In that day you will ask
in My name, and I do not
say to you that I shall
pray the Father for you;
for the Father Himself loves
you, because you have love Me,
and have believed that I came forth
from God. I came forth from the
Father and have come into the
world. Again, I leave the world'
and go to the Father.
John 16:26-28
This question: "Is Jesus God?" has been controversial and debated by leading men of the Church. This theological controversy is historical within the Church, therefore we must take a moment of study to come to some understanding as to the answer(s) to this question. How do we know if what we believe is correct? How did Orthodox Christianity come to one answer and others to another answer. How is it that Orthodox Christians hold to the believe that Jesus Christ is God, a Person of the Godhead? And yet, the Mormons believe that He is another god, and the Jehovah Witnesses believe that He is a created god, the Modalist believe that He is God, but there is not Godhead, there is no Trinity. Understanding what occurred in reaching certain theological positions will help us to see what is true and what is false. How? By using the same methods that hammered out the formulation of Creeds that gave substance to what they found in the Scriptures. Much of this controversy occurred between 325 A.D. and 451 A.D., and such Creeds as the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds were formulated. The dogmas of the Church were developed at this time. Now, for many the word "dogma" is pejorative, it carries a negative connotation, and it is to be avoided, it is somehow anathema and hardly mentioned. Yet, there is a misunderstanding of the word and this word "dogma" is unfavorable to those who are lax in doctrine, even that word for some carries a negative connotation. Many Churches today are so lax, so cultural, so liberal, and speak only things that will tickle the ears of the congregants. The value of Church dogmas is so obscured and the value of those dogmas has lost value. To the shame of those Churches. Let us understand the word "dogma." The "dogma" is derived from the Greek word "dokeo" which means to think, to seem, to be of reputation; therefore the doctrines, or dogmas that were developed in this period were developed by intense thought and searching of the soul in order to interpret correctly the meaning of the Scripture in disputed points and to avoid "doxai" erroneous opinions of the philosopher. It was this searching of the Scriptures to conclude what they were saying and not what men said they say that formulated the Creeds, the dogmas, and the doctrines of the Church. This occurred in time, it was not some quick study, it was done over many years, sometimes hundred of years.
Intense zeal has caused many, even today, to fall into error, they develop doctrines that are false, in error because there is not a balanced study of the Bible. One good reason for the acceptance of Systematic Biblical Study. Men thought they were doing good, that they were protecting thoughts
on God, the Godhead, i.e., Sabellius who attempted to protect the Godhead by denying the essential Trinity. Arius chose an unScriptural approach as to the relationship of Jesus Christ to the Father as he attempted to thwart off polytheism. By the way, the teaching of those men are still with us today in some Christian churches and religions.
Further to aid us in our understanding of this question: Is Jesus God, not a god, not just another god, not just some mode of God, but is He God, a Person of the Trinity? Is He of the same essence of the Father? We must then ask why and how did these doctrinal decisions came late in the history of the early Church? Let us remember that Christians, the Church was under, so often, persecution and allegiance to Jesus Christ and the Scriptures took precedence over the meaning of any particular doctrine. Although men from the beginning of the Church did write on doctrines. Jesus Christ was written about as to Who He was and Who He is, so we are not left destitute as to what the early Church believed, but persecution, wars, struggles made it more important to follow Jesus Christ and Scripture and when things began to settle down, then those opinions were discussed, examined, and studied, to determine if those opinions were actually the dogma of the Scripture, were they true doctrines of the Bible? The Church came under another form of struggle and they were forced to put up a united front, to have internal unity. We need that today as there are many who have fallen prey to those false doctrines, dogmas, and opinions of men who do not use Scripture to interpret Scripture, rather their opinions have the same, if not more, value that Scripture. The era whereby the Church needed to answer those many theological opinions came as the power, Rome, was attempting to unify the Empire. This came about especially with Constantine who was trying to say classic civilization and this caused the Church to do the same, to have a unified body of dogma, that which would cement the body of Christ. How was this to be done? The Church adopted a way to resolve those differences of opinion concerning the meaning of the Scriptures. This was done by the calling together in ecumenical councils. There were seven most important councils called, councils that were attended to by and represented by men from the whole Church. Great Church leaders from all parts of the Empire represented their localities and gave assistance in the working out solutions to these theological problems. This is what is being done in this blog, we are working out from Scripture the answer as to who is Jesus Christ? Is He God?
The thrust of this approach will give us tools to use so that we may be able to answer this question, and have tools to answer other questions, that is we shall first see how they used tools, or methods to come to a decision and see if that was correct, and then determine which decision is Scriptural. So next, I will discuss the relationship of the Persons in the Trinity.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter
of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of
Jerusalem!
Behold, your King is
coming to you;
He is just and having
salvation,
lowly and riding on
a donkey,
a colt, the foal of
a donkey,
Zechariah 9:9
Live life: Love God
Richard L. Crumb
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