A New Creed? The ACNA’s Revised Translation of the Nicene Creed

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The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has recently released its 2019 Book of Common Prayer (BCP).

For most ACNA churches, the revised translation of the Nicene Creed will likely be the most apparent liturgical change on a Sunday morning. This is at least the case for our church (Church of the Redeemer in Nashville, TN).

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The Nicene Creed is the Church’s ancient statement of faith.

With the exception of one tiny clause, it can be confessed, or at least its contents affirmed, by every Christian tradition and denomination. The Church has said it as part of our liturgy since the fourth century A.D.

The version of the Nicene Creed we say is, of course, a translation of the Greek original. With all translations, there are certain disputed elements. Revising it, therefore, will continue to happen over time. The translation that Redeemer has used until now was first introduced via the Episcopal Church in 1979.

When I was a kid, I memorized a much older version of the Creed. When the new one came, the one we use now, I had to change. It was a much greater change than the one we’re about to experience. I remember disliking it.

However, since I’ve used this translation of the Creed for 40 years, I’ve grown quite accustomed to it. I expect I will occasionally stumble over the new one.

Below, you’ll see the revised translation next to the current 1979 one. As you compare them side by side, you’ll see there are only a few changes.

I have marked all the changes in red, with the previous words marked in blue. To learn more, read my comments about the changes below.

1979 BCP

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
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 worshiped 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.

2019 BCP

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, visible and invisible.

We believe in one Lord,
Jesus Christ,
the only-begotten 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,
was incarnate from the Holy Spirit 

and 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],
who with the Father and the Son
is worshiped and glorified,
who 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.

Notice the following changes.

1. “Visible and invisible”, rather than “seen and unseen.”

This change aligns the new translation more closely with the original Greek (ὁρατῶν τε πάντων καὶ ἀοράτων). I see it as making the scope larger.

Unseen things may just be things I can’t see right now, but can be seen later. For instance, I can’t see the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville right now, but I can see it later if I want.

Invisible things, however, can be things no human being can ever see. They are spiritual things, things beyond my comprehension.

2. “Only-begotten,” rather than “only.”

Once again, this change aligns the new translation more closely with the original Greek (τὸν μονογενῆ). Also, it is more correct.

Christ isn’t God’s only son in the sense that you and I are also his children (sons). However, he is the Father’s only begotten son.

Of course, we don’t precisely understand what it means that he is begotten. But, whatever it means, he’s the only one.

3. “Was incarnate” from the Holy Spirit, rather than “by the power” of the Holy Spirit.

You guessed it, this is a better translation of the Greek (σαρκωθέντα ἐκ Πνεύματος Ἁγίου).

By removing the “power of the Holy Spirit,” it seems that the newer translation is removing an artificial degree of separation between God and the Virgin Mary at the Incarnation.

4. “And the Son.”

This is the sticky widget of the Nicene Creed, the one phrase that has caused the most historical drama.

The original version of the Nicene Creed did not include this phrase. For the past thousand years or so, the Western Church has included the phrase, while the Eastern Church has not.

Here’s what the ACNA College of Bishops stated about the Nicene Creed in 2013:

RESOLVED, The normative form of the Nicene Creed for the Anglican Church in North America is the original text as adopted by the Councils of Nicaea (325 A.D.) and Constantinople (381 A.D.). This form shall be rendered in English in the best and most ac-curate translation achievable.

RESOLVED, The Anglican Church in North America acknowledges that the form of the Nicene Creed customary in the West is that of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, including the words “and the Son” (filioque), which form may be used in worship and for elucidation of doctrine.

5. “Who” rather than “he.”

OK, just one more time: the new version of the Creed is more faithful to the original Greek.

In the original language of the Creed, the Holy Spirit is, linguistically, neuter (as opposed to masculine or feminine).

While the Holy Spirit is a person and not an “it,” the Bible itself is often non-specific about the Spirit’s gender. Neutral pronouns are often (though not always) used, with both masculine and feminine words and images assigned to the Spirit.

