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Course 12 · Lesson 3.2

Arius, the Council of Nicaea (325) and Athanasius

11 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 12 outline

Module 1: The Apostolic Fathers and the Early Apologists

  1. Who the Apostolic Fathers were: Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp and the Didache
  2. Church order, worship and martyrdom in the second century
  3. Why Christians wrote apologies: charges, persecution and public defense
  4. Justin Martyr, philosophy and the Logos

Module 2: Irenaeus, Tertullian and Origen

  1. Irenaeus against the Gnostics: the rule of faith and apostolic succession
  2. Tertullian and the beginnings of Latin theology
  3. Origen: biblical scholarship, allegory and speculation
  4. Heresy and orthodoxy: the scholarly debate about early diversity

Module 3: Creeds and Councils: Nicaea to Chalcedon

  1. From baptismal confession to creed
  2. Arius, the Council of Nicaea (325) and Athanasius
  3. The Cappadocian Fathers and the Council of Constantinople (381)
  4. Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451): one Christ, two natures
  5. The seven councils and how the churches receive them

Module 4: Augustine, Chrysostom and the Desert

  1. Augustine: life, conversion and the Confessions
  2. Augustine on grace, the Pelagian controversy and the City of God
  3. John Chrysostom: preacher, pastor and critic of wealth
  4. The Desert Fathers and Mothers: Anthony, Macarius and Amma Syncletica

Module 5: The Medieval Church and Scholasticism

  1. The medieval setting: monasteries, cathedral schools and universities
  2. Anselm and the method of scholasticism
  3. Thomas Aquinas: life and the structure of the Summa Theologiae
  4. Aquinas on faith, reason, nature and grace
  5. East and West: the growing divide and the schism of 1054

Module 6: The Reformation and the Counter-Reformation

  1. Luther and the question of justification
  2. Zwingli, Calvin and the Reformed tradition
  3. The Radical Reformation and the English Reformation
  4. The Council of Trent and Catholic reform
  5. Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant readings of the Reformation

Module 7: Modern Theology and Tracing a Doctrine

  1. The Enlightenment and its challenges to inherited doctrine
  2. Schleiermacher, liberal theology and Karl Barth
  3. Vatican II, Orthodox renewal and the evangelical and Pentecostal movements
  4. How to trace a doctrine: development, change and corruption

All courses

Program / Course 12: Patristics and Historical Theology / Lesson 3.2

What you will learn

  • State what Arius taught and why his opponents thought it endangered the Gospel.
  • Describe the Council of Nicaea: who called it, what it decided and what it did not decide.
  • Explain the meaning and the controversy of the word homoousios.
  • Summarize Athanasius’s argument that only God could save humanity.

The big idea

Around 318, a presbyter in Alexandria named Arius taught that the Son of God was the first and greatest creature, made by the Father before time but not eternal and not of the same being as the Father. The bishop Alexander and later Athanasius replied that if the Son is a creature, he cannot save, because only God can bring human beings into life with God. The Council of Nicaea in 325 responded with a creed that says the Son is of one substance with the Father. The fight did not end there, but the question was set for the century.

Key terms

Arianism
The teaching associated with Arius that the Son was created by the Father, so that there was a time when he was not. The church rejected it.
Homoousios
A Greek word meaning of the same substance or being. The Nicene Creed uses it to say that the Son is of one being with the Father.
Substance (ousia)
The Greek word for being or essence, what something is.
Ecumenical council
A gathering of bishops from the whole church (oikoumene means the inhabited world) to decide matters of faith and order. Nicaea was the first.
Begotten, not made
The Nicene Creed’s phrase for the Son, meaning that he comes from the Father’s own being, as a child comes from a parent, and is not a creature produced from nothing.
Incarnation
The teaching that the Word of God became a human being in Jesus of Nazareth.
Exile
Forced removal from one’s home or office. Athanasius was exiled several times because of this dispute.

