Two Key Distinctives of Christianity

There are two key distinctives of Christianity: who the Lord Jesus Christ is, and what he did. The Nicene Council focused on the former; the Reformation on the latter.

Historical Background

The Council was called by Emperor Constantine, who became Emperor of the Western Roman Empire in 312 and of the Eastern Roman Empire in 324. As a Christian, Constantine was concerned about disunity among some bishops regarding the person of Christ.

Arius, a presbyter, taught that Jesus was a created being who began to exist at a certain point, and that he was not co-equal with the Father. Having taught this since around 318, Arius was asked to stop by Bishop Alexander of Alexandria but refused, leading Alexander to excommunicate him. The disunity caused by Arius and his teaching was unsettling the Church.

Advised by Hosius, Bishop of Cordoba (Spain), Constantine called a council of the Church to meet at Nicaea. Hosius—a friend of both Constantine and Sylvester, the Bishop of Rome—chaired the Council. According to Athanasius, around 318 bishops attended; with presbyters and deacons included, the total attendance was approximately 1,500.

Proceedings at Nicaea

Constantine addressed the assembly, asking them to reach agreement concerning their differences. Arius explained his view and read out his creed, stating that Jesus was not divine and was a created being. The bishops were horrified. One account states that Arius had his creed snatched from his hands and torn up by a bishop, and that the Bishop of Myra, St Nicholas, slapped him in the face. What is certain is that Arius’s views were overwhelmingly rejected. Of the 318 bishops, only two—Secundus of Ptolemais and Theonas of Marmarica—supported Arius; the other 316 voted against the new teaching.

The Council, representing practically the whole empire, then set out its own creed. A prime drafter was Athanasius, secretary to the Bishop of Alexandria. This creed was based on an earlier statement of faith. After debating and accepting the new creed line by line, all but two bishops signed it. The creed became known as the Creed of Nicaea. In 381, at Constantinople, another council authorised the creed, which became known as the Nicene Creed.

The Lord Jesus Christ was not made God by these councils; they affirmed who the Son of God always was. The Creed of Nicaea (325) is reproduced below.

The Creed of Nicaea (325)

“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 hypostasis or substance,

or created, or is subject to alteration or change

– these the Catholic and apostolic Church anathematises.”

After Nicaea

The creed was later updated in 381 AD (often called the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed). You can read it here.

For further exploration, Highfields Church has a series of sermons on the creed available here.