A Nicene Pun

The Point by Colson Center

A few weeks ago, a self-described “heretic” tweeted out a message befitting that title, saying, “Jesus was Christ. Buddha was Christ. Muhammad was Christ. Christ is a word for the Universe seeing itself. You are Christ. We are the body of Christ.”

To this, someone else retorted, “If you can’t say something Nicaean, then don’t say it at all.” The joke here is that the Nicene Creed of the fourth century clarified Christian beliefs in the midst of controversies over the nature of Christ, drawing a line between God’s self-revelation in the Bible and human speculation.

Despite the joking nature of this reply, it reminds us of something important. Once we stray from the core beliefs held by Christians since the Church’s earliest days, we risk “exploring” our way into outright false beliefs.

In contrast to their reputation for restrictiveness, the creeds of the Church are liberating. Like railings along a cliffside, the creeds give us the freedom to differ and dispute with fellow believers while remaining free from the fear that we’ll stray so far that we’re no longer Christians at all.