Church History: Examining the Creeds and Confessions of the Church Through the Ages and Why They Matter.
Lesson 4: The Nicene Creed
So far, in our study of church history we have seen:
An overview of the last 2,000 years of church history.
The creeds which are found within the Bible itself.
The early church documents called the Didache and the Apostles’ Creed.
Tonight, we are going to examine the first - and some would call the most significant - ecumenical council of the church: The Council of Nicea.
The History of the Council
Up until the fourth century, the Christian Church suffered persecution from Rome.
But in 313, the Edict of Milan made Christian worship legal within the Roman Empire.
This was the result of the Emperor Constantine having converted to Christianity after believing he had seen a sign of the cross in the sky prior to the Battle of Milvian Bridge, and he believed that sign had brought him victory.
At this time in history, Rome was a hodgepodge of religions and beliefs.
And within Christianity, there was also serious debate taking place about foundational doctrines.
Most specifically the doctrine of Christology (i.e. the person and nature of Jesus Christ).
It was a time of serious turmoil, with graffiti on town walls, pamphlet wars and vicious rhetoric being spewed between debating groups.
Dr. James White has pointed out that such was the religious climate of that day that when purchasing a loaf of bread, a person could be asked if he believed the son was “begotten” or “unbegotten”.
Constantine invited 1,800 Bishops (1,000 from the east, 800 from the west) from all over the Christian world to attend a council and settle their theological disputes in Nicea in AD325.
There was not an official count made of those who actually attended, but Athanasius counted 318 in total.
Each Bishop was allowed to bring two priests and three deacons, so it is likely that there were close to 2,000 people present for the council.
This was the first ecumenical (world-wide) gathering of the church.
Among the Bishops was one who would take center stage in the debate.
The Presbyter Arius proposed the idea that Jesus, while having a form of divinity, was not coequal or coeternal with the Father.
In opposition to Arius was Alexander of Alexandria and Athanasius, who contended that Jesus was fully divine, bring coequal and coeternal with the Father.
This may seem like a simple and somewhat small debate, but it has tremendous consequences in Christian thought.
It is essentially asking the question: Is Jesus created, or uncreated?
Is Jesus Creator of all, or is He a part of the Created order?
It is important to realize that Arius was not denying that Christ was divine or even that He was the creator of the whole universe.
Arius believed Jesus created everything “else”.
But Arius rejected that Jesus Himself was uncreated.
In the council, a very specific set of ideas was being debated.
Homoousia - Christ is of the “same substance” with the Father.
Homoiousia - Christ is of “similar substance” with the Father.
Heteroousia - Christ is of “difference substance” than the Father.
Arius continued to argue that the Son was not eternal, but rather created by God as His first creation, and through Him all “other” things were made.
This would mean that he took the “Heteroousia” position.
The semi-arians took the “homoiousia” position”
NOTE: The modern expression of this is within the Jehovah Witness movement, who still argue that the Son of not coequal or coeternal with the Father. They have even written their own Bible translation “The New World Translation” which has many errors by the translators which attempt to deny the complete eternality and divinity of Christ.
The Decisions Reached by the Council
The council decided overwhelmingly against the Arian position.
Of all the Bishops present, only two refused to sign the creed which was adopted containing the language of “homoousia”.
These two, along with Arius, were banished to Illyria.
The Arian Controversy was not the only decision made by the council.
There was also debate about dating and celebrating Resurrection Sunday (also called Easter).
They knew that the crucifixion and resurrection coincided with the Jewish Passover celebration, and yet there was concern that the methods used by the Jews for dating the time was inaccurate.
As a result, the council made the decision to calculate the time of the celebration for themselves.
There was also the suppression of the Meletian Schism.
Meletius of Lycopolis was a Bishop who had created a stir because he refused to receive back into fellowship those who had avoided persecution by renouncing their faith and subsequently repented of that decision.
Other Bishops had openly welcomed back those who had repented, but Meletius was stern in his position.
He was called by his superior Peter, the Bishop of Alexandria (not the apostle) as a “disturber of the peace of the church.”
Some even believe that it was Meletius who ordained Arius, which would have been an interesting situation, but there is no proof of this claim.
The Council of Nicea attempted to make peace with the Meletians, allowing Meletius to remain the Biship of Lycopolis, but he was no longer allowed to ordain bishops and those he had ordained were accepted under certain conditions and had to be re-ordained.
Meletius died shortly after the Council, and attempts to bring unity were unfruitful, and the Meletians ended up siding with the Arians in the controversies which followed Nicea.
There was also the establishment of 20 new Canon Laws (laws for the church).
These canons regarded issues ranging from the establishment of a minimum term for catechumen (persons studying for baptism) to a prohibition of kneeling on Sundays and during Pentecost (standing was considered the normative posture for prayer; kneeling was seen as penitential prayer and not appropriate for the celebration of the Lord’s Day or the 50 days following Resurrection Sunday).
The Creed Established at the Council
Down through the ages, there have been many iterations of and additions to the Nicene Creed.
