The First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea

Yesterday, June 12^th, marked the commemoration of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea. This was the first time the Church convened in an ecumenical (or unified) council to condemn heretical teaching and issue an official Church doctrine. The First Council of Nicaea convened from May to August 325. The main heresy the First Council of Nicaea aimed to uproot was the Arian controversy. In the early 4^th-century, a north African teacher named Arius began to teach that God the Son was not truly God, but that He was made by the Father and was therefore not coeternal nor coequal with the Father. This is theology is known as Arianism. Arius’ theology also gave way to subordinationism, which is the heresy that the Son (and sometimes the Holy Ghost) is subordinate to the Father altogether, thus establishing a ranking system by which each Person of the Trinity is ranked. Arius argued for the supremacy of God the Father, which is the main tenant of subordinationism. 

The Arian controversy was the worst and most consequential theological dispute in early Christendom. The First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, convened by Roman Emperor Constantine I in 325 A.D., responded decidedly by issuing the Nicene Creed, which the Church confesses to this day. The Nicene Creed holds that the Son was begotten of the Father, not made or created by the Father. It also states that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, and that all Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity are coequal and coeternal, none ranking in front of or behind another. The First Council of Nicaea held steadfastly to the doctrine of the Trinity, and advocated fiercely for the orthodox Christian teachings of the Church and the Apostles. 

Today it seems as though the work of the First Ecumenical Council has been forgotten. This is not necessarily to say that large groups of Arians or subordinationists exist, though some still do exist throughout the world. The work of the First Council of Nicaea has largely been forgotten because their desire to retain orthodox Christian teaching has been disregarded in the modern Church. In fact, there are several Christian churches that do not even confess the Nicene Creed on a regular basis. The Nicene Creed is one of the oldest and most consequential doctrines the Church has ever produced. It is a precise exposition on the most basic Christian teachings. Yet there are several churches who could not even bother to make mention of it. These churches have chosen to go their own way.

What good is the work of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea is Christendom today could not be bothered to talk about it? Keep in mind that the Nicene Creed was produced in 325 A.D. This is less three centuries after the Resurrection of our Lord, or 1,698 years ago. Yet this is still the teaching of the true catholic Church. If the Church continues to disregard the work and doctrine of the First Council of Nicaea, the Church will fall back into the heresies the Council was convened to condemn. There is no better teaching for the Church than the Nicene Creed, just as there was no greater heresy for the ecumenical Church to condemn than Arianism. To say that God the Son is not truly God is truly damning to the soul. If God the Son is not truly God, then no other Christian teaching could stand. All other doctrine would fail. And our faith would be in vain. Our salvation would be void. And our lives would be damned.

God the Son is the rock of our faith. Upon Him rests all things, inasmuch as through Him all things were created. Nothing that was created would exist if Christ was not God. Nothing would be if Jesus is coeternal and coequal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. God simply could not be if He was not the Triune God. His very nature exists in the substance and essence of the Triune God. There is no other essence. There is no other substance. God simply is. And He is the Trinity. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Just a few weeks ago, the Church celebrated the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. We reminded ourselves that the most complicated doctrine to which the Church holds is the doctrine of the very nature of God. We cannot understand the very substance of God, yet we have been called to serve Him faithfully and place all our trust in Him. The Church has elaborated on many intricate theological details, preached faithfully the Word of God for nearly 2,000 years, and has baptized millions into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—a name which we can hardly comprehend. We have done all of this with almost no understanding of how God works. 

Yet the First Council of Nicaea, among many other important doctrinal conventions, councils, and deliberations, has taught us that the very nature of God does not depend on our understanding. Therefore, we are reminded that the best thing for the Church is to hold to her orthodox teachings. One aspect of the First Council of Nicaea that is almost always forgotten was the Council’s move to promulgate some of the first canonical laws of Christendom. Before the Council of Nicaea convened, the Church had already been the Apostolic ordinances, the most prominent being the Didache, which is the earliest teaching of the Christian Church, compiled by the Apostles themselves. The First Council of Nicaea sought to recognize these very early Christian teachings and build upon them with their own twenty theses, which are contained in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. 

The Church today can learn something from the Church then. The early Church Fathers have expounded faithfully and correctly on Holy Scripture. They have passed down to us true and faithful doctrine to which we hold. Why stray away from this? To disregard, or disagree with, the work of the First Council of Nicaea would be heretical. This is not because the Council had power in itself to declare what is and is not Scriptural, but because they were guided by the Holy Ghost, set apart to serve His Church and provide her with true, correct Scriptural teaching. What they deliberated and declared is true. The Nicene Creed, though by itself is not Scripture, is drawn solely from Scripture. It is the most basic exposition on the nature of God, which has been revealed to us in Scripture. 

Let us give thanks to God that we have been given true and correct Scriptural teaching. May we, by the grace of God, hold ever fast to the true doctrine of the Church, and give thanks to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for what He has done for His Church. Let us honor Him and praise Him forever.