The Story Behind the Nicene Creed

Before Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Christians had been prosecuted and killed. The issue of martyrs in the Church had distracted the early leaders of the Church from some essential aspects of theological definition. Christian communities differed widely on how they taught the relation of Christ's nature to the God-head.

In 325 A.D the emperor of Rome, Constantine called a group of Christian leaders and bishops to a counsel to settle the issue of Christ's nature in relation to God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Before the council, there was confusion about, the whole issue of the separate entities in the Godhead . Many were wondering too close to not accepting the full the divinity of Christ or to establish the worship of what was essentially three gods.

Constantine, then Roman Emperor, sought structure this young religion, and create a theological structure that all the Bishops would be in agreement about. Three were many different interpretations of what the nature of Christ was in various young Christian sects. The council at Nicea brought the initial schism of groups claiming to be Christian. The council at Nicea led to ,Christianity in an orthodox form becoming a coherent religion at the end of the day.

At the Council of Nicea had three points of view represented at the meeting. There were a small minority who were convinced of the Arian doctrine. This was the belief that Jesus was a separate spiritual being from God the Father. Eusebius of Nicomedia was the spokesman for this view or belief, instead of Arius. There was also small minority of bishops who believed that Arianism was a heresy because it questions as the full deity of Jesus Christ.

Eusebius of Nicomedia presented the case of the Arian point of view. He spoke that the Son as a creature therefore subservient to God the Father. This view point was completely rejected by these bishops. This caused the mood of the undecided majority to move away from not knowing what theological stand to take and to move towards the now orthodox view of the Trinity held by Alexandria.

The Creed was a compromise that allowed some difference of opinions , but it set the fundamentals down of what it meant to be a Christian. The wording of the creed allowed the bishops to interpret the definition of Christian in different ways.

Arianism, did not disappear. Arius and other exiled bishops were allowed return to the court of Constantine in 328. Two years after the death of Constantine, Eusebius was made bishop of Constantinople The on going debate about the divine nature of Christ between the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D., and the Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D., had a lot to do with the development wide spread acceptance of Trinitarian theology While Arianism dominated the theology of the eastern Church Athanasius continued to fight for the Nicene position.

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In 362 A.D., Athanasius declared that it was within orthodox belief to refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as one substance as long as this was not understood to mean an emphasis of distinction between the three Persons. The view of the distinction of Father , Son , and Holy Spirit as separate entities was fine also as long as the Church did not start to treat them as separate Gods. Athanasius died in 373 A.D.

The Great Cappadocians, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus continued arguing for the orthodox Trinitarian view of the Godhead The work of these men took almost another decacade to refine the Nicene creed. The Gnostic threaten an effort towards the organized beliefs of Christianity by expressing that anyone could find the divine within themselves,There would have been no need to have any centralized authority in the Church if there view had prevailed. There would have been no unified efforts in mission work among the pagans or real appeal to others to give up their way of encountering the Gods.

The result of the first and second councils of Nicea resulted in the Nicene Creed, which clearly involves stating belief , as an essential matter of faith in the authority of the Church.This is to say that only the Church can establish right doctorine.

Those that participate in liturigal churches recite the Nicene Creed every Sunday, are reciting a nearly two thousand year old profession of faith that came into existence before most Christian had access to much of the Bible or even writings of Church leaders. This creed held the Church together and helped keep many people from straying into error.

http://www.philosophyforum.net/Religion/Nicene_Creed%20_Ice.htm

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Nicene_Creed.aspxhttp://www.christianodyssey.com/history/nicene.htm