We Believe
'For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction' Romans 15.4
The Nicene Creed
A 1700 year anniversary
The worldwide church is celebrating 1700 years of the nicene creed, the first official statement of what Christians believed. It was agreed in Nicaea in 325AD at the first of the ecumenical councils. The creedal statement was later refined at the Council of Constantinople in 381AD. Remarkably, these early creedal statements have remained larged unchanged to this day and are recited in churches across the world as a defining statement of faith.
It is repeated in full below:
The early bishops needed to define how God the Father was related to God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Many arguments were debated about the nature of Jesus Christ: was he human, or was he divine? Was he created by God, or was he equal to God, and thus not created? The council confirmed that Jesus Christ was equal to God, 'uncreated', and yet also fully human.
The Holy Spirit was largely undefined at Nicaea. It was only at Constantinople in 381 that who and what the Holy Spirit was, was more fully articulated.
