Do you have to believe in the Nicene Creed to be a true Christian?
People have been arguing over this for about 1,700 years. So this article and accompanying podcast episode are not the final answer or discussion on the topic.
But here’s the real question, actually a couple of questions. What does it mean to be a true Christian? How do you tell if someone is a Christian or not?
To me, there are two basic ways to answer that question, and it’s often a combination of both. It’s either about what you believe and/or how you act.
In last week’s Episode #223, The Bible as a Verb with Polly Castor, my wife and I talked about the importance of doing what the Bible says and not just believing in what it says or learning about things. I’ll have that link in the show notes for you to check out if you haven’t listened. It’s a really good discussion that leads up to this week’s episode about the Nicene Creed.
What does it mean to be a Christian?
Recently I was having a conversation with a friend of mine who, in trying to clarify in his own mind what it meant to be a Christian, said that as long as someone adheres to the Nicene Creed, that was good enough for him. After that, he didn’t pay too much attention to all the theological debates. He realizes there are honest differences of perspective among his Christian friends. And he’s fine with that.
Interestingly enough the Nicene Creed, and there are several variations, since it was modified over several centuries, is still the litmus test for faith in many Christian churches, Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant, today.
Well, I got to thinking about the Nicene Creed. If you’re not aware of how it came to be, there’s quite an intriguing history to it and it’s not all rainbows and butterflies.
Now, if you’re a proponent of the Nicene Creed, I hope you will hear me out. Whether you agree or disagree with what I’m going to say, you may have a perspective I hadn’t thought of yet. And I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
History of the Nicene Creed
In 325 C.E. Constantine, the Emperor of Rome, called a Council of Church leaders in Nicaea to bring unity to the Christian world by dealing with doctrinal disagreements in the church, mostly concerning the divine identity and nature of Jesus Christ.
Is Jesus God? Is he a man? Is he both? What does it mean to be the Son of God? Are God and Jesus equal? What is the relationship between God and Jesus? And where does the Holy Spirit fit in? There were two main schools of thought, one led by a man named Arius and the other led by Athanasius.
If you want to really dig into this, there are lots of resources. The book I have enjoyed reading on this topic is called “When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity During the Last Days of Rome”* by Richard E. Rubenstein.
This book takes a deep dive into what happened at the Council of Nicaea, the debates between Arius and Athanasius, and their followers, and the continuing battle over decades, to decide what true Christian doctrine should be.
Arius and Athanasius
The disagreement between Arius and Athanasius and their followers was epic. And they did not sit around sipping tea, pleasantly listening to each other in the process of trying to find common ground in their faith. They were ruthless in their opposition to each other’s viewpoints. They constantly vilified those who disagreed with them, and never hesitated to condemn all who disagreed with them as heretics.
And believe it or not, their followers would often take to the streets with violence against each other.
It was really a political and power struggle. From all the research I’ve done, and I admit, it’s not exhaustive, I see little if any evidence of these two men and their followers acting in humble, Christlike ways. They used the ways of the world to the fullest extent, and constantly maneuvered for favor with Constantine and then his successors.
So even before you look at what the Nicene Creed actually says, I have problems with the motives behind it. On the surface, it sounded reasonable to Constantine to try bring the Christian world together in a doctrine they could all agree on. But it didn’t work out that way in practice.
The debates over who Jesus is, along with his nature and essence, are still going on today. Constantine did not solve the problem.
In 325, just as today, there are many Christians who have deep, heart-felt convictions about all kinds of things related to their faith, especially when it comes to who Jesus is.
Just because you believe something doesn’t make it true
Now, you can believe anything, but that doesn’t mean it’s correct. And just because you believe something doesn’t mean you’re living your life according to those beliefs.
For example, you can believe in Jesus, you can call him Lord of your life, but that doesn’t guarantee that you will follow his example. You may try to, you may not. You may pick a few of the things he said, and focus on those but leave out some of his other important teachings.
For example, I recently heard of a pastor who referred to parts of the Sermon on the Mount in his sermon where Jesus talked about turning the other cheek and loving your enemies, among other things.
A politically conservative member of his church challenged the pastor’s remarks and asked him where he got all that liberal theology. The pastor replied that he had quoted Jesus’s own words from the Gospel of Matthew. The church member replied that some of that stuff just isn’t relevant anymore.
That’s really pretty shocking when you think about it. What Jesus said will always be relevant.
The Nicene Creed doesn’t define a true Christian
I repeat, it’s not enough just to say you believe in Jesus. It’s not enough to call him Lord. That’s a good place to start. But Jesus expected us to follow his teachings and example. He spoke very pointedly about this very thing.
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 7:21 NIV
This is the precise reason the Nicene Creed is not a true litmus test for whether someone is a true Christian or not. Jesus is basically saying it’s not just about recognizing him as Lord, but doing God’s will. You can believe the words of the Nicene Creed with all your heart, or any creed for that matter—it could be as simple as “Love your neighbor as yourself” (which is not such a bad creed). But as I said, just believing something doesn’t mean you’re putting it into practice.
