First Council Of Nicea Analysis

The Nicene Creed is the creed or profession of faith that was adopted in the city of Nicaea by the first ecumenical council, which met there in the year 325. At that time, the text ended after the words "We believe in the Holy Spirit", after which an anathema was added. The doctrine of the Trinity is commonly expressed as: "One God, three Persons”, but this word "Trinity" does not appear in the Bible. So the doctrine is formally defined in the Nicene Creed, which declares Jesus to be: "God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father." in 325, the Council of Nicea set out to officially define the relationship of the Son to the Father, in response to the controversial teachings of

The theological differences were some of the biggest reason why the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches split. The Eastern churches had theological roots in Greek philosophy and the Western churches had theologies that constructed on their Roman law (“Schism of 1054”, 2014, para. 3). A strong issue that the two churches had was the theological proposition of the placement and addition of “the Son” to the Roman creed. The Roman churches included the “Father and the Son” in the Nicene creed without consulting the Eastern church while the Eastern church only used the Father. The Orthodox Church believe it should have been written with “the Father” proceeded by the Holy Spirit.

In the 4th century there are different schools of thought that were developed in Antioch, were they try to literarily interpret the Scriptures with a great deal of emphasis on the historical context of Trinity. Arius who is also known as Nicene, came up with the Nicene Creed by arguing the fact that Jesus was not God, and the Father by itself is true God. Base on the fact that God created Jesus, Arius was able to support his argument with the books of (Proverbs 8:22 and John 14:28) “the Father is greater than I” as a proof.

The Christological controversies of the fourth and fifth centuries were debates regarding the nature of Christ, and in particular the issue of his humanity versus his divinity. Docetism is a position which undermines the integrity of the humanity of Jesus because it claims that Jesus is fully divine but not truly human, because he is God merely adopting the appearance of being human. Arianism is the belief that Jesus is superior to the rest of creation but not equal to God because Jesus was created by God and thus is not eternal unlike God. The Council of Nicaea in 325 was called to fight against Arianism. The Council

First of all increased the importance of the Virgin Mary for whom she felt a fierce admiration and to who she could be related, herself being the 'Virgin empress'. The judgment of Nestorious as a heretic following the third ecumenical council is therefore no mystery, since Heraclius challenged the importance of the Virgin Mary and consequently indirectly challenged the image and the beliefs of the queen. This once again reflects empirical power within ecumenical councils at the time. Moreover, the fourth Ecumenical council and Chalcedonian Creed was a way for the empress to deal with the Monophysite situation and restore some sense of order.

The Patristic Era saw various controversies arising over the nature of Jesus Christ, which consequently lead to the establishment of the creed as an attempt to reject the heretical views held by proponents. An example of a heretical advocate is Arius, who suggested Christ was inferior to God, but still above other creatures (McGrath, 2001, p.358). However, early orthodox theologians disputed this idea due to the soteriological complications that accompanied it (Young, 2010, p.55). The central advocator of this dispute was Athanasius, who questioned how Arius’ belief allowed for salvation through Jesus Christ, which is a key orthodox belief identified

The Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic, are two variations of the same religion, that due to some disagreements over certain ideas and religious teachings leads to the great Schism in 1054 AD. The great schism of 1054 refers to the final separation of the Eastern Orthodox church, led by the patriarch in Constantinople and the western church, led by Pope Leo IX. The estrangement between the Orthodox and Roman church, happened gradually over the course of the 5th and much of the 11th century. The reasons of the Schism are attributed to several differences between the two churches. The religious and doctrinal studies of the East, had roots in Greek philosophy, while the Western studies closely followed Roman law. Misunderstandings between the two churches then led to two separate ways of defining one doctrine, which would initiate the split. The doctrine in question, procession of the Holy Spirit, where without consulting the East the Roman churches added “and from the Son” to the Nicene Creed. This was not the only thing the two churches clashed on. The eastern church resented the forced clerical celibacy, political jealousies and interests only intensified the disputes. There had been schisms before but not ones that were permanent. While there may have been hopes for a reconciliation, the eastern Greeks were infuriated by the Latin capture of Constantinople in 1204 A.D. After this, any pleas from the west concerning reunion were rejected. (“Schism of 1054”)

“Eli Eli lama sabachthani!” was Jesus’ last words as he was crucified as stated in the New Testament. After three days, he was resurrected and ascended to the heavens in front of six hundred people. His disciples began to spread his word to various parts of the world. After Paul, one of Jesus’ disciples and his right hand man, failed to convince the Jews, Paul had to resort to converting the Romans. Around 312 A.D., Emperor Constantine I adopted the Christian faith and, therefore, legalized Christianity. He supported the Christian Church and tried to abandon all the pagan temples. In 325 A.D., he sent for the Council of Nicaea to establish the Nicene Creed. The emperor wanted to enforce orthodoxy and to eradicate heretics.

In 325, the Council of Nicea set out to formally characterize the relationship of the Son to the Father, in light of the dubious lessons of Arius. Driven by Bishop Athanasius, the gathering confirmed the precept of the Trinity as conventionality and censured Arius ' showing that Christ was the first making of God. The ideology received by the committee depicted Christ as "God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance (homoousios) with the Father."

The Council of Nicea was called by Constantine to have an official ruling as to who Jesus was and how he related to God. Other issues were dealt with, during the conference, but when it came to the understand of Jesus and God, things got interesting. Eusebius was a supporter of Arianism and during his

In 325, close to three hundred bishops from across the Roman Empire gathered in Nicea, a city east of Constantinople, to discuss issues regarding theology and administration. Constantine saw the issues within the church not only as a threat to Christianity, but also as a threat to society. During their meeting, they sought out to define the nature of God and eliminate confusion and controversy within the church. The Council of Nicea eventually came to an agreement and defined the relationship between God and Jesus (the Father and the Son) as “of one substance”. Alongside this relationship, the Council also confirmed the Trinity (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) as three equal persons. This meeting set the stage for the way Christianity would

At the Council of Constantinople, Apollinarianism, taught by Apollinaris the Younger, Bishop of Laodicea, which stated that while Christ, the Logos, had been made flesh then He had to have both a sensitive soul and a rational soul as well as free will. According to Apollinarianism, where there is free will, there is the presence of sin. This coincided with the Council of Chalcedon with contended against the heresy of Nestorius and Nestorianism, which “sacrificed the unity of Christ’s person for the fullness of deity and humanity.” (Bingham, D. Jeffrey. Pocket History of the Church. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2002. Print.). as well as Eutychianism, which supported the idea that Jesus Christ was of one nature only and. This heresy was also known as monophysitism, which held that Jesus Christ had only one nature, a mixture of both divine and human

When the Nicene Creed was created and finalized in 381 A.D., there were many heresies under the umbrella of Christianity. The Nicene Creed seeked to address these heresies and remove them from mainstream worship. One of the many heresies in this time was Arianism.

On the other hand, Athanasius, the leader of the bishops in the west, claimed that the Father and Son were equal and of the same substance. In 325, as a mediator, Constantine called together a council of bishops at Nicaea in Asia Minor. While condemning Arius and his teachings, the council declared the complete equality of God the Father and the Son. The teaching that Father and Son were made up "of one substance" became part of the Nicene Creed, the statement that helped to unite Christianity. The council addressed other issues as well, including the method for consecrating bishops.

One of the most important events in church history includes the Council of Nicea. The First Council of Nicea happened in 325 and involved the first gathering of Christian bishops and the Roman Empire not as enemies but as allies. The bishops wanted to solve the dispute over Arianism. Arianism is the belief that Christ was more than human but something less than God. Arianism taught the people that Jesus