The principal role of the Nicene Creed is in baptism. As the catechumen and the congregation profess the Creed, they do so together with the whole communion of saints, bound together in this apostolic faith and the waters of baptism. For Roman Catholics in Canada, the Nicene Creed is less familiar than in other countries, as we typically use the Apostles’ Creed at Mass, except perhaps at Easter. However, the Nicene text is still commonly used in baptismal liturgies of both Eastern and Western churches, and has been adapted to a question-and-answer format: “Do you believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth?” In the Roman Missal, the plural “we believe” has been changed to the singular “I believe,” but the plural is still in use in other churches and in ecumenical services.

The Early Creeds

There are earlier credal statements than Nicaea. Christians share with Judaism the ancient Shema, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). The word here translated as “Lord” in most modern Bibles is YHWH, the personal and proper name of God. However, this name is not to be spoken aloud, and so Jewish practice is to substitute the word Adonai, which means “my Lord? or “the Lord.” The Shema is traditionally recited by Jews when they wake up and before sleep. For the earliest Christians, this practice would have been instinctive and would have continued even as they began to separate from the Synagogue.

The earliest professions of Christian faith are found in the New Testament. The basic kerygma (from Greek, meaning “proclamation” or “preaching”) is that “Jesus is Lord.” Repeated throughout the Acts of the Apostles (cf. 2:36, 10:36) and the letters of Paul (cf. Romans 10:9, 1 Corinthians 12:3, Philippians 2:11), this profession served as an identity marker for the infant church of the first century, but also set Christians in conflict with Imperial Rome. In the Roman Empire, peace was established by the subjugation of every land and people to Caesar as the Lord. To proclaim Jesus as Prince of Peace and Lord of Heaven and Earth relegated Caesar to just another worldly power. “…and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:11). For Christians, this profession summarises the conviction that to be a disciple, we must leave behind family and fortune to follow Christ. In Christian terms, it is the first of the Commandments to have no other gods before God.

When the bishops gathered at Nicaea in 325, the conflict with the Empire was ending. Constantine had ceased the persecutions of the past centuries, and Christianity would eventually become the official religion of Rome. Constantine hoped to use Christianity to unify the fragmenting Empire, but a conflict among the clergy and people of Alexandria had the potential to undermine that goal. So, he summoned the bishops to an imperial synod in Nicaea, a small provincial town not far from the new capital in Constantinople. Historical accounts differ as to whether Constantine actually convened the bishops or intervened in their discussions, but he clearly had vested interests in the outcome, and he was not shy about it.

The dispute between Arius and Athanasius over the divinity of Christ was described in my January post, so I won’t go further into this here except to remind us that the bishops taught that Christ is fully divine, sharing in one substance (homoousios) with the Father. At the conclusion of the Council’s work, they issued a series of anathemas (teachings that are condemned). Though no formal record exists from this first Council, by the time of the Council of Constantinople in 381, the Creed had become the standard of doctrine. It defined what is orthodox (right doctrine) and therefore what is heterodox (wrong doctrine, or heresy) by contrast.

At Constantinople, the dispute was about the divinity of the Holy Spirit. Adding crucial articles to the Nicene Creed, the bishops at Constantinople professed that “we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified…” The resulting Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed is the one that we still profess today. It was not, however, the end of the disputes.

In 431, the bishops gathered at Ephesus to proclaim that the human and divine natures of Christ are joined in a hypostatic union, as the second person of the Holy Trinity. They also affirmed that the Virgin Mary is truly the Theotokos (“God-bearer” or Mother of God). Again in 451, the bishops at Chalcedon defined the humanity and divinity of Christ as two natures (ousia) in one person (hypostasis); however, these clarifications did not result in changes to the Creed.

The Nicene Creed has been used to profess orthodox doctrine ever since it was composed. In this sense, though more complicated than the early kerygma “Jesus is Lord,” it still serves the same function as an identity marker. Yet, it has also been a boundary keeper. It separates the sheep from the goats. It defines who is within and not within the Christian fold. Disputes over the particulars of Nicene dogma have resulted in divisions with the Nestorian or Assyrian Church, as well as with the Oriental Orthodox (Coptic, Ethiopian, Syrian, etc.), and eventually between the East and the West. The most famous of the continuing disputes is over the so-called filioque, an addition to the Creed by the Western Church, to profess that the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son.”

Medieval, Reformation, and Contemporary Creeds

Creeds continue to be used to define and teach Christian doctrine. Medieval eucharistic disputes led to “confessions” affirming key points (e.g. Berengarius of Tours, c. 999-1088) of disputed doctrine. During the Reformation, various “confessions” and “apologies” were drafted by the reforming churches, several of which remain the doctrinal standards of present-day churches (e.g. the Westminster Confession, Augsburg Confession, etc.). The importance of “confessional standards” has led, especially in Europe, to an understanding of the different divided churches as “confessions.” In North America, we are more likely to use the term “denominations,” from the Latin nominare, ‘to name.’ However, Catholics have resisted the terms “confessionalism” or “denominationalism” because these express an understanding of the fragmented church, in which the fullness of the Church is no longer found.

Calvinist or Reformed churches describe these Reformation confessions, as well as several more contemporary doctrinal texts, as “subordinate standards.” This is in keeping with their commitment to the authority and sufficiency of Scripture. Whether it be the 16th-century confessions, such as the Westminster Confession, or a modern statement like the Barmen Declaration (against the idolatrous nationalism of the German State under the Nazis), these texts are subordinate to Scripture. Their purpose is to illuminate and explicate particular teachings found in the Bible, not to correct, amend, or add to the truths revealed in the canon of inspired texts.

