Dear Cornerstone Family,
For our profession of faith during Lent, we are utilizing an important ancient creedal statement, The Nicene Creed. The creed was formulated and originally adopted by the church in 325AD at what is historically known as the First Ecumenical Council. It later went through a revision in 381AD at the Second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople.
The Emperor Constantine convened the council for the leading purpose of settling a doctrinal controversy regarding the nature of the person of Jesus Christ in relationship to God the Father. One leading presbyter of the day, Arius of Alexandria, taught that Jesus Christ was subordinate to God the Father since he was begotten of the Father. According to Arius, the Son of God was not coeternal with the Father. There was a time in eternity past when the Son of God didn’t exist. In Arius’s conception, he was, rather, the first and highest created being. In arguing this, the implication is clear––the Son was not divine in the same way that the Father was divine.
On the contrary, another leading presbyter from Alexandria, named Alexander, believed that Jesus Christ was co-eternal with the Father and divine in exactly the same way the Father is divine. In the end, the Ecumenical Council voted overwhelmingly in favor of the teaching of Alexander and deemed Arius a heretic. It was a crucial turning point in doctrinal formulation.
If you look at the Nicene Creed, you’ll find very detailed language regarding the person of Christ and his relationship to the Father. For instance, the language of “very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father” was penned to make clear what we mean when we say Jesus is fully God. We mean he is equal in every way with the Father, and he is thus a perfect representation of the invisible God.
As we enter into worship today, we declare that Savior is both divine like God and human like man. He is, therefore, fit to represent man to God and God to man. In the words of 1 Timothy 2:5, he is the perfect mediator between God and man, and it is that mediation we need today! And praise be to God, it’s that mediation we have! For Jesus, our high priest, lives to make intercession for you and me.
Your servant,
