Do all believers accept the Nicene Creed?

[Pixie_Dust]

Here is the full text. You can select more than one answer.

*I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all that is, seen and unseen.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father; God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God; begotten, not made, one in being with the Father, through Him all things were made.

For us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, by the power of the Holy Spirit He was born of the virgin Mary, and became man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered, died and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again in glory, to judge the living and the dead; and His kingdom shall have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified; He has spoken through the prophets.

I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.*

 

[scott122]

First, not all who call themselves Christians accept the Nicene Creed, and there are some who belong to churches that do accept the Creed but do not personally accept all parts of it. Just look at the postings of some Protestant ministers!

But, secondly, there are some sincere Christians who are members of non-creedal churches, who believe all that the Bible says, but who believe that we must not recite the “words of men.” They would say they believe every point of the Creed. but refuse to recite the Creed since it was “composed by a group of clergymen and not Divinely inspired,” the way the Bible is.

I don’t see how you can call yourself a Christian and not accept Christ’s divinity - the way some do. They set themselves up as one-person authorities on orthodoxy, ignoring centuries of Christian belief and the writing of the great saints.

 

[didymus]

If it were up to me I’d drop the filioque, not because I disagree with it but because it’s unnecessary and a stumbling block to unity.

And who knows how The Spirit proceeds? Understanding God as a trinity can be difficult enough – why go poking around with a stick?

 

[Publisher]

Creeds aren’t bad…they give believers a focus of commonality…but when they are used to separate from each other…to “qualify” who God accepts and who God does not…when creeds become more important than people and more sacred than the hand offered in fellowship…that’s when they fail.

 

[Pixie_Dust]

First, not all who call themselves Christians accept the Nicene Creed, and there are some who belong to churches that do accept the Creed but do not personally accept all parts of it. Just look at the postings of some Protestant ministers!

Exactly. In another thread someone posted that “all” Christians accept the Nicene Creed as being true, though they might not actually profess verbatim it in their place of worship. That’s why I made the poll. I know that when I was a Baptist, I would NEVER EVER have professed that “I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins” and I CERTAINLY wouldn’t have said that I believed in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church!

So my poll is not a question of “do you say the Creed” but “do you believe it to be theologically sound”?

 

[Enoch365]

About The Creed
By Mark Hanna

A bit of history will explain the necessity for, why at that time, this creed was written and accepted by the entire Christian Church in 325 AD.

Ever since the time of Christ and especially after His ascension to heaven in approximately 33 AD the spread of belief in Jesus Christ (or “the Way”) was persecuted and every effort was made to suppress it. By the Jews, the Romans (who ruled the areas where Christianity began from) and later by heretics who distorted what the emerging Church believed about Christ as God.

The greatest threat facing the early Church from 33 AD to 313 AD, when Christianity was legalized, was persecution by the Roman Empire that killed all but one of the original 12 disciples of Christ, powerful personalities like St. Paul whose writings comprise the majority of the New Testament, most of the eye witnesses of Christ, their disciples and followers, common believers who refused to worship the emperor, his idols or anyone other than the Lord Jesus Christ. This persecution of the Christians continued until in 313 AD Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity by the Edict of Milan and made Christianity the religion of the empire.

A terrible persecution --“The Great Persecution 303-311 AD”-- had just ended under Emperor Diocletian, and a more structured church was beginning to regroup or really for the first time take a breath. It was at the time leading to 325 that the Bible was first put together.

Approximately fifteen years or so before the Nicean Creed was adopted by the Church a Christian priest by the name of Arius from Alexandria began to spread a teaching that Jesus Christ, the Son, was created by the Father --a creature-- and was therefore of lesser substance or essence than the eternal Father. The newly recognized Christian faith was falling into disunity and heresy and as a result fragmenting the empire. In 325 AD Emperor Constantine called all the bishops, i.e., the heads of ALL the Church, and Arius the priest to come together for a council to debate and agree on one uniform understanding of these deeply theological issues that were fragmenting the Empire. That council took place in Nicea in modern day Turkey with 318 bishops attending. Because this council represented all of Christendom at the time it was called “Ecumenical Council.”

The Council of Nicea heard Arius’ position and also heard the Orthodox (right) position defended by a deacon named Athanasius. Arius relied on verses of scripture such as “My Father is greater than I” (John 14:28) and verses regarding the time of the second coming where Jesus Christ told His disciples that only the Father knew the time of it and verses regarding the creation such as Proverbs 8:22-31. Athanasius rebutted all these, out-of-context quotations from scripture, by quoting and explaining to the entire council the proper understanding of the Divinity and Nature of Christ. This understanding Athanasius put into a statement of faith known since then as the Nicene Creed. The Ecumenical Council excommunicated Arius and his followers who refused to agree to these essential precepts of faith.

The Nicene Creed was adopted by the Council of Nicea and all the bishops decided that it be taught and recited at every service in the Church.

The Nicene Creed spelled out all essential known understanding of God revealed to man in scripture from Genesis or creation to Revelation in a short statement of faith. The Nicene Creed summarized what the entire Bible taught about God, Jesus Christ His Son and His Holy Spirit in a few short lines. This is what any sound understanding of Scripture revealed about God in His Triune essence –Father, Son and Holy Spirit—etc.

 

[tbuley]

All christians have creeds, I get mad when I here american evangelicals say"more deeds less creeds"this is just saying more works and less belief, they should go join the Rotary club not to mention the whole premise of the reformation is faith alone.

 

[Enoch365]

We Ethiopians believe in One God, God the Father, Almighty who possesses all, Maker of the Heavens and Earth, the visible and the invisible.

We believe in God the Son, Jesus Christ, One Lord, the only begotten Son of the Father, who was with Him before the creation of the world. He is Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten not made, and, in His Divine Essence, one with His Father. All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing whatsoever was made, in Heavens or on Earth.

He came down from Heavens for our sake, for the sake of humanity, for our salvation. He was Incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Divine Work of the Holy Spirit, and, acquiring the human soul and the human flesh from Her, became the Perfect Man.

In the days of Pontius Pilate, He suffered, was crucified, died and was buried for our sake. And He rose from the dead on the third day, ascended in glory into Heaven and sat on His Throne at the right-hand of His Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. There is no end to His Kingdom.

We believe in God the Holy Spirit. He is the life-giving Spirit who proceeds from God the Father, spoke through the Prophets, and, by the atonement of Jesus Christ, descended upon the Apostles and filled the world with His Grace. We worship and glorify Him with the Father and the Son.

We believe in the One Church of The Holy Covenant that was founded by the Word of God, Jesus Christ, initially in the Hearts of the Patriarchs, and later sustained by His Divine Messages through the Prophets, and finally brought to perfection through the Holy Spirit by His convocation of the Apostles, and where His Body and Blood is offered as Sacrifice for the Holy Communion with God, and where the Sacramental Blessings of the Holy Spirit are bestowed upon and communicated to all believers.

We believe in One Baptism for the remission of sins.

We believe in the Resurrection from the dead and the Life to come, world without end.

Amen.