THE NICENE CREED
AD 325
Arius
• Arius was a presbyter (priest) in
Alexandria in Egypt in the 300s.
• He wrote in his infamous hymn The
Thalia (Banquet) that God the Father
created (or begot) the Son.
• This idea went against the orthodox
teaching that God the Father, God the
Son and God the Holy Spirit are equal.
Arius (cont.)
• The argument of Arius was that God was
one and could not have three different
expressions, names or persons.
• Therefore the Son was created by the
Father and they then created the world.
• This placed the Son as a lesser being than
the Father.
• Scripture and Tradition said otherwise.
Alexander
• Alexander, the Bishop of Alexandria
summoned Arius.
• He questioned him about his beliefs.
• Arius stuck to his position.
• The situation was very serious because
Arius had gained many followers.
• At one stage there were more Arian
Bishops than orthodox.
The Council of Nicea
• The Council of Nicea was summoned in
325AD.
• Nicea is in modern day Turkey.
• It was the emperor Constantine the Great
who summoned the Bishops together.
• By an overwhelming majority the
Bishops rejected Arius’ argument.
The Role of Constantine
• It is important to note that it was the
emperor who summoned the Bishops.
• When they could not agree about the
wording of the Creed it was Constantine
who settled the argument.
• He inserted the words “one substance”
(homoousios) to describe the fact that the
Father and the Son are one.
• This term cannot be found in the Bible.
Athanasius
• Athanasius, the son of Alexander
followed his father as Bishop of
Alexandria.
• He ensured that the orthodox teaching of
the creed was enforced.
• Today the Creed is said in the liturgies of
all the major Christian Churches.
• The Jehovahs Witnesses follow Arius’
position.
The Creed
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We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
and of all that is, seen and unseen.
• We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
• the only Son of God,
• eternally begotten of the Father.
The Creed
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God from God, Light from Light,
True God from True God,
begotten, not made,
being of one substance with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and our salvation he came down
from heaven,
• and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of
the Blessed Virgin Mary,
• and was made man.
The Creed
• For our sake he was crucified for us
under Pontius Pilate,
• he suffered death and was buried.
• On the third day he arose again in
accordance with the Scriptures;
• he ascended into heaven and is seated at
the right hand of the Father.
• He will come again in glory to judge the
living and the dead,
• and his kingdom will have no end.
The Creed
• We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord,
the giver of life, who proceeds from the
Father and the Son.
• With the Father and the Son he is
worshipped and glorified.
• He has spoken through the prophets.
• We believe in one holy catholic and
apostolic Church.
• We acknowledge one baptism for the
forgiveness of sins.
• We look for the resurrection of the dead,
• and the life of the world to come. AMEN
Commentary - the Creed
• We believe in one God…
• This defines the reality that God is one,
indivisible.
• God is not made up of three separate
beings.
• God is made up of three equal persons.
(We must be careful to not read this as
the term persons we use in English. It is
more like the term persona.)
Commentary - The Creed
• We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ…
• The creed defines Jesus Christ as the
Lord.He is equally God
• The creed makes no attempt to describe
the internal nature of the Trinity of
Persons, it assumes that such an entity
exists. It is a mystery.
• The creed does, however, insist that Jesus
Christ was not made, unlike all other
creatures who are made.
• Christ is the same being (or substance) as
the Father.
Commentary - The Creed
• The Creed details the life of Christ.
• It does so to define the beliefs of the
Church for two primary reasons.
• Firstly, it briefly states the essential
information about Christ’s life here on
earth. This is a summary of what is found
in the Bible and the other documents of
the Church (called Tradition).
• Secondly, it is to reinforce the Church’s
teaching that he is both fully divine and
human. This was to counter Gnosticism.
Commentary - The Creed
• We believe in the Holy Spirit…
• The third Person of the Trinity is in every
way equal to the Father and the Son.
• Again there is no attempt to define the
inner nature of God. There is only a
description of how believers have
experienced the ONE GOD.
• These are not easy concepts to
understand.They are an attempt by the
Church to define Ultimate Being (God).
Commentary - The Creed
• We believe in one holy catholic…
• The Church Fathers at Nicea insisted that
there was one Church which held the same
beliefs, those defined in the Creed.
• Those who did not subscribe to the Creed
did not hold to the same belief of the
Ultimate Reality.
• The Church also insisted that it was through
the Sacrament of Baptism administered by
the true Church(those who held the Creed)
which would gain the baptised life in
heaven.
Summary
• The Ultimate Reality, God, is a mystery.
• We will only ever truly know God when we
die and are in heaven, that is with God
• The Creed is a comprehensive summary of
all beliefs of the Catholic Church.
• It expresses the reality of how people have
observed God in this world.
• Those who wrote the Creed began by asking
questions.