[metmom]

Are you saying that the Nicean Creed had no part in defining the criteria upon which the Canon was established to bring you the Scripture that you say is exclusively authoritative?

Neither I nor you nor anyone else was there when all that was going on. All we have is the record of what happened. We do not know what specifically was going on in the minds of those making the decisions.

So, no. Any canon or creed or any statement of faith of a particular denomination, should be the criteria for determining what was considered Scripture. To do so otherwise is putting the wrong thing in pre-eminence. Scripture should never be subservient to anything.

For the believer, Scripture is canon and creed. Since we have Scripture, we don't need any statement of faith from a church to dictate our beliefs.

[smvoice]

AMEN, metmom.

NL, why the importance of placing canon and creeds above God's word? Do you honestly believe it is because of the RCC that we have God's word today? Let me refer you to a few Scriptures that SHOULD put this into perspective.

Matt. 22:31

Isaiah 30:8

Psalm 12:6,7

Psalm 119:89, 111, 160

1 Peter 1:23-25 (Isa. 40:8)

Matt. 5:17,18

And see please Deut. 17:14-18-They were to make copies of God's word for distribution and preservation.

Why?

2 Cor.2:17 warns that there are "many which CORRUPT the Word of God."

Do you honestly believe that God would place His word at the hands of people who could possibly corrupt it? Or would He make certain His word was preserved forever?

As far as the Nicean Creed, when was this written? I'm curious.

[CynicalBear]

>> For the believer, Scripture is canon and creed. Since we have Scripture, we don't need any statement of faith from a church to dictate our beliefs.<<

Amen! “believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved-and your house”. It’s as simple as that.

[Natural Law]

"For the believer, Scripture is canon and creed. Since we have Scripture, we don't need any statement of faith from a church to dictate our beliefs."

I find amazing that some, who reject the the tenets of the Nicene Creed, in whole or in part, claim that the Canon of Scripture is independent of it. The Nicene Creed was issued in 325 AD. The earliest extant list of the books of the NT, in exactly the number and order in which we presently have them, wasn't written until until 42 years later when it was done by Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, in his Easter letter of 367 AD.

The Nicene Creed is significant because was used as the standard of orthodoxy for the selection of which of the contemporaneous writings not selected for inclusion in the Bible. Additionally, the Council of Nicene issue a number of canons or rules governing the Church that are hotly contested on these threads daily. These include priestly celibacy, the legitimacy of the traditions of the Church and Paulianist heretic.