The big difference between the Nicene Creed, and others like it, and the Golden Rule, for example, is that the Nicene Creed says nothing about the way you’re supposed to live your life. What can you practice? There’s nothing to practice in there. It’s all about beliefs.
There’s nothing about loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind. There’s nothing about loving your neighbor as yourself. There’s nothing about all the teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, which, when you obey them, according to Jesus, is like building your house on the rock. There’s nothing about turning to God in prayer for help and guidance.
The Nicene Creed doesn’t require you to follow Jesus
Jesus said,
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. John 14:15 ESV
He did not say, “If you believe in me you will argue with your fellow Christians about who I am and condemn them if they disagree with you.”
The Nicene Creed is woefully negligent of what Jesus expected of his followers. It is primarily concerned about doctrinal positions of who God is, who Jesus is, who the Holy Spirit is, and how they’re related, among other things.
What does it mean to believe in Jesus?
So let’s talk about what it means to believe in Jesus.
When Jesus asked people if they had faith or if they believed in him, it was not just a doctrinal question about who he was, it was about whether someone believed he could heal them. Here are a couple of examples.
Two blind men asked Jesus for healing.
When he [Jesus] had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. Matthew 9:28 NIV
Then Jesus healed them.
Yes, they called him Lord, although that could have just been the equivalent of us saying “Yes, Sir” to someone. But they had earlier called out to him as the Son of David, which was a clear reference to their belief that he was the Messiah.
But Jesus didn’t stop to question them about the intricacies contained in the Nicene Creed before he healed them.
Their faith in him was based on who he was and what he could do for them.
A non-Jew’s faith in Jesus brings healing
A Roman Centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant and expressed a deep conviction that Jesus could heal the man, even without coming to his house.
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Luke 7:9 NIV
Again, the faith was that Jesus could heal his servant.
Lack of faith
Sometimes Jesus rebuked a person’s lack of faith. For example, when Peter went to Jesus walking on the water, but started to sink because he took his eyes off Jesus and was afraid, Jesus rebuked his lack of faith.
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” Matthew 14:31 NIV
Now, of course, Jesus wanted his followers to understand, not just believe, that he was the Messiah. But it wasn’t a doctrinal platform he was proposing. It was an empowerment to follow his example, to go and do likewise.
Jesus put it this way:
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. John 14:12 NIV
How did Arius and Athanasius believe in Jesus?
Did the men who were in favor of the Nicene Creed in 325, and those who opposed it, do the works of healing and miracles that Jesus did?
Not that I can tell! In fact, as I’ve already mentioned, they acted in ways that were very unlike Christ, especially in the way they treated their perceived enemies.
So what do we conclude from that?
Well then, either Jesus’s statement about doing the works he did was no longer valid in 325 C.E., or the men who fought for, as well as those who fought against, the Nicene Creed did not really believe in Jesus the way he was talking about, which would have empowered them to heal and perform miracles as Jesus did.
I tend to think the latter is true. Because Jesus’s words were spoken not just for his time, but for all time.
Why there’s not more healing today
Perhaps one of the reasons there is not more Christ-healing today is because people believe in Jesus more on a doctrinal basis, which is set forth in the Nicene Creed, and others. If they had the kind of faith the Roman Centurion had, not just in words but in spirit, there would be a lot more healing today, just as there was in Jesus’s time.
Has anyone throughout all Christian history, been able to heal like Jesus did because they believed in the Nicene Creed, or any other creed?
If your faith is based on what a bunch of angry men 1,700 years ago debated and argued about for generations, resorting to violence, coercion, and power plays in their attempt to establish what they thought was true Christian doctrine, then your faith is not really founded on the Rock of Christ, but the opinions of men about Christ.
That’s why one of my goals with The Bible Speaks to You Podcast is to get back to the original Christianity of Jesus, the original message he brought, which included, not just believing in him as the Son of God or Messiah, but just as important, following his example in the way you think, act, and love mankind. And that’s why I talk so much about embracing the mindset of Jesus.
Beliefs or practice?
Another problem I have with creeds in general, and more specifically the Nicene Creed, is that once it was determined what the creed is, all you had to do is believe it. As I already mentioned, there is nothing in the creed about loving God and your fellow human beings as yourself. There is nothing about taking up your cross, denying yourself, and following Jesus. But that is what Jesus said was required of his followers.
He never said, “Let me teach you this doctrine or that doctrine,” in the modern day use of that word. His doctrine, his teachings, were about how to live your life and how to love. It was about actively putting his teachings into practice in your daily life.
He emphasized this more than once. I’m going to repeat this verse
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 7:21 NIV
Jesus didn’t give us a creed, but instructions for daily living
This is really a rebuke to the Nicene Creed. In effect, Jesus is saying, “Just because you believe what the Nicene creed says about who I am and my relationship to the Father and the Holy Spirit, does not mean you will experience the presence of heaven. It’s only by doing God’s will in your daily life that allows you to see and be in heaven.”
