If the Nicene Creed is not found in Scripture or by the apostles, why is it so central in certain churches?
Discussion
51 comments
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I believe in one God, (Exodus 20.2-3, Mark 12.29-31)
the Father Almighty (Ephesians 4.6, Malachi 2.10, Genesis 35.11)
Maker of heaven and earth, (Genesis 1.1, Isaiah 44:24)
and of all things seen and unseen (Colossians 1:16, Romans 1:20).And in one Lord Jesus Christ, (2 Corinthians 1:3, I Thessalonians 1:1, Romans 13:14)
the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages; (John 3:16, Hebrews 1:6, Matthew 14:33, Revelation 1:8)God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God; begotten, not made, (John 1:1, I John 1:5, John 8:12, John 20:28, I John 5:20, Psalms 2:7, Hebrews 1:5, John 14:9)
being of one substance with the Father; (John 10:30, Isaiah 44:6, Revelation 1:8, Philippians 2:6, John 10:38, Colossians 2:9)
by whom all things were made (John 1:1-3,10,14 , I Corinthians 8:6, Colossians 1:15-17).
Who, for us all for our salvation, came down from heaven, (I Thessalonians 5:9, Acts 4:12, II Timothy 3:15, John 6:51, John 6:38, Matthew 1:18, Luke 1:27,35, Philippians 2:6,7 , Romans 1:3)
and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; (Acts 2:36, Matthew 27:2,26, Mark 15:15).
He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, in accordance with the Scriptures; (Matthew 16:21, Mark 15:46, Luke 24:5-7, I Corinthians 15:3-4)
and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father; (John 20:17, I Timothy 3:16, I Peter 3:21,22, Acts 1:9, Mark 16:19)
and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.(Acts 1:10,11, Revelation 1:7, John 5:22, Acts 10:42, Luke 1:33)
And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life; (John 14:17, II Corinthians 3:17, Acts 5:3,4, John 3:5, Titus 3:5)
who proceeds from the Father; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets (John 15:26, Luke 11:13, Matthew 28:19, II Peter 1:21).
And I believe in one holy universal and apostolic Church (John 17:20-23, Ephesians 4:1-6, Colossians 1:18, Hebrews 12:23, Revelation 21:27, Philippians 4:3, Matthew 18:20, Philemon 1:2, Romans 16:5, I Timothy 3:15, Ephesians 2:20, Acts 2:42)
I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins (Matthew 28:18,19, Ephesians 4:5, Galatians 3:27, Matthew 26:28, Luke 24;47, Acts 2:38, I Peter 3:21, Romans 6:3,4)
and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen (1 Corinthians 15:12 , 1 Corinthians 15:21,22, John 3:16, 1 Corinthians 2:9, -Romans 11:36)
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Don’t you think this summarizes the whole Bible?
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Christianity did not come to a standstill after the Bible was written and all the Apostles died. But that was just the beginning after the SOLID FOUNDATION of the FAITH WAS LAID. The rest is all Church History some of it diabolically wrong and heretical (Roman Catholicism for example) and some of it required to bring order and correctness as we moved further and further away from the time the LORD walked the Earth. Having said this, nothing can and must not replace SCRIPTURE which is the only roadmap we need to follow to know more about the glorious God we serve and the plans He has for us.
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Because for some people scripture is not enough.
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Statements of faith became popular as a way to identify like minded believers and to force conformity
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When the first apostles and those who had associated with them died some different schools of teachings imaged on different opinions on interpretation and understanding of key Doctrinal issues like . Jesus’ Personality Holy Spirit etc so the Church bishops of that time had to come together and bring a balance to differentiate false and true doctrine on key important pillars of Christian faith according to the Bible
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Because it literally defines what a Christian is.
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The creed was formulated to dispel Arianism. The early church fathers had a split in the church that was attempting to change what Christ is. The difference between the Nicene stance (St. Alexander and St. Athanasius) and Arianism (Arius) is the divinity of Christ. Alexander believed that Christ was of the SAME essence and Arius believed of SIMILAR substance. The difference is a divine being (co-eternal and self existent) and created (top of the created beings that can elevate to being a divine being). Macy Carolina I hope this helps.
Justo Gonzalez wrote two books called ‘Church History’ that has been great.
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A knowledge of early heresies would have prevented the question posted.
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The Divinity of Christ was put in question so in 325 ad they had a council to set in stone Christ as God for the Orthodox Church by which I mean Churches that hold to orthodox views.
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Macy – study more Christian history. The Nicene creed was created to defend the proper Christian theology against the heretics who who misinterpreted Scripture. That’s the danger of interpreting scripture on our own.
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The purpose of the Nicene Creed was to provide a doctrinal statement of what all Christians should believe; or what a Christian should believe vs a belief that would be outside of the faith.
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It formalized well established orthodox and essential Christian doctrine. One can’t consider Jesus created and be saved. Belief in the Trinity is essential to salvation. Just like belief in the resurrection is, and a few other things
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Because it’s based on scripture. -
The Nicene Creed is in scripture
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It is a collective teachings of basic biblical truth based on the Scripture, taken and binded together to follow by the first early church leaders. It contains teaching about God, man, salvation, sin, eschatology, etc, that are found in the Bible.
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No, the Nicene Creed is the word of a Holy spirit .. its in the scripture.
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The Nicean Creed was to address some serious erroneous teachings that had crept into the Church especially about the nature of God and the incarnation of jesus Christ. Africa strongly contended for the incarnation of Jesus through the bishop of Alexadria, Athanesias
Constantine the great convened the council of Nicea to deal with these matters. -
Because they are all daughters of Rome.
