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 wrong choice when we use the creed today. If the creed is used liturgically by the fellowship of believers in a church service as a statement of unity, ‘We believe’ is appropriate. If it is used as a personal statement of faith, ‘I believe’ may be the better choice. 

According to Athanasius, who was influential at Nicaea, what is affirmed in the Creed, either collectively or individually, is ‘the divine and apostolic faith’,¹  to which theologian Tom Torrance adds that it presents the ‘simple first principles of the Gospel’.²  Torrance explains that ‘this does not mean that any new revelation from God had been given to the bishops…at Nicaea, but only that they had been instrumental under God in handing on in a true and faithful way the very Word of God which they themselves received from the apostles’ teaching in Holy Scripture regarding God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit…it was from those Scriptures…that the true Faith of the Church was derived and was as such to be guarded and handed on again.’ ³  

The importance of sound theology in the early church cannot be overstated. Paul repeatedly tells Timothy to guard the deposit of apostolic truth entrusted to him (1 Timothy 6:20; 2 Timothy 1:13-14), and pass it on to others (2 Timothy 2:1-2). As a pastor, Timothy must be able to teach (1 Timothy 3:2), and to correct his opponents with gentleness (2 Timothy 2:25). Likewise, Paul tells Titus that an elder ‘…must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it’ (Titus 1:9). And he encouraged Titus to ‘…rebuke [false teachers] sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith’ (v.13).

There is a core of apostolic teaching that the Christian church must embrace if it is to be Christian, and if it is to be a church. Our header scripture shows that the early church was devoted to the apostles’ teaching, and already in the second century, Irenaeus (circa 130–202 AD) was referring to something called the ‘rule of faith’.⁴  Irenaeus was only a couple of generations removed from the apostles: he was taught by Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna (69-155 AD), who was taught by the apostle John. 

The chief concern of those who framed the Nicene Creed was to clarify and defend what the apostles taught as a body of belief. They started it with ‘We believe’ for a reason: it demonstrated ‘the utter seriousness with which they treat[ed] the issues of Christian doctrine as, quite literally, a matter of life and death…’ ⁵  The Nicene Creed defines the content of this belief in a way that has stood the test of time, being embraced by Christians of nearly all denominations for 1700 years. Over the coming weeks, we will consider what it is we believe.

¹ Torrance, T.F., The Trinitarian Faith, p14.
² ibid, p16.
³  ibid, p15.
⁴ St. Irenaeus and the Rule of Faith – William Hemsworth-The Bible Catholic⁵ Pelikan, Jaroslav, Credo: Historical and Theological Guide to Creeds and Confessions of the Faith in the Christian Tradition, p70.

Local congregation:
Grace Communion West Hampstead 
Sidings Community Centre
150 Brassey Road
West Hampstead
London
NW6 2BA

Meeting time:
Sunday 12.30 pm

Local congregational contact:
Gordon Brown
gordon.brown@gracecom.church

Word of Life contact:  
wordoflife@gracecom.church