The Four Cs of Doctrinal History: Part 4 – The Nicene Creed

The Bible is a book that transcends human intellect. It is a Divine book, yet a revelation of God and by God that He intends his people to understand. We know that there are things in the Bible that are more easily grasped and understood than others. For instance, which of us can wrap our finite minds around the doctrine of the Trinity? It is the nature of the Trinity and the relationship amongst the persons of the Trinity that was a major topic of discussion early on in church history.

The Trinitarian Discussion of the Early Church

In the third century, men like Sabellius held a form of modalism, teaching that there was one God who is known as the Father in the Old Testament, but became the Son in the New Testament, who then later sanctified the church post-Pentecost.¹

Modalism teaches that there is only one God, and that this God manifests himself differently at different times. It is a non-trinitarian, and therefore heterodox view of God. It was rejected in 286 at the Council of Antioch, but it still exists today.²

Arianism was also a belief that sprang up in the third century. It was taught by a man named Arius of Alexandria. Arius clashed with Alexander, the bishop of Alexandria, regarding “whether the Word of God was coeternal with God.”³

Arius called into question the eternality of the Son/Word/Logos, teaching that Jesus was not co-eternal with the Father, but instead “the first of all creatures.”⁴ Arius affirmed that there was only one God. However, he sought to reconcile the relationship between the Father & Son by giving the Son a slightly different ontology. The “beingness” (ousiai) of the Son and Father and Spirit are all different.

Alexander disagreed with Arius, saying that the Word was Divine, and therefore co-eternal with the Father.

Arius believed that Jesus was the first creation which would be the instrument for all the rest of creation. But this essentially created a third ontological category, one that was not co-eternal with the Father, but also different from the rest of creation.⁵

But if Arius was right, why were people worshipping Jesus? And why should we worship Jesus?

Alexander pronounced Arius’s view as heretical in the early 300s. However, the controversy and debate lingered, with various people within the kingdom taking the view of Arius and others taking the view of Alexander (I recognize I’m oversimplifying the issue for sake of space).

Emperor Constantine decided to step into the discussion, and he called for a council in 325 in the city of Nicea (modern day Iznik, Turkey), what we know today as the Council of Nicea.

Council of Nicea

This was the first of the great ecumenical councils, consisting of over 300 delegates from various churches around the Roman Empire, convened as a means of gaining peace and unity within Christianity. Most of the delegates were from the Eastern churches. There were only a few from Rome. It is believed that St. Nicholas was present at this council.

The council began on June 19, 325 and ended sometime in July. Though there were church leaders from all over Asia, Europe, and North Africa. Not a bishop himself, Arius was not personally present, but rather represented by bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia. Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, however, was there in person.

Eusebius gave his statement regarding the Word, that the Word was “no more than a creature”⁶ which raised the ire of most of the delegates present. His views were pronounced by many as blasphemy and heretical.

The conversation turned to how to refer to the person and identity of the Word/Jesus with relationship to the Father. Using biblical language alone did not satisfy either party, so there was a word that was put forth (apparently by Constantine himself) that eventually settled the matter. It was the word homoousias (same substance/beingness).

One of the things Arius taught was that God was one ousias, one being. Homoousias taught that the Son/Logos/Word was of the same substance/being as the Father. In other words, they were not two different beings, or two different essences, but one – Consubstantial.

Some wanted a mediating word used, homoiousias (of similar, but not identical substance). In the end homoousias prevailed, and a resulting creed was formed in response to the Arian heresy articulating this truth.

The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God,
The Father almighty,
Maker of all things visible and invisible;
And in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
The Son of God,
Begotten from the Father, only-begotten,
That is, from the substance of the Father,
God from God,
Light from light,
True God from true God,
Begotten not made,
Of one substance with the Father,
Through Whom all things came into being,
Things in heaven and things on earth,
Who because of us men and because of our salvation came down,
And became incarnate and became man, and suffered,
And rose again on the third day,
And ascended to the heavens,
And will come to judge the living and dead,
And in the Holy Spirit.

[but as for those who say, “there was when He was not,” and “Before being born He was not,” and “that He came into existence out of nothing,” or who assert that the Son of God is of a different substance, or created, or is subject to alteration or change – these the Catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes.]

This creed preserves a monotheistic belief – One God. Yet it retains the tension there is regarding the Trinity: one God, three persons, co-eternal, consubstantial. Jesus is begotten, not created…true God… “of one substance with the Father” (that’s the homoousias phrase).

The end of this Creed made no mistake in its being against Arius.

The Development of the Creed

Constantine died in 337. Christianity continued to spread. In 380 Christianity was declared to be the state religion. There were still lingering questions regarding the nature of the relationship between God the Father, and the Son, and even the Spirit.

So, in 381 at Constantinople another council was formed, which gave further development of the Nicene Creed of 325.

This council had about 150 in attendance, and it added or clarified a few things. For instance, it added regarding Jesus, begotten from the Father “before all ages.” And also, later about Jesus, “and was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary and became man.”

It also added truth regarding the Holy Spirit, which was further enhanced in years to come and has been accepted as part of this creed, “who proceeds from the Father and the Son [this is the filioque debate between the Eastern and Western churches], who with the Father and the Son is together worshipped and together glorified.”

The additions from the Council of Constantinople in 381 make the 325 creed more accurately called The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.

We have to understand that there are theological tensions in the Scripture that must not be resolved. The Trinity is one of those tensions. Out of this debate in the 4^th century comes three trinitarian core beliefs: belief that the three persons of the Trinity are consubstantial, co-equal, and co-eternal. Yet the Father is not the Son or Spirit, the Son is not the Father or Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father or Son. The “one in three” tension must remain in tact.

We are thankful for how God led these early church leaders to articulate biblical truth regarding the Trinity, establishing a biblical articulation of this important doctrine in such a way which we still use today.

The Four Cs of Doctrinal History Series:

• Part 1: Introducing the Four “Cs” of Doctrinal History
• Part 2: The Origins, Division, and Authority of the Four Cs of Doctrinal History
• Part 3: The Four Cs Part 3 – The Apostles’ Creed

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Taigen Joos is the pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in Dover, NH. He blogs here, where this article first appeared. It is republished here by permission.

1. See further discussion about this in Robert Letham, The Holy Trinity (P&R Publishing: Phillipsburg, NJ, 2004), 108. [↩]
2. Modalism exists, for instance, in the teachings of T.D. Jakes and the church which he founded, The Potter’s House in Dallas, TX. Their website gives as their complete statement of belief about God, “There is one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in three manifestations: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” – www.thepottershouse.org/explore/belief-statement (accessed 05/21/2025). [↩]
3. Justo Gonzꞻlez, The Story of Christianity (Prince Press: Peabody, MA, 2010), I: 161. [↩]
4. Ibid. [↩]
5. This is essentially the view held today by the Jehovah’s Witnesses. [↩]
6. Gonzꞻlez, 164. [↩]