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The year was 325 AD. The early Christian church was in its formative years. One of the biggest theological debates in the history of the faith had spread across the civilized world and an important church council met in the city of Nicaea. They were there to confirm once and for all that Jesus Christ really is God.
It was the biggest argument in the history of the Christian church, outside of the Protestant Reformation. During the 4th century, in the formative years of modern Christianity, a renegade bishop from Alexandria publicly challenged one of the essential pillars of the Christian faith, the deity, or Godhood, of Jesus Christ.
This kind of challenge was a bit of a surprise to the Christian world since the Christians who lived in Alexandria had always been very strong in their belief regarding the divine nature of Christ. But Arius the bishop was not part of the traditional crowd. He had studied under Lucian of Antioch, whose understanding of the person of Christ was, well, less than orthodox.
Here’s what the whole thing boiled down to: the mainline church was teaching, in the tradition of the apostles, that Jesus Christ was actually God, not merely a reflection of God or some sort of lesser god, but God himself in human flesh. There were three members to the Godhead: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And even though they represented three distinct persons, there was still, in essence, only one God. This is still the orthodox position of Christians today. But Lucian of Antioch was marching to a different drummer, taking his cues from a man by the name of Paul of Samosata.
He began to question whether or not Jesus of Nazareth was really God in the same sense as God the Father. And Paul of Samosata had said that Jesus was merely a man who was supernaturally endowed with the Holy Spirit, so much so that he was adopted by God as his son.
Now, a church senate in Antioch condemned that teaching in 269 AD. But in later years, Lucian of Antioch began to adopt some of those very unbiblical concepts. His version of things, however, was a little different, in that he didn’t exactly relegate Jesus to a position of mere humanity. Instead, he said that Jesus was greater than us but lesser than God, giving him the same status, roughly speaking, that a Roman pagan would have given to what they called the demigods.
Lucian said that Jesus was divine in nature but created by God the Father at some point way back in ancient history. And it was that idea that inspired the headstrong Arius of Alexandria—who went on to develop a system of teaching that came to be known in theological circles as Arianism.
Now, let me try to sum it up very quickly. Arius taught, quite correctly, that God was perfect and unchangeable. But then he argued that because Jesus grew up here on earth and changed throughout his human life, he couldn’t possibly be one and the same as God. Instead, Arius argued, Jesus was the most perfect being ever created by God, and then was subsequently adopted by God as a son, and used to create the world that you and I live in. And the Holy Spirit? Well, according to Arius, that was another subservient being who was created by Christ.
Now, the Christian church naturally was horrified by what it heard. And the thing that made the heresy particularly frightening was the blazing speed with which it seemed to spread across the Mediterranean world. Arianism was particularly appealing to the pagan world because it made Christianity look a lot like the hierarchy of pagan gods they were used to in their own system of beliefs. You had the Father at the top, and then a couple of demigods that He created below Him, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
In the year 321, less than a decade after the conversion of the Roman emperor Constantine to Christianity, the teachings of Arius were rejected at a church senate in Alexandria. This wasn’t enough to stop the spread of Arianism, however, and the debate continued to rage across the Christian world for several more years. That’s when Constantine, eager to keep his empire unified under the Christian banner, decided something had to be done.
In May of 325, one of the most famous church councils in history was called to deal with this new heresy that simply wouldn’t die. In the emperor’s opinion, the whole fight was simply a matter of semantics, and he called it a fight over trifling and foolish differences.
The bishops who gathered at the Council of Nicaea, however, didn’t find it trifling at all. The stakes were very high, because after all, they were discussing the very nature of the one they worshipped. Was Jesus Christ really God? During the Council of Nicaea, the whole debate centered around one word, and that word was substance. Actually, it was the Greek word ousia. And they used it to describe whether or not they believed that God the Son was made from the same substance as God the Father.
On the one hand, you had orthodox Christians who argued that Christ was like substance with the Father, exactly the same. On the other hand you had the Arians, who argued that Christ was radically different from the Father and as such, was made from unlike substance. And, of course, as always happens, you had some who tried to compromise, and they said that Christ was similar in substance but not exactly the same as the Father. That, of course, was essentially saying that Christ was some sort of lesser god.
When the council was over, there was no question where the Christian church stood. A document was drafted, now known as the Nicaean Creed, that summarized the position of the church. And out of an estimated 300 bishops that were present at that meeting, only three of them refused to sign it. One of them was Arius.
The consequences were immediate. Arius and two other bishops were declared to be heretics, and Arius himself was exiled by Constantine. The emperor also ordered that all known copies of his book be committed to the flames, and with that, the open theological debate in the Christian church came to an end. Over the next few decades, however, the heresy proved to be long from dead, as various emperors came and went, supporting either the Nicaean position or the teachings of Arius. Arianism went in and out of fashion, and in both halves of the Roman empire, various people were persecuted for their beliefs based on whomever occupied the Roman throne at that moment.
