Book Review: The Nicene Creed by Kevin DeYoung
Kevin DeYoung. The Nicene Creed: What You Need to Know about the Most Important Creed Ever Written. Wheaton: Crossway, 2025. 93 pp. $12.00 (Paperback).
Since 2025 is the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, it should be no surprise that we have seen an abundance of new books, teachings, and articles about the Nicene Creed. In fact, here at Anglican Compass, we have been part of that abundance with our own ongoing series on each phrase of the Creed! The Creed deserves this attention as we cannot overstate its importance. No other confession of faith has held such a universal claim to being the Creed of the whole Church. Sunday by Sunday, millions of Christians (including virtually all Anglicans) stand together to confess the Creed’s words.
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In his new book, aptly titled The Nicene Creed: What You Need to Know about the Most Important Creed Ever Written, Kevin DeYoung highlights this importance, offering Evangelical readers a short, approachable work which provides both theological clarity and pastoral application.
Why Evangelicals Need the Creed
Given his background, it is hardly surprising that DeYoung would both want to write a book on the Nicene Creed and be well equipped to do so. He is the senior pastor of a congregation in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), a professor at Reformed Theological Seminary, a council member for The Gospel Coalition (TGC), and was the moderator for the 52nd General Assembly of the PCA in June of this year. The Nicene Creed is the third book in his “Foundational Tools for Our Faith” series, following volumes on the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer. These “Foundational Tools” books are written to be accessible resources for ordinary Christians, covering the basic topics of traditional catechesis.
As noted above, DeYoung’s intended audience is Evangelical, especially those who are Reformed-leaning and theologically conservative. The same readership is typically served well by Crossway and The Gospel Coalition. While DeYoung assumes a basic familiarity with the creeds, he is aware that his audience may include those who do not regularly recite them (if at all). For DeYoung, such minimal acquaintance is inadequate. Indeed, in the Preface, he makes a case for the importance of the Nicene Creed, writing that it “may be the most important Christian text ever written” after the Bible. If this is true, then Evangelical Christians cannot afford to treat the Creed as a relic of the past, but rather must come to know it more deeply, understand it more clearly, and recite it more regularly as a living confession of faith.
Not Just for the High Church Crowd
This does not mean, however, that more liturgical Christians, such as Anglicans, would not find DeYoung’s work educational and helpful. Nor does DeYoung’s Reformed theology mean that this is a specifically Calvinist book. In approaching the Nicene Creed, he is broad enough to serve any Protestant reader, including Anglicans.
That said, some Anglicans (and most Lutherans) may find his closing chapter on baptism to be a bit weak and too conciliatory toward the Baptist view. While stating his disagreement with Baptists over the validity of infant baptism, he does not present a robust argument for the predominant historic position in favor of paedobaptism. Similarly, in emphasizing the necessity of faith, he writes: “Baptism has everything to do with the remission of sins, and baptism does not automatically convey this remission to the recipient.” For Lutherans and some Anglicans with a “higher” sacramental theology, this position may seem to undermine the efficacy of baptism.
For a Roman Catholic reader, this quibble would become even more pronounced due to the Catholic position of ex opere operato (“by the work worked”), whereby the sacraments are the direct instruments of grace. Similarly, DeYoung’s explanation of the Creed’s description of the Church as One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic would be objectionable to Roman Catholics. DeYoung affirms an invisible and essential unity despite the Church’s visible and institutional divisions, which sharply contrasts with the Roman Catholic view of itself as the one true Church. Indeed, DeYoung specifically says that the belief in the catholicity of the Church is not a confession of faith in the “Roman Catholic Church.” Again, DeYoung’s intended audience is Protestants in general, and Evangelical Protestants in particular.
Nicaea in a Nutshell
In The Nicene Creed, DeYoung focuses on seven phrases from the Creed, each with its own chapter: “We Believe,” “Only Begotten,” “One Substance,” “For Us and for Our Salvation,” “Who Proceeds from the Father and the Son,” “One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church,” and “One Baptism for the Remission of Sins.”
This framework keeps the book accessible for a general readership, avoiding the overwhelming minutiae of historical debates or exhaustive word studies. Yet DeYoung does not neglect history. He opens with a concise overview of the Council of Nicaea in AD 325, situating the Creed within its fourth-century context. He introduces the major figures, such as Athanasius of Alexandria and Arius, explains the role of Emperor Constantine, and briefly sketches the aftermath of the council, including the continuing Arian controversies that stretched into the later councils of Constantinople in 381 and beyond. For readers with a sense of church history shaped more by The Da Vinci Code than by reliable scholarship, this brief historical account offers a much-needed corrective, delivering clarity without belaboring the fine details.
Throughout the book, DeYoung addresses subjects such as the importance of doctrine, correct belief about the Trinity, the centrality of salvation (soteriology), and the basics of ecclesiology (the doctrine of the Church). As I read, I found myself highlighting many short passages, such as his description of the difference between a creed and a confession, for future use in my own teaching and preaching.
The Filioque Debate, Then and Now
DeYoung’s handling of the theological controversies surrounding the Nicene Creed, such as the Filioque clause, will be of special interest to Anglican readers. Given the book’s slimness, I was surprised that he would choose the double procession of the Holy Spirit as a point of focus! In this chapter, he outlines the history of the Filioque, the respective perspectives of the Greek-speaking and Latin-speaking churches, and even some possibilities for reconciliation. For example, DeYoung cites the “compromise formula” (“from the Father through the Son”) from the Council of Florence (1431-1445) as a better way to understand double procession. He also defends the Eastern model as “causal” and the Western model as “relational,” suggesting that both views are necessary.
This is especially relevant for Anglicans, since the 2019 Book of Common Prayer places the Filioque in brackets, a deliberate decision that reflects both Anglican continuity with the Western Church and sensitivity to ecumenical concerns. Parishes are free either to include the phrase, thereby affirming the historic Latin development, or to omit it, aligning more closely with the original Greek text of the Creed still used by the Orthodox. In this way, the Anglican Church in North America has chosen to hold space for both theological fidelity and ecumenical charity. While DeYoung’s position will never satisfy our Eastern Orthodox friends, he is charitable and models how theological reasoning can illuminate long-standing controversies.
A Great Catechism Companion
DeYoung is certainly successful in his aim to make the book accessible. At 93 pages, it is short enough to read over the course of a few days or to use as the basis for a small group or Sunday School series. As with many of his other books, the language and tone are conversational, suitable for both laypeople and clergy. While DeYoung does not shy away from theologically technical terms or concepts, he always explains them in a way that will not put off readers. His examples and explanations are incredibly helpful, and I even found myself citing him on one issue in a recent homily. Another bonus is that he also includes two indices, a general index and a Scripture index (a pleasant surprise for such a short book).
In the end, The Nicene Creed: What You Need to Know about the Most Important Creed Ever Written is a worthwhile addition to a pastor’s library. It offers quotable nuggets that I expect to revisit for future classes or sermons, particularly on Trinitarian feast days such as Trinity Sunday, Epiphany, and the Transfiguration. Where the book truly shines, however, is in its accessibility to curious or questioning laypeople. In that spirit, it serves as an excellent resource for small group discussions or classroom study. Used alongside our provincial catechism, To Be a Christian, it would make an ideal supplement or follow-up study for catechesis.
DeYoung’s The Nicene Creed is a resource worth reading and a timely reminder of why Anglicans confess the Creed week by week.
Image: Cover of The Nicene Creed, © Crossway.
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