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It’s a summation of the Christian doctrine. A statement of faith regarding essential biblical truths, if you would.
***P.S. – I thank those who actually answered the question vs. being unnecessary snarky or “clever” about it.
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it is certainly found in Scriptures..
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Occultism.
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It is one of the few summations of scripture that unifies Catholics and Protestants.
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Because it is an apostolic Creed defined by a council. Since Jesus left us a Church, what the Church defines is True
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Everyone:
Jesus Christ gave sermons on the mountain top.
He was talking to ALL that could hear… NOT some elite group of people.
There IS NO need for special interpretations 300 years later.
It’s He who has an ear from the top of a mountain and on the sea side in boats. Not the Pharisees… See ?
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The westminister confession is also very central to many churches yet written by church leaders
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If you can please post the Nicene creed and let see they are in scriptures.
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I think maybe research this as a history project.
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https://chat.whatsapp.com/HHRTeulshGd7lukLgcsiJB interreligious dialogue
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As was stated it was a response to a heresy
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For those who don’t read the Bible.
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Remember these Creed’s were invented back when the Bible was illegal to own to read to understand on your own you had to have the magisterium tell you what it meant
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Everyone:
Christ KNEW that not everyone was RAISED in the word. He knew He had to speak to them in parables to get His message across. Otherwise they would HEAR what He said, but not understand.
He didn’t organize special councils. He just made disciples BY SHOWING them how it’s done and telling them to tell everyone what He said and did.
THAT’S why he used the parables. He wanted everyone to understand Him❤️
Look:
Mark 4:9-12 King James Version (KJV)
9 And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable.
11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
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He uses parables to mitigate their lack of understanding:
Matthew 13:10-17 King James Version (KJV)
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
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To own a copy of the Gospels or letters that became the New Testament was a rare privilege probably enjoyed only by the wealthy. The creeds became a way to maintain doctrinal purity in which even the poorest Christians could participate.
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It affirms the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Man’s tradition
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It’s not in many Bible churches..except as a curiosity.
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In my opinion this creed was written by apostles to proclaim their faith and preach the gospel when “ No copy of Bible” was present. It was like biblical message of their faith to communicate with the unbelievers.
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Hahahaha nicene creed is a big lie from the enemy of God , so sad ? ? ? many were deceived
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In matters like these it’s good to study early church history-not defending it or attacking it but have studied church history-very interesting. Most of early church history does not lend itself to knee-jerk reactions. You discover that they had the gargantuan task of getting it right. It’s easy for us to put them down but some of the early heresies-although they were heresies, if you study them in depth aside from social media you can see how and why people got off track. Church History by Bruce L. Shelley is an excellent resource.
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It’s a statement of belief. That’s all. Just remember that if you make a prayer or a Creed or a statement of your faith, if it is based on scripture and true to the gospel, then it is scriptural. Doesn’t matter if it was made my Martin Luther, the guys at Nicene or in your back yard. If you like it, adopt it. If not, use something else. I think the point was having something a group of believers could use to show, hey this is what we believe.
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Because all of the propositional content of the Creed is found in Scripture. It is a statement of faith. Why is this so hard for people to understand? Just read it.
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The Nicene Creed is the ancient Christian Creed formulated by the Council of Nicaea in 325, expanded by the First Council of Constantinople in 381, and affirmed by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. It states the nature of the divine Trinity of God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, and is often regarded as the core statement of the Christian faith. Many Christian denominations use catechisms that require students to memorize the Nicene Creed. Among Protestant denominations that do not accept creeds as authoritative, it is still considered an accurate summation of Christian doctrine in this area.
The Western (Roman Catholic) and Eastern Orthodox branches of Christianity have different versions of the creed, the Western church including the much-disputed filioque clause. The Eastern version states that the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father,” while the Western church added at the Synod of Toledo that the Spirit proceeds “from the Father and the Son” (filioque in Latin). The filioque clause was the nominal reason for the Great Schism between the two branches of the Church in 1054, although political factors played a role as well. Protestant churches usually follow the Roman Catholic practice of including the filioque clause. However, the Episcopal Church is transitioning to dropping the filioque, and it will not appear in any future Book of Common Prayer issued by the Episcopal Church in the United States.
The Eastern Orthodox Church maintains that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father only (John 15:26) and firmly denies the teaching that He proceeds also from the Son. Orthodoxy states that the “filioque” phrase denies the unity of the Godhead by saying that the Holy Spirit has two origins, which is not found in the Scripture. Western theologians counter by pointing to Christ promising his disciples that, upon his prayer to the Father, the Holy Spirit would be sent to them (John 14:16), thereby indicating that both the Father and Son are involved as a single divine principle of origin in their unity of being and that the origin of the Holy Spirit is not at issue, but only the procession of the Spirit.
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The Nicene Creed is based mostly on Colossians, John 1, basic Gospel facts, and the beginning of the church… It elaborates on the older Apostle’s Creed that may date back to Jesus’ 12 disciples.
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It is very Biblical in its assertions.
However, no one should believe it or embrace it until they are convinced it matches what Scripture teaches. Your hearts always give authority to God’s Word only. -
I have never heard of that before
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I have to to think the best answer is that the doctrines behind the Nicene creed are found in scripture.
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A good creed that was developed as a result of good and necessary consequences of Scripture meant to unify the Church of the 3rd century around a common profession of faith.
Why is this problematic? -
If the extent of your understanding of Christianity is rooted solely in “thou shalt, and thou shalt not” only and you aren’t able to glean Bible truths, go deeper, discover the “mysteries of the Kingdom”, etc then you are lacking in the Spirits guidance and wisdom. Diligently seek both!
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