The Nicene Creed with Biblical References

Trust this will be helpful for saints to study this ancient creed of the Church:

We believe in one true God (Heb 11:6, 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, Romans 3:29-31, Eph 4:6)
The Father Almighty (1Cor. 8:6Rev. 1:8)
Maker of heaven and earth (Ex. 20:11, Gen. Ch. 1 &2)
and of all things visible and invisible (Jer. 32:17. Col. 1:16)
And in the one Lord (Acts 10:36) Jesus (Matt. 1:21) Christ (John 4:25-26),
the only-begotten Son of God (John 1:14),
begotten of the Father before all worlds(1 John 4:9),
Light of Light, very God of very God (John 1:4, 1 John 1:5-7, John 12:35-37, John 5:18),
begotten, not made (John 8:58),
being of the same substance with the Father (John10:30);
and by whom all things were made (John 1:3);
+ who for us men and for our salvation (Mat 1:21) came down from heaven (John 3:31),
+ and was incarnate of the Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God (Luke 2:6),
by the Holy Ghost (Luke 1:35), and became man (John 1:14);
+ and was crucified for us (Mark 15:25) in the days of Pontius Pilate (Matt 27:22-26);
and suffered, and died, and was buried (Matt 27:50-60);
And the third day rose again (Matt 28:6) according to His will (1.Cor 15:4),
and ascended into heaven (Luke 24:51), and sat on the right side of the Father (Mark 16:19); and shall come again in His great glory (Matt 25:31),
to judge both the quick and the dead (2 Tim 4:1);
whose kingdom shall have no end (Luke 1:33);
And in the one living Holy Spirit (John 14:26),
the life-giving Lord of all (2cor 3:17-18, Is. 6:8, Acts 28:25 Rom 8:2, 2.Cor 3:6),
who proceeds from the Father (John 15:26):
and who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified (Rev. 4:8),
who spoke by the Prophets and Apostles (2 Peter 1:21);
And in the One (John 10:16), Holy (Eph 5:26-27, 2 Peter 2:5&9),
Catholic (Rom 10:18 "Catholic" means universal or comprehensive, as well as "relating to the ancient undivided Christian church")
and Apostolic (Eph 2:20) Church;
and we acknowledge one Baptism (Eph. 4:5) for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38),
and look for the resurrection of the dead (Rom 6:5),
and the new life in the world to come (Mat. 25:34., Rev. 21:1-7). Amen.

Developed after the Apostle's creed, this creed was created by the Council of Nicene in 325 to counter the Arian heresy which denied the doctrine of the Trinity. They believed that while Christ was divine, he was created by God not being true God. That's why this creed states that Christ is "Being of one substance with the Father". The Arians rejected this.

In this ancient Catholic Creed, is the phrase, "baptism for the remission of sins" and "Mother of God".

Here is the Catholic understanding of the phrase, "one baptism for the remission of sins".

From their Catechism.

. ONE BAPTISM FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS

977 Our Lord tied the forgiveness of sins to faith and Baptism: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved."Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of forgiveness of sins because it unites us with Christ, who died for our sins and rose for our justification, so that "we too might walk in newness of life."

978 "When we made our first profession of faith while receiving the holy Baptism that cleansed us, the forgiveness we received then was so full and complete that there remained in us absolutely nothing left to efface, neither original sin nor offenses committed by our own will, nor was there left any penalty to suffer in order to expiate them. . . . Yet the grace of Baptism delivers no one from all the weakness of nature. On the contrary, we must still combat the movements of concupiscence that never cease leading us into evil "

979 In this battle against our inclination towards evil, who could be brave and watchful enough to escape every wound of sin? "If the Church has the power to forgive sins, then Baptism cannot be her only means of using the keys of the Kingdom of heaven received from Jesus Christ. The Church must be able to forgive all penitents their offenses, even if they should sin until the last moment of their lives."

980 It is through the sacrament of Penance that the baptized can be reconciled with God and with the Church:

MOTHER OF GOD - Catholic Understanding from the Catechism (if you are the "Mother of God", you must be sinless).

509 Mary is truly "Mother of God" since she is the mother of the eternal Son of God made man, who is God himself.

975 "We believe that the Holy Mother of God, the new Eve, Mother of the Church, continues in heaven to exercise her maternal role on behalf of the members of Christ" (Paul VI, CPG § 15).

