The council of Nicaea 325AD: The year Jesus became God
NOTE: The article below focuses primarily on the year the church decided to recognize Jesus to be God, to read everything there is to know about Jesus, please click on the page titled “Jesus”.
The council of Nicaea 325AD:
By order of Constantine Emperor of Rome, the Council in the city of Nicaea (modern-day İznik, Turkey) took place in 325AC. I would to highlight the fact that Constantine was not deeply religious himself, having been baptized only shortly before his death in 337, or 12 years after the council of Nicaea.
Prior to the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, the doctrine of the Trinity as we know it today “The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” and the role each person had was not clearly defined, leading to theological disputes, particularly regarding the nature of the Son, which caused divisions and began to threaten the stability of the Roman Empire.
So by resolving the Arian controversy, Constantine hoped to resolve the theological disputes that threatened to fracture the unity of his empire and strengthen the unity of Christianity as an institution. Therefore that day, Jesus was raised to the rank of God, but how?
Constantine invited all 1800 bishops of the Christian church at the time (about 1000 in the east and 800 in the west) to join him at the council of Nicaea, knowing how corrupt he was, only a small number showed up, bishop and Roman historian Eusebius of Caesarea counted 220, Athanasius of Alexandria counted 318, and Eustathius of Antioch counted 270 bishops present at the council.
So why was the Arian (or Arianism) Controversy so significant to the point that it was threatening to crumble the Roman Empire.
- Arius Theory:
Arius a priest who developed the Arian doctrine stated that there was a time when Jesus did not exist, and only God the Father existed, therefore Jesus the Son was not co-eternal with the Father because he was a created being, distinct from God the Father. And he believed that if Jesus was raised to be divine in the same way God is, that it would undermine the absolute monotheism at the core of the Christian faith, (which is close to the Islamic view that God has no equals).
His theory was supported by prominent figures of the church who agreed with him such as Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea, Bishop Theognis, Bishop Ursacius of Singidunum, Bishop Valens of Mursa, Bishop Macedonius of Constantinople and that just to name a few, they all believed that Jesus could not be divine the same way God is, as he was a created being. (This view is closest to that of Islam, which holds that God has no equal or partner, pure monotheism).
- Athanasius theory:
Athanasius’ theory although very confusing to understand to this day, insisted that Jesus had always existed with God from the beginning of time, that Jesus was not “born” in the way humans are born, as He is eternal and uncreated, being of the same essence as the Father. In his work On the Incarnation, Athanasius argues that Jesus, the Son of God, existed before time and was the eternal Word. While Jesus’ human birth in Bethlehem was a real event, it was the moment the eternal Word assumed a human body, not a beginning of His existence. Thus, Jesus’ divinity is eternal, and His incarnation was a unique act of God entering into human history to be sacrificed later on the cross in order to allow the forgiveness of our sins.
Jesus was then elevated to the rank of God on that day!
The few Bishops who intended voted in favour of the Athanasius theory and raised Jesus to be God that day which became the official Christian doctrine.
Just to give you an idea of how that would look today:
From the total number of bishops that were invited: 1,800 Bishops, to the number of bishops who showed up and voted: 318
Percentage wise =(318÷1800)×100=17.67%
So, approximately only 17.67% (of the 1800 Bishops) of that time voted to create the most important doctrine of Christianity based on one theory (the Athanasiuis theory) and raise Jesus to become God.
The Trinity:
At the Council of Nicaea, there was still disagreement about the role of the Holy Spirit within the Trinity. This issue was settled 56 years later at the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD. Arius and his followers were officially condemned for their beliefs, and Arius was excommunicated from the Church.