Journal: Journal of the Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies
Volume: JIRBS 10:1 (NA 2025)
Article: The Consequence Of Perfection The Nicene Creed And Scripture’s Sufficiency
Author: Drew Sparks

JIRBS 10 (2025) p. 59

The Consequence Of Perfection
The Nicene Creed And Scripture’s Sufficiency

Drew Sparks*

*Drew Sparks is Pastor of Trinity Reformed Baptist Church in Terre Haute, IN. He is also Adjunct Professor of Theology at International Reformed Baptist Seminary and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Ivy Tech Community College.

The Second London Confession of Faith (2LCF) begins with these words, “The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience” (2LCF 1.1). The framers of the 2LCF acknowledge the primacy of Holy Scripture as the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule in a secondary and derivative rule of faith that has been perfected by the rule that is perfect, revealing the compatibility between sola Scriptura as the final authority and creeds and confessions as secondary authorities. For 1,700 years the Nicene Creed has served as a faithful steward of Holy Scripture for the church of Jesus Christ as a secondary authority. Christians throughout time and space confess this Creed that succinctly and rightly articulates the teaching contained in God’s word and find it a helpful authoritative guide. The Creed is a truth found in Scripture and that which helps readers arrive at further truths.

The Nicene Creed has been applied throughout most of the history of the church as a judgment that divides true and false churches. The utility, longevity, popularity, and authority of this Creed testifies to its veracity which rests on its likeness to

JIRBS 10 (2025) p. 60

Scripture as a consequence of Scripture’s perfection.1 Like the moon, the Creed is a beautiful but lesser light that receives its light from the greater light that rules the day. It possesses the authority as one sent to execute judgment by the authority of the king who authored the law. As a pan over fire, it cooks the meat by a heat that is rightfully its own but of which it is not the source or fount. The Nicene Creed is a ruled rule, a consequence of perfection, a secondary and derivative authority for matters of faith and practice ultimately dependent upon the authority of Scripture.

This article aims to offer an account of the relationship between the perfection of Scripture and the authority of the Nicene Creed. I assume the truths contained in the Nicene Creed are either explicitly stated or necessarily contained in Scripture. Thus, this is not a biblical or theological defense of the Creed. Rather, I explore the relationship between scriptural authority and the authority of the Nicene Creed in light of Scripture’s perfection by examining scholastic catego...