After a break because of novenas, holydays, etc., I would like to continue reflecting a bit on the Nicene Creed that we say almost every Sunday and Holyday. I am sure you have waited with bated breath.
Professing our faith in the person of Jesus Christ we say:
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
All of this to explain the true nature of the person of Jesus Christ at a time when there was much controversy and false teachings about Him to combat heresies or false teachings with daunting names. For example, the Arian heresy that denied the divinity of Christ.
Arius proposed a problem: If the Son of God is begotten of God the Father, then the Father existed before the Son. Since the Father existed before the Son, the
Son is unlike the Father. The Son is not co-eternal with the Father. According to Arius, the Son was created by the Father and not Divine as the Father. Arius’ main error was that he imposed time on the eternal (timeless) nature of God. As a father begets a son, he gives his nature to his son. For humans, the father exists before the son, since humans live in time. Begetting for humans is an act embedded in time and matter. This is part of human nature. But for God, the Father gives His spiritual, divine, timeless nature to His only-begotten Son (Heb. 1), so “before” and “after” are meaningless. Even though the Son is begotten of the Father, this does not imply that the Father existed before the Son. Also, the Son of God is begotten and not created. (Even a human father only begets his children and does not create them.) Unfortunately, Arius failed to understand this fundamental point and thus refused to accept the Divinity of Christ. In 325, the Council of Nicaea was called to deal with the Arian crisis. The Council excommunicated Arius and declared that the Son is “of the same substance” (“consubstantial” as we say in the Creed) as the Father. This became part of the Nicene Creed. But the Arians continued to gain power and political influence. They remained a serious threat to the Church for another half century. St. Athanasius was the great defender of the Faith against this heresy.
More next week.
Saint James Catholic Church 