Think about Jesus’s parable about separating the sheep from the goats. He explains that the ones who fed the hungry and thirsty, clothed the naked, welcomed the stranger, and ministered to the sick and the prisoners would be with him in his kingdom and glory. Those who did not do these things, even though they called him Lord and believed in him, would not be with him in his kingdom. (See below; Matthew 25:31-45)
Jesus doesn’t use doctrines or creeds as the litmus test to determine who his true followers are. Why should we?
Judged by your deeds not creeds
The book of Revelation continues this thread of emphasizing that what we do is important.
I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. Revelation 20:12, 13 NLT
It does not say they are judged by their doctrine, or by what creed they believed, but by their deeds, their actions. This applies to you and me.
Do we do what Jesus has told us to do? Do we follow the will of God in the way we’re faithful to Him, the way we live, the way we treat others?
There’s nothing wrong with knowing exactly what you believe. In fact, that’s really important. But the question is: How do you practice those beliefs? What is the result, or the fruit, of you practicing your beliefs?
Fruit of the Spirit
Do you love God and all mankind more because of your beliefs? Do you love, pray for, and genuinely bless your enemies? Is your life full of the fruit of the Spirit?
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22, 23 NIV
Fruit of belief in the Nicene Creed
What is the fruit of a doctrinal and creed-based approach to faith?
Well, just look at those folks back in the 4th century who hammered out the Nicene creed. What was the fruit of their faith? Vilifying, excommunicating, and labeling as heretics those who opposed them. Being judgmental. Self-righteousness. Just to name a few. Pretty much the exact opposite of the fruits of the Spirit.
In the debate about what was sound doctrine, many of those who both accepted and rejected the Nicene Creed, basically disqualified themselves from being considered as true followers of Jesus by their un-Christlike attitudes and behavior. They may have called Jesus Lord, they may have had different opinions of what that meant, but they were not walking in his footsteps, with his mindset.
If their beliefs in and concepts of Jesus caused them to behave in such non-Jesus-like ways, either they did not really believe in Jesus, or the Jesus they did believe in was a doctrinal platform instead of a way of life, and not the Jesus we read about in the Gospels.
A tree is judged by its fruit
Jesus pretty much sums it all up when he says,
No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. Luke 6:43, 44 NIV
If the main fruit of Athanasius’s belief in Jesus was the hatred, judgmentalness, and violence he practiced, what does that say about his actual belief in Jesus? Personally, I will never adhere to a creed that was the fruit of this kind of attitude.
Is it okay to believe in the Nicene Creed?
So, you may be wondering: “Hey James, I hear what you’re saying. But is it okay to believe in the Nicene Creed or some other creed?” As I said, it’s good to know what you believe, and if that’s what you believe, then great.
But I could never believe a creed or any theological point just because someone at church, or the church as a whole for hundreds of years, says you have to believe it in order to be a true Christian. I certainly think about and consider what they say. But I have to look at the motives behind it and the history of how it came to be as well as its content.
How will you live your life?
For me, the real question is not whether to believe in a creed but: What are you going to do with your faith? How are you going to live your life? I know I’m repeating myself here, but there’s nothing in the Nicene Creed about putting your faith into practice. And yet, that is what Jesus asks us and expects us to do.
It was a blow to the spirit of Jesus’s original Christianity when Christians were defined by what they believed and what creed they adopted, instead of how they followed Christ and the fruit of the Spirit they brought forth in their daily lives.
So many Christian leaders today still insist you must accept the Nicene Creed to considered a true Christian. Others have their own statements of faith they use to define Christianity. But I am no longer intimidated by these people or their assertions. I simply go back to what Jesus said about who he was and how he wanted us to live our lives.
My simple “creed”
If you were to ask me what my creed is, I might say I don’t really have one. But the more I think about it, I guess my simple creed, is that I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Messiah, and that God is good and created us in His image and likeness. After that I would add my commitment to loving and obeying God, following Christ to the best of my ability by putting his teachings into practice in my daily life, loving my neighbor as myself, and praying to be guided by the Holy Spirit.
Wherever you stand on this topic, whatever creed you adhere to, or if you don’t believe in a traditional Christian creed, I invite you to join me in simply loving God, following Jesus, doing what he tells us to do, loving your neighbor as yourself, and being guided by the presence of the Holy Spirit.
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James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and podcaster. He conducts Bible workshops online and in person. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by embracing the mindset of Christ in daily life. Contact him here.
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Bible References
Matthew 7:21 NIV
21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
John 14:15 ESV
15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Matthew 9:28 NIV
28 When he [Jesus] had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied.
Luke 7:9 NIV
9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.”
Matthew 14:31 NIV
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
John 14:12 NIV
12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
Matthew 25:31-45 NIV
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.
32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,
43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
Revelation 20:12, 13 NLT
12 I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books.
13 The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds.
Galatians 5:22, 23 NIV
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Luke 6:43, 44 NIV
43 No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers.
