Complex Problems: The Council of Nicaea

The Councils and Why They Matter, Part 2

Complex problems are inevitable.

If you turn on the news, listen to a podcast, open a magazine, check your email, or walk down the street, you’ll encounter a problem permeated with debate and complication.

Most of the time, you’ll find that at the heart of a complex problem is a concept that needs to be understood, defined, and accepted by the parties involved in finding the solution.

It's not a complex problem, but it took me years to discover that what my wife means by “messy” and “dirty” are two different things. I kept cleaning incorrectly until I realized we needed to agree on what we meant when we asked for help. Yikes!

The Trinity

If you’ve been around Christianity long enough, you’ve heard the term Trinity thrown around. But if you had been around in the early 300s? That word wouldn’t have existed yet.

[[ For what it’s worth, this post is not meant to be a theological perspective of the Trinity; however, I realize maybe I should have done that first. My bad. That’s on me! Long story short: the Trinity is the fact that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; co-eternal, co-equal, and co-powerful. ]]

That’s because, for the first few centuries of Christianity, believers were still trying to understand what it meant for Jesus to be God in the flesh.

And that question? It started a firestorm.

The next big church fight—the one that led to the Council of Nicaea—was way bigger than the Jerusalem Council. This time, it wasn’t just apostles and elders in a room. It was bishops, emperors, and political leaders from all over the known world.

And instead of arguing about circumcision? They were arguing about something even bigger: Is Jesus truly God, or is he just the highest of all created beings?

If the wrong decision had been made, Christianity as we know it wouldn’t exist today.

A Controversy That Shook the Church

Let me introduce you to the man who started the problem: Arius.

Arius was a church leader from Alexandria, Egypt. He was a brilliant speaker, charismatic, persuasive, and loved by the people. His central teaching was: "There was a time when the Son was not."

In other words, Arius claimed that Jesus was created.

Arius argued that Jesus was special—the first and greatest of all creation—but still created. He wasn’t equal to the Father and wasn’t fully God. Eesh.

At first, this might sound like a minor theological disagreement. But think about the implications. If Arius was correct, then Jesus wasn’t eternal. If Jesus wasn’t eternal, then he wasn’t truly God. And if Jesus wasn’t truly God? Salvation was at stake.

And here’s the kicker—Arius wasn’t a nobody. His teaching spread like wildfire, and people ate it up. Church leaders started taking sides. Some believed Arius. Others believed Jesus was equal with the Father.

The division became so intense that riots started breaking out in the streets.

In 325 AD, Emperor Constantine decided enough was enough.

The Council of Nicaea

At this point, Christianity had just become legal in the Roman Empire. Constantine did not want his newly favored religion to fall apart, so he called for a massive gathering of church leaders—the first official church-wide council.

Over 300 bishops throughout the empire traveled to Nicaea (modern-day Turkey). This was the first time in history that leaders from the East and the West had gathered to settle a theological issue.

The debate was brutal.

Arius took the floor and eloquently defended his position—that Jesus was a created being, not eternal, not fully God. He had bishops on his side, and he was confident.

Then, a bishop named Athanasius stood up.

Athanasius vs. Arius

Athanasius was young. Really young. But he was brilliant, and he saw something that Arius didn’t.

If Jesus was just a created being, even the highest created being, then he couldn’t truly reconcile us to God. Only God could save. If Jesus wasn’t fully God, then Christianity wasn’t Christianity anymore.

Athanasius argued that Jesus must be of the same divine nature as the Father. Not like God. Not close to God. But fully God himself. And he had scripture to back him up—namely…

• John 1:1 (ESV) — "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

• Colossians 1:15-16 (ESV) — "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created."

• Hebrews 1:3 (ESV) — "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature."

Athanasius stood his ground. And, in the end? He won.

The council ruled that Jesus isn’t a created being. He is eternal, just like the Father, and of the same substance (homoousios) as the Father. The Nicene Creed was written to affirm this…

"We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God… begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father."

And Arius? He was declared a heretic.

[[ For what it’s worth, I think Athanasius is one of the most underrated figures in church history. The guy literally spent 17 years in exile because of his stance against Arianism. He refused to back down, even when emperors tried to get rid of him. And because of him, we have a clear doctrine of who Jesus truly is. What a legend. ]]

Why This Matters Today

If the Council of Nicaea had ruled the other way, Christianity would look completely different.

First, it settled the doctrine of the Trinity. If Jesus is fully God, then we understand that God is one in essence but three in persons: Father, Son, and Spirit.

Second, it set a precedent for the church handling big theological issues together. They didn’t just let this play out in individual cities. They gathered, debated, and let scripture and the Spirit guide them.

Third, it showed that the gospel is at stake in theological debates. Some things are worth fighting for. If Jesus isn’t fully God, then he can’t fully save.

Hopefully, That Made Sense

The Council of Nicaea was a turning point. It clarified that Jesus wasn’t just a really important person—he was and is God in the flesh.

But here’s the thing—Arius may have lost the vote, but his ideas never really went away. Even today, groups like Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons teach that Jesus was created—just in different ways.

The fight for a right understanding of Jesus never ends, nor do church councils. After Nicaea, another massive question emerged.

Now that we have clarified who Jesus is, we must answer the question: How do his divinity and humanity work together?

And that, my friends, is where the next great debate begins—The Council of Chalcedon.

Until next time,

Petey