The Nicene Creed:What Christians Believe

and Why it MattersSt. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

February 1, 2015

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, 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 and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped 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.

The Nicene Creed

February 1: God the Son

February 15: God the Holy Spirit

The Nicene Creed:What Christians Believe and Why it Matters

February 1 : God the Son

The longest part of the Creed is devoted to the Son of God, and is broken into two sections:

1. The first portion details the relationship with God the Father:

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.

God the Son

The second portion of the Creed details Christ’s involvement with humanity beginning with the Incarnation through the return of Christ:

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.

God the Son

1. What is the incarnation?

2. Do you believe Jesus was “created” by God, or do you believe that Jesus has always existed in creation?

3. What do you believe was accomplished with the crucifixion?

4. Was the crucifixion necessary?

Table Conversation

In the first sentence, Jesus is called Lord. The Greek word for this title is Christos: Χριστός, meaning "anointed.“

Χριστός is a translation of the Hebrew DיחGHשJמ (Māšîaḥ or commonly “Messiah” )

In proclaiming Jesus as Lord in the Creed, we are saying that we owe Jesus the same worship we offer God, and that Jesus has the same authority over our hearts.

God the Son - Lord

When we say that Christ is the only son of God, we are acknowledging that Jesus came from and returned to

God in a way no other person has before because when he came from God, he remained who he was (fully divine) while also fully human.

God the Son – only son of God

Begetting, which means to cause, produce, or bring about, is not to be understood here in the physical sense.

Nor are we to think that Jesus was made by God either. (Recall this was Arius’ position, later dubbed a heresy).

God the Son – eternally begotten of the Father

These three statements proclaim the same theology: that Christ and God

are the same, that Christ was never at some point created by God, but has always existed.

God the Son – “God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God”

The line “begotten not made” reminds us that Christ was not made by God , but has always existed.

The Greek word for substance is ousia. The Creed proclaims that Christ and God are of the same essence, the same “stuff,” the same ousia.

God the Son – begotten not made, of one substance with the Father

Jesus came to live with us “for us and for our salvation.

This occurs through the incarnation, where divinity dwells with humanity resulting in humanity’s knowledge of what it means to be divine.

God the Son – for us and for our salvation

Largely symbolic language here when we speak of Christ “coming down” from heaven. This is reflective of a more ancient cosmology.

God the Son – he came down from heaven

God the Son – by the Power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary and was made man.

That Christ was crucified is one historical aspect of the Creed most people agree on.

There are several early Roman sources outside scripture that state that a Jesus of Nazareth was crucified.

Christ is crucified under Pontius Pilate, the prefect of the Roman province of Judea from 26–36 CE. Pilate represents the world that rejects the claim of God and kills God’s messenger.

Son of God – for us he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried

Christ dies upon the cross, and this suffering demonstrates God’s full embrace of our human condition. Christ is buried.

Son of God – for us he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried

One of the scriptural referents (in addition to the New Testament, of course) comes from the Hebrew Prophet Hosea, who writes:

Hosea 6: 1-2 “Come, let us return to the Lord; for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us; he has struck down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.

Son of God – On the third day he rose again, in accordance with the scriptures.

This imagery is straight out of Psalm 110:1, which reads: “The LORD says to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.’”

This phrase suggests a sharing of power and authority between the Father and the Son who rule creation together.

Son of God – He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father

The authors of the Creed understood this sentence to be one of faith, as none of them witnessed the return of Christ.

The importance of this statement is that we reaffirm that God and Christ are at work reconciling creation to God.

When speaking of God’s kingdom, we are not speaking of a geographic location, rather the relationship of power in which God and creation are perfectly aligned, and this alignment is eternal.

Son of God – he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

Next Week: Second Sunday Breakfast

God the Holy Spirit

Next Class: February 8