THE NICENE CREED IS NOT TRINITARIAN -- THAT CAME LATER

The Nicene Creed:
We believe in One God the Father All-sovereign, maker of all things visible and invisible;
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father, through whom all things were made, things in heaven and things on the earth; who for us men and for our salvation came down and was made flesh, and became man, suffered, and rose on the third day, ascended into the heavens, is coming to judge the living and the dead.
And in the Holy Spirit.
And those that say ‘There was a time when he was not,’
and, ‘Before he was begotten he was not,’
and that, “He came into being from what-is-not,’
or those that allege, that the son of God is
‘Of another substance or essence,’
or ‘created,’
or ‘changeable,’
or ‘alterable,’
these the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes. [Philip Schaff, "The Creeds of Christendom (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1931, reprinted 1996)]

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[jdwagman]

A much deeper history about the origins of Nicene Christianity.

The original Nicene Creed (325) was about establishing the doctrine of Theosis. Theosis is about "becoming God". and was based on the scripture.
"2 Peter 1:4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

"participate in the divine nature" In Neo-Platonism thought the word nature is the actual substance or essence that something is made out of or consist of. So they believed this meant they would become God or gods and escaped the corruption in the world (flesh) Or as Athanasius worded it, “God Became Man that Man Might Become God” For them it was necessary that Jesus be God for this theology to be valid ... at least in their minds.

So we can see in the 325 Creed that this is all they wanted to establish ... even with the contradictions. And it is this idea that Jesus is God which defines a "Nicene Christian" and "Nicene Christianity". Both the Trinity (three beings in unity) and Modalism (three forms of one being) are both forms of Nicene Christianity.

So this is why we don't see the Trinity in the original creed. The Trinity doctrine hadn't been made up yet. It evolved from Nicene Christianity later over the next 150 years. But not in sequence. Shortly after the 325 council it was overturned, within months. And within a few years all the Nicene Christians were eliminated from being bishops and leaders. It remained this way for forty years until Justin (the apostate) allowed the Nicene Christian back into the church. Then about 16 years later, in, 380, Theodosius the great and the other emperors passed an imperial edict declaring Nicene Christen was the only religion allowed in the Roman Empire. The following year, 381, the "church" was forced to adopt it as their orthodox teaching. The Trinity as we know it came about over the next 40 to 50 years after that.

[IAmisMaster]

The Nicene Creed is monarchical trinitarian, just not Nazianzan/Augustinian trinitarian. Monarchical Trinitarianism teaches the One God is the Father only.

[jackrapiport]

There is one god and thats it, the son story is supercticion, and is worshipping an idle witch isnt allowed

[JonathanGrandt]

But it doesn’t just give a line about the Holy Spirit and then go talking about Jesus again. It says, “and we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.”

That isn’t just scant mention as you put it.

You misrepresented that.

I just don’t know why you left that part out, as it clearly says the Holy Spirit IS the Lord, IS the giver of life and is worshipped and glorified together with the Father.