Supplementary Lesson - Nicene Creed

Supplementary Lesson: The Nicene Creed
(An introduction to the Catholic Faith)

Lesson Objectives
1. The students will be able to recite the Nicene Creed.
2. Students will be able to understand the Nicene Creed.
3. Students will be able to have a general overview of the Catholic Faith.
Time Allotment: 3 meetings
Introduction
 A creed is a summary statement of beliefs and a profession of faith.
 The complete name of the Nicene Creed is Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.
 The original Nicene Creed dates back to 325 at the First Council of Nicaea, the first
ecumenical council of the Christian Church that met in ancient Nicaea, now known as
Iznik, Turkey. Emperor Constantine I called the council, presiding over the opening
session and participating in the discussion.
 Constantine hoped a council would help solve the issues resulting from Arianism, a
heresy proposed by Arius of Alexandria suggesting Christ was not divine but a
created being.
 The Nicene Creed has four parts: about 1) God the Father 2) God the Son 3) God the
Holy Spirit and 4)God’s Holy Church.
 The Nicene Creed is important for us Catholics because it is the summary of our
belief system.
 Seatwork: Copy the Nicene Creed on your notebook.
The Nicene Creed

I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
We believe in one God in three Persons. We do not believe in three gods. Our one God is not
only our king and Lord, He is our Heavenly Father. We are His children. He created
everything that we can see, but He also created all the things that we cannot see. For example,
we believe in the angels, in our own souls, and in the demons. God is Lord over all of it and
has all might.
Even though He is tremendously powerful, our God and Father draws us into a relationship
with Him and invites us to share eternal blessedness in another invisible reality: Heaven.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
 The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity is the Word of God, the Son. This Word of
God, Jesus Christ, proceeds from the Father. He was “born” and “begotten” but not
made.
 Begotten refers to being born of God. The Son was born from the essence of God the
Father. As humans share their humanity with their parents, the Son also shared the
essential nature of God the Father. As God the Father is eternal, so is the Son of God.
 In other words, Jesus is fully God and He is eternal, just as the Father is eternal.
 The Council Fathers went to great length to combat the Arian heresy which claimed
that Jesus was created and was not truly God. We believe that Jesus is fully God and
fully man.
 There is also the realization that it is through the Word of God that all things were
made. God reveals to us in Genesis God speaks in order to create. He says, “Let there
be light.” And there was light. Jesus Christ, the Word of God, was sent on a mission
by the Father to come down from heaven in order to redeem humanity and offer us
salvation.
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
 By the free choice of Mary, our Mother, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, the
Word of God took on flesh. Jesus Christ, the uncreated Word through which all things
were made, went down from heaven to share in our humanity. The almighty God
emptied Himself and took on the form of a servant.
 There is a tradition of bowing during this paragraph in honor of the Incarnation. The
Incarnation is literally the “enfleshment” of Jesus; it is what we celebrate at
Christmas. This paragraph marks one of the most important moments in human
history. Our God became one of us.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,

he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.
 Jesus became man in order to accomplish the work of our salvation. It was for us that
Jesus was crucified. The Council Fathers include, “under Pontius Pilate” to show that
this was a historical reality. It really happened. So too, Jesus truly rose from the dead
on the third day after being buried.
 Forty days after rising from the dead, He lifted Himself up into Heaven in a
mysterious fashion and He now reigns in Heaven as King at the right hand of the
Father. We believe that He will come again in glory. This is what we call the Second
Coming. At the second coming of Christ, we will all be judged; everything we have
done will be laid bare and true justice will be accomplished.
 This second coming will result in the passing away of the old Heaven and the old
Earth and the establishing of Jesus’ everlasting kingdom.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one God in three Persons. The third Person of the Trinity is the Holy Spirit,
who we also rightly call Lord and the giver of life. God breathed life into the first man, after
all. This holy breath of God is the Spirit which gives life and sustains life. He is glorified and
loved as God, along with the Father and the Son. We believe that the Holy Spirit, preceding
the Incarnation as well as after, inspired the prophets.
The Trinity is the mystery of God, as He is. It is difficult to wrap our minds around this
mystery in any meaningful way. Our metaphors are usually material, like a three-leaf clover
or the states of water as ice, liquid, or vapor, and because they are material, they always fall
short. God is spiritual, not material.
I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
 The Church of Jesus Christ is His Mystical Body. Therefore, the Church is holy, even
if the human beings who compromise it are not always holy. The Church is one
because Christ is one. The Church is catholic because the Church is “universal.”
Catholic means universal. And the Church is apostolic because Christ founded it upon
the Apostles.
 We enter into this Church through the one Baptism of Christ, by which we are
cleansed of original sin, are grafted onto Christ, and become adopted sons and
daughters of God.
 We believe that when Christ comes again, we will be reunited with our bodies in a
glorified way, similar to Christ’s resurrected Body.
 And we look forward to the life of the world to come which is eternal blessedness in
the company of the angels and the saints in constant praise and love of God. We will
want for nothing and all suffering will be no more.
Conclusion
The Nicene Creed is very important for us Catholics because it summarizes the whole of our
faith. Our lessons throughout the formation year will revolve around the Nicene creed in a
sense that they are all about our faith.
Suggested Activity:
1. Print a copy of the Nicene Creed with a large font. Group the students accordingly.
Then cut the statements and jumble them. The objective is for the group to rearrange
the Nicene Creed correctly. The group that arranges it the fastest is the winner.
2.

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Supplementary Lesson: The Nicene Creed

(An introduction to the Catholic Faith)

Time Allotment: 3 meetings

The Nicene Creed

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,

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