9 June 2025

The Nicene Creed is  a sign of unity. The most remarkable thing about the Nicene Creed is that it is believed and recited by all the major Christian denominations in the world -  the Reformed Churches, the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches.

For a single summary of the Christian faith to be accepted by so many different denominations is a very fine ecumenical initiative. Together with our baptism which marks our membership of the Church, this statement of faith secures our allegiance to the doctrines of the Christian Faith.

Until this year, the Church of Scotland had as its subordinate standard ‘The Westminster Confession of Faith’. Ministers and elders had to declare their belief in the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith and thereafter sign the prescribed Formula:

‘I believe the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith contained in the Confession of Faith of this Church.’

At this year’s General Assembly, the Kirk moved away from declaring one subordinate standard and embraced a ‘Book of Confessions’. It contains  the Nicene Creed, the Apostles’ Creed, the Scots Confession, the Westminster Confession of Faith and the 1992 Statement of Faith.

‘This new emphasis upon the Creeds would help to strengthen the unity of the Church of Scotland.’ says the Theological Forum. ‘Shared statements of faith …remind us that we have more in common than what separates us, and that though we may disagree over secondary issues, we are a single Church with a common faith.’

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