Each week, churches around the globe confess their ancient faith, faith once delivered, passed down through saints, martyrs, reformers, and weary sinners who clung to it in the dark. The Nicene Creed is both the most universally accepted statement of Christian doctrine and the most comprehensive summary of it. A key phrase, often uttered without…
We Believe: Who Has Spoken Through the Prophets
The Nicene Creed of 325 ended with only one phrase on the Holy Spirit: [We believe] “in the Holy Spirit.” Due to the issue of Marcionism, the bishops at Constantinople in 381 added a new section on the Spirit, which included the words “who has spoken through the prophets.” Why was this necessary, and what…
We Believe: One Baptism for the Forgiveness of Sins
The Nicene Creed teaches not only who God is but also what God has done for his people. After confessing that the church is “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic,” we then say, “and we acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.” This part of the creed—“one baptism for the forgiveness”—can’t be separated from everything…
We Believe: Who With the Father and the Son is Worshiped and Glorified
Wait. If the Nicene Creed has already established that the Holy Spirit is God, “the Lord, the giver of life,” why must we then confess that, “with the Father and the Son, [the Holy Spirit] is worshiped and glorified”? We find no such addendum attached to the sections on the Father and the Son. Why…
We Believe: And His Kingdom Will Have No End
Old Testament Context This line from the Nicene Creed, “and his kingdom will have no end,” is a simple case of Old Testament continuity and fulfillment. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it…
We Believe: To Judge the Living and the Dead
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations.” Matthew 25:32 When the Lord Jesus returns to earth in glory, as discussed in our last reflection on the Nicene Creed, it will not…
We Believe: He Will Come Again in Glory
Up until this point in the Creed, we have confessed what Christ has done in the past. When we confess “He will come again,” our attention pivots rapidly from the past to the future: What our Lord Jesus Christ will do, in time to come. We lift our eyes to the horizon of time, and we see the finish…
We Believe: In the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life
As we commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed from the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, our focus shifts to the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD to explore the profound theological affirmation of the Holy Spirit’s divinity encapsulated in the phrase, “…We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of…
We Believe: He Ascended into Heaven
After Jesus rose from the dead, many of his followers thought that he would soon bring about the end of history, a final judgment upon all evil and wickedness in the world, and a permanent restoration of Israel. But instead, Jesus commands his disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit, and he ascends into the…
We Believe: In Accordance with the Scriptures
At first glance, it’s easy to assume that the Nicene Creed’s phrase “in accordance with the Scriptures” refers to one or two Old Testament proof texts. After all, Paul uses this exact formula in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4: Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures … he was raised on the third day in accordance…