A modern Catholic example of a credal statement is Pope Paul VI’s Credo of the People of God, issued in 1968. Intended not as a dogmatic definition, the pope described it as “a solemn act to reaffirm the truth of the Catholic faith.” The Credo was issued just a month before the controversial Humanae Vitae, and suffered from the negative reception of the encyclical. Though some saw it as a firm stand against theological and moral relativism, others viewed it as a return to an older, more rigid form of papal authority and an attempt to stifle “the spirit of Vatican II.”

Some churches describe themselves as non-confessional or non-credal, particularly many of the pacifist or peace churches. By this, they don’t mean that they have no doctrine or that their only statement of Christian belief is the Biblical text itself. However, they will remind us that creeds and confessions have been used to persecute and punish those who differ. Instead of a Gospel proclamation of grace, these texts have been used as blunt instruments of coercion and control. The historical experience of the Inquisition bears this out, but even in the present day, doctrinal statements have been the cause of churches splintering over details that may seem inconsequential from the outside.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church provides an interesting insight into how doctrinal texts can assume an increasingly authoritative function. When first conceived and drafted during the papacy of Pope John Paul II, the Catechism was intended as a reference tool and catechetical resource. Each article in the Catechism is carefully cited from magisterial texts, which are themselves the source of the teaching authority. The Compendium of the Catechism was prepared to ensure that the source texts would be available to the general reader. However, over the years, the Catechism has been cited as a source and authority on doctrinal matters. This is not to question the authority of the teachings contained in the Catechism itself, but only to note that documents can take on an authority not originally envisioned for them.

What then are we to think of creeds and confessions? The church has a positive obligation to teach the faith to new generations. We are called to profess the faith in every time and place. Evangelisation, formation, and catechesis are not, however, the only purposes for these documents. Like the Nicene Creed, there are liturgical settings for many of these texts. The ancient axiom, lex orandi lex credendi (“the rule of faith is the rule of prayer”), reminds us that what we pray forms us as believers, and what we believe guides us in our prayer. When we profess the Nicene or Apostles’ Creed, we proclaim together with the whole church throughout the ages, “we believe!”

Some resources for further reflection

Journey through the Nicene Creed. The World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order is offering an online course, “Introduction to Nicaea – The 1700th Anniversary of the Nicene Creed,” that invites deeper study of the Nicene Creed and the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea. Complete it at your own pace. To access it, send an email to the coordinator, Henco Van Der Westhuizen, whose email is at the bottom of the course description available on the WCC site.

From 325 to 2025 – The Council of Nicaea and Jewish-Christian Relations Today. What has been the Nicene Creed’s impact on Jewish-Christian relations, dialogue, and understanding? Can the Creed be understood or received as anything other than a milestone of boundary-marking and exclusion on the long road leading to the parting of the ways between the church and synagogue? In this anniversary year, what opportunities exist for deeper theological engagement between our traditions?

This webinar was planned by the International Council of Christians and Jews (ICCJ) in conjunction with the Christian Jewish Dialogue of Canada. Watch the recording here.

Sixth World Conference on Faith & Order. Where Now for Visible Unity? The World Council of Churches is convening a conference to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and the development of the Nicene Creed. This significant gathering in the history of the ecumenical movement will take place near Alexandria, Egypt, from October 24 to 28.

Though most of us will not be able to attend in person, there will be a livestream. Due to the time difference between Egypt and Canada, a team is working to develop “watch parties” for the following plenary sessions. To register, click here. Contact the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism for further details.

The schedule will include:

• Opening plenary, Fri, Oct. 24 at 12 pm Eastern
• Where now for visible unity?, Fri. Oct. 24 at 4 pm Eastern
• Faith in the Middle East, Fri. Oct. 24 at 6 pm Eastern
• Triune God and the Identity of the Church, Sat. Oct. 25 at 12 pm Eastern
• Unpacking Apostolic Faith: Living the Nicene Creed in Context, Sat. Oct. 25 4 pm Eastern
• The Church in and for the World, Mon. Oct. 27 at 12 pm Eastern
• Mission: Common witness and Apostolic discipleship, Mon. Oct. 27 at 4 pm Eastern
• Unity: Living and Visible?, Tues. Oct. 28 at 12 pm Eastern
• Living Visible Unity, Tues. Oct. 28 at 4 pm Eastern
• Ecumenical Future, Tues. Oct. 28 at 6 pm Eastern

More information about the World Conference is available at www.oikoumene.org/events/nicaea-2025.

A Webinar on Ecumenical Perspectives on Nicaea, on Thursday, September 25 at 8:00 AM ET. (It will be recorded.) It features some of the people who will also be presenting at the World Conference on Faith & Order in October 2025. To register, go to www.oikoumene.org/events/ecumenical-perspectives-on-nicaea-and-its-legacy.

Nicholas Jesson is the ecumenical officer for the Archdiocese of Regina. He is currently a member of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue in Canada and of the Canadian Council of Churches’ Commission on Faith & Witness, editor of the Margaret O’Gara Ecumenical Dialogues Collection, and editor of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue archive IARCCUM.org. He was ecumenical officer for the Diocese of Saskatoon (1994-99 & 2008-17), executive director of the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism (1994-99), and member of the Roman Catholic-United Church of Canada Dialogue (2012-20).