Finally, in 381, at the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople, Arian teachings were denounced for good, and the Nicaean Creed was permanently ratified.
As far as the Roman Empire was concerned, Arianism was dead. But for the Germanic tribes living to the north, the teachings of the renegade bishop were just taking off. Among the gothic converts to Christianity was a man by the name of Ulfilas who had been sent as a missionary by a Roman emperor who favored Arianism.
The teachings of Arius spread like wildfire, and by the time the Germanic kingdoms became a part of the Roman Empire, they had already been Arians for more than a century. Most heavily influenced were Germanic tribes like the Vandals, the Lombards, the Burgundians and the Goths. The teachers were so deeply entrenched that it took many generations for the Christian church to finally weed it out.
Today, with the exception of some smaller sectarian groups, it’s pretty hard to find any real Arians in the world of Christianity. But every once in a while the challenge leveled by the bishop from Alexandria surfaces again. Was Jesus Christ really God?
Thousands of pages of ancient Christian writings prove to us that the early church fathers were agreed on this issue. Not only is Jesus fully human, but He’s also fully God. But, you know, as much as I respect the thoughts and work of those who helped to establish the early Christian church, there’s only one place I believe we can find a solid answer, and that’s in the Word of God.
What do the writings of the prophets and apostles tell us about the nature of Jesus Christ? Now, remember, the Arians argued that Jesus was some sort of a lesser created god who was adopted by God as a son. Is this, in fact, what you find the disciples of Christ teaching in the pages of the New Testament? Now, there are those who will say yes, and the primary test they use to prove their case is found in Colossians 1.
Here’s what it says (Colossians 1:13, 14):
“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
So far so good, right? We can all agree on that one. Jesus Christ redeemed us through His blood, and He offers us the forgiveness of sins.
But it’s the next few words that make things sticky: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”
Now, this is where you hit something of a roadblock. Those who chose to believe that Jesus was nothing more than a created being will claim this text as solid evidence. “See,” they say, “it says right here that Jesus is the firstborn over creation.” Now, at first glance, when someone’s standing at your doorstep and showing you this verse, you might be tempted to think they’ve got a pretty good point. It does say, after all, that Jesus is the firstborn over all creation. So wouldn’t that mean that he was simply the first and best person to ever be created, just like Arius and his followers said?
Well, not exactly. The problem with using this passage of Scripture that way is that you’ve got to isolate it from the context of the rest of the Bible to make it say that. In a minute, I’m going to come back to this very same verse, but before I do that, let me show you a few of the passages in the Bible that completely refute what the Arians would have you believe.
The first one is found in Paul’s letter to the Philippian church, chapter 2. Now, remember, the man who write that passage back in Colossians is the same man who write this (Philippians 2:8-11):
“And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Now, when you first read this passage, it doesn’t seem to refute a thing. It simply says that Jesus will be exalted by the Father. He doesn’t have to be equal to the Father for that to happen. What some people forget, though, when they read the New Testament, is that a lot of it is quoted from the Old Testament, and that’s exactly the case with this passage in Philippians.
It turns out that Paul isn’t creating this kind of image from scratch. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he’s actually quoting from the Old Testament book of Isaiah. Listen to this (Isaiah 45:21-23):
“…and there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me. ‘Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself; the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath.’”
Did you catch that? When Paul wrote that every knee would bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, he was actually referring to this passage in Isaiah. And when you check out Paul’s source material, you discover that it’s talking about God himself.
In fact, the language couldn’t be any clearer. It says that “I am God and there is no other...to me every knee shall bow and every tongue take an oath.”
Frankly, this is one of the reasons that the Apostolic church drew so much heat from the nation of Israel. They weren’t unpopular because they believed Jesus was a great teacher. It was because they believed He was God.
You don’t have to read the gospels for very long to find out that Jesus believed the very same thing himself. Maybe you remember the story where the religious leaders tried to stone Jesus for some of the things He was saying. Listen to what Jesus said: “I and my Father are one.”
Then the Jews took up stones again to stone home, and Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?”
The Jews answered him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy. And because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
There’s just no question about it. Jesus wasn’t hated because He claimed to be a great teacher. He wasn’t hated because He claimed to be an angel. They hated Him because He claimed to be equal with God.
Now, in the space of a half-hour show there’s no way I could possibly show you every text in the Bible that proves the divinity of Christ, but let me show you just one more because it’s just so irrefutable. It’s actually found in the book of Revelation, where Jesus is introduced to John as the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. And in this particular passage, it’s Jesus who is speaking (Revelation 1:8):
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Now, again, I hope you caught that. Jesus describes himself as the Almighty. But that’s not all. Listen to verses 10-11 (Revelation 1:10-11):
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last…’”
Then you find it again in chapter 2, verse 8 (Revelation 2:8):
“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, ‘These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life.’”
