As we have made our way through this series on the Nicene Creed, we have journeyed through the confession of the deity of the Father and that of the Son. Today we will expound the final line of the Nicene Creed's confession of the Son's deity, namely "through whom all things are made".
For sake of comparison, I have written already in this series about the confession of the Father as "Maker of Heaven and Earth, of all things visible and invisible" here Growing Christian Resources: Post #6 1700 Years of the Nicene Creed - "Maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible." The Christian confession of the Father being "the Maker of Heaven and Earth, of all things visible and invisible" is a definite marker of Deity. As we will see in today's post, reference to the Son as "through whom all things are made" functions to bracket the Nicene Creed's confession of the united deity of the Father and the Son by focusing on their work of creation as One Creator God.
The line drawn by Nicaea to distinguish God from everything else.
As already noted, the Nicene Creed uses the doctrine of creation to point attention to the true deity of the Father and that of the Son. Theologian Fred Sanders refers to this move by the Council of Nicaea as drawing "The Nicene Line". What Sanders means by this idea is the line drawn between the Creed's confession of the Father and Son's deity and Creatorship to what follows in their works of creation and redemption. Put another way, this "Nicene Line" establishes the Creator/creation distinction. Sanders writes about the Nicene Line in his blog:
"Construing the events of the New Testament as the disclosure of divine sonship, Nicaea thus draws a line between God and creation, locating the blessed Trinity above the line precisely in order to describe the divine work of transformatively blessing creatures below the line." The Nicene Line as Structural Principle for Christian Doctrine · Fred Sanders
Sander's observation is very helpful in better understanding the Nicene Creed. When we arrive at the article or confession of the Holy Spirit, He too is given this identifying marker of Creatorship: "And we believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life." The Nicene line is drawn there as well, distinguishing the deity and Divine work of the Holy Spirit in creation from what follows in creation and redemption (especially in the confession of the church, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection, and the world to come). All three Persons of the Trinity are confessed in this way, distinguishing the Triune Creator God from His Creation of all things and redemptive activities on behalf of sinners.
The Son Is The Person of the Trinity "through whom all things are made"
As the Creed confesses this defining marker of the Son's total deity, it is summarizing the language of the New Testament's revelation of the Son. Several Scriptures in the New Testament attest to this language of the Son being the one "through whom" all things are made.
John 1:1-3 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."
1 Corinthians 8:6 "yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him."
Colossians 1:16-17 "For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."
Hebrews 1:2-3a "in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power."
The great Baptist theologian John Gill wrote the follow about the Son's role in creation along with the Father in his work "A Complete Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity; or a System of Evangelical Truth From The Sacred Scriptures". His remarks capture well what we're discussing currently about the Son being the One "through whom all things are made":
"that before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and world were formed, God was, even from everlasting ; so that an eternity anteceded the making of the world. Christ also, the Wisdom and Word of God, was before the earth was; even when there were no depths, nor fountains abounding with water ; before the mountains and hills were settled, and the highest part of the world made, Psalm 90:2. Prov. 8:24—30."
The implications of confessing the Son as being "through whom all things are made".
When we read these four main passages that speak of the Son's work of creation, a few implications follow.
1. If the Son were not eternal, there would be no creation.
The Nicene Creed's logic here devastates the heretic Arian's insistence on the Son being the highest created being. If the Son was below the "Nicene line" of what counts as God, then that would mean no creation would exist. Furthermore, as I have argued for in previous posts in this series, without the Son, there is no God the Father, and thus no Trinity, since the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. By tacking on the phrase "through whom all things are made" to the previous line "one substance with the Father", the Council of Nicaea equates the Son with the Father not only in being, but in Divine ability.
2. If the Son were not truly God, He could not create.
By saying the Son is the one "through whom all things were made", a statement is made regarding something only God can do. Only Deity can create. Isaiah 45:18 "For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited), “I am the Lord, and there is none else." In Scripture, God the Father is identified with this ability, Revelation 4:11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” With the already mentioned revelation of the Son being the one "through whom" all things are made, the Scripture establishes the Son's ability to create as so with the Father, thus reinforcing the Son as truly God.
3. Since the Son and the Father are confessed as uniquely able to make all things, then it follows that these two Divine Persons are one in essence.
The logic of the Nicene Creed leads to this remarkable conclusion. To see the Son at work affirms His total deity as much as the other previous statements that expounded His eternal relation with the Father as "begotten, not made" and the initial statement utilizing the Divine title "Lord". In John 10:30 Jesus affirmed "I and the Father are One".
As we have attempted to expound the Nicene Creed's profound confession of the deity of the Son and that of the Father, we will turn our attention in the next several posts to the Nicene Creed's confession of the incarnation of the Son.
