About 1700 years ago there was a pastor name Arius who threw the church into controversy. He was teaching, “There was a time when the Son was not.” In 325 AD the shepherds of the church came together to unify its teaching on the Son. They concluded, with apostolic teaching, that the Son is co-eternal with the Father. The statement they made about this is the Nicene Creed, affirming the eternal nature of the Son and His relationship to the Father.
THE NICENE 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 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 sits on the right hand of the Father;
And He shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Spirit, 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.
*The Western church added “and the Son”.
