Establish Your word
to Your servant,
who is devoted to
fearing You. Turn away
my reproach which I
dread, for Your
judgments are good.
Behold, I long for Your
precepts; revive me in
Your righteousness.
Psalm 119:38-40
Is this your cry? Do you long for God's word to be established in you? Do you desire to be devoted to God? Are you asking God to revive you in His righteousness? If so, then to study God's word whereby He reveals Himself to us, His purposes, His Providential exercise, and the blessings He bestows upon His people; then continue to seek Him, and to learn from Him and from the history of the Church. We need to come to a knowledge, not only of the Authentic Biblical Faith that is Orthodox; we need to know and understand the heresies that the Church faced and dealt with coming to a conclusion that was Scriptural and not some man's ideology or theology that was not Scriptural. Paul when writing to Timothy gave him and to us for this writing was accomplished under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as Paul was selected and set aside to be a spokesman for the Gospel, especially to the Gentiles: "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth,....... (2Timothy 2:15-18a). The early Church faced this fact, heresies were already misleading some, the Church in the fourth century were facing theologies that were found to be non-Scriptural, along with a world that was being reshaped by some as the Teutonic tribes, the Medieval Church faced heresies that needed to be addressed, the Reformation dealt with heresies, and even unto today the Church is faced with heresies. We need to know the facts and we are studying this most import question: Is Jesus Christ God? Or is He some other type of god, a created being, a mode of God. Remember, we are speaking of salvation for that is what is being attacked. If Jesus is less that the true One and Only God, the same in essence, a Person of the Trinity, then is He the Savior sent by God, and more can He as less than the true One and Only God save anyone? If God could save people why the need to create a Savior? Why not just do it yourself, or is that what He did? So we look at other opinions and see if they fit Scripture. First, we need to know who, how, and why, when, what, are those opinions.
At the council in Nicea 325 A.D. three views were put before the council. Arius, being backed by Eusebius of Nicomedia, and a minority of those present, insisted that Jesus Christ did not exist from eternity, rather that He was a created being by God and that prior to time. Well we have a problem: If I took two balls and hung them in a vacuum there is no motion between them; further if they do not move there is no time. If God was present as creator and Jesus was there, then there are two being who move and that movement between them creates time. So Arius and his followers were wrong about Jesus being created and existing before time. Furthermore, Arius believed that Jesus Christ was of a different (heteros: not of the same nature, different) essence or substance than the Father. And by obedience to God's will He could be considered divine. Being a created, from nothing and subordinate to the creator, of a different essence than the Father He was not co-equal, co-eternal, or consubtantial (one and the same essence or nature) making his according to Arius divine but not God, not a deity.
Athanasius was a chief opponent to Arius and was a proponent to the Orthodox view. He presented to the council that Jesus Christ existed from all eternity with the Father and was the same essence (homoousios) as the Father, although He was a distinct personality. You may quiver at this, that Jesus Christ was a distinct Person in the Trinity and at the same time was the same essence as the Father, but we will examine these things by Scripture and not by our presuppositions or pre-determinations. These opposing views are nothing more than causing a need to answer this question that was posed earlier in this blog: If Jesus Christ was lesser than the Father, than the One and Only True God, could He be the Savior of Men? Don't answer quickly, take time to examine the question and then seek Scriptural answers. For this view Athanasius was exiled five times before his death. As you can see this question: Is Jesus Christ God? was a question of the early Church and is a question that needs an answer today. It won't be easy for us but there is an answer for God has revealed Himself to us in His word, through His interaction with the people of this world as recorded under the power of Inspiration. God has not taken humanity out of us, rather by Providential care He has used the circumstances of life to reveal Himself and by doing so we as humans can relate to the answers given by God.
We still need to know how this council of Nicea 325 A.D. arrived at an answer and was that answer Scriptural? Therefore the next blogs will cover the battles and contentions that plagued this council and those seeking the truth. You may have contentions and are battling for the truth. Well, continue to study and seek answers, not by asserting your presuppositions, rather by Scripture interpreting Scripture. We'll go slow, but we will come to a conclusion, a conclusion that is backed by Scripture and not by mine or yours, suppositions.
The Sabbath is coming, two more days, are you preparing for the Sabbath or for a time away from your brothers and sisters, whereby you collectively worship God and fellowship with each other? Or is this just another day to have fun going boating, shopping, eating out causing others to serve you instead of them going to Church. Is God foremost at least having a special day just for Him, or is it for you?
And you know that he was
manifested to take away
our sins, and in Him there
is no sin.
Whoever abides in Him does
not sin. Whoever sins has
neither seen Him nor know Him.
1John 3:5-6
Pray, read His word
Richard L. Crumb
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