Why is the Council of Nicaea one of the most critical events in the history of the Christian Church?
The Council of Nicaea was a meeting of bishops that took place in the year 325 AD. It was different than councils that had come before it, for a two reasons. One, it was not called by the bishops. No, this council had been called by Emperor Constantine. Secondly, it dealt with a particularly dangerous heresy that dealt with Jesus’ equality with the Father. The way the council dealt with both of these issues makes it a game-changing event in church history.
Let’s look at the heresy first. The teachings of a man named Arius of Alexandria were being debated at the council. Arius taught that Jesus was subordinate to God, and “proved” it with syllogisms. He thought that since Jesus was he Son of God, than God must had existed before him. And since God existed before him, then God must have made Jesus, and made him less powerful than himself. His theory relies heavily on syllogisms, not so much on Scripture. It does, however, site some Scripture, including John 14:28, “. . . for the Father is greater than I [Jesus.]” He also said that Jesus was of a different substance than God. While this may sound the same as the the previous statement, it is actually different, and very wrong. He is basically saying that Jesus is different from God, and less than God. When presenting at the Council to Constantine, he said, (well, sang,)
“The uncreated God has made the Son, a beginning of things created, and by adoption has God made the Son into an advancement of himself. Yet the Son’s substance is removed from the substance of the Father: the Son is not equal to the Father, nor does he share the same substance. God is the all-wise Father, and the Son is the teacher of his mysteries. The members of the Holy Trinity share unequal glories.
The rest of the bishops were quick to see the danger in his teachings, and sought to refute them at the Council. They pointed to John 10:30, “I and the Father are one,” and to the fact that God is the one needed to pass salvation onto us, so for Jesus to pass salvation onto us, he would have to be God, just as much as the Father. They attempted to counter the spreading influence of Arianism, which the public enjoyed, due to the fact that Arianism was often spread through songs. To do so, the Council created the first version of a creed that is still used in churches today: the Nicene Creed.
The Council of Nicaea was called for by Emperor Constantine. The bishops who gathered at Nicaea gathered there at Constantine’s command. This raises questions still relevant today. If the government is a Christian government, how much power does the government have over the church, and vice versa. If you know anything about church history, or even the Middle Ages, you know how the church was a political power almost as much as a religion. Was this the proper role for the church, or should it have stayed out of politics? The separation of church and state is still a hot topic today. When Constantine called the council, he gave the appearance that he had authority over the church. This led to a debate a few emperors down the road who wanted control over the church. Emperor Constanius (a few emperors after Constantine,) even said “Let whatsoever I will, be that esteemed as a canon.” (Canon, in this case, refers to official church statements, not of books of the Bible.) Eventually, the church was granted some freedom from the Emperor, with the Emperor being treated as “just another Christian.” This freedom led up to the Pope becoming so powerful, as we see throughout history.
So the Council of Nicaea was a momentous occasion for Christianity because it defeated a dangerous heresy and it immersed the church into the political realm. While defeating the heresy was large, on a secular level, the church turning political made a bigger shift in history than the defeat of Arianism. But on a Christian level, I would argue that defeating Arianism was a greater achievement. If we today saw Jesus separate from God, where would we be? What other heresies would this have led to? So I think from a historical standpoint, the church entering politics was the bigger impact of the Council of Nicaea. But from a theological standpoint, defeating Arianism, as well as the creation of the Nicene Creed, were a bigger deal.
Church History 