It seems that, for this and possibly other reasons, the original writers of the Creed preferred “who” to “he,” “she,” or “it.”

Published on

July 1, 2019
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Thomas McKenzie

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Thomas McKenzie

The late Rev. Thomas McKenzie was an early friend and contributor to the site now known as Anglican Compass. He was the founding rector of Church of the Redeemer in Nashville, Tennessee. Along with his oldest child, he passed away in an automobile accident on August 21, 2021.

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I guess we’ve been using the “new one” for quite a while now. It’s the one I am accustomed to.

Reply

Excellent article. Fr. McKenzie!

One additional note/clarification on the restoration of 1662’s “only-begotten” in place of 1979’s “only”:

The ICET text, which BCP 1979 follows, renders monogene merely as ‘only’, which is a contemporary minimalist
rendering of the Greek that has been regnant in latter 20th century Biblical scholarship (RSV, NRSV, NIV, all
render John 3:16 “Only Son”) thanks largely to a SINGLE journal article on etymology in 1953.
BUT – this late consensus is being challenged at both the level of first-century New Testament Koine Greek Scholarship AND patristic greek scholarship.

Basically, in 1st century Koine, while monogene can mean simply ‘only’, it yet retains some semantic-footprint overlap with the concept of species-generation (“only-begotten”) and those currents of meaning are sometimes present in its usage. Sort of like how “awesome” doesn’t mean “full of awe” as it once did, but that meaning is not absent from its usage today. Put another way — whether the etymology of mono-gene comes from gene or gennao is besides the point, for the fields of meaning of gene and gennao share linguistic common ground, and therefore to say something is “one of a kind” (monogene) is to also be speaking of its origin (mono-gennetos — a word that doesn’t exist in greek until the 2nd century).

Moreover, while Biblical scholars and linguists can and do argue about the meaning of monogenes when St. John used that word in the Gospel, it is beyond question that the fathers of Nicea, Athanasius chief among them, understood the term mono-genes to mean “only-begotten”. Even apart from the fact that they knew Greek better than any scholar alive today, since for them it was their mother tongue, they fixed this meaning for us in the creed they promulgated.

Lastly, since this is the language (“only-begotten”) that was used in the 1662 BCP — which was determined to be the theological plumb-line for the BCP 2019, this clinched the deal, and the College of Bishops thus came to agree on the present translation .

Reply

Just a note on your last point: English uses the gender of the pronoun (he / she / it) to indicate the gender of the referent (male / female / neuter). Greek, like many other languages, does not always do this – that is, grammatical gender does not always indicate biological gender. (In German, all cats are grammatically female. But in Germany, about half of all cats are presumably biologically male.) The grammatical gender Greek use in reference to the Holy Spirit is essentially meaningless in determining the ‘gender’ of the Holy Spirit … and that, of course, immediately raises the question of what talking about the biological ‘gender’ of the Holy Spirit might even mean. The Greek word for spirit is πνεῦμα is grammatically female, but that doesn’t mean the Holy Spirit is a sacred woman …’who’ is fine in the new creed, but ‘he’ was also fine as long as you understand what you’re saying.

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John 14:17 records Jesus as using the pronoun “he” when referring to the Holy Ghost. We cannot say that Jesus made a mistake. But many say that the Bible is full of translation mistakes… and we eventually land in a place where two dudes can marry, according to some. We should stick with “he”, like Jesus said. We are nuancing ourselves into oblivian.

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I think these changes provide some clarity, and are helpful. They do not change anything doctrinal.

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It seems odd to use a phase in error when posting a document related to word and phraseology clarification. I think you meant a “sticky wicket” and not a “sticky widget”.

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I don’t know if this is the right forum, but I have a question about a passage in the Nicene Creed and have been unable to find anything in scripture that addresses it. The passage is: “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.” My question is: If Christ is coming again to judge both the living and the dead, what is the status of the immortal souls of everyone who has passed from this life in the meantime? For lack of a better way of phrasing it, until Christ comes again, are the souls of all who have passed from this life already in some sort of a holding pattern?

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Awesome and I dont want a new translation.

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