In the first three centuries, the church found itself in a hostile environment. On the one hand, it grappled with the challenge of relating the language of the gospel, developed in a Hebraic and Jewish-Christian context, to a Graeco-Roman world. On the other hand, it was threatened not only by persecution, but also by ideas that were in conflict with the biblical witness.

In A.D. 312, Constantine won control of the Roman Empire in the battle of Milvian Bridge. Attributing his victory to the intervention of Jesus Christ, he elevated Christianity to favored status in the empire. “One God, one Lord, one faith, one church, one empire, one emperor” became his motto.

The new emperor soon discovered that “one faith and one church” were fractured by theological disputes, especially conflicting understandings of the nature of Christ, long a point of controversy. Arius, a priest of the church in Alexandria, asserted that the divine Christ, the Word through whom all things have their existence, was created by God before the beginning of time. Therefore, the divinity of Christ was similar to the divinity of God, but not of the same essence. Arius was opposed by the bishop, Alexander, together with his associate and successor, Athanasius. They affirmed that the divinity of Christ, the Son, is of the same substance as the divinity of God, the Father. To hold otherwise, they said, was to open the possibility of polytheism, and to imply that knowledge of God in Christ was not final knowledge of God.

To counter a widening rift within the church, Constantine convened a council in Nicaea in A.D. 325. A creed reflecting the position of Alexander and Athanasius was written and signed by a majority of the bishops. Nevertheless, the two parties continued to battle each other. In 381, a second council met in Constantinople. It adopted a revised and expanded form of the A.D. 325 creed, now known as the Nicene Creed.

The Nicene Creed is the most ecumenical of creeds. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) joins with Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and most Protestant churches in affirming it. Nevertheless, in contrast to Eastern Orthodox churches, the western churches state that the Holy Spirit proceeds not only from the Father, but from the Father and the Son (Latin, filioque). To the eastern churches, saying that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both Father and Son threatens the distinctiveness of the person of the Holy Spirit; to the western churches, the filioque guards the unity of the triune God. This issue remains unresolved in the ecumenical dialogue.

The Nicene Creed
WE BELIEVE in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible; And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

More Information about
the Nicene Creed

Introduction
The Nicene Creed was the first official doctrinal statement accepted by the whole Christian Church, and is the only creed accepted by all three major branches of Christianity: Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant. It was developed from the work of the first two ecumenical councils, Nicaea in 325 and Constantinople in 381, and was accepted as a definitive statement of faith by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. It has been used in worship as a part of the communion service since the sixth century.

The History and Development
of the Nicene Creed
As the Christian church spread, it became increasingly important to have a way to explain the faith to inquirers and defend it against its critics. The first Christian theologians began to think about the meaning of their faith. The first to develop a systematic theology was Origen (ca. 185-253), who interpreted the scriptures using the concepts of Greek philosophy, especially the school of thought known as Neoplatonism. One of Origen’s followers, Eusebius of Caesarea, compiled the first history of the church and became bishop of Caesarea.ius accepted into his a young priest named Arius, who had been forced to flee Alexandria because of a disagreement with the new bishop of that diocese, Alexander. Arius had been a student of Lucian of Antioch, who had been a student of Origen. Like his teacher, Lucian, Arius taught that Christ was subordinate to God. He insisted that belief in only one God as fundamental to the Christian faith, using Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone." to support his position. Therefore, he believed that the Son was not of the same nature as the Father, but was created our of nothing. Otherwise, he claimed, there would be two Gods. He used Proverbs 8:22 and John 14:28 to support his belief. Bishop Alexander rejected his views and condemned Arius are a proponent of heresies. The battle over this belief caused much controversy within the church.

Following an attempt by Bishop Hosius of Cordova, the Emperor Constantine’s theological advisor, to mediate the dispute, the first ecumenical council at Nicaea was called at the request of the Emperor Constantine to help end division and controversy within the church. Constantine wanted to unify the church in the way he had unified his empire. The council convened on June 14, 325.

Within the council, the views of Arius were defended by about twenty bishops. On the other end of the controversy, the followers of Alexander, who believed that Jesus was of one substance with the father, were also a minority. The leader of the vast majority of the Eusebius of Caesarea, who tried to find the middle ground.

Following a long debate, Constantine called upon Eusebuis of Caesarea to suggest a compromise. He offered a creedal statement already used in his own diocese:

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Logos of God, God from God, light from light, life of life, Son only-begotten, first begotten of all creation, begotten before all the ages from the Father, through Whom also all things came into being, Who because of our salvation was incarnate and dwelt among men, and suffered, and rose again on the third day, and ascended to the Father, and will come again to judge living and dead;

We believe also in one Holy Spirit.

Initial response to this proposal was favorable from all but the followers of Alexander, because it did not adequately deal with Arius’ heresy. This minority pushed the council to a clearer and more precise definition of Christ’s origin. Various amendments were proposed, but the council eventually adopted the definition offered by the Emperor, that Jesus was "begotten not made, being of one substance (homoousios) with the Father." Arius and the two remaining bishops who supported his views were excommunicated.

This did not stop Arius’ views from influencing the church, however, it just drove them underground for a while. When Constantine’s son took over the empire, he opposed Nicene Orthodoxy. He even went as far as to exile Athanasius, Alexander’s follower and successor as bishop, no less than five times. As Arian extremism gained influence, the moderate majority once again tried to find a common ground. They proposed using the term homoiousios, which meant not that the Son was made of the same substance as the Father, but rather a similar substance. Athanasius returned from exile and, for the sake of unity, threw his support behind this compromise.

In addition to the Arian controversy, the bishops also argued over the nature of Jesus. Was he truly human, or did he only appear to be human? One bishop, Apollinarius, argued that the divine word, or Logos, took the place of Christ’s mind and will. The advantage of this view is that it excluded the possibility of contradictory wills or sinful thoughts or physical passions in Christ. The Cappadocian Fathers (Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory Nazianus) and Athanasius led the opposition to this view, arguing that by Apollinarius’ view, Christ only "appeared to be human." They refused to accept such a "sham" incarnation. Christ must have had a human soul and spirit, because in the scriptures he was a savior who developed, who was limited in knowledge, who suffered and underwent every kind of human experience.

In 381, a new emperor, Theodosius I, called a second ecumenical council to deal with these issues. The council drafted no new creeds, but they did modify the Nicaean formula, which came to be known as the Nicene Creed, into a form very close to the one in which it exists today. This included the addition of a paragraph explaining the Council’s understanding of the Holy Spirit.

The creed was finally officially accepted as a creed of the whole church at the council of Chalcedon in 451.

Unfortunately, controversy eventually came once again to the creed. The form of the creed adopted at Chalcedon said of the Holy Spirit, "who proceedeth from the Father." In the middle ages, many in the Western church began to add the phrase "and the Son" (filioque in Latin), probably as a way of reinforcing the diety of Christ. When Western Pope Benedict VIII, officially added the phrase "and the Son" to the creed in 1014, the Eastern church was incensed. They believed he was putting his own authority above that of an ecumenical council.

In 1054, the Eastern Church divided from what is now the Roman Catholic Church. One of the reasons for this split was disagreement over the filioque controversy. They retained the original form of the creed adopted at Chalcedon, while the Roman Catholic Church, and the Protestant Churches which broke from it, adopted the revised creed.

Despite all the controversy that has surrounded it over the centuries, has been and remains the one symbol of theological unity among all Christian churches.