The Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed ends in the way the Bible ends (see header scripture) with the word ‘Amen’. It is a word that is said by Christians so frequently and with which we are so familiar that it might...

As the Creed draws to a close it asks us to not simply believe in the life of the world to come but to look for it. We don’t have to look very far to see that the world in which we live now is...

The resurrection of the dead is central to Christian belief. Paul goes as far as telling us that ‘…if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith’ (1...

Behind this confession in the Creed is Paul’s statement in our header scripture, and it brings a change in the Creed’s terminology from belief to acknowledgement. We don’t believe in baptism...

The New Testament word for ‘church’ is ekklesia, which means ‘a calling out’, ‘an assembly or ‘a gathering’.1  In classical Greek it was used almost exclusively for political...

The Nicene Creed of 325 AD ended with a single phrase on the Holy Spirit – ‘We believe in the Holy Spirit’. However, following the Second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople in 381 AD a further...

Many of us, when we think of God, picture the Creator: God the Father, the Maker of heaven and earth, or we remember Jesus Christ, who walked among us, taught and healed, suffered and rose again. The...

The Filioque 1 controversy stands as one of the most significant and enduring sources of theological division between the Christian church in the East and West. It revolves around a single Latin term...

The Council of Nicaea (325 AD) primarily addressed Christ’s divinity against Arian heresy: a belief that taught that Jesus Christ was not co-eternal with the Father but was a created being. The...

Throughout history kingdoms and empires have risen to greatness and then faded into memory. Babylon with its hanging gardens, Rome with its grand columns, the mighty dynasties and pyramids of Egypt,...

Jesus Christ is not only the Saviour, the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world, he is also the Judge before whom all humanity will one day stand. The roots of Jesus’s role as judge are firmly...

The creed’s reference to the return of Jesus, often referred to as the Second Coming or Parousia, 1 is one of the most significant themes in Christian theology. One theologian goes as far as saying,...

Luke tells the story of Jesus Christ’s ascension twice (Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9-11), and the longer ending of Mark also mentions it, adding that at his ascension ‘he sat at the right hand of...

On the road to Emmaus Jesus said to Cleopas and another disciple, ‘How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these...

The crucifixion of Jesus stands at the centre of the gospel we are to proclaim (1 Corinthians 15:1-2). It is of first importance; it is the crux (Latin for cross 1) of the Christian message, and the...

The Psalms are replete with pleas for God to come down and save human beings (Psalm 14:7; 80:1-3; 144:5), because there is an acknowledgement that our sin is great and always with us (Psalm 51:1-3)....

Before the Nicene Creed was written there was a long tradition, both from scripture and the Church Fathers teaching that Jesus is God. John begins his gospel with ‘the Word was God’ (John 1:1) and...

The title ‘Son of God’ is used in many different ways in the Old Testament, and could refer to a king (Psalm 2:6-7 NIVUK), angels (Job 1:6; 2:1 NIVUK; footnote: hebrew the sons of God) or the...

The second article of the Creed turns to the second person of the Trinity and addresses the Lord Jesus Christ. This title holds great significance in the Christian faith and is laden with theological...

Creation is the act by which the Bible introduces us to God, and ‘Creator’ is the first name God reveals about himself in scripture. He is not a creator, or simply someone who creates, God is the...

The fatherhood of God is rarely mentioned in the Old Testament, but when it is, it often relates to God’s corporate relationship with his people. God’s fatherhood is usually expressed in...

If you had to try to describe God, where would you start? It’s a rather daunting task. The Nicene Creed will go on to describe many aspects of God, but it begins by affirming that God is one. The...

The beginning of the Nicene Creed was originally written in Greek in the first-person plural: ‘We believe’. When translated into Latin, it became ‘I believe’. There isn’t a right or...