Jeff Carter
Our tour through church history takes us this month back to one of the most important of all the church councils, the council of Nicea, and to its greatest champion, Athanasius. Much confusion surrounds this foundational church council, including the fallacious idea that the canon was actually created here. But we owe a great debt to these steadfast champions of orthodoxy, who fought heroically for the truth and who experienced excommunication on several occasions, as the ebb and flow of politics brought different ideologues into power. But they held their ground and the foundation of orthodoxy was laid true because of it.
Certainly the most well-known of the church councils was held at Nicea in 325 A.D. One of the four great ecumenical creeds, the Nicene Creed was formulated in response to concerns in the Eastern Church about the nature of Christ, the Logos, and how He relates to the Godhead. The prominent combatants at this council included Arius and Athanasius. Other participants included Eusebius of Nicomedia, Eusebius of Caesarea and the Emperor Constantine.
The main issues debated surrounded the use of the term “homoousios” (“of the same substance”), in referring to the Son. Athanasius contended that Christ was of the same substance or essence as that of the Father and Arius denied this and even denied Christ’s deity. Eventually Athanasius and his camp won out and the term “homoousios,” which was originally suggested by Constantine, was included in the creed, as well as a severe condemnation of all who were of Arius’ ilk.
When referring to the Nicene Creed, one must distinguish between three different forms it has taken. The original creed was adopted in 325AD and includes the anathemas ( condemnation) against the Arians. It also had little to say of the Holy Spirit. The periods following the council in 325 were turbulent, to say the least, with the winds and waves of accepted doctrine swaying back and forth between the Arian and Athanatian camps. But thanks to some slick maneuvering by Athanasius and Hillary of Poitiers, the homoosians finally succeeded, and in 381 at the council of Constantinople, the final form of the creed was established (as is still used today in the Eastern Church) including “homoousios” but not the anathemas and with some elaboration of the Holy Spirit.
The addition of the word “Filioque” to the creed (meaning “and the Son”), which, along with the authority of the Roman bishop, is the greatest source of schism between the east and west, differentiates the Western from the Eastern Church’s version of the creed. This refers to the idea that the Holy Spirit proceeds forth from the Son as well as the Father—a very contentious disagreement in the early church.
The fourth great ecumenical creed was developed at Chalcedon in 451AD. This council affirmed the doctrine set forth at Nicea but wanted to more precisely define how Christ’s humanity and deity related to one another. The council was refuting three major heretical movements in regards to this issue: Apollinarianism; which denied the complete humanity of Christ, Nestorianism; which denied that Christ’s human and divine natures were united, and Eutychianism; which denied that there was a distinction of the two natures of Christ. We still see these same heresies today embodied in various cults.
The council was approaching the debate from two viewpoints: the Alexandrian view; which begins with the Divinity of Christ and then attempts to reconcile with that, His humanity; and the Antiochene view which starts with Christ’s humanity and attempts to account for His Divinity. Alexandria and Antioch were the two centers of thought at this time. The main tenets of this creed are:
- that Christ is true God and true man
- that Christ is consubstantial with the Father in Godhead and consubstantial with man in humanity
- that Christ is like us but without sin
- that the two natures of Christ exist without confusion or division
- that the distinctions of each nature are retained
The Chalcedonian Creed sets the boundaries for all future Christological discussion. What it does, in essence, is declare what we cannot say of Christ.
While these Creeds fall far short from exhausting the mysteries of the God-man they do provide the proper boundary lines in which the debate can take place. We owe an incalculable debt of gratitude to these monumental men of God for going through the battles with the heretics—so we wouldn’t have to; and for giving us a much more lucid platform from which to build our ideas about God. On this side of eternity, where we see through a mirror dimly, we will never truly comprehend the mystery of Theanthropos (the God-man) but with the help of the creeds we have a giant head start.
One of the most able defenders of the faith, Athanasius, was born in Alexandria between 296 and 298 to parents who were “of high rank and wealthy.” He grew up and studied at the great Alexandrian theological school. At approximately 30 years of age, he accompanied Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, whom he served as secretary and arch-deacon to the council of Nicea where he made a name for himself defending against and ably refuting the Arians in what began the classic struggle in the early church over the nature and relationship of Christ to the Father.
Three years later he succeeded Alexander as bishop of Alexandria and began a 45 year struggle with the Arians which would cost him 5 separate periods of exile. His writings include Against the Heretic and On the Incarnation of the Word, The Deposition of Arius, Defense of the Nicene Council, Life of Anthony, and many other works, especially writings against Arians.
Defense of the Nicene Council was written in answer to a friend who had been disputing with some Arians. Their objections were to the use of terms or phrases used to describe the nature of Christ which were not found in scripture. He begins by comparing the “irreligious Arians” to the Jews who asked for signs as proof of Christ’s authority and says, “…though the signs shone brighter than the sun, yet complained still, as ignorant men, why dost Thou, being a man, make Thyself God? Insensate, and verily blind in understanding! They ought contrariwise to have said, “Why hast Thou, being God, become man?””
He goes on to describe the conduct of the Arians at the council and how they winked back and forth and how they even eventually accepted the terms they now dispute. He then describes the true nature of divine Son-ship and that the other titles of the Son truly show His eternity. He shows how they were forced to use the “non-scriptural” phrases because of the evasiveness of the Arians. He ends up by showing how calling God “Father”P, rather than “unoriginated” like the Arians, more truly reflects the nature of and relationship between the Father and the Son.
In the The Deposition of Arius, Athanasius begins by setting out the occasion of this letter. He explains that certain men (most notably Arius) are now considered heretics and then shows why these men claim: that the Son is a creature and a work; that He is one of the things made and created; how “The Word” is foreign from the essence of the Father; and that He would not have existed had the Father not wished to create us. Athanasius counters these false ideas by asking, “How can He be one of those things which were made by Himself?” He gives other solid defenses and says these men were excommunicated and anathematized by the church and warns the recipients of this letter not to receive such men.
The steadfast champion and great defender of the Council of Nicea, Athanasius truly was one of the pillars of the early church. Called the father of Orthodoxy by the Greek church and one of the four great Fathers of the East by the Roman Church, he was undaunted by his enemies, which sometimes included the emperor of the world, and was a fierce defender of truth and orthodoxy. The Church of Jesus Christ, (homoousios with the Father, very God of very God), owes Athanasius a great debt of gratitude. It has been said of him, “It was the passion and the life work of Athanasius to vindicate the deity of Christ, which he rightly regarded as the cornerstone of the edifice of the Christian faith, and without which he could conceive no redemption.” I believe this accurately describes the issue at stake and properly characterizes Athanasius the man.
-Jeff
A Prayer Request from Bob and Susan Morris
Susan and I would like to ask for prayer from the ICC family. Susan has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. Currently we are beginning medical therapy for Parkinson’s. Please pray for God’s grace to effect complete healing or a positive response to the medication. His will be done.
-Bob
UCI Book Table
If you are able, please consider joining us at the book table on Fridays on the campus of UCI. It is a great opportunity to have “God-conversations” with students and plant seeds for the cause of Christ. Please contact Hilliary for more information at adminasst@hadavar.org.