The Nicene Creed

History

After the Roman Emperor Constantine adopted Christianity as the state religion in the early part of the fourth century, a conflict arose within the church around the question of the divinity of Christ. On one hand there was Arius, who rejected the historic teaching of the Church that Christ was truly God; on the other hand was Athanasius, who upheld the historic and Biblical position. The emperor called a Church Council together, which met at Nicea in 325 AD. Of the hundreds of bishops that met together from across the whole Roman empire, only a mere handful refused to accept the Creed that was formulated by the Council to embody the church's true teaching.

This Creed was revised slightly by a second Council meeting in Constantinople in 381 AD, and that form is essentially the Nicean Creed that we have today.

The heart of the issue was whether Jesus was "like" God, or "the same as" God, and so the majority of this Creed focuses on the question of who Jesus really is, and is phrased in a way that answers all possible attacks on the full divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Creed in English

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty;
Maker of heaven and earth,
and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only begotten Son of God,
Begotten of the Father before all worlds;
God of God, Light of Light,
Very God of Very God,
Begotten, not made,
Being of one substance with the Father;
By whom all things were made;
Who, for us men and for our salvation,
Came down from heaven,
And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary,
And was made man;
And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate;
He suffered and was buried;
And the third day he rose again,
According to the Scriptures;
And ascended into heaven,
And sitteth on the right hand of the Father;
And he shall come again, with glory,
To judge both the quick and the dead;
Whose kingdom shall have no end.

And we believe in the Holy Ghost,
the Lord and Giver of life;
Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son;
Who with the Father and the Son together
is worshiped and glorified;
Who spake by the prophets.
And we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins;
And we look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.

Amen.