Worship Notes for Sunday, February 24, 2013
For our profession of faith during Lent, we are utilizing an important ancient creedal statement, The Nicene Creed. The creed was formulated and adopted by the church in 325 AD at what is historically known as the First Ecumenical Council.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. In Arius’ mind, the Son of God was a created being and therefore not divine in the same way that the Father was divine. On the contrary, another leading presbyter from Alexandria named, Athanasius, 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 Athanasius and deemed Arius a heretic.
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 absolutely clear what we mean when we say Jesus is both fully God and fully man. As we profess our faith today, we have confidence that our Savior is divine like God and human like man, which makes him a perfect mediator between God and man.
