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All theological terms

Nicene Creed

Historic orthodoxy

The creed of the councils of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381), confessing that the Son and the Spirit are fully God with the Father.

Also called: Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, Creed of Nicaea, Council of Nicaea

What it means

The Nicene Creed is the most widely shared statement of Christian faith. It was first written at the Council of Nicaea in 325, when the church answered Arius's teaching that the Son was a created being. The council confessed that the Son is "true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father." The Council of Constantinople in 381 expanded the creed, especially to confess the full deity of the Holy Spirit, "the Lord, the giver of life."

The creed is not Scripture, and it has no authority above Scripture. Its authority comes from the fact that it summarizes faithfully what Scripture teaches. Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox churches all confess it, and the Reformers received it gladly.

Many churches recite it in worship. Even where a church does not, its statement of faith should agree with it. A church that cannot affirm the Nicene Creed's teaching on God has departed from the faith the whole church has confessed for sixteen centuries.

In Scripture

  • John 1:1

    The Word was with God and the Word was God.

  • John 1:14

    The Word became flesh, the one and only Son from the Father.

  • Colossians 1:15-17

    All things were created through the Son and for him, and he is before all things.

  • Hebrews 1:3

    The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his nature.

  • John 15:26

    The Spirit of truth proceeds from the Father and testifies about the Son.

Where it comes up

Confessions: Nicene Creed

Related terms

  • TrinityHistoric orthodoxy

    There is one God, eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each fully and equally God.

  • ArianismOutside historic orthodoxy

    The ancient teaching that the Son of God is the first and greatest created being, not eternal and not fully God.

  • Chalcedonian DefinitionHistoric orthodoxy

    The statement of the Council of Chalcedon (451) that Christ is one person in two natures, truly God and truly man, without confusion, change, division, or separation.