The Nicene Creed: A Rookie Anglican Guide
The Nicene Creed is a confession of Christian faith in the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. First drafted by bishops gathered at the Council of Nicaea in 325, all major Christian denominations now affirm the Creed as a fundamental expression of the faith.
For Anglicans, the Nicene Creed is also a regular feature of Sunday worship. In our communion liturgy, we stand and, as a congregation, declare the creed, rehearsing each week the basic content and story of our faith. In so doing, we remind ourselves every week of God’s grace to us in his Son Jesus Christ, and we confess that he is both Savior and Lord.
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The History of the Creed
The Nicene Creed gets its name from a worldwide gathering of bishops in the city of Nicaea in 325. Constantine, the ascendant Emperor of Rome, called this council to resolve a theological controversy associated with Arius, a priest from Alexandria, Egypt.
The Arian Controversy
Arius believed it was impossible to maintain Jesus’ full divinity while maintaining the fundamental principle of Monotheism. He taught that Jesus was a created being, and that “there was a time when he was not.”
Arianism should not be confused with adoptionism, a heresy that argues Jesus became divine only at his baptism or resurrection. For Arius, Jesus is the Son of God, begotten by God, and thus possesses attributes of divinity, though of a lesser kind. Arius supported his views with scripture, including John 14:28, where Jesus states, “The Father is greater than I.”
The Bishop of Alexandria, himself named Alexander, objected to Arius’ teaching. In his letter against Arius from 318, Alexander explained that Arius’ ideas departed from scripture, especially John 1, which identified Jesus as the divine Word of God, from the beginning:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1
Furthermore, Alexander turned Arius’ scripture citations upside down. He clarified that Jesus’ statement, “the Father is greater than I,” actually refers to the Son being eternally begotten while the Father remains eternally unbegotten. In this eternal begetting, God the Father imparted his full divinity to his Son, which is why Jesus could also say:
I and the Father are one.
John 10:30
Moreover, Alexander explained that Arius’ ideas were incompatible with the fatherhood of God. If Jesus is only a creature and did not always exist, then fatherhood is not part of God’s eternal nature. And in fact, the denial of both Jesus’ divinity and God’s fatherhood would recur centuries later in Muslim theology. But Alexander taught that “the father is always the father,” which entails that God the Father always had a Son.
The Council of Nicaea
Arius left Alexandria but continued promoting his ideas across Mediterranean cities. The controversy intensified with Alexander’s 318 letters and a council of Egyptian bishops in 323. Constantine, who conquered the western Roman Empire in 312 and the eastern part in 321, saw the dispute threatening his empire’s unity and convened a council of bishops to resolve the issue.
Over 200 bishops from across the Roman Empire gathered in Nicaea, near modern-day Constantinople, including a bishop from York, an early presence of Christianity in the British Isles. Saint Nicholas of Myra also participated, although stories of him slapping Arius are likely apocryphal.
Although Constantine presided over the council, he likely didn’t understand the debate, which was in Greek while he spoke Latin. Ultimately, the debate favored Alexander; Arius was banished and anathematized, and the bishops released the first version of what we now call the Nicene Creed.
The Structure of the Creed
The Nicene Creed is divided cleanly into four sections, each one prefaced with the phrase “We believe.” The first three sections articulate our faith in the three persons of the Godhead, followed by a closing section on the Church.
Section 1: The Father
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, visible and invisible.
This statement reflects a clear expression of Christian belief in God the Father, akin to the Apostles Creed’s opening line. A notable detail in this text, not found in the Apostles Creed, is its emphasis on God as the “one God.” The bishops at Nicaea were determined to affirm that Christianity is a monotheistic faith. The Godhead is comprised of three persons who are one God.
The “one God” is the “Father Almighty,” a statement from Alexander’s polemics against Arius. The creator God is also a father, suggesting that if he is eternally a father, he has an eternal Son, as discussed in the next section of the Creed.
Section 2: The Son
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.
The longest section of the Nicene Creed is the second section on the Son. In fact, this section has two different parts.
The first part explains the eternal Son of God, who is “eternally begotten of the Father.” The key phrase here is that the eternal Son is “of one being with the Father,” translating the Greek homoousios. This defines their unity and refutes Arianism.
The second part recounts the Son of God becoming the incarnate Son of Man, Jesus Christ. It shifts from the eternal to the historical, summarizing the four gospels’ narrative of incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, and anticipates Christ’s second coming.
Section 3: The Holy Spirit
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.
The Nicene Creed’s first version included only a brief belief statement in the Holy Spirit. This was expanded at the Council of Constantinople in 381 to affirm the Holy Spirit’s equal divinity, stating he is worshiped with the Father and the Son. Many from charismatic or Pentecostal backgrounds appreciate that this ancient Creed highlights the Holy Spirit’s significance.
In 1024, the pope controversially added the Latin word filioque, meaning “and the Son,” to the Creed. This specification of the Spirit’s procession, rooted in Augustinian theology, sparked ongoing debate. The controversy also stemmed from the Pope modifying the Creed independently, without council approval, leading to the Great Schism of Western and Eastern churches in 1054.
