This paper explores the significance of omitting the term ousios in the Creed of Nicaea (AD 325) and adding or substituting in its place “begotten by the Father before the ages” in a sampling of the creeds that have impacted the Nicene Creed. Comparisons of the Christological statements in the creeds of Caesarea (c. AD 324-5), Dedication (AD 341), and Blasphemy of Sirmium (AD 357) will trace the building blocks of the omissions and additions that influenced the Nicene Creed (AD 381), suggesting where this later creed helps and hinders the message of the initial Creed of Nicaea. My mainly primary source study concludes that the Creed of Nicaea’s Christological statements were superior to and more sufficient than those in the Nicene Creed, because, while the Nicene Creed helpfully restores the term “substance” (ousios), it also includes the compromised “begotten by the Father before the ages,” an extra-biblical doctrine which the Arians and Semi-Arians employed to undermine the eternal nature of the Son of God. As I am putting together this paper, I am rereading and referencing various scholars ancient and modern in the field. Among my early church sources are Athanasius (particularly his De Synodis), Alexander of Alexandria’s encyclical letter, Eusebius of Caesarea’s explanatory letter to his church, Socrates Scholasticus’s Ecclesial History, Theophilus of Antioch’s Ad Autolycum, Arius’s letters to Athanasius and Constantine, with a reference to Plato’s Timaeus, Justin Martyr’s First Apology, and Origen’s Commentary on the Gospel According to John, Books 1-10 (specifically bk. 2:18). Modern scholars whose viewpoint I may include are R. P. C. Hanson, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God, Khaled Anatolios, Retrieving Nicaea, Frances M. Young with Andrew Teal, From Nicaea to Chalcedon, Michael Grant’s counterpart to Eusebius’s panegyric, Constantine the Great, Johannes Quasten, Patrology, vol. 3, Donald Fairbairn and Ryan M. Reeves, The Story of Creeds and Confessions, Kevin Giles, The Eternal Generation of the Son. Other resources are Henry Bettenson and Chris Maunder, eds., Documents of the Christian Church, J. Stevenson and W. H. C. Frend, eds., A New Eusebius, Charles Joseph Hefele with William R. Clark, trans and ed., Early Church Texts, A History of the Christian Councils, from the Original Documents, to the Close of the Council of Nicaea, A.D. 325, and these helpful websites for downloading some of the key Greek texts Fourth-Century Christianity, Early Church Texts, and, of course, TLG.