Persecution of the Christians and the suppression of the early Church under the Roman emperors which began in the first century, ended with the coming into power of Constantine the Great at the Milvian Bridge in 312 C.E. Consequently, through conversion to Christianity special favors were offered to the people in the form of political, military and social gains. As a result, thousands of non-Christians joined the Church and enabled Constantine to wield great power over the Church affairs.
It was during the reign of Constantine that the idea of Jesus Christ as co-equal to God, the Father began to gain momentum. Yet, Trinity was not an established doctrine at that time. The idea of a triune god stirred great controversy within the Church as still many clergy and laymen did not accept the position of Christ as God. (12)
This disagreement reached the level of confrontation between Bishop Alexander of Alexandria, Egypt and his presbyter Arius. Bishop Alexander taught that Jesus was equal to God but not Arius. So at a synod held at Alexandria in 321 C.E., Arius was deposed and excommunicated. (13)
Arius, tought in institutional disfavor, still had much support outside Egypt. Many of the important bishops, such as the learned historian Eusebius of Palestinian Caesarea and his powerful namesake, Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia, theologically agree with Arius: Jesus Christ is not God. (14)
The sustained controversy disturbed Constantine and in order to legitimatize his position, he invited all bishops of the Christian Church to Nicaea (which is now in Asia Minor) in May 325 C.E. Thus, the Council of Nicaea began to settle the dispute concerning the relationship between God and His son. Constantine, who was in charge of the proceedings, exercised his political power to bring to bear the bishops to accept his theological position. The creed signed by 218 bishops was clearly anti-Arian. In other words, the Creed of Nicaea endorsed the Son as co-equal to God. Two hundred eighteen of the bishops signed this creed, although it was actually the work of a minority. (15)
The Encyclopedia Britannica summarizes the proceedings of the Council of Niacea as follows:
The Council of Niacea met on May 20, 325. Constantine himself presiding, actively guiding the discussion, and personally proposed (no doubt on Ossius' prompting) the crucial formula expressing the relation of Christ to God in the creed issued by the council, "of one substance with the Father." Over-awed by the emperor, the bishops, with two exceptions only, signed the creed, many of them against their inclination. Constantine regarded the decision of Nicaea as divinely inspired. As long as he lived no one dared openly to challenge the Creed of Nicaea; but the expected concord did not follow. (16)
The Creed of Nicaea
We believe in one God the Father All-sovereign, maker to all things visible and invisible; And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only-begotten, that is, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father, through whom all things were made, things in heaven and things on the earth; who for us men and for our salvation came down and was made flesh, and became man, suffered, and rose on the third day, ascended into the heavens, is coming to judge living and dead.
And in the Holy Spirit,
And those that say 'There was when he was not,' and, 'Before he was begotten he was not,' and that, 'He came into being from what-is-not; or those that allege, that the son of God is 'Of another substance or essence'
Or 'created,'
Or, 'changeable'
Or 'alterable,'
These the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes.
"The 'Nicaea' Creed
Bettenson explains the Nicene Creed as follows:
[It was] found in Epiphanius, Ancoratus, 118, C.A.D. 374, and extracted by scholars, almost word for word, from the Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril of Jerusalem; read and approved at Chalcedon, 451, as the creed of '(the 318 fathers who met at Nicaea and that of) the 150 who met at a later time' (i.e., at Constantinopolitan, 381). Hence often called the Constantinopolitan or Nicaeno-ConstantinopolitanCreed, and thought by many to be a revision of the creed of Jerusalem held by Cyril.
We believe in one God the Father All-sovereign, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible;
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, Begotten of the Father before all ages, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the father, through whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from the heavens, and was made flesh of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man, and was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried, and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures, and ascended into the heavens, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father, and cometh again with glory to judge living and dead, of whose kingdom there shall be no end:
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and the Life-giver, that proceedeth from the Father, who with Father and Son is worshipped together and glorified together, who spake through the prophets:
In one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church:
We acknowledge one baptism unto remission of sins. We look for a resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come. (17) Though the Council of bishops accepted the Creed of Nicaea there was no mention of the Trinity.
The controversy over the nature of Jesus continued for several decades. In the year 381 C.E. a second ecumenical council met in Constantinople.(18) This council adopted the Nicene Creed stating that Jesus and God were co-equal, co-eternal and the deity of the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the Trinity came to be formally established as the cornerstone of Christian faith for the next fifteen centuries.
Note: Like the "Lords Prayer" (Matt. 6:9-13, The Bilble), all Roman Catholics are required to memorize the "Nicene Creed" which they include in their prayers.
Emperor Theodosius made belief in Christianity a matter of imperial command:
"It is Our Will all the peoples We rule shall practice that religion which the divine Peter the Apostle transmitted to the Romans. We shall believe in the single Deity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, under the concept of equal majesty and of the Holy Trinity.
We command that those persons who follow this rule shall embrace the name of Catholic Christians. The rest, however, whom We adjudge demented and insane, shall sustain the infamy of heretical dogmas, their meeting place shall not receive the name of churches and they shall be smitten first by divine vengeance and secondly by the retribution of Our own initiative. We shall assume in accordance with divine judgment."(19)
Subsequently, the doctrine of the veneration of Mary as the "mother of God" and "bearer of God" was also formulated at the Second Council of Constantinople (553 C.E.) and the title of "Eternal Virgin" was added. "In the prayers and hymns of the Orthodox Church the name of the mother of God is invoked as often as in the name of Christ and the Holy Trinity"…." In the Roman Catholic doctrine, Mary, the mother of God, was identified with the figure of the divine Wisdom. The process of deifying the mother of God went a step further here, in that Mary is treated like a divine hypostasis (substance). the figure of heavenly Wisdom."(20)
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(12) Victor Paul Wierwille: Jesus Christ is not God, American Christian Press. The Way International, New Knoxville, Ohio 45871, (1975-1981), p. 22-23.
(13) Hase, A History of the Christian Church, p. 111. (See – Ibid, p. 23).
(14) Henry Chadwick, The Early Church (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1968), p. 129. (See – Ibid, p.23).
(15) Henry Bettenson, ed., Documents of the Christian Church, 2nd ed. (London: Oxford University Press, 1963), p. 58. "Arius and his followers were forthwith banished to IIIyria and his work were burned. The reverberations of this treatment of Arius had a profound effect on the Church, as well as on Constantine, for several decades. Just as Arius was to have been pardoned by Constantine and reinstated in the Church, he died." (See – Ibid, p.24)
(16) Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1968, s.v. "Council of Nicaea." (See – Ibid, pp. 24-25).
(17) Victor Paul Wierwille: "Jesus Christ is Not God", American Christian Press, New Knoxville, Ohio, pp. 26-27.
(18) B.K. Kuiper, The Church in History (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., p. 128 (See – Ibid, p.25).
(19) (Bamber Gascoigne: "The Christians", Granda Publishing Limited, 1976, Frogmore, St Albans, Herts AI2 2NF and 3 Upper Jemes Street, London Wir 4BP, p. 9).
(20) Encyclopaedia Britannica, Macropaedia, Vol. 4, Christianity, p. 483.
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