nicea dealt with one such question: what is the nature of Jesus Christ? Arius of Alexandria – whose view became known as Arianism – taught that Jesus was divine, but was also created. He was something more than human, but less than fully God. His doctrine taught that Jesus was “similar to” God, not that he was “the same as” God.

The question was not merely academic. At its heart, the issue affects our salvation. Can someone who is created – who is not God in the highest sense of the word – really accomplish human salvation? What the council concluded – and what the church has held consistently since then –  is that only someone who is fully God can do what is necessary for human beings to be restored to right relationship with God.

The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty. maker of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten from the Father, the only begotten; that is, from the essence of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father;
Through whom all things came to be, both those in heaven and those in earth;
Who for us humans, and for our salvation, came down and became incarnate and became human;
He suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

And in the Holy Spirit.

The Nicene Creed and the Apostles’ Creed

The Apostles’ Creed is a more general statement of Christian beliefs that likely predated the Nicene Creed. By contrast, the Nicene Creed is highly focused. Because the issue at hand was the nature of Jesus, the Apostles’ Creed doesn’t say much about anything else. The Nicene Creed contains strong, repetitive language affirming the full deity of Jesus: “true God from true God”; “of one substance with the Father.” Not only is he not himself created, but he is the creator of all things. The church wanted to be crystal clear about who Jesus is.

Jesus Is Begotten, Not Made

In an attempt to maintain the deity of Jesus while also maintaining his distinction from the Father, the council used the language “begotten not made.” This denies Arius’s claim that Jesus was created and speaks to the close connection between Father and Son. Their relationship is analogous to the human relationship of parenthood. The Son is begotten by the Father. However, the metaphor breaks down at a key point. The church wanted to make it clear that this is an eternal begetting. (See the Creed of Constantinople.) In other words, the relationship between Father and Son is not physical like human begetting. Also, there was never a time when Jesus did not exist.

Grappling with Infinite Mysteries

The church was dealing with mysterious teachings about the inner nature of an infinite being. These are ideas implied in the Bible and consistent with biblical revelation but framed in a greater level of detail. The church – through the Council of Nicea and later councils – tried to explain those realities in the best way possible given the limitations of human language. Their purpose was to communicate a true understanding of salvation and the restoration of right relationship to God.

The sixty-five years following the Council of Nicea were an intense period of the church working out how it would understand and communicate the intricacies of the nature of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in response to theories and questions arising at that time.