721 Mary, the all-holy ever-virgin Mother of God, is the masterwork of the mission of the Son and the Spirit in the fullness of time. For the first time in the plan of salvation and because his Spirit had prepared her, the Father found the dwelling place where his Son and his Spirit could dwell among men. In this sense the Church's Tradition has often read the most beautiful texts on wisdom in relation to Mary. Mary is acclaimed and represented in the liturgy as the "Seat of Wisdom."
In her, the "wonders of God" that the Spirit was to fulfill in Christ and the Church began to be manifested:

493 The Fathers of the Eastern tradition call the Mother of God "the All-Holy" (Panagia), and celebrate her as "free from any stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature". By the grace of God Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long.

I thought the same thing, Dave. But, Mother of God is very central to the RCC and there is an internal move afoot to proclaim Mary, the Mediatrix of God. Co-Savior and mediator for men.

The term "Mother of God" has all the implications of being God. To the RCC, Jesus Christ is the Head, Mary the Neck and we are the body and must go through the neck (Mary) to reach the Head.

Greg, where did you get this copy of the Nicene Creed?

I cannot find one with the "Mother of God", reference. Obviously, I was never aware of this one. Are you trying to point out to us that a version exists with "Mother of God", in it?

http://www.creeds.net/ancient/nicene.htm

I don't even see it as part of the 381AD version.

http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/history/nicene381.html

Let's see what Greg says (as far as where he found it).

Saints,

I copied it from here when I was researching older history of the Indian Church: http://malankaraorthodoxchurch.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=104&Itemid=217 I am not sure if the universal church added holy and mother of god or if is just this movement.

Towards mother of God, this was a phrase that all the Church called mary after a council that was speaking on heresy of jesus not being god in the flesh, here is their perspective: http://malankaraorthodoxchurch.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=117&Itemid=149

I personally wrote an article on this subject below why the church called mary God-bearer (greek: Theotokos) or mother of God (meaning she actually bore God himself in her flesh) "the fulness of diety lived in bodily form.

Otherwise I thought the references were nice for saints to look up, I am sorry for the confusion.

here would be the historical creed:

I 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 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 sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father [and the Son]; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

from: https://www.ccel.org/creeds/nicene.creed.html

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The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” ”“ Luke 1:28

We could say that modern evangelicals have a too low view of Mary the mother of Jesus while other Church traditions have a too-high view of her. When someone called out during Jesus teaching, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you” (Luke 11:27). He replied succinctly that rather blessed are those people who obey God’s words. In no way was Mary ever worshipped or prayed to, veneration though was simply where the early Church would respect a holy prophet, apostle or saint who was greatly used of the Lord. Such veneration did become worship in some Christian circles which God says that He alone is to be given glory (Psalm 115:1). The best any past saint, martyr can be is an example of how to live godly and to be an example of someone who preserved to the end in the faith (Jude 1:3).

Some evangelicals have decided that any reverence of past believers is idolatry which is an over reaction to the abuses in veneration. In the book of Hebrews there is a famous list of saints who went before us (Hebrews 11) in the next chapter the conclusion is given "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) we should run this race of the Christian life. So in context we see that the Early Church had a view of reverencing the life’s of past prophets and believers as examples to encourage them on their way to Heaven. When we think of Mary the mother of Jesus we need to realize why in the early Church history she was called God-bearer (greek: Theotokos), another way to say that is mother of God. That sounds a wrong chord in the minds of modern evangelicals but when we investigate and realize that there were many Church councils and discussions on the Deity of Jesus Christ and if he was truly God in the flesh. False doctrines were forming claiming him not to be or in various forms not God in the true sense of God. When the entire Church came to the conclusion that Jesus was God fully since inception, he was begotten in eternity past and was begotten into Mary’s womb. Therefore he was fully God in the womb and essentially that made Mary the actual mother of God in the flesh.

Early Christians saw this as a very holy thing and not something trivial, of all women she was one that was called to be the Lord’s servant (Luke 1:38) in one of the most wonderful ways. We should not be ashamed nor reluctant to consider Mary as one of the holy examples to us of a godly life in the Scriptures. And that God gave her the special place in the history of the world to bear God into the flesh. We simply think to little of this great example of a godly life and need to re-capture reverence for not only God but the things and ways God has worked through believers in the past.

