A church creed is kind of like a statement of faith but from early Christianity (roughly the first 500 years). It articulates what the Scriptures teach and is agreed upon across a variety of Christian churches.
The Nicene Creed* was undertaken when many church leaders came together in 325 A.D. at the lakeside town of Nicaea in modern day Turkey. There were a few leaders who were questioning the reality of the Trinity and whether Jesus was fully God (specifically a bishop named Arius). After the meeting of Nicaea, the matter was settled with a vast majority agreeing that the teaching of the Trinity was in line with Scripture and that Jesus was indeed fully God incarnated in the flesh.
They later formed the Nicene Creed (at Constantinople in 381) which is now known as *the* creed of the Church because all branches and virtually all denominations of the church accept it (including Evangelical) despite their other important differences.
Although this period of time was marked by political – and even religious -unrest (and Constantine wanted some type of unifying creed), the wording of the creed was formed from the teaching of the New Testament and is now universally accepted by the Church.
As Dr. Greg Lanier points out, “…the concepts that later coalesce in the creeds are right there in the pages of Scripture from the outset of the Christian Church.”
Scholar, Michael F. Bird, confirms this, “In other words, (*the creeds of Nicaea and Constantinople) of the fourth century are not purely politically driven and radically innovative statements of faith. They are, instead, contextualized clarification of New Testament teaching.”
*Portions of the Nicene Creed:
“We believe in one God, the Father, the almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only 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…
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets…”
