Depending on where you’ve said the Nicene Creed, you might have encountered a few versions. The two major differences are:
- “I believe” vs. “We believe”
- “The Holy Spirit … proceeds from the Father” vs. “The Holy Spirit … proceeds from the Father and the Son.”
These differences may seem minor, but the Nicene Creed is the most universal Christian confession of faith. Roman Catholics, Protestants, and the Eastern Orthodox all confess the Nicene Creed as a faithful summary of the teaching of the apostles. Next to Scripture itself, it is the single most important document ever written, and so every difference is worth studying.
The Original Nicene Creed of 325 AD
The first version of the Nicene Creed was published in 325 AD. Bishops from across the Christian world, East and West, gathered in Nicaea, a city in modern-day Turkey. The Council of Nicaea met to respond to the teaching of a bishop named Arius who claimed that Jesus was a created being and not of the same substance as the Father (not fully God). The council published the Nicene Creed, affirming that Jesus is “true God from true God, begotten not made, homoousios with the Father.” The Greek word homo-ousious is usually translated as “consubstantial” or “of one substance.” The Nicene Creed did not add anything to the historic Christian faith, it simply clarified that to call Jesus the “Son” does not mean that he is created or inferior; rather, he is eternally the Son and of the same nature as the Father, fully God.
The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381
Unfortunately, the Nicene Creed did not put an end to the Arian heresy, and other false teaching began to spread, claiming that the Holy Spirit was not equal with the Father and Son or worthy of our worship. In 381 AD, bishops from the East and West met again in Constantinople (another city in modern-day Turkey) to expand the Nicene Creed. This time, they affirmed that the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father” and should be “worshipped and glorified” with the Father and the Son. The revised Creed is known as the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. Today, no one still uses the original 325 AD version, and so when people refer to “the Nicene Creed,” they mean the 381 revision.
The Third Council of Toledo (589 AD) and the Filioque Clause (“and the Son”)
In 589 AD, a group of bishops met in Toledo, Spain to address division within Spain over the persisting Arian heresy. The Third Council of Toledo affirmed the Nicene Creed but also approved an additional phrase that had begun to be used in the West. While the 381 Creed said that the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father,” the Third Council of Toledo ratified a revision that says the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son.” In Latin, “and the Son” is filoque, and so this became known as the filioque clause. This revision may seem small to us, but it sparked massive controversy, because only western bishops were present at the Third Council of Toledo. While the Nicene Creed of 325 and 381 were approved by a truly ecumenical council of East and West, the Eastern Church felt that the West was now beginning to act without them.
Roman Catholic vs. Eastern Orthodox
The filioque controversy escalated across the centuries as the bishop of Rome began to accrue more and more power and begin to act with less and less concern for the bishops of the other four traditional sees (centers of Christianity): Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. These and other issues led to the Great Schism of 1054 (aka the East-West Schism). Western Christians claimed that Rome was always the supreme see in the Church, and that to be truly catholic (part of the one true universal Church), a church had to be in submission to Rome and its bishop, who became known as “the Pope” (from a Greek word for “Father”). Eastern Christians claimed that Rome was breaking from apostolic tradition and that the East alone was remaining truly orthodox (holding right beliefs). It is in 1054 that we have for the first time the formal existence of “the Roman Catholic Church” and “the Eastern Orthodox Church.” To this day, the Eastern Orthodox do not say “and the Son” when they confess the Nicene Creed, and the filioque remains a key point of theological division.
Protestant
In the centuries that followed the Great Schism of 1054, a growing number of Roman Catholic priests were troubled by increasing corruption in the Western Church, even at the highest levels. In 1517, one of these priests, Martin Luther, gave voice to what many had been saying for years and sparked a protest movement calling for reform (change). Contrary to popular myth, Luther did not singlehandedly challenge the Church and he didn’t want to leave it. He was one of many priests who argued that the Roman Catholic Church had actually drifted away from its own, older teachings, from the ancient consensus of the whole Church, and ultimately from Scripture itself. These priests never did “leave” the Western Church; they were kicked out and sometimes put to death.
Far from rejecting the historic Christian Church, Protestants argued that they were holding fast to what Christians had always believed and taught.
These Christians who became known as “Protestants” (“protesters”) were forced to gather together in their respective countries, develop new forms of church government, and publish documents stating their beliefs. Far from rejecting the historic Christian Church, Protestants argued that they were holding fast to what Christians had always believed and taught. The first Protestant confession of faith, the Augsburg Confession, published in Germany, draws directly from the Nicene Creed, cites one of the canons of Nicaea, emphasizes that Protestants teach nothing contrary to the church fathers or the historic Christian Church, and only rejects the corruptions that had crept into the Church in the Middle Ages. In Protestant England, the 39 Articles of Religion likewise rejected various errors and abuses while affirming the historic Christian faith, especially as summarized in the Creeds: “The Three Creeds, Nicene Creed, Athanasius’ Creed, and that which is commonly called the Apostles’ Creed, ought thoroughly to be received and believed: for they may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture.”
