The Nicene Creed (God the Son) | Ep.17
Because the writers of the Nicene Creed were primarily attempting to combat the heresy of Arianism, the largest section of the creed is about the person of Christ.
They begin by telling us that Christ is the only begotten Son of God. He is begotten not made. This means that he is not of creation, but of something else. He is God. He is begotten from God the Father, and must be of the same substance as Him. Just as we humans only beget humans, God only begets God. However, this is different than our human idea of begetting. For us it is temporal, but the begetting of Christ is an eternal act of the Father, which to us is a great mystery that we cannot fully understand. But they go on to tell us here that Christ is of the same substance as the Father. This is a statement which directly contrasts the teaching of the Arians, who taught that Christ was like God but different.
As they continue, we are also told that Christ was fully man as well. He was born of the virgin Mary. To be born of a woman necessitates being human. He also suffered, died, was crucified, and was buried. These things necessitate him being flesh and blood. The writers here also note that he did these things “according to the scriptures.” This both calls us to the witness of the gospels, which tell us what Christ did, but it also points us to the Old Testament which told us what the Christ would do when he came. Christ is the fulfillment of all scripture past and present. Lastly, we are pointed to Christ’s future work. We are told that he will come again in glory to judge the living and dead.
The things stated in this document are essential christian teachings. While each denomination may disagree on many finer points of scripture, the points laid out in this document are the foundations of christianity. They tell us about what we can know about the God we worship, which helps guard us from straying into heresy.
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