How the Nicene Creed shows us Jesus Christ —

By Brian Yeich – 

I grew up in a small town in North Louisiana and our family attended a small Methodist Church. From the time I was born I was blessed to be a part of this spiritual family that included my grandparents and other extended family members. It was a close-knit community both in the church and in the town. Perhaps as was typical of a small-town Methodist Church, our worship was simple and traditional. We sang hymns from both the Cokesbury Song Book as well as the “new” Methodist Hymnal. We said the Lord’s Prayer each week and sang both the Doxology and Gloria Patri.  We also recited an affirmation of our faith. Depending on the pastor who was appointed, we occasionally recited the Nicene Creed, but it was most often the Apostles Creed. I am confident that I could recite the Apostles Creed from memory by the time I was seven or eight years old. In fact, it is likely that I could say the Apostles Creed from memory before I could recite the 23rd Psalm, or any other scripture for that matter. Perhaps that says something about my lack of biblical knowledge at that age, but I think it also says something about the value of the creeds and how they show us Christ.

I often tell my students that our beliefs about Christ are absolutely essential to ensuring that our theology is both biblical and aligned with the historical witness of the church. It is not that other theological concepts, such as the Trinity, the authority of scripture or the end times are not important. Rather, the concern I try to communicate to my classes is that if we get our beliefs about Christ wrong, many other errors will likely follow. It is a very slippery slope. I believe this is why so much of the New Testament is dedicated to revealing who Christ is in all his offices — prophet, priest and King.

In each of the Gospels, except John, the writers report the same question posed by Jesus to his disciples, “who do you say that I am?” (Mt 16: 15, Mark 8:29, Luke 9:20). Peter, ready to jump in, declares that Jesus is the Christ (or Messiah). I believe Jesus is still asking this question today, “who do you say that I am?” C.S. Lewis pressed home the urgency of this question in Mere Christianity: “You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit on Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to” (page 39). The creeds help us in our response to this critical question of who Jesus is.

The early church was willing to go to great lengths to have precise language about who Jesus is and how He relates to God the Father and the Holy Spirit. It is no wonder that the church spent significant time and energy creating creeds that clarify beliefs about Jesus. In addition to affirming what the church believes about God the Father and the Holy Spirit, the creeds show us Christ and help us to rightly affirm what we believe about Him. As we celebrate the anniversary of the Nicene Creed, I want to look at how this creed shows us Christ.

Interestingly, of the 222 words in the Nicene Creed (modern English version), almost 130 words are about Christ or over 60 percent of the Creed. In those 222 words, the Nicene Creed shows us Christ as it reveals both Jesus’ identity and purpose. Because of the controversies in the early church over Christ’s humanity, divinity and the relationship between Jesus and the Father, establishing Jesus’ identity is a major part of the Nicene Creed. A second part establishes the purpose of Jesus as seen through his life, death and resurrection.

The Nicene Creed shows us Christ by illuminating his identity. Many of the key controversies in the first few centuries of the church were related to the identity of Jesus Christ. Was Christ simply a man who was filled with divine power or was Jesus a divine person who only appeared human? The question of the relationship between the Son and the Father was also at the forefront. The Council of Nicaea (325 AD) was largely held to deal with these kinds of questions and the Council of Constantinople (381 AD) further clarified the wording of the Nicene Creed.

The Nicene Creed shows us the identity of Christ as Lord and as one with the Father. The second sentence of the Nicene Creed says, “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.” This statement establishes Jesus’ identity as Lord and confirms his relationship with the Father.

The confession that “Jesus is Lord” is likely one of the earliest affirmations of faith of the Christian Church as seen in Philippians 2:11. This acknowledgment of Jesus’ lordship recognizes Jesus’ authority over our lives and the whole creation. As the Gospel of John proclaims, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:1–5, ESV) The Nicene Creed echoes the language of John to affirm that Jesus is Lord and is one with the Father. He is not a created being or a good human teacher.

The Nicene Creed shows us that Jesus came for our salvation. The creed identifies Jesus’ identity as the incarnate Son of God who lived, died and rose again for the salvation of the world. Here is both identity and purpose. The third sentence of the creed says, “For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered death and was buried.” As John proclaims, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14, ESV) Here we see the humanity of Jesus revealed as one who was born of the Virgin Mary as well as one who died and was buried, sharing the human experience. We also see the purpose of Jesus’ life and death as the creed declares this was, “for us and for our salvation.”

The Nicene Creed show us that Jesus is alive. The fourth sentence of the creed says, “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.” The Apostle Paul emphasizes how critical the resurrection is to our faith when he says, “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:13–14, ESV) In affirming Jesus’ resurrection the creed proclaims that Jesus is alive and sits in authority in heaven.

Finally, the Nicene Creed shows us Jesus’ future purpose. The fifth sentence of the creed says, “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his Kingdom will have no end.” In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus speaks about this future purpose, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with Him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” (Matthew 25:31–32, ESV) The creed reminds us of the reality of a future judgement and the role of Jesus as he comes again in glory.

The Nicene Creed shows us Christ. We can be thankful that the church wrestled with the questions surrounding Jesus’ identity and purpose and codified those beliefs in the Nicene Creed. Each time we read the Nicene or Apostles’ Creed in worship, we are not only reminded what we believe about Jesus, but we help to ground the next generation of Jesus followers in the core doctrines of our faith.

Brian Yeich is an ordained elder in the Global Methodist Church, Trinity Conference, and has pastored 11 years in both large and small congregations as well as a church re-start. He currently serves as an adjunct professor at Asbury Theological Seminary and Wesley Biblical Seminary teaching in the areas of Church History, Wesley Studies, and Pastoral Formation.