Journal: Eikon
Volume: EIKON 07:1 (Spring 2025)
Article: Is Nicaea Enough? On Moral Revisionism And Appeals To The Creeds
Author: Matthew Y. Emerson

Eikon 7.1 (Spring 2025) p. 100

Is Nicaea Enough? On Moral Revisionism And Appeals To The Creeds

Matthew Y. Emerson

And

Brandon D. Smith

Matthew Y. Emerson is dean of theology, arts, and humanities at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, as well an executive director of the Center for Baptist Renewal. He’s the author of “He Descended to the Dead”: An Evangelical Theology of Holy Saturday.

Brandon D. Smith is chair of the Hobbs School of Theology and Ministry and associate professor of theology and early Christianity at Oklahoma Baptist University. He is also a cofounder of the Center for Baptist Renewal and host of the Church Grammar podcast.

Eikon 7.1 (Spring 2025) p. 101

In the midst of pursuing catholicity and a common faith in a multi-denominational world, we are sympathetic to the phrase, “Nicaea is enough” (NiE). By this people seem to mean that, when trying to articulate boundaries for orthodoxy and, thus, for who is and who is not a Christian, the Nicene Creed, or more often the Apostles’ Creed, serves as the arbiter. In this model, someone who affirms historic Christian teaching on the Trinity, the hypostatic union, the necessity of Christ’s work for salvation, the church as the people of God, and the expectation that Christ will return in glory should be considered a Christian. We as Baptists can agree with a wide range of denominations and traditions on these fundamental points, even as we recognize a need to articulate more fully various theological and ecclesiological nuances that are both addressed and not addressed in the creeds.

However, sometimes NiE is an appeal to the acceptability of holding either doctrinal and/or moral standards beyond what was laid down in the creeds. Doctrinally, for instance, bibliology is not addressed in the creeds; therefore, according to this NiE way of thinking, Christians can believe a whole host of different positions about Scripture. NiE has, for example, been used as part of a much larger paradigm arguing against the recent Baptist emphasis on inerrancy.1

On the issue of morality, NiE has become a recourse for some to say that, for instance, sexuality is not addressed in the Creeds, and therefore Christians can believe a whole host of different ideas about gender and sexuality.2 In this scenario, NiE is employed not as a genuine attempt at doctrinal catholicity, but as a euphemism for capitulating to our current cultural climate regarding gender and sexuality. Rather than an attempt at maintaining and retrieving classical Christian orthodoxy in a new context, this sentiment attempts...