If you’ve searched “god in god”, you’ve probably come across the phrase “God of God” and wondered what it means. It comes from the Nicene Creed, the ancient Christian statement of faith recited in churches across the UK every week. The line, in full, reads “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God” (or “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God” in modern translations), and it’s the Church’s way of saying that Jesus Christ is fully and completely God, not a lesser or created being.
This isn’t a phrase with a single Google-friendly answer, so this guide covers where it comes from, why the wording was chosen so carefully, and how it’s used in UK worship today.
What does “God of God” actually mean?
The phrase describes the relationship between God the Father and God the Son within Christian belief. It says that Jesus was “begotten of the Father”, meaning he comes from the Father in an eternal, timeless sense, rather than being created by him. The phrase “God of God” makes the point as directly as possible: the Son is God, and that divinity comes from the Father, who is also God.
Put another way, it’s the Church rejecting the idea that Jesus was some kind of divine being who ranks below God the Father. According to the Church of England, the creed was developed specifically to express the understanding of God as Trinity, meaning one God who exists in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Where does the phrase come from?
The wording comes from the Nicene Creed, agreed at the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325. A group of bishops gathered at the invitation of the Roman Emperor Constantine to settle a serious dispute that had split the early Church.
That dispute is the reason the phrase exists at all, so it’s worth understanding the argument it was written to settle.
The Arian controversy
A priest named Arius had been teaching that Jesus, the Son of God, was created by God the Father and therefore not eternal or fully divine in the same sense as the Father. Many bishops saw this as a direct threat to core Christian belief, since it implied there was a time when Christ did not exist.
The bishops at Nicaea firmly rejected Arius’s teaching. To rule it out in the clearest possible language, they wrote that Christ was “begotten, not made” and “of one substance with the Father”, the Greek term for this being homoousios. “God of God” sits right alongside these phrases, doing the same job: closing the door on any reading of Christ as a created or secondary god.
“God of God” or “God from God”: which is correct?
Both versions are correct. You’ll see “God of God” in the traditional English translation used since 1549 and still found in older prayer books and hymnals. Modern liturgical translations, including the version used in Church of England services under Common Worship, tend to say “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God” instead.
The word “from” is generally considered a clearer, more literal rendering of the original Greek and Latin, according to a detailed liturgical commentary on the text. Neither version changes the meaning. Both are saying that the Son’s divine nature originates in the Father’s divine nature, without the Son being any less fully God.
One God in three persons: how “God in God” fits the Trinity
This is probably closer to what people mean when they search “god in god”: the doctrine of the Trinity, where Christians hold that there is one God who exists eternally as three distinct persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. None of the three persons is “more God” than the others, and none was created by another.
The Nicene Creed builds this picture in three sections: belief in the Father as maker of heaven and earth, belief in the Son as “God of God” and “of one Being with the Father”, and belief in the Holy Spirit, who “with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified”. Each section affirms full divinity, so the Creed as a whole is really the Church’s answer to the question of how God can be three and one at the same time.
It’s worth being honest here: this is one of the more difficult ideas in Christian theology, and different denominations and theologians have written entire books trying to unpack it. The Creed states the belief rather than fully explaining the mechanics behind it.
How UK churches use the phrase today
The Nicene Creed remains the most widely used statement of faith across UK Christianity, recited during Communion services in the Church of England, the Catholic Church in England and Wales, and most other mainstream denominations. The Church of England confirms it is “the most widely-accepted creed in the Christian faith”, used across the worldwide Anglican Communion and beyond.
2025 marked the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, and the Church of England marked the occasion with a series of resources, including a booklet called We Believe: Exploring the Nicene Creed, produced by Church House Publishing for use in parishes and study groups. If your church recited the Creed this year, there’s a decent chance it referenced this anniversary in a sermon or notice sheet.
Congregations that use the Book of Common Prayer will typically still hear the older “God of God” wording, while most churches using Common Worship’s main order of service will hear “God from God”. Both are the authorised text for their respective service, so neither is wrong.
FAQs
What does “God of God” mean in the Nicene Creed?
It means that Jesus Christ, described as the Son of God, is fully divine and that his divine nature comes from the Father’s divine nature, rather than Christ being a created or lesser being. The phrase was written specifically to rule out any suggestion that the Son is less than fully God.
What is “one God in three persons”?
This is the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the belief that there is only one God who exists eternally as three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each person is fully God, none was created, and the Nicene Creed sets out belief in all three across its three main sections.
Why does the Creed say “begotten, not made”?
This phrase distinguishes how the Son relates to the Father from how ordinary created things relate to God. “Made” implies something brought into existence out of nothing, while “begotten” describes an eternal relationship where the Son has always shared the Father’s divine nature.
What’s the difference between “God of God” and “God from God”?
Both phrases translate the same original text and carry the same meaning. “God of God” is the older, traditional English wording, while “God from God” appears in most modern translations, including the Church of England’s Common Worship, because “from” is seen as a clearer rendering of the original language.
Why was the Nicene Creed written in the first place?
It was written at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 to settle a dispute started by a priest named Arius, who taught that Jesus was created by God the Father rather than eternally divine. The bishops at the council rejected this teaching and used precise wording, including “God of God”, to affirm that Christ is fully God.
Do all Christian denominations use exactly the same wording?
Most use very similar wording, though small differences exist between translations and between the version used at Nicaea in 325 and the expanded version agreed at Constantinople in 381. One notable difference, the “filioque” clause about the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son, is accepted in Western churches but rejected by Eastern Orthodox churches.
What does “homoousios” mean?
It’s the Greek term, usually translated as “of one substance” or “of one Being”, used to describe the relationship between the Father and the Son. It means they share the same divine essence, rather than the Son being a separate, lesser kind of divine being.
Is the Trinity the same as saying there are three gods?
No. Christian teaching is explicit that there is only one God, and the Trinity describes that one God existing as three persons rather than three separate gods. This distinction was central to the debate the Nicene Creed was written to resolve.
