I believe in (Latin) /we believe in (Greek)

“Believe” - not opinion but allegiance 

One God, the Father Almighty

“Father Almighty” - “ruler of all”

Maker of heaven and earth, and all things visible and invisible

Maker of everything, rejecting gnosticism

And in one Lord Jesus Christ

“One” - rejecting Nestorianism

“Lord” - [ambiguous] biblical covenantal language first 

The only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds

“Son of God” - biblical but also ambiguous

“only begotten” - monogenes - only child/only born

“Before all worlds [or ages]” - eternal

God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God

X (nature of Son) of (relation) X (source, i.e. Father)

Begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made

Rejecting Arianism: Son is not a creature but Creator

“By whom all things were made” - inseparable operations

Who, for us men and our salvation, came down from heaven

“Men” = humanity, not fallen angels (contra Origen)

And was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man

Literally incarnation; Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life

And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, He suffered and was buried

History, but missing a theory of the atonement

And the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures

Explicit here and shows implicit acceptance of the Scriptures throughout

He ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of the Father

Distinction between resurrection and ascension

and he shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end. 

First was humble (nature) and saving (purpose)

Second is glorious (nature) and judging (purpose)

“Kingdom shall have no end” - added to reject view that incarnation was temporary

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life;

Person and work of the Holy Spirit

Affirming the full deity of the Spirit

who proceeds from the Father and the Son

“And the Son” - Filioque, the major difference between Greek and Latin, East and West

who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

Same divine honours

“Prophets” - all Old Testament

The Life Giver is also a Word Speaker

And we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.

“One” - Jesus died for one bride

“Holy” - set apart

“Catholic” - universal, includes people from everywhere

“Apostolic” - teaching of apostles

We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins;

“Remission (or forgiveness) of sins” - Not baptismal regeneration but effective sign

and I look for the resurrection of the dead,

and the life of the world to come. Amen.

“Look for the resurrection of the dead” - very Christian specific hope that the Roman world mocked

Following the teaching of the church fathers, we all with one voice confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ

This teaching is not novel but continues what the church has taught in proclaiming Christ

the same perfect in his divinity and perfect in his humanity, the same truly God and truly man, having a human soul and a human body; 

We deny Docetism, Apollinarianism, Monophysitism, Miaphysitism and any other teaching that doesn’t affirm Christ’s true divinity and humanity, with both full and distinct natures

of the same nature as the Father with respect to his divinity, and of the same nature as us with respect to his humanity;

Nicene theology denying Arianism

like us in all respects except for sin; 

To be human is not necessarily to be sinful

eternally begotten from the Father with respect to his divinity, 

Denying Arianism

and born in the last days for us and for our salvation of the virgin Mary, who is rightly called the mother of God, with respect to his humanity;

Denying Nestorianism

one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only-begotten, recognized in two natures without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; at no point was the difference between the natures taken away through the union, but rather the distinct properties of each nature are preserved and come together in one person; 

“Without confusion, without change”: Denying Monophysitism/Miaphysitism, which blends/combines the natures

“Without division, without separation”: Nestorianism, which splits Christ into two persons

he is not parted or divided into two persons, but is one and the same only-begotten Son, God, Word, Lord Jesus Christ. 

Denying Nestorianism

just as the prophets taught from the beginning about him, and as the Lord Jesus Christ himself instructed us, and as the creed of the church fathers has handed down to us.

Continuity not just with the early church but from the beginning