Nicely Done in Nicaea
By Dr Quek Tze-Ming
Tuesday 20 May 2025 (two Tuesdays ago) was the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which took place in what is today Iznik, in Turkey, in the year 325. This was the first universal council of Christian church leaders, and commands respect and acceptance from all major branches of the Christian church, including our denomination Bible-Presbyterians.
The Council was convened primarily to reach a consensus on what Christians could rightly say about who and what God the Son is, in relation to God the Father. How do Christians say right things that safeguard monotheism (“there is One God”) and uphold the divinity of Christ (“Jesus is the Son of God”)?
In the years decades leading up to the Council, different teachers came up with various unsatisfactory solutions. Maybe Jesus is a divine being, never human, who only pretends to be human? This is the teaching known as Docetism, which I like to call the “Superman” solution: Superman is really Kal-El from Krypton, and he only pretends to be the human Clark Kent. Or maybe Jesus starts out as a human and then becomes divine when the Holy Spirit or the divine Christ enters him? This is known as Adoptionism, which I call the “Spiderman” solution: Peter Parker is a normal human who got bitten by a radioactive spider and gains superhuman power as Spiderman.
One teacher was Arius, who said “there was once when Jesus was not.” He taught that God the Father created Jesus as the first of his creation, and everything was brought into being by Jesus. The Son is not co-eternal with the Father, but lesser in nature and dignity. Thus, Jesus is more than human, but less than God. Christ is similar to God, maybe a “god” (lower case), but not true God. This wrong teaching started to gain support throughout areas where Christianity was growing and resulted in disputes in churches.
The confusion got so bad that the Roman Emperor Constantine, a new Christian convert, convened a universal council of church leaders to settle this question in 325 AD in Nicaea. Contemporary accounts tell us that 318 bishops attended, with 1200-1900 elders and deacons in attendance. Reports paint a moving sight of this gathering of church leaders, who, only a decade or so before, had come out of great persecution for their faith. All but 15 of the bishops bore on their bodies signs of faithfulness under tribulation: some scarred from lashings, some missing eyes or limbs, many in their church position because their predecessor had been martyred.
The deliberations continued for a few months, with supporters and detractors of the false teacher Arius having their say. Eventually Arius’ teaching was condemned, and a consensus arrived, faithful to the whole counsel of God, guided by the working of the Holy Spirit:
Jesus, Son of God, is “of one being” or “the same substance”
as God the Father. Jesus is eternally begotten of the Father,
not made or created.
The Council then produced the Nicene Creed (firmed up in 381 AD), outlining what Christians believe (“Credo” is Latin for “I believe”). The first few lines of the second paragraph express the resolution of what we should rightly say about Jesus Christ, Son of God:
And [I believe] in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only-begotten Son of God,
Begotten of his Father before all worlds,
God of God, Light of Light,
Very God of very God,
Begotten, not made,
Being of one substance with the Father,
By whom all things were made; …
The Nicene Creed is the benchmark of classical Christianity, embraced by all historic branches: Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Syrian, and Eastern Christians. The whole of the Nicene Creed is well worth reflecting and praying over. Those in our catechism classes have been learning about its main teachings, through a shorter summary called the Apostles’ Creed.
Happy 1700th Nicaea Day!
