Our theology series (see Parts 1, 2, 3, or 4) has moved from the history of the church in the Bible to the history of the church in England – and now we’re moving into the history of tables. What do I mean by this?

It means there was a time way, way back in history where the churches wanted to be on the same page. They recognized they all believed in Jesus, but had differing views on deep, theological issues. The biggest divide was between the Catholics and the Protestants.

Many of you have heard of Catholics and recognize this schism still exists today. There is the traditional, liturgical Catholic church that has existed for centuries. As we’ve talked about several times in this series, there has been numerous attempts to break off from the Catholic church.

There was the founding of the Church of England, as well as Luther’s Reformation. Our world loves division but forgets there are moments where the church truly tried to be on the same page on core doctrines. These discussions led to what is known as the “creeds”. There are several creeds, but today I chose to focus on the Nicene Creed.

 

What is a creed?

 

-          A brief authoritative formula of religious belief.

-          A set of fundamental beliefs.

 

What is the Nicene creed?

I believe in one God,

The Father almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth,

Of all things visible and invisible,

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,

The Only Begotten Son of God,

Born of the Father before all ages.

God from God, Light from Light,

True God from true God,

Begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;

Through him all things were made.

For us men and for our salvation

He came down from heaven,

And by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Vigin Mary,

And became man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,

He suffered death and was buried,

And rose again on the third day

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.

I 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 adored and glorified,

Who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins

And I look forward to the resurrection of the dead

And the life of the world to come. Amen.

 

Now, you have read the Nicene creed in it’s entirety. Do you notice a theme? If you haven’t read the Bible all the way through, I encourage you to join our Tirzah in the Word group and do so.

The Nicene Creed is really a reiteration in a different time of Scripture. It was the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and some mainline Protestant churches meeting in 325 to come to an agreement on a declaration of faith.

They sat together, at what I would imagine to be a rather large table, debating what they could agree on in the Bible. If you would like to learn more about those debates, check out this FREE course from Hillsdale College that I took where I learned in great depths the meaning of the Nicene creed. The leaders later met again in 381 and revised the Nicene creed – in Nicaea, which is modern – day Iznik, Turkey.

I want to encourage you to read this creed line by line and study how it lines up with Scripture for yourself. This is one of the most recognized creeds and documents of Christian faith – across many denominations. There are several other creeds that I would love to bring to light for you in future articles.

My hope in this is that you would recognize that all of this information is available for your perusal – no degree required and no need to sign up for college. We were meant to know God and our faith on a personal level. He is available to us, and we are so blessed – especially in the United States – to have access to God’s words. Stay tuned for next month where I delve back into church history, and we look at the history of the Assemblies of God!

*If the topic of theology fascinates you, please check out Phylicia Masonheimer who has a goal of making every woman a theologian! I have personally been so grateful for her ministry and hard hitting facts on all things theology!