Background

In the early fourth century, the church had just emerged from the last great persecution. The emperor Constantine, who favored Christians and ruled the entire empire from 324, wanted a united church. In Alexandria, a quarrel was growing. Arius, a respected presbyter, had taught that the Son came from nothing, before time but not forever. His bishop, Alexander, taught that the Son was eternally with the Father. The dispute spread across the Greek-speaking world, and the emperor stepped in.

Constantine called a council of bishops to meet in the city of Nicaea, in what is now Turkey, in the year 325. Tradition counts 318 bishops, though a figure around 300 is often used, and most came from the East. The emperor opened the gathering, and although he took part in discussions, the bishops decided the matter.

The result was a creed. It repeated older baptismal language but added statements aimed at Arius. The dispute went on for decades afterward, and Arius’s position had supporters, some of whom were bishops of considerable influence. Historians stress that Nicaea began a long process and did not end the debate.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: What Arius taught

Arius wanted to protect the oneness of God. If God is one and unbegotten, he reasoned, then anything begotten must have a beginning. So the Son, whom John 1:14 calls the Word made flesh, was created before the world, and through him the Father made everything else. A phrase attributed to Arius and his followers was there was when he was not. The Son is the highest creature, but still a creature.

Arius and his supporters pointed to Scripture. They cited Proverbs 8:22, which in the Greek says the Lord created me as the beginning of his ways, and texts where Jesus says the Father is greater than he is (John 14:28). Their opponents replied with other passages and with the larger shape of the Gospel.

Step 2: Why it mattered

Alexander and Athanasius argued that the issue was salvation. If the Son is a creature, then worshipping him is idolatry, and he cannot make anyone share in the life of God. To give life with God, the one who gives it must be God. They also argued that John 1:1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, cannot be read as saying that the Word began to be.

The argument was therefore about more than a technical word. It asked what Christians were doing when they prayed to Christ, and how a creature could save other creatures.

Step 3: The council and its creed

The council met in 325 and condemned the teaching of Arius. Its creed said that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one substance (homoousios) with the Father. It added anathemas, formal rejections, of the claims that there was a time when the Son was not and that he came from nothing.

The council also fixed matters of order, issuing twenty canons on ordination and discipline, and it dealt with the dating of Easter. Arius and two bishops who would not sign were sent into exile, though Arius was restored later.

Step 4: The trouble with homoousios

The word homoousios was not in the Bible, and many bishops hesitated to adopt it. Some feared that it sounded as though the Father and the Son were the same person, a view that had been rejected earlier. Others disliked non-biblical terms. Over the next decades, several parties formed. Some preferred homoiousios, of similar substance, and others spoke only of likeness. The dispute was a tangle of theological, political and personal conflicts, and historians caution against a simple story of good against bad.

Over time, many who had hesitated came to see that the word defended what the Scriptures meant. The Cappadocian Fathers, as the next lesson shows, helped bring about that agreement.

Step 5: Athanasius and On the Incarnation

Athanasius, born around 296, attended Nicaea as a young assistant to Alexander and became bishop of Alexandria in 328. He spent much of his long career in conflict, and was exiled several times, by tradition five, as emperors changed their minds. He died in 373. His short work On the Incarnation of the Word, perhaps written before the full dispute, argues that humanity had fallen into corruption and death, and that only the Word, through whom all things were made, could restore the image of God in humanity. He took on a body, died and rose, so that human beings could be brought into life.

Athanasius is often quoted as saying that God became man so that man might become god. He means a sharing in God’s life by grace, a theme important in Orthodox teaching and in many Catholic and some Protestant readings.

  1. Why did Arius think a Son could not be fully God without making two Gods?
  2. What does it mean to say that only God can save?
  3. Why might some bishops hesitate to use a word not found in Scripture?
  4. Did the emperor’s involvement help or harm the church’s decision?
  5. How does Athanasius connect the incarnation with human death and corruption?
  6. What do you make of the fact that Nicaea did not end the controversy?

Examples

Two readings of one verse

Arius’s supporters read Proverbs 8:22 as saying the Son was created. Athanasius and others replied that the verse speaks of Wisdom, and in context refers to the Word’s role in creation and incarnation, not to a beginning of his being. Both sides treated the verse as important.

