The Council of Nicaea and the Divinity of Christ

Since the beginning of human existence, humanity has searched for the mystery of existence and the Creator, expressing this search through carvings, drawings, and various forms of worship, offering sacrifices, invoking with words, chanting songs, dancing, and using music and other forms of expression. Over time, polytheism and diverse philosophies emerged, but they gradually began leaning toward a supreme, universal, invisible God, where union with Him resembled the dissolving of a drop of water into a vast ocean.

In contrast, the prophecies spoke of the coming of a divine Savior, beginning with the promise God gave to the first human after the fall into sin, addressing the serpent, symbol of Satan, as found in the Book of Genesis: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

The phrase “he will crush your head” refers to Jesus destroying death on the cross and shattering hell through His glorious resurrection, while “you will strike his heel” means that He would be crucified, bearing in mind that the Lord went to the cross willingly. This promise continued from generation to generation, through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets. Among the most prominent prophecies is: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

Thus, Jesus Christ was the long-awaited Messiah and the desire of nations, and the name “Jesus” means “The One Who Is - God saves.” The prophecies were not limited to the Jewish people but extended to the nations as well, as seen for example in the visit of the Magi from the East who came to worship Him.

Paul the Apostle, who was previously a Pharisee, reread the prophecies after Christ guided him, writing to everyone:

Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, ‘and to seeds,’ as if referring to many, but to one, ‘and to your seed,’ who is Christ. (Galatians 3:16)

The matter of the divine incarnation, the Creator becoming human, remained difficult for some to accept. Some considered the descent of God to the level of man impossible; others viewed it as a mixing of divinity and humanity. Yet Christian faith sees in it a complete divine–human union in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, without confusion or division, affirming the one divine essence of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) one God with no temporal difference in existence. And since the human being is created in God’s image, he is not impure, and God cannot be defiled, for He possesses supreme authority; otherwise, whatever defiled Him would be greater than Him.

Arius did not heed the warnings of his patriarch, who held a local council in Alexandria around 318 AD to correct his teaching. Arius was expelled from the priesthood but continued spreading his heresy, despite attempts by many bishops to correct him. His followers multiplied across the Church, among bishops and priests, leading to the convening of the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 325 AD under Saint Constantine the Great.

It is very important to know that the council did not invent anything new; rather, it proclaimed the true faith handed down by the holy apostles directly from the Lord and preserved in the Church by the Holy Spirit. During the council, the first part of the Creed, from “I believe in one God” to “the Holy Spirit,” was formulated. The second part would later be completed at the Second Ecumenical Council in 381 AD.

318 bishops from all parts of the Church attended the council and declared the condemnation of Arius’s teaching, which denied the divinity of Jesus and made Him merely a mediator between God and humanity, thereby undermining the very essence of the Holy Trinity. This directly contradicts the words of Jesus Himself: “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30), which the Jews considered blasphemy that made Him equal to God, and they sought to stone Him. Likewise, His response to Caiaphas when asked, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” and He answered, “I am.” (Mark 14:62)

These and other verses indicate the divinity of Jesus and His essential unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit. The word “Son” does not mean that God begot or married, but that the Son shares the divine nature of the Father (Homoousios). For this reason, we say that Jesus is “begotten, not created,” meaning He was eternally God before the incarnation and remained God after it, possessing a complete divine nature and a complete human nature united in His one person.

The danger of Arius’s teaching lies in its denial of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, its abolition of the Holy Trinity, its destruction of God’s infinite love, and its undermining of the entire divine salvific plan for humanity. For God became incarnate to grant us divine grace and teach us how to partake in it; the incarnation is the expression of the overflowing of this love.

In conclusion, Christianity is not merely a religion based on laws and regulations; it is a divine revelation aiming at the salvation of humanity and its attainment of eternal life. Without the incarnation, Christianity would not exist at all. Arius may have intended to defend the oneness of God, but he confined God’s love within limited human logic, restricting the Creator’s power with the limitations of the creature. He was proud and obstinate, failing to rise to God’s salvific plan and instead attempting to impose his personal opinions upon it.

If we ask: Who can prevent God from becoming incarnate? The answer: no one. And what would God’s love for us have been had He not united Himself with us? Nothing. And what divine love could we speak of if God had not become incarnate? None.

Acknowledging the divinity of Jesus and understanding the divine incarnation means embracing the Lord’s love for us, because God is a loving Father, and His coming to us is the highest expression of this love, a love that draws close to humanity and unites with it to grant salvation and eternal life. To the Lord we pray.