The past couple of years at the grocery store, hardware store, or most public places, the topic of conversation is something about Covid: “We should have mandates, we shouldn’t have them. We should have everyone vaccinated, we don’t have the right.” Nearly everyone knows the arguments for and against their positions.
Did you know the most popular topic in the marketplaces of the fourth century Roman Empire was the nature of Christ? That’s right, the nature of Christ. There was a new guy pushing his view that Jesus was “nearly God” but not quite – that He was a created being. The man’s name was Arius of Alexandria, and his view became so popular the emperor himself, Constantine, had become an Arian. He felt, though, it was necessary to call the leaders of the churches throughout the empire to a council in order to decide on what the Christian view should be.
You might ask why people would believe Jesus was a creature. There are actually a few passages which could be taken to support this view. John 14:28 is an example:
You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
“My Father is greater than I?” How could Jesus claim equality with God the Father yet say this? You can see the confusion.
Now the folks on the street might not know more about the nature of God than most of us truly know about Covid. But, the theologians fought about this issue on a higher level. The orthodox (not the denomination but biblical thinkers) recognized a belief in Jesus as a creature messed up Christian theology quite a bit. It wasn’t just the deity of Christ that was at stake, but a belief in a created Jesus would mean our salvation rested on a creature no matter how superior he was.
So, in 325 a.d. the emperor Constantine ordered the council to convene at Nicaea, the city where the emperor had his temporary lodgings while building his new grand “Rome of the East,” Constantinople (named after him, of course). The attendees of the Council were no slacker Christians. Nearly all of them carried scars and handicaps, or missing limbs or eyes due to the persecution which ended just a few years earlier. According to Johann von Mosheim’s A Short Introduction to the First Nicene Council, only 11 of the 318 attendees did not carry the scars of the persecutions. They had stood for their faith and paid a price.
At the Council of Nicaea, both sides presented arguments supporting their views. On the Arian side Arius himself presented why he believed he was correct. On the orthodox side were Alexender of Alexandria and Athanasius no minor Christians, they.
The acceptance of Arius’ view would mean the dismantling of the Trinity doctrine. Salvation would also be attributed to a mere creature rather than God Himself. This was serious stuff argued by serious men. No counting angels on the head of a pin here.
The verdict of the members was that Jesus was truly God, coeternal, and of the same substance as the Father. The orthodox view won by a landslide: 316 to 2. The Arian view was anathematized (cursed by God) as part of the vote, and Arius was officially excommunicated from the church.
Why is this important?
Over the centuries there have always been attacks on the person and nature of our Lord. Even today there are millions of Arians contacting people trying to convince them of their false Jesus. Many are called Jehovah’s Witnesses or Unitarians, but they’re real, and probably right down the street from where you live, shop, and worship.
Next time you’re in that Big Box store and the guy in front of you starts talking about the Covid virus, try asking him what he thinks of the nature of Christ.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 