Trophies of the Nicene Creed

It has been our tradition for some time to follow our confession of sins with a corporate confession of faith and we have used for several years now the Apostles’ Creed.  But this is not the only historic Creed that we hold to as a church.  And we don’t want to hold this one creed up as the most important.  Frankly, it is the shortest and easiest and a good place to start.  But we believe it is time to add to our arsenal.

 

And so, beginning this morning we will be reciting the Nicene Creed and will do so for at least several months.  This gives the opportunity to get used to it together as a body, to learn to recite it with a cadence in unison and to meditate over its many important nuances.

 

The historian Philip Shaff comments on this Creed – “The Nicene Creed (is) more definite and explicit than the Apostles’ Creed in the statement of the divinity of Christ and the Holy Ghost.  The terms (“being of one substance”), “begotten before all worlds,” “very God of very God,” and “begotten, not made,” are so many trophies of orthodoxy in its mighty struggle with the Arian heresy, which agitated the Church for more than half a century.”

 

These trophies are the victory over the theological battles of what it means to be Trinitarian, of the nature and divinity of Christ, and later the full divinity of the Holy Spirit as well.  In fact, this Creed and the trophies it exhibits have far more significance to us even today than we sometimes realize.  I guarantee you that in these months leading up to the presidential election, these trophies will be examined and possibly even questioned and reconsidered by many so called orthodox Christians as to whether they must be central to our statement of faith.

 

What does it mean to believe in Jesus?  What does it mean to believe in the God of these Scriptures?  It is good to think through and recite this creed from fathers who have fought great battles for the church.  It is good to declare Whom you have come to worship and to do so clearly.