Prepare for a brief history lesson today.
We will spend some time on a document of antiquity within the Christian Church.
Although the Eastern Church (not the Asian Church… the Orthodox Church), all sectarian Catholic Churches and most mainline protestant churches are aware of this document, I would say that most present day evangelicals and pentecostals are unaware of its existence. That is a travesty.
The NICENE CREED is that document of antiquity and actually pre-dates the Christian Bible’s canonization (meaning before the present day Bible was officially listed and approved by the Church).
The NICENE CREED was composed (during the Council of Nicaea) and adopted originally in 325 A.D. and revised in 381 A.D. It is a statement of faith produced by the Bishops (Apostles) of the early Church to unify behind dismantling a growing belief that Jesus was not God. The early Church saw this corruption growing and decided to consolidate and write and approve a statement of faith which unquestionably stated that Jesus is God.
They later made a decree concerning the NICENE CREED that stated: “it is unlawful for any man to bring forward, or to write, or to compose a different Faith as a rival to that established by the holy Fathers assembled with the Holy Ghost in Nicæa.”
The early Church leadership evidently attributed both (1) their coming together in agreement and (2) the writing of the NICENE CREED, to the Holy Spirit.
The ultimate version we have today was composed in 381 A.D…. the early Church did not decide which books would definitely be in the New Testament until 393 A.D. (the Council of Hippo).
So, again, before the final formation and agreement of the New Testament, the Church came together in unity and (with the Holy Spirit) formed a document to unify the true Christian Church:
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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 his 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 Ghost
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 sitteth on the right hand of the Father;
and he shall come again, with glory,
to judge both the quick and the dead;
whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord, and Giver of Life,
who proceedeth from the Father [and the Son];
who with the Father and the Son together
is worshipped and glorified;
who spake 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.
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JESUS IS LORD
Rev. Daniel Gabriel
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