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Stated Clerk's column

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The Presbyterian Layman Volume 34, Number 2, Posted March 26, 2001

Kirkpatrick

Clifton Kirkpatrick
As I noted in the last issue, The Book of Confessions is a tremendously important foundation block for us as a denomination and as a people of God. The first creed adopted by representatives of the entire church was the Nicene Creed and it still is the most widely affirmed confession of faith among all three major branches of the Christian Church: Protestant, Roman Catholic and Orthodox.

Like some other creeds in our Book of Confessions (such as The Declaration of Barmen in Germany in 1934), the Nicene Creed was adopted during political, as well as religious, controversy. As the only creed known and used by the majority of Christians worldwide, the Nicene Creed has represented a consensus of what the church believes.

Constantine the Great desired to consolidate his vast empire through unifying a variety of somewhat different Christian beliefs used at baptisms, so he called a council of over 300 bishops in 325 A.D. to meet in Nicea (about 50 miles southeast of modern Istanbul). Much of the work on formulating the Nicene Creed was accomplished in Nicea, but the section on the Holy Spirit was added at a similar council in 381 in Constantinople.

The basic uncertainty for the early church was over the nature and person of Jesus Christ. Was Jesus just human or was he also God, and was Jesus the God of the Christians and a different God from the God of Israel? The debates were a long time ago, but the yearning question about who is Jesus Christ is the central question for every Christian today. The Council of Nicea made it clear to all the world that Jesus Christ is both “the only Son of God” and “truly human.” The foundation stone of our faith – and the faith of the whole Church – is that Jesus Christ is God incarnate.

There was one crucial matter in the Nicene Creed – the doctrine of the Holy Spirit – that was not resolved until 55 years had passed and a second council met at Constantinople (now Istanbul). With its affirmation that the Holy Spirit is “the Lord, the giver of life,” the Nicene Creed gave formal declaration to what we know today as the doctrine of the Trinity. The Nicene Creed gives powerful witness to the great truth that God created the world, redeemed it in Jesus Christ and renews it through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit – three expressions of our one God. Thus, the doctrine of One God in Three persons has been taught ever since.

One phrase in this latter section of the Nicene Creed that I always have treasured is its statement about the Church, “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.” In an age of rampant individualism and party spirit in the Church, it is important to be reminded anew of these great truths:
  • that the Church is one – Faithful Christians are always ecumenical!
  • that the Church is holy – It is God’s church, not ours!
  • that the Church is catholic – The Christian community welcomes the broadest diversity of the human family!
  • that the Church is apostolic – It exists not for itself, but to share God’s justice, love and mercy with all the world!
The Nicene Creed was written to give a sense of grounding and direction to Christian people faced with the turmoil of the fourth- century world. Sixteen centuries later, its message provides that same sense of grounding and direction in the things that truly matter for Christians at the dawn of the third millennium.

Clifton Kirkpatrick
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