The Problem Posed by Arius and how it was resolved by the Council of Nicea
Arius was publically teaching that it was impossible for the Son to come from the Father and argued that Alexander’s stand on eternal generation was wrong and that Alexander was committing heresy. The concept of eternal generation, which was supported by Alexander, originated in the third century and simply stated that “Logos was everything of the Father is with the Son and everything the Son is everything of the Father” (www.theopedia.com/, read Aug. 28, 2009). This concept of eternal generation was a growing crisis within the Church begging the question of how divine was Jesus and was Jesus a creation or was he the creator. Arius brings this crisis within the church to a head by his publically teaching against this external generation. Arius argument was based upon his view that God is absolute in every sense, “he was not generated and in no sense does he generate” (Hardon, pg 127). To Arius this meant that God speaks and what he speaks it is created. Therefore he questioned if the incarnate word, Logos, described in the Gospel of John was spoken; “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John, 1:1), why did it have to be created? To Arius, God cannot divide himself to create a son because if He did, He in essence would be creating two gods, one lesser and one greater and this would be totally against the Sacred Tradition of monotheism. So, Arius argued that “God cannot be the Father of a true, natural Son. He can be Father only as Maker” (Hardon, pg 127) and therefore, Jesus, although divine and worthy of worship, he was still a creature created by God. According to Arianism, the Father cannot create himself therefore it made sense that Jesus was not of God and therefore at some point in time Jesus did not exist. This meant that Jesus was less than divine. To support this claim that Jesus did not always exist and that Jesus was less than God, Arius used Sacred Scripture quoting again from the Gospel of John where Jesus said, “I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I” (John, 14:28) and from the book of Proverb where it is written; “The Lord begot me, the firstborn of his ways, the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago; from of old I was poured forth, at the first, before the earth” (Proverbs, 8:22-23). To further support the claim, he used St. Paul’s words in his letter to the Church of Corinth, “Indeed, even thought there are so-called gods in heaven and on earth, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things are and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ through whom all things are and through whom we exist” (1 Cor 8:5-6). Arianism finally grew beyond an intellectual debate about the relationship between the Father and the Son, to a debate about our salvation through Christ. For if, as Arius wrote, the Son is not God and on equal footing with the Father, then Jesus is not our Savior and we are not saved (McBrien, pg. 293). With such a large numbers of people supporting the Arianism this debate became a growing threat to Church unity.Constantine the Great realizing the damage and impact this issue was having on church unity, he called an assembly of bishops to address the issue. The assembly was gathered at the emperor’s palace in the city of Nicaea in the year 325. The council was made up of over 250 bishops from all parts of the Eastern and Western Christian world with most bishops being from the East. Yet, because the council was made up of bishops from both the East and the West, the council is known as the first ecumenical council called the Council of Nicea. However, the council was not without it controversy because the dominant figure at most of the sessions was the emperor, Constantine the Great. His presence was a message to the bishops to expedite a resolution to the questions raised by Arius and to restore Church unity. It would therefore be reasonable to assume that his presence at the assembly had an impact on discussions and the outcome. The Council of Nicea condemned Arius’ doctrine of “Jesus is unlike the Father is mutable and capable of development. He is not in the proper and true sense, God, but only in the improper sense, in so far as He in the anticipation of His merits, was adopted by the Father as a Son” (Ott, pg. 51). They then drafted a creed, which confess Jesus Christ to be the Son of God which was a definitive response to Arian argument.The Creed adopted read in part, “We believe in one God the Father, the Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible; we believe in One Lord, Jesus Christ the only son of god; God from god, light from light, true god from true god; Begotten not made, of one being with the father, and through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, by the power of the Holy Spirit he was made man. For our sake he was crucified, died and was buried. He rose again in fulfillment of the scriptures and is seated at the right hand of the father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and of his kingdom there will be no end.” This was a statement of faith and an affirmation that was consistent with earlier creeds and with Sacred Scripture (McBrien pg. 292). In the seven expressions contained within the creed the Church clearly defines Christ’s divinity. 1. “He is God from God”, meaning he is a much God as the Father with the same divine nature yet distinct with one being originating and the other being originated. 2. “He is the light from light” meaning he is same as the originator much like light from the sun is the same as its source.3. “He is the true God from true God” meaning he is divine and is the mirror of the Father.4. “He is begotten not made” which “declares the profoundest mystery of our faith” (Hardon, pg.129). He was not made, he was not an offspring, and he has no beginning or end, he is.5. “He is of one substance with the Father” meaning he the same being as the father. In Greek the word is homoousios which means having the same being (Hardon pg. 129).6. “Through Him all things were made” meaning that together the Father, Son and Holy Spirit created all things.7. “He came down from heaven” becoming incarnate he might be born, suffer and die and by rising from the dead returning to heaven to judge the human race.These seven expressions developed by The Council of Nicea “did not simply describe the reality of God; it defined it” (McBrien pg. 293). The Council of Nicea was the first of 21 councils held after the Apostolic Council described in Acts 15. Councils, like the Council of Nicea, were convened to discuss and bind decisions in matters of faith and Christian life (Beinert and Fiorenza, pg. 128). Although each of the 21 councils including Nicea was called for different reasons and had different agendas, they all were called to maintain the perimeters of faith and Christian life. As for Ecumenical Councils, the East believed that the first five councils called were ecumenical and the remaining councils were not ecumenical. They saw the councils 6 to 21 synods because, according to the East, to be ecumenical, a council needed to play a significant theological role as expressions of joint consultation and decision making by the Holy Spirit (Beinert and Fiorenza, pg. 128). However, it cannot be missed that all the councils, whether ecumenical or not, met to define matters of faith which included defending the faith against heresy and erroneous interpretations of Sacred Scripture and Tradition.
Works Cited “Arius”, accessed on August 29, 2009, accessed from www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arius “Eternal Generation of the Son”, accessed on August 28, 2009, accessed from www.theopedia.com/Eternal_generation_of_the_Son Hardon, S.J., John A., The Catholic Catechism, New York, Doubleday, 1981: 127 John 1:1, New American Bible, Catholic Book Publishing, New York, 1991Proverbs 8:22-23, New American Bible, Catholic Book Publishing, New York 19911 Corinthians 8:5-6, New American Bible, Catholic Book Publishing, New York 1991McBrien, Richard P., Catholicism, Winston Press, Minneapolis, 1981: 292-293Ott, Ludwig, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, Tan Books, Rockford, 1974: 51Beinfert, Wofgang and Fiorenza, Francis, Handbook of Catholic Theology, Crossroad, New York, 1995: 128