And then, just in case there’s any doubt, you find it again in the very last chapter of the Bible. It says (Revelation 22:12, 13):
“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
There’s just no doubt about it, the one who died and rose again, well, that’s Jesus. And the Bible calls Him the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and the first and the last. And how exactly does that prove Jesus is God? It’s really quite simple. John is referring us back to the writings of the prophet Isaiah. Listen to this (Isaiah 44:6):
“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God.’”
It’s in this passage that we see what John is actually saying. God is identified as the Redeemer and the first and the last. And then to settle the matter forever, He says, “Besides me there is no God.”
Over and over again, the language of the New Testament borrows from the descriptions of God himself in the Old Testament to describe who Jesus is.
So now, what about that verse in Colossians where it says that Jesus is the firstborn over all creation? How do we explain that? It’s really quite simple. The original Greek word that Paul uses is prototokos, and it has more to do with the status of Jesus than with chronology. Jesus wasn’t created first, He is simply the head of all creation, the one who presides over it all. And that’s in perfect keeping with the next few words. Listen to this. It says (Colossians 1:16, 17):
“For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”
According to Paul, Jesus is the Creator. And that’s a fact you’ll find repeated in the first chapter of John’s gospel and in the first chapter of the book of Hebrews. And in addition to creating all things, the Bible says Jesus holds it all together.
With every breath you take, you have Christ to thank. Every day that you have life—that’s a gift from Jesus. And the reason this planet doesn’t simply spin off into outer space is because the person of Jesus Christ has determined the limits and boundaries of physics and He holds the cosmos together.
Here’s what the whole issue really boils down to. If Jesus is just a created being, as the Arians would like to suggest, then we would have a Savior who is less than God. Our case would be hopeless because only someone who is equal to the law of God can pay the penalty for sinners who have broken that law. And if Jesus isn’t really God, then the Arians would have us worship a created being. And the Bible calls that idolatry.
Search through the Bible sometime to see if you can find Jesus ever refusing the worship of mortal man. I promise you, you won’t find it. One modern version of the Arian teaching would have us believe that Jesus is nothing more than the highest of the created angels, but that makes a real serious theological problem.
Jesus never refused the worship of men, but angels did. Just take a look at the double incident in the book of Revelation where John was told to get up off his knees because he was worshipping an angel. Here it is. It says (Revelation 22:8, 9):
“Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, ‘See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.’”
Unfallen angels will never accept your worship because they are created beings just like us. Our worship as human beings is reserved only for God, and according to the Bible, one day soon every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And on that day, nobody’s going to push you back up to your feet, because it’s perfectly fine to worship Christ as God.
You know, one of the biggest reasons the human race keeps spitting out strange ideas about the person of Jesus is precisely because He is God. We sometimes struggle to understand how in the world He could possibly be man and God at the same time. But that’s just because we have human minds that operate within the finite limits of human existence, and we can’t possibly conceive of something outside of our own experience.
Like some backwoods savage visiting New York City or flying in an airplane for the first time in his life, we just can’t understand what we see. So we just write it off as impossible. Or worse yet, we refuse to believe it. But just because we don’t fully understand something doesn’t mean it’s not true.
When you were five years old, there were a lot of things you had trouble understanding. And when it comes to the universe we live in, we’re all cosmic five-year-olds.
I don’t know about you, but I find it comforting to know that my salvation is not in the hands of some angel or lesser holy being. According to the Bible, the God who made you is the same God who saves you. And that’s why, when Jesus was born, the angel told His parents to call Him Emanuel, which literally means “God with us.”
The remarkable fact of the Bible is that God Himself gave up the glories of heaven to walk this problem-ridden planet with us. He was willing to sacrifice the worship of billions of angels to live a poor man’s life, and then hang on a cross to make sure that you could be in the kingdom of God.
He was willing to take your sins so that you could have His righteousness. And the question that lands on your doorstep today is this: Why in the world wouldn’t you trust a God like that?
You know, it’s pretty comforting to know that your salvation is in the hands of God himself. Why don’t we pray together?
PRAYER:
Father in Heaven, we stand in awe at the thought of a God who is willing to do so much to save us. In the person of Jesus we have a chance to see who you really are. In our hearts we sense that we want to know you better. So our prayer today is that you will speak clearly to our hearts, and that when we hear you speak, we will respond. And we pray it in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Scriptures Used in “The Substance of God”
“Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.”
—Colossians 1:13-14
“And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
— Philippians 2:8-11
“…and there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me. ‘Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself; the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath.’”
—Isaiah 45:21-23
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
—Revelation 1:8
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last…’”
—Revelation 1:10-11
“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, ‘These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life.’”
—Revelation 2:8
“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
—Revelation 22:12, 13
“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God.’”
—Isaiah 44:6
“For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”
—Colossians 1:16, 17
“Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, ‘See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.’”
— Revelation 22:8, 9