This story is the third in a series covering the Nicene Creed that appeared in a special section of the March 27 edition of The Baptist Paper. Click here to subscribe. For upcoming stories in this series, continue watching thebaptistpaper.org throughout this week or click here. To request a copy of the special section, email news@thebaptistpaper.org.
By A.J. Smith
Special to The Baptist Paper
Southern Baptists heard about, learned about and discussed creeds — specifically the Nicene Creed — more in 2024 than likely any other time in recent years.
During the 2024 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, Malcom Yarnell, a professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, made a motion on the convention floor to add a 19th article to the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 which quotes the Nicene Creed.
The motion was referred to the SBC Executive Committee for consideration, and in September at the EC’s quarterly meeting, the referral was reviewed. EC members decided not to move forward with the request and will report their decision to messengers attending the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting in Dallas.
However, EC members did point out that churches and entities, acting autonomously, may choose to adopt confessional, doctrinal or theological statements at their discretion.
What is it?
What is the Nicene Creed?
The creed dates to 325, and like any confession of faith, it was forged in controversy. In the fourth century, the Church was wrestling with the nature of the Trinity and Jesus’ incarnation.
Between 100 and 325 debates arose regarding God’s nature.
In an attempt to explain the relationship between the members of the Godhead, some proposed “modalism.” In this view God appeared in different modes: “Father,” “Son” or “Holy Spirit.” Thus, functionally in this view, the three are not separate and distinct persons.
In response to modalism, Tertullian, the North African Christian apologist, expressed the first clear statements on God’s tri-unity.
Similar threats to the nature of the Trinity arose around 315 from a presbyter named Arius. He held that the Logos, or Son of God, was created. Arius famously said, “There was when the Logos was not.” This is the view held by Jehovah’s Witnesses, and it was this teaching which prompted the council of Nicaea.
Tertullian’s position prevailed as it was supported by Scripture and the worship practices of the churches. The Trinity serves as the standard for true Christian belief: three persons in one essence, equal in divine nature, glory and majesty, yet distinct in their persons. In our redemption each plays a unique role (Eph. 1:3–14).
Having settled the questions of the deity of the Son and Spirit, other questions arose — how can Jesus be both God and Man? Is He part God and part Man?
In 451, a council convened in Chalcedon. There the Council affirmed that in Jesus God joined His perfect deity to perfect humanity so that Jesus is, from conception, both fully God and fully human. Jesus took on our human nature as created in God’s image and took the punishment for our sins. He heals all that was lost in Adam’s fall. He is two natures in one person. In combining perfect deity and perfect humanity in one person he offers perfect obedience and makes perfect satisfaction for our sins, reconciling us with the Father.
Baptists and creeds
A flurry of anti-creedal arguments appeared from Baptist historians in the 20th century, but the Baptist view of creeds is not clear cut. Many picked up the rallying cry, “No creed but the Bible.” Early English Baptists in both England and Colonial America, however, embraced confessions of faith, often referring to them as creeds, and some of these confessions borrowed the language of the Nicene Creed.
Early English Separatists influenced early Baptist Confessions. “A True Confession,” 1596, is one such Separatist confession. It borrows trinitarian language from the Nicene Creed. Both General (Arminian or Free Will) Baptists and Particular (Calvinistic) Baptists show Separatist influences.
One of the earliest Baptist confessions was written in 1610 by General Baptists. This document, known as “A Short Confession,” builds on this tradition, borrowing from the Nicene Creed.
A little over 30 years later, in 1644, Particular Baptists issued their first association-wide confession, known as “The First London Confession.” It builds on “A True Confession” and uses language from the Nicene Creed to affirm the Trinity.
In 1646, The Westminster Confession of Faith was written by an appointed group of scholars for the Church of England. Particular Baptists took this confession, altered its wording on matters related to predestination, baptism, church order and liberty of conscience, and published it in 1689 as “The Assembly Confession.” It is recognized today as “The 1689 London Confession,” or “The Second London Confession.” This confession borrows heavily from the Nicene Creed to describe the Trinity. Both the Philadelphia and Charleston Baptist associations recognized this confession as their standard for doctrinal purity and unity.
This raises the question, why did early Baptists embrace Nicene expressions of the Trinity? Quite simply, the Reformation period produced both orthodox and heretical expressions of faith. Baptists faced accusations of holding to heretical views because of their rejection of infant baptism and state-sponsored religion.
Baptists, therefore, used confessions as documents of unity and accountability between churches and as a defense against accusations of heresy regarding the doctrine of God and the Incarnation.
The simplest way for these early Baptists to demonstrate they did not hold heretical views about the Trinity or the Incarnation was to quote from the Nicene Creed in their confessions of faith.
EDITOR’S NOTE — A.J. Smith received a Ph.D. in church history from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2004. His dissertation was on The Making of the 1963 Baptist Faith and Message (Wipf & Stock, 2008). Smith also is a contributor to The Holman Bible Dictionary and was an assistant professor of church history for Liberty University Online, 2006–2021.