A word that divided and united

A bishop might agree entirely that Christ is divine and still dislike the word homoousios, which he felt could blur the Father and the Son. Another might accept it as the only word that excluded Arius. Their disagreement was often over language and fear, not over the central point.

An exile and a return

Athanasius was banished from Alexandria more than once, then allowed back after the political winds shifted. His career shows how the dispute was bound to the politics of the empire. He kept his position, and was honored after his death as a defender of the faith.

Different perspectives

Catholic

The Catholic Church holds that Nicaea’s definition expresses the faith revealed in Scripture and handed down from the apostles. The Catechism cites the Nicene Creed as a core statement, and Catholic theology treats Athanasius as a Doctor of the Church.

Orthodox

Orthodox Christians honor the Council of Nicaea as the first of the seven ecumenical councils and Athanasius as a great saint and Father, called the Pillar of the Church. His teaching on deification is central in Orthodox thought.

Protestant

Most Protestant churches accept the Nicene Creed as a faithful expression of Scripture. The Reformers cited Athanasius, and the Reformed and Lutheran confessions repeat Nicene teaching. Some Protestants, who stress that creeds are subject to Scripture, note that the council’s definition is justified because it states what Scripture means.

Scholarly views

Historians stress that Arianism was a serious theological position, not a caricature. They debate how much Constantine controlled the council, what Arius taught exactly, and how much of the later conflict was political. They agree that the figures of the Nicene party included people who interpreted homoousios differently.

Why it matters

The Nicene Creed is recited by hundreds of millions of Christians. Its central claim, that Jesus Christ is truly God and not the highest creature, shapes how those Christians pray, worship and think about salvation. Understanding why it was written, and what the alternative was, shows that this was a question about the heart of the Gospel and not a debate over words alone.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: Constantine decided that Jesus is God.

Correction: The bishops decided the question. Constantine called the council and took part, but the claim that Christ is divine was already central to Christian worship. Historians debate how much he shaped the wording.

Misunderstanding: Nicaea chose the books of the Bible.

Correction: It did not. The canon formed gradually. Nicaea dealt with the relation of the Son to the Father, Easter and church discipline.

Misunderstanding: Arius denied that Christ was important.

Correction: Arius held Christ to be the highest of creatures and the agent of creation. He disagreed about Christ’s relation to God.

Misunderstanding: After 325 everyone accepted the creed.

Correction: The conflict lasted decades, with councils, exiles and counter-creeds. The Nicene position gained wide agreement only after much debate.

Knowledge check

What did Arius teach about the Son?

Arius taught that the Son was created by the Father before time, the first and greatest creature, but not eternal and not of the same being as the Father. A phrase attributed to him is there was when he was not. His aim was to protect the oneness of God.

What does homoousios mean, and why was it disputed?

It means of the same substance or being. The Nicene Creed uses it to say the Son is of one being with the Father. It was disputed because it is not in the Bible, and some bishops feared it blurred the distinction between Father and Son.

Why did Athanasius say only God could save humanity?

He argued that humanity had fallen into corruption and death. Only the Word, through whom all things were made, could restore the image of God. A creature cannot bring other creatures into God’s life, so if the Son were only a creature, salvation would fail.

Did the Council of Nicaea end the controversy?

No. Arius and his supporters kept their followers, emperors changed sides, and Athanasius was exiled several times. Broad acceptance of the Nicene position came gradually over the next decades, culminating at the Council of Constantinople in 381.

Think it through

  1. Why might a technical word be worth fighting over?
  2. What does it say about the Gospel that its defenders thought only God could save?
  3. How does your own church speak about the divinity of Christ in prayer and song?
  4. Is it fair to say Arius took the Bible seriously? Why or why not?

Independent assignment

Reading Athanasius

Read the first ten chapters of On the Incarnation of the Word. In your notebook, write a summary of his argument in about 250 words, ending with the one sentence you think is most important. Then add a paragraph of 150 words stating one question the argument raises for you. Aim for 400 to 500 words.

Further study