A Brief Introduction and History of the Nicene Creed

1. St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
January 18, 2015

2. We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of
the Father, God from God, Light from Light ,true God from true God,
begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things
were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven :by the power of the
Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was
buried. On the third day he rose 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.
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.

3.  January 18: A Brief Introduction and History
of the Nicene Creed
 January 25: God the Father
 February 1: God the Son
 February 15: God the Holy Spirit

4.  The word “creed” comes from the Latin word
“credo” – meaning “I believe”
 “credimus” – “we believe”
 The creed emerged from a more ancient
confession of faith, called the Shema, Hebrew
for the word “hear.”

5.  “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.
And you shall love the Lord with all your heart
and all your soul and all your might.”
 The Shema is the principle statement of belief
in early Judaism, and it remains so today.
 When Christianity emerged after Christ’s
death and resurrection, it became necessary
for the emerging Christian community to alter
the Shema.

6.  Early Christians adapted the Shema to their
experience of Christ, because they
experienced Jesus as God.
 1 Corinthians 15: 3-8 forms the
heart of the Christian Creed: “That
Christ died on behalf of our sins
according to the scriptures. And
that he was buried. And that he was
raised on the third day according to the
scriptures. And that he appeared to
Cephas…”

7.  Another source of the Creed comes from
Galatians 4: 4-7
 “When the fullness of time had come, God
sent his Son, born of a woman, born under
the law, in order to redeem those who were
under the law, so that we might receive
adoption as children…
 The origins of the Creedd are fairly easily
detectable within the pages of the New
Testament.

8.  #1 Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch
and Martyr (died 107 CE)
Excerpt from a letter written on the
Way to Rome where he was martyred:
“Be deaf, therefore, whenever anyone
speaks to you apart from Jesus Christ,
who is the stock of David, who is of Mary, who was
truly born, ate and drank, was truly persecuted
under Pontius Pilate, was truly crucified and died
in the sight of the the beings of heaven, of earth
and the underworld, who was also truly raised
from the dead.”

9.  #2 Epistula Apostolorum (circa 150 CE)
 Purportedly written by the apostles to the
churches throughout the known world,
containing a dialog between the risen Jesus and
the disciples. Of interest:
 “They are a picture of our faith concerning the
great Christianity and that is in the Father, the
ruler of the entire world, and in Jesus Christ our
Savior, and in the forgiveness of sins.”
 This is the first reference we know of linking
church and the forgiveness of sins.

10.  #3 Justin Martyr (died 165 CE)
 During his trial, the Roman prefect
Asked Justin what he believed. His
response: “The according to what we
worship the God of the Christians, whom
we reckon to be one from the beginning, the
maker and fashioner of the whole creation, visible
and invisible, and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, who had also been preached beforehand by
the prophets as about to be present with the race
of men, the herald of salvation and teacher of
good disciples.”

11.  The earliest form of the Creed that we know of is
found in the Apostolic Tradition, written around
215 CE.
 It is an early church order, meaning that it
offered authoritative answers to questions of
liturgy, church organization, etc.
 Excerpt: “Do you believe in Christ Jesus, Son of
God, who was born by the Holy Spirit out of Mary
the Virgin, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate
and died and was buried, and rose on the third
day alive from among the dead, and ascended
into heaven…”

12.  The first time that the Creed is titled the
Apostles’ Creed is around 390 CE, when it
appears in a letter, presumably
written by Ambrose, Bishop of
Milan.
It is so named in order to
demonstrate that the tradition
and belief handed down from the
apostles remained intact.

13.  The Nicene Creed was produced by the first
ecumenical council of the church at Nicea in
318 CE.
 The purpose of this Council
was to unify the new Christian
Roman Empire that had been
severely divided by the
teachings of a priest named
Arius.

14.  The division was so potentially costly that it
threatened the whole empire.
 Constantine, the Emperor,
hoped that a unified
expression of Christianity
would be the “glue” that held
the empire together.

15. The Creed that was formed at Nicea was an
innovation in three ways:
1. It brought the church into a cooperative
relationship with the state, something that
people have debated and continue to debate if
that was ultimately good for Christianity.
2. It imposed a universal creed to take precedence
over local creeds. This new creed was to
become the benchmark for all orthodox belief.
3. It uses philosophical language to articulate the
Christian story.

16.  It did not quell the Arian controversy, which
became even more divisive in the following
years after this council.
 Emperor Theodosius I called a synod in
Constantinople in May of 381. Over 150
bishops attended. These bishops drafted a
new creed, which we call the Nicene-
Constantinople Creed. This is the form that
is recited in churches around the world today.

17. We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of
the Father, God from God, Light from Light ,true God from true God,
begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things
were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven :by the power of the
Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was
buried. On the third day he rose 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.
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.

18.  January 25: God the Father