The Nicene Creed is the gospel distilled—a refined and concentrated byproduct of Scripture’s own witness to the grace and power of God in Jesus Christ.
This year marks the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed (AD 325), perhaps the most important work of theology ever written, outside of the Bible itself. That’s right, I’m not exaggerating, the Nicene Creed is likely the most important theological work that has ever been written. Its importance and authority outstrip Augustine’s Confessions and The City of God. It casts loftier visions than Theresa of Alvia’s, The Interior Castle or Athanasius’, Life of Antony. The Nicene Creed is much, much shorter than Aquinas’, Summa Theologica or Karl Barth’s, Church Dogmatics but it has a lot more to say if you let it rattle around in your head and heart. Martin Luther’s, Commentary on Galatians and John Calvin’s, Institutes of the Christian Religion both give us a gospel without works, but the Nicene Creed is the gospel distilled—a refined and concentrated byproduct of Scripture’s own witness to the grace and power of God in Jesus Christ. If the Nicene Creed suffers anything, it is its own familiarity to countless Christians who take for granted its richness and often do not stop to reflect upon its statements.
Historical Christian Creeds today suffer a bias, even within Christianity. That bias usually sounds something like this: “The Creeds are just man-made. They are not Scripture. We have to be careful not to treat them as something equal to Scripture. I mean, the Church just made them up.” This sounds like sagely advice for those who put the Bible first. After all, especially in Protestant traditions, Scripture must remain the foundation and final authority concerning all theology. But the objection is also a strawman because no Protestant church using the creed thinks its authority is equal to Scripture. Instead, the Creeds are a summary of the essentials taught in Scripture.
This argument is basically saying, “Hey, I don’t think you can use the creeds as any kind of authority, because the only real authority is the Bible.” But the Bible is not the only authority in a Christian’s life. It is the authority by which we judge all other authorities. When Scripture tells us to obey church elders, for example, it is giving us another authority than the Bible. Other authorities include: our consciences, teachers, preachers, authors, parents and friends—to name just a few. People who argue against the Creeds—at least in my experience—never argue against pastors giving sermons. Which, when you think about it is strange, since the pastor’s sermon also acts as a commentary on Scripture—just like the Creeds do. But the Creeds have the advantage of being ecumenically codified—that is, the Church united behind them (how often can we say that about Church differences?).
The Nicene Creed came about because the Church cared deeply about Jesus Christ and the gospel. Implicit in the construction of a creed is a theology of the Church—what is the Church supposed to do, why does it exist, and how should it function? What should it teach, confess and determine as essential? By creating creeds, the Church reveals its role as an authoritative witness to the truth about Jesus Christ. “Church” has come to mean many things to many people over the centuries, but I use it here broadly—not as a formal institution, but as the body of confessing believers in Jesus Christ (which can, of course, include the institution).
The Church constructs a creed because it is called to teach the truth about who Jesus is. Thus, the Church has a role in properly confessing the truth about Jesus Christ. Just as a witness to an event has a responsibility to tell the truth of what they have seen, and just as only a witness has the authority to speak on the matter (in court hear sayers have no authority), the Church is both empowered and equipped to speak on the matter.
But what makes Creeds particularly important is that they are interactive. You can passively read Augustine’s Confessions and learn a lot. But the Nicene Creed has you stand up and confess what you believe: “We believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and earth…” There is no passivity here, only a summons. A summons to join in the refrain of the gospel, to make the truth of the ages, my own.
And make no mistake, the Nicene Creed is a masterful summation of the gospel. Why? Because the Creed is a confession of who Christ is: Very God, the Son of God, sent from the Father, who has taken on flesh, and lived and died to take away our sin. He is the giver of the Holy Spirit, founder of the Church, and will come again to establish his Kingdom. In him is “forgiveness of sins” and “the resurrection of the dead.” And in him we have hope for we look forward to, “the life and the world to come.”
This brilliant theology was formed out of controversy. Particularly, the Arian Controversy, a heresy that stemmed from a man named Arius. Arius’ teachings said that Christ came from nothing and once there was a time when Christ was not, among other teachings. This worried the bishops of the day, for good reason, for it challenged the idea that Jesus was truly God. If he were not truly God, he could not take our sins away, and everything would fall apart.
So, as Philip Cary puts it in his book, The Nicene Creed: An Introduction:
The Nicene Creed was written to say no, in the strongest possible terms, to that [Arian] kind of Christian paganism. It said no by saying yes to who God really is, and who Jesus is…The no is important because of the yes. To say no is to draw a boundary and say, “We’re not going there, because that’s not who Christ is.”
That’s why, churches and denominations that don’t use the Nicene Creed are putting themselves in danger. The danger lies in the subtle slippage that can occur when these foundational truths about God are tweaked. Notice, for just one example, how the Creed never once tells us what we have to do. Instead, the creed is all about what is done and what God is doing—for us.
Of course, the Nicene Creed is not a tell-all of Christian theology. Christians have a lot of things that Scripture tells us we must do. But that’s why the Nicene Creed is so important: It’s a summation of the gospel itself, which is the glorious declaration of what God has done in Jesus Christ.
Notice how the Creed never once tells us what we have to do. Instead, the creed is all about what is done and what God is doing—for us.
Only when we have rightly understood who Jesus is, what he has done, and how he relates to the other persons of the Godhead can we then begin to make sense of the relationship between faith and works. The Nicene Creed does not enter into this debate. Instead, it sets the clear and uncompromising confession that what Christians most need to know—and not forget—what we must confess and believe-is grounded in who Jesus is and what he has done.
And that’s why, of all the oceans of ink poured out in theology over the centuries, none outside of God’s Word has ever matched the brevity, simplicity and accuracy of who Jesus is for you, me, and the world as the Nicene Creed. After all, “Through him all things were made for us, and for our salvation.” Amen!