Protestants argued that the one true Church is not and never was Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox. Rather, it is the unity of all congregations where the true gospel is preached and the sacraments are rightly administered. While Roman Catholics refused to recognize any Protestant churches as true churches, and refused to share the Lord’s Supper with Protestant or Eastern Orthodox Christians (still the case to this day), the Protestant reformers took a much different posture. While forcefully opposing corruption, they believed that there were still many true churches within the Roman Catholic Church, and they allowed anyone to come to the Lord’s Table who was a baptized believer that affirmed the Nicene faith and lived accordingly.
As Christians with their origins in the West, most Protestants affirm the filioque and say it in the Nicene Creed.
As Christians with their origins in the West, most Protestants affirm the filioque and say it in the Nicene Creed. However, some include the phrase “and the Son” in brackets to indicate that it goes beyond the original 381 Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, which remains the most ecumenical Christian confession ever written. For example, the 2019 Book of Common Prayer says: “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father [and the Son],” and includes a footnote after “[and the Son]” which says, “The phrase ‘and the son’ (Latin filioque) is not in the original Greek text. See the resolution of the College of Bishops concerning the filioque in Documentary Foundations.” The resolution mentioned says that the form of the Nicene Creed using the filioque, being customary in the West, “may be used in worship and for elucidation of doctrine.” The word “may” indicates that it is affirmed as true and has a long history in the West, but that it is not something that Christians should ultimately divide over.
“We Believe” or “I Believe”
Less significant than the filioque, but still worth addressing is that some versions of the Nicene Creed say “I believe” while others say “We believe.” Both are accepted by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestants. There is no division on this point. The original Greek of the Nicene Creed of 325 and 381 both say “We believe” [Πιστεύομεν], but the earliest Byzantine liturgical attestations use the singular form, as most Eastern liturgies do to this day. The first Latin translation of the Creed says “We believe” [Credimus], but the most recent edition of the Roman Missal (third edition), the Roman Catholic liturgy, says, “I believe.” Earlier editions of the Book of Common Prayer (1549, 1559, 1662) say “I believe,” but later editions (1979, 2019) say “We believe.”
The Roman Catholic Catechism accepts both forms when it says, “We begin our profession of faith by saying: ‘I believe’ or ‘We believe’” (CCC 26). While most Roman Catholic churches today say “I believe,” the Catechism actually associates “We believe” most closely with the Nicene Creed (because that was its original form):
“I believe” (Apostles’ Creed) is the faith of the Church professed personally by each believer, principally during Baptism. “We believe” (Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed) is the faith of the Church confessed by the bishops assembled in council or more generally by the liturgical assembly of believers. “I believe” is also the Church, our mother, responding to God by faith as she teaches us to say both “I believe” and “We believe.” (CCC 167)
The Roman Catholic Catechism affirms that “we believe” is more explicitly corporate (the bishops or the gathered believers together). However, notice that it does not view “I believe” as only personal. The “I” is ultimately the Church speaking with one voice. The Church is the body of Christ, and a body has one mouth and one voice! “We” is corporate because it indicates many members joining together to confess the same faith. But “I” is in some sense more profoundly corporate because it indicates many members so intimately joined in Christ as one body that they now speak as one.
This is not a clever notion projected back onto the Creed, it’s an ancient idea that goes back to the earliest versions of the rule of faith (predecessors of the Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed). In Against Heresies, Irenaeus summarizes the faith that the Church received from the apostles and their disciples, and then says,
The Church, having received this preaching and this faith, although scattered throughout the whole world, yet, as if occupying but one house, carefully preserves it. She also believes these points just as if she had but one soul and one and the same heart, and she proclaims them, and teaches them, and hands them down, with perfect harmony, as if she possessed only one mouth.
The believer must join their little “i” to the “I” of the Church. The faith must be personalized. The faith of the Church must be personally embraced. But the faith itself, the objective, apostolic faith confessed in the Nicene Creed, transcends the individual. It is a faith entrusted to the Church as a whole, which has been ordained by God as a pillar of truth in the world (1 Tim. 3:15).
The believer must join their little “i” to the “I” of the Church.
For these reasons, I generally prefer “I believe.” Rightly understood, it is deeply personal and profoundly corporate at the same time. However, in the individualistic culture of modern evangelicalism, the original plural (“We believe”) more clearly indicates the corporate nature of our faith, and so I value that too. Our local church’s catechism and official liturgy says “I believe” (see page 325 of The Whole Counsel of God), but in practice we often say “We believe,” since that is the version found in our hymnal (693 of Our Great Redeemer’s Praise), to which our congregation has easy access.
Conclusion
The Nicene Creed remains the greatest Symbol of Christian unity. It concisely summarizes “the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3), and the matters “of first importance” (1 Cor. 15:3) which bind all believers together despite our other differences. In conclusion:
- Confess the Nicene Creed frequently, if not every service. Study its history and theology. Cherish it.
- Consider putting the filioque in brackets to at least acknowledge it as a later edition.
- Don’t quibble over “We believe” or “I believe.” Choose one or alternate between both. Explain that both are corporate and personal: “I” must be part of the “we” and my little “i” is only part of the big “I” of the Church which is one body with one voice.