In fact, within the 4th Century, there was another council (held at Constantinople in 381) which revised the creed in response to the Pneumatomachian heresy, which denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit.
Most churches today which recite the creed use a version similar to this one:
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. 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.
All versions contain important points regarding the divinity of Christ.
All say, “one substance/being”
This is the language of Homoousia.
This was the crux of the debate, and continues to be today.
All say, “Begotten, Not Made”.
The creeds affirm that Christ is “from” God the Father, in that He shares His essence.
But they reject that He is part of the created order; because He shares the essence of the Father, He is coequal and coeternal with the Father.
NOTE: Some people reject the phrase “begotten God”, but it is a phrase used in Scripture
John 1:18 (NASB) “No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” [[ monogenh\ß qeo\ß ]]
Note regarding the Filioque Clause.
Certain versions say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. This is certainly in keeping with some of the Scriptures wherein Jesus made the point that He would send us another Comforter.
However, within the history of the church there were those who believed that such language made the Holy Spirit subservient (and lesser) to God the Father and the Son. As such they rejected that clause in the creed.
The Controversies Surrounding the Council
Contrary to popular belief, the Council of Nicea had nothing to do with the choosing of the books which would be included in the Bible
This is a major controversy which is often espoused by those who want to attack the faith (It was even used by Dan Brown in the Davinci Code).
Many people want to charge Constantine with suppression of certain books and establishing his own historical Jesus with the Gospels of Matthew - John.
This is a historical inaccuracy, and anyone who states such is ignorant of the facts. There is nothing in the Nicene documents to indicate that anything regarding the Canon of Scripture was discussed or decided.
The council is also not responsible for “making Jesus God”.
Many liberal scholars say that Jesus was “made God” at the council, which is absurd.
This, again, demonstrates a serious ignorance of history.
The Church had understood Christ as both Lord and God since His resurrection (Consider the testimony of Thomas!).
One simply needs to read the writings of those who were Christians in this early period to understand what the Doctrine concerning the Trinity was.
Justin Martyr (100-165 AD): "...the Father of the universe has a Son; who being the Logos and First-begotten is also God" (First Apology 63:15).
Irenaeus (130-200 AD): (referencing Jesus) "...Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Savior, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, . . ." (Against Heresies I, x, 1)
Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD): "Both as God and as man, the Lord renders us every kind of help and service. As God He forgives sin, as man He educates us to avoid sin completely" (Christ the Educator, chapter 3.1). In addition, "Our educator, O children, resembles His Father, God, whose son He is. He is without sin, without blame, without passion of soul, God immaculate in form of man accomplishing His Father's will" (Christ the Educator Chapter 2:4).
Hippolytus (170-236 AD): "And the blessed John in the testimony of his gospel, gives us an account of this economy and acknowledges this Word as God, when he says, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.' If then the Word was with God and was also God, what follows? Would one say that he speaks of two Gods? I shall not, indeed, speak of two Gods, but of one; of two persons, however, and of a third economy, the grace of the Holy Ghost" (Against the Heresy of One Noetus. 14).
Tertullian (150-225 AD): "...the only God has also a Son, his Word who has proceeded from himself, by whom all things were made and without whom nothing has been made: that this was sent by the Father into the virgin and was born of her both man and God. Son of Man, Son of God, ..." (Against Praxeas, 2).
Melito, bishop of Sardis (Excerpt from a sermon preached around 180 AD)“And so he was lifted up upon a tree and an inscription was attached indicating who was being killed. Who was it? It is a grievous thing to tell, but a most fearful thing to refrain from telling. But listen, as you tremble before him on whose account the earth trembled! He who hung the earth in place is hanged. He who fixed the heavens in place is fixed in place. He who made all things fast is made fast on a tree. The Sovereign is insulted. God is murdered. The King of Israel is destroyed by an Israelite hand. This is the One who made the heavens and the earth, and formed mankind in the beginning, The One proclaimed by the Law and the Prophets, The One enfleshed in a virgin, The One hanged on a tree, The One buried in the earth, The One raised from the dead and who went up into the heights of heaven, The One sitting at the right hand of the Father, The One having all authority to judge and save, Through Whom the Father made the things which exist from the beginning of time. This One is “the Alpha and the Omega,” This One is “the beginning and the end”—the beginning indescribable and the end incomprehensible. This One is the Christ. This One is the King. This One is Jesus. This One is the Leader. This One is the Lord. This One is the One who rose from the dead. This One is the One sitting on the right hand of the Father. He bears the Father and is borne by the Father. “To him be the glory and the power forever. Amen.”
We see in just these few excerpts that these men all understood Jesus Christ to be fully God and fully man.
So, though we have no specific doctrinal statements coming out of this era, we can know beyond doubt what the faith of the early church was regarding these doctrines.
Conclusion: This council stands in history as the first major ecumenical council involving Bishops from many different regions within the Roman Empire.
It sought to answer one of the most important foundational questions within Christianity, that of the nature of Christ.
And it set the precedent which would be followed by other important councils in the centuries to come.