Today, the Western and Eastern Churches seek reconciliation on this issue. The Western Church emphasizes that the filioque was added only to the Latin Creed. The West aims to acknowledge both the original Greek and later Latin versions. Consequently, our ACNA bishops have placed “and the Son” in brackets in our Prayer Book, making it optional for ACNA parishes as determined by local authority.
Section 4: The Church
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.
The fourth and final section of the Creed focuses on the Church. Many who are new to the Creed find this part to be the most confusing. Although many think the term “catholic” refers solely to the Roman Catholic Church, it actually means “universal.” Therefore, the true Church goes beyond denominational boundaries, encompassing everyone baptized and reborn into the body of Christ. Similarly, the term “apostolic” does not pertain to denominations that include “Apostolic” in their titles; rather, it indicates the Church derived from the apostles and committed to the New Testament teachings.
The Creed in the Sunday Service
For Anglicans, the Creed is not a dead letter of abstract doctrine but rather a lived experience of Sunday worship. It reminds us of our faith, sets forth our unity, and connects the readings to the larger story of God and his gospel in Christ.
Some object to the weekly proclamation of the Creed because it is not accessible or can become rote and meaningless. While these are valid concerns, I believe we can best address them with instruction and seasonal variation rather than removing the Creed entirely.
Reminder and Formation
The Creed serves as a continual reminder of our faith. Its regular recitation, often viewed as a weakness, is actually beneficial for teaching and molding our understanding of the fundamental principles of Christianity. Additionally, while the Creed itself remains unchanged, we grow and change. As we move through various stages of life, we engage with the Creed and its teachings in new and vibrant ways.
This process goes beyond mere academic interest. In his examination of Phillip Carey’s book on the Nicene Creed, Ben Brown cites research showing that Arianism is notably present among American evangelicals. Bishop C. FitzSimons Allison, in his esteemed work The Cruelty of Heresy, explores how ancient heresies, such as Arianism, are closely associated with vices, idolatry, and the diminishing of faith: “Each heresy in its way encourages some flaw in our human nature” (Allison, 23).
We constantly need reminders that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit constitute God. This provides assurance that the way of the cross through Jesus Christ is indeed God’s way. Each day, the world presents alternative routes. On Sundays, we recite the Nicene Creed, reaffirming our belief that Jesus is divine and that only his way leads to resurrection and eternal life.
A Common Proclamation For Times Of Doubt
When the congregation stands and proclaims its faith together, it demonstrates our unity. We are unified with the church across time, with the church across the world, and with the church across the aisle in our own congregation. This collective affirmation is particularly beneficial during seasons of doubt. In a powerful article on her crisis of faith, Kate Miller describes how the Nicene Creed helped to defend her faith:
When we stood to recite the Nicene Creed, I found myself unable to say the words. So I stood there, and I let the words wash over me. On this day, when I couldn’t confirm my faith, those around me upheld it for me. No one was searching for words awkwardly or dispensing platitudes or half-truths. They defended their faith and mine using the ancient words of the Nicene Creed.
The Liturgical Location of the Creed
In traditional Prayer Books, Cranmer placed the Creed after the readings and before the sermon. In this location, the Creed provides context to individual readings, situating them within the larger gospel story. Starting with the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and continuing in the 2019 edition, the Creed appears after the sermon.
While this modern arrangement aligns the readings and the sermon, it neglects Cranmer’s original intent for the Creed. To accommodate both purposes, I propose a third option, of placing the Creed before the readings. In this structure, the larger story comes first, followed by specific readings within that story, and then the sermon can connect the readings back to the larger story.
- Readings – Creed – Sermon (traditional prayer books)
- Readings – Sermon – Creed (modern prayer books)
- Creed – Readings – Sermon (proposed alternative)
Responding to Objections
One objection to using the Creed in worship is its inaccessibility to newcomers and unbelievers. In my experience, however, these visitors rarely have a problem with the Creed. To the contrary, visitors typically want to understand a church’s beliefs, and the Nicene Creed provides a strong answer. Often, it is rather the church members who have grown tired of reciting the Creed or who see it as rote.
To my mind, the best approach is to provide enhanced and more frequent teaching on the Creed. This will educate newcomers and enable Christians to value the wonderful opportunity they have to proclaim their faith every week.
Another idea is to incorporate seasonal changes in the choice of Creed, such as using the Nicene Creed from Advent until Pentecost, and then the Apostles Creed during Ordinary Time. (For a really deep dive, consider saying the Athanasian Creed on Trinity Sunday!) This provides consistency that aids memorization while also introducing enough variety to maintain interest in the service.
Conclusion
The Nicene Creed sets forth, in a short space, a remarkably rich summary of the Christian faith. Beginning as a defense of the divinity of Jesus Christ, it expanded into a clear articulation of the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Today, the Nicene Creed provides not only a connection to the ancient Church but also an invitation to rediscover the Trinitarian faith. Together, we proclaim what we believe.
Image: Council of Nicea 325 Fresco in Salone Sistino, Vatican, by Giovanni Guerra and Cesare Nebbia (1590). Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
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