Quick Facts about Nicaea

The Council of Nicaea began on June 19, 325. Emperor Constantine called for a gathering of 318 bishops to discuss Christ’s divinity. Nicaea had nothing to do with choosing the books of the Bible, and everything to do with Christ’s divinity. The debate centered on whether Christ was “of the same essence [ὁμοούσιον]” or “of like essence [ὁμοιούσιος]” with the Father. In 381, the Nicene Creed was expanded into the Nicaea-Constantinople Creed, with early Christians adding an explanation and defense of the divinity of the Holy Spirit. This is what Nicaea 325 states: 

“We believe in one God the Father all powerful, maker of all things both seen and unseen.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten, begotten from the Father, that is from the substance of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial [ὁμοούσιον] with the Father, through whom all things came to be, both those in heaven and those in earth; for us humans and for our salvation he came down and became incarnate, became human, suffered and rose up on the third day, went up into the heavens, is coming to judge the living and the dead.

And in the Holy Spirit.

However, those who say, “There was a time when he was not,” and “Before he was begotten he was not” and “He came to be from things that are not” or who say that he may be of another hypostasis or substance, affirming that the Son of God is subject to change or alteration—these (such persons) the catholic and apostolic church anathematizes.“

Pastor Chance Sumner