Arius the Heretic
One of the intellectual centers of early Christianity,
after its legitimization by the Roman Emperor Constantine, was the city of Alexandria,
Egypt. He was well-respected for his
intellect and his scholarly abilities.
After hearing a long sermon by a young scholar named Athanasius on the
subject of the Trinity, Arius interrupted and announced, “If the Father begat
the Son, then He who was begotten had a beginning in existence, and from this
it follows that there was a time when the Son was not.”
The debate: was Jesus a created being, or does the New
Testament teach that He is co-equal with God.
In one sense, the argument is over a single Greek letter, the iota.
Simply put, does the term homo-ousios
(exact same ‘stuff’) or does the term homoi-ousious
(close to, but not exactly the same ‘stuff’) apply to Jesus’ relation to the
Father.
We understand today that Arius was completely in the
wrong, Biblically. In the fourth century,
though, with the spectre of persecution finally being lifted from the church,
these doctrines were still in the process of being defined and this was a foundational
debate that was sorely needed. The
central issue to Athanasius was salvation itself. If only God could save us from sin, then only
one who was fully God could pay the price required for our sins.
As the debate spread, Emperor Constantine, very concerned
for the peace of his Empire, called a council in the city of Nicea in the year
325 to resolve the issue. Over 300
bishops attended to come to a resolution on this vital doctrinal issue. The aged Arius had a number of followers
supporting him, but they were overwhelmed by the brilliant debating skills of
Athanasius – not to mention that the latter had truth on his side! At Nicea, the doctrines of Arius were refuted
in their finality and Arius was exiled.
All but a couple of the bishops in attendance at Nicea signed on to the
final agreement of the doctrine of the Trinity.
It is interesting to note that, at one point in the deliberations,
a bishop from the city of Myra named Nicholas, actually got so flustered that
he actually punched Arius in the face!
Nicholas is “Saint Nicholas” – the man from whom the legends of Santa
Claus had their genesis.
The teaching of Arianism plagued the church for the next
few centuries, even reaching to future emperors of the Roman empire. It took the fall of the Roman Empire and the
ascendance of the Roman Catholic Church to squash the false doctrine with a
finality. Today, cults such as Jehovah’s
Witnesses point to Arius as an ‘early church father’ who taught what they
believe – that Jesus was a created being and is lesser than God the Father.
131 Christians Everyone Should Know, J.I. Packer, Holman
Reference, 2000.
