The Nicene Creed

 Fifth Wednesday after Pentecost

Queen Etherelda, Founder and Abess of Ely--Color: White

Lectionary Texts:

1 Samuel 26

2 Corinthians 8

 

Thursdays' Texts

1 Samuel 27

1 Samuel 28

 

I don't know Queen Etherelda. Generally, if I've never heard of the memorialized saint, I won't comment on him or her. i don't want simply to repeat some lines I could read in Wikipedia. I read a lot of church history. Most of these saints I know at least something about.  For the ones like Etherelda I'll just look for her name to come up somewhere in my reading. It may or may not. 

Today I want to begin what I think will be a fairly short series on the Nicene Creed. It's number 880 in the back of the United Methodist Hymnal. It's in several places in the BCP. I've got my BCP open to p. 358 for it. 

Some of you may remember back a about a year ago when we did a series on the Apostles' Creed. Most of what is in the Apostles' Creed is also in the Nicene Creed. What I'm going to go over in the present series is what's in the Nicene Creed that is not in the Apostles' Creed. The Nicene Creed is almost twice the length of the Apostles' Creed and contains a good deal more points of belief. 

The Nicene Creed is older than the Apostles' Creed. It was completed by the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. The section on the Holy Spirit came a little later, in 381 AD at the council of Constantinople. The Apostles' Creed was not written by the Apostles. It evolved over the fourth century and came to its present form around in the early fifth century. 

The Declaration of Independence was signed by many men present at the convention that produced it, signed most prominently by John Hancock. Yet it is essential the work of one man, Thomas Jefferson. It's the same way with the Nicene Creed. 119 bishops approved it at the Council of Nicea, but it was written essentially by one man, St. Athanasius of Alexandria. 

The original purpose of the Nicene Creed was to resolve a controversy that had been raging in the church, the Arian controversy. The controversy was over the relationship between Jesus and God. Bishop Arius believed and had written extensively that Jesus was subordinate to God. St. Athanasius and the Nicene Fathers believed that God and Jesus were equal. The Nicene Creed focuses on the equality of that relationship, as well the equality of the Holy Spirit with God and Jesus. 

Some would say that the Apostles' Creed is a condensed version of the Nicene Creed. That's not quite true. For the framers of the Apostles' Creed the Arian controversy is something that has already been resolved. Hence, all the Nicene Creed's discussion about the relationship of God and Jesus is lacking in the Apostles' Creed. I'll focus on that relationship, along with other points not in the Apostles' Creed. 

We'll start tomorrow with "all that is, seen and unseen." 

Holy Trinity,

We are blessed by your union. We are blessed by each of your three persons. We are blessed by your eternity. May our study give us deeper understanding of what all this means. Amen.

Faithfully,

Christian