Musing – Which do you prefer – Apostles’ Creed or Nicene Creed?

Hebraic Musing – Which do you prefer – Apostles’ Creed or Nicene Creed?

The Apostles' Creed was originally written around A.D.180.  Roman Christians developed an early form of the Apostles' Creed to present the beliefs and teachings of the original apostles.  It does not address Christology (nature and person of Jesus), issues that are defined in the Nicene Creed. It says nothing explicitly about the divinity of either Jesus or the Holy Spirit, thus making it acceptable to many Unitarians and Arians who assert that the Son of God was a subordinate entity to God the Father. It left other theological questions that became objects of dispute. Here is the Apostles’ Creed with underscored wording differences.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.        I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic* Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.
* “catholic” not capitalized, means "universal"; capitalized, it refers to the Roman Catholic Church.

The Nicene Creed was first adopted in A.D. 325 at the Council of Nicea. The Roman Emperor Constantine had convened the Council of Nicea in an attempt to unify the Christian church with one doctrine, especially on the issues of the Trinity and the deity and humanity of Jesus Christ. The Nicene Creed reads as follows with underscored wording differences.

"We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.  “And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.       And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen."

Distinctions were added in the Nicene Creed to counter the Arian point of view.  Jesus Christ is …

1. "God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God", proclaiming his divinity.
2. "begotten, not made", asserting that he was not a mere creature, brought into being out of nothing, but the true Son of God, brought into being 'from the substance of the Father'.
3. "of one being with The Father".  The significance of this clause is ambiguous and argued.

Points to ponder

Which do you prefer?    And why?

Shalom

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                                                    June 24, 2014

Author of two books “Hebraic Insights” and  “Biblical Marriage”
And weekly e-mails “Hebraic Musings” 
Yosef1@cox.net  or  www.InsightsByYosef.com