2025: Celebrating 17 Centuries of the Nicene Creed
by Dr. Melissa Cain Travis
May 20, 2025 was the 1700th anniversary of Christianity’s First Ecumenical Council, which convened at Nicaea (in modern-day Turkey) in 325. Not only was it the first of several church councils held within the first millennium of the church, but it was arguably the most important from a doctrinal perspective.
In the fourth century, there was a growing restlessness in the early church concerning the proper formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity. If Jesus was God’s “only begotten” (John 3:16), did that mean he was not eternal and uncreated like the Father? How could the Father and Son be “one” (John 10:30)? Those were the kinds of questions circulating, especially among those who had converted from paganism.
In 318, a pastor in Alexandria by the name of Arius openly challenged other Christian teachers in his city by insisting that Jesus—the Word (Logos)—was a subordinate god whose nature was different from God the Father’s. According to Arius, Jesus was a created being who lacked some divine attributes such as eternality and omnipotence. This view gained popularity, in part, because it appealed to former pagans, who were able to grasp a polytheistic (multiple gods) concept more easily than the strange, trinitarian notion of one God in three persons. It also helped that Arius was eloquent, charismatic, and employed clever public-relations tactics, such as setting simple statements of his ideas to fun, catchy tunes that spread like modern-day internet memes.
Quarrels brewed and factions formed. While the doctrine of the Trinity was not the only theological dispute of that time and place, it was the biggest theological and ecumenical threat, and something had to be done. Constantine, who was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity (312), called for a church council in 325. About three hundred bishops congregated at Nicaea, and in his opening remarks, Constantine declared that division in the church was worse than war.
Arius was called in to appear before the council and give a formal statement of his view, which was quickly denounced by the assembly. However, that wasn’t the hard part. The church needed a very clear, carefully worded creed that would serve as an official standard of Christian orthodoxy. Thus, the Nicene Creed was crafted. All but two of the attending bishops signed the document, and the two who refused were condemned to exile along with Arius. (The Arian heresy is a hallmark of various modern-day cults, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses.)
The creed is a proclamation of belief in the core doctrines of our faith, and includes a section on the blessed Trinity:
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only-begotten Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
It is crucial to recognize that the doctrine of the Trinity was not invented by the Nicene council. This is a common false claim made by some poorly informed critics of Christianity. The writing of the creed by the leaders of the ancient church was an official act of clarification and affirmation of a doctrine fully rooted in holy Scripture. This is precisely why the bishops were able to condemn Arianism so quickly and decisively prior to actually formulating the creed.
Still today, the Nicene Creed is regularly recited by Christians around the world as a corporate expression of worship. It is a battle cry, not against any human person or group of people, but against the enemy and all the false ideas he loves to perpetuate. Consider 2 Corinthians 10:3–5: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage battle according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (NASB). Joining believers around the world in speaking aloud the core truths of our faith using the historic words of an ancient creed is a powerful experience of Christian unity and a celebratory affirmation of the eternal hope we have in our Lord.
—Melissa Cain Travis holds a PhD in Humanities (Philosophy) from Faulkner University's Great Books program and an MA in Science and Religion from Biola University. She serves as Assistant Professor of Apologetics at Houston Christian University and is a Fellow at Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. To learn about her publications and other work, visit melissacaintravis.com.