Hi Greg, in your opinion what view do Evangelicals have of Mary and what should their view be? I assume you think their view is not biblical and you think their view should be biblical, but I don't want to put words in your mouth.

Brother,

In my post just above your post, I personally wrote the last 3 paragraphs as a short article.

I think it is nothing wrong for evangelicals to call mary, mother (lower case "m") of God or God-bearer. Also she is without question the godliest and most important woman of history, we should speak and think of her as such. And therefore she is also an excellent example for sisters, just like paul is, as he said follow me as I follow Christ. So we can walk as the Lord did on the earth. (1 John 2:6).

Trust that helps.

We have so little information about Mary after the resurrection. In fact, I know of no information about her in the book of Acts except Acts_1:14 and after that, silence. Some things we have about her during Jesus' days is when she told Jesus to do something, but He would not do it. Even Mary had to learn the ways of the Lord. Mary had to be born-again and grow spiritually and learn to walk in love and forgiveness like the rest of us.

John_2:4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.

We have only this:
Acts_1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

Notice, the Scriptures refer to her as "the mother of Jesus", and not the "Mother of God". The Bible never encourages us to speak of her as the "Mother of God", which has led the RCC to anoint her all kinds of things, not the least of which is the Queen of Heaven. That is a false, counterfeit Mary. Not the Mary we know from the Scriptures.

Also, notice that men tried to focus the spotlight on Mary as His mother, but Jesus did not join in with paying respects to His mother, but rather talked about His Father. It could almost be seen as an insult when Jesus spoke what He spoke in Matt 12:49, except it wasn't an insult for those who had eyes to see what the Lord's point was.

Matt 12:47 Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.
Matt 12:49 And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
Mat 12:50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

Our treatment and estimation of one another (male and female) should be according to Jesus' example.

The RCC is very good at syllogisms.

Here is an example:

Christ lives in me. (Gal 2:20)
I died in Christ.
I do not live at all. (encourages self-effacement)

This little "teaching" encourages self-effacement for His life to be manifested but God does not require that. The right concept is that we "live by the faith of the Son of God." We live by His present, active life.

RCC version.
Jesus is the Word of God.
Mary is the mother of Jesus.
Mary is the mother of God.

It is interesting the epistles do not really use the phrase "born-again" and neither do early church fathers or anyone in church history till the evangelical movement in america essentially.

We treat the idea of praying to have jesus in our heart as if the apostles did this where ever they went. Actually the early church put a great emphasis on baptism (water and spirit) and not on a short prayer people would say.

the rite of baptism was considered the declaration that you were following the Lord as a disciple.

towards Mary, as I alluded to she was called mother of God in a Church council (300-400 AD) and this was their deep thinking on Jesus was God in the flesh, even in the womb of mary.

Greg, what you just posted I actually read earlier today on a Catholic site. I will check my history and post it. I don't know what your point is but it sure makes for interesting reading.

Born-again is a good term but Catholic theology doesn't teach this, because it means one must make a choice, not so with babies who are baptized who are incapable of making a choice. RCC theology supports baptismal salvation. Babies are unable to receive or not receive.

John 1:12 BUT AS MANY AS RECEIVED HIM, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

I would never say that baptism is necessary for salvation, but it true that in the early church baptism and salvation were so intertwined as to be indistinguishable. I would venture to say that a person in the early church days was not considered part of "The Way" unless they had been baptized. So while on a very technical level perhaps baptism was not a prerequisite to be "born again" as a practical matter, in those days at least, everyone was- probably very close in time to their conversion. In fact I would go so far as to say that baptism WAS their conversion experience.

It is a shame this is no longer the case. Most churches, including mine, have scheduled baptisms once in a while, perhaps once a month or once a quarter. This makes it seem to people that it is an optional thing. It is not optional, and a person who refuses to be baptized for whatever reason is on extremely tenuous ground from a salvation standpoint.

My point is that baptism is not for newborns, not even in the NT. Newborns cannot commit to die for Jesus Christ. They cannot commit, period.