By Pastor Stephen Hess –
There are certain years that are significant because they mark an important anniversary in history. For instance, Americans understood 1976 to be a significant year because it commemorated the bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence. Most Americans probably didn’t think of 2025 as a particularly significant year. However, for Christians the year 2025 is a significant anniversary because it was 1700 years ago in the year 325 that the Council of Nicaea gathered—a council that would begin to construct what we know today as “the Nicene Creed.”
The Nicene Creed was not the earliest creed that was used by the early church. The Apostles’ Creed was even earlier and was widely seen as a faithful summary of the apostles’ teachings. However, over time there was a need for a more detailed creed that would outline the boundaries of orthodoxy. This need arose, in part, due to heresies that began to infiltrate the church.
One of those heresies was called “Arianism,” which was named after the early church leader named Arius who promoted it. Arius struggled to understand how the eternal God could come down to earth and become man. He wanted to protect the unity of God, and he believed that if Jesus was God just like the Father, then it would compromise God’s oneness. As a result, Arius began teaching that Jesus was not truly God, at least not in the same way that the Father is God. Instead, Arius taught that the Son was created by the Father at some point in time and was not himself equal with God.
The teachings of Arius caused massive controversy and division in the early church. In an effort to settle the controversy, the Emperor Constantine called the Council of Nicaea in 325. The council was attended by 318 bishops from various parts of the empire. During the council they discussed a number of topics, but the most important one was the question of Arianism. The result was the creation of a creed that condemned Arianism by affirming that the Son was truly God and “of one substance with the Father.”
The creed that was written at Nicaea would later be expanded and revised at the Council of Constantinople in 381. The final version that came out of the Council of Constantinople is what we know today as “The Nicene Creed.” For the past 1700 years the Nicene Creed has been one of the most widely recognized statements of orthodox Christian doctrine. It is still used across various denominations today as an affirmation of what we believe.
As I have said many times before, the creeds of the church are important because they unite us to the generations of believers who came before us. They also help us to pass down and preserve the faith. The creeds not only teach us what we believe but they help us to distinguish truth from error and orthodoxy from heresy. Arianism was not the first heresy in the church, and it wouldn’t be the last. Still today we encounter countless false teachings, most of which are not new but are repackaged ideas from previous centuries. The creeds help us remain grounded so that we are not “carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14).
This Advent season we will be starting a new sermon series called “Theology of the Incarnation.” During this sermon series we will explore some of the key doctrines about Christ from the Nicene Creed. We will discover what these doctrines mean, where they are supported by Scripture, and how they refute false teachings about Jesus that still exist today.
My prayer is that this series would expand your knowledge of the faith that we profess in the Nicene Creed and would deepen your love for our Savior “who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven.”