History on Our Side

In the last lesson, we introduced you to some very important men from our shared Christian history: Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Origen. Those men, each pastors, are part of a group we call the Church Fathers.

What made each of these men famous? They debated. They built arguments. They suffered. They lived in times of intense persecution. Origen's father was martyred for the Faith. Justin earned the title "Martyr" with his own blood.

But most importantly, these men did what shepherds do: with crook and staff they fended off spiritual bears, lions, and wolves. They fed God’s flock with the best of all feed, sound doctrine, but they also protected the Church from spiritual predators. They stood against the heretics that opposed the Reality of the Father, the Reality of the Son, and the Reality of the Holy Spirit.

Their age, called the Patristic Period, or the “Age of the Church Fathers” was characterized by pastors and missionaries who boldly preached the Truth about the One God, our Father. They debated and fought into the fifth century. Up until 381 AD, at the Council of Constantinople, these valiant leaders were still composing the creeds that define orthodoxy today. For example, the 381 Creed is now, more than 1600 years later, recited in every Catholic mass and in Protestant liturgies daily around the World.

Constantinople

So, it was a beautiful achievement when the Church's bishops penned the Creed of Constantinople. It was a crowning achievement as the final great creed of the Patristic Period. Without further ado, let’s read its introduction.

It says:

We believe in One God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, of all things visible and invisible.

And in One Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten…

And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father…

Now, observe that in this magnificent statement both Jesus and the Holy Spirit are said to have proceeded from God. In other words, both are from God. Jesus, in particular is said to have been “begotten from the Father.” So, what does that mean? It means that the Church fathers recognized that the Father was the sole Source of the divine nature Jesus and the Holy Spirit today possess. These Two have deity, they have godhood, but not of themselves. They have it through the Father.

The terms the authors of the Creed used to describe this “proceeding from the Father” are powerfully reframed five times—each time in a different way. Of Jesus, notice that they say:

• he is the only-begotten Son of God

• he is begotten from the Father

• he is Light from Light

• he is True God from True God

• he is begotten not made.

Do you get it? As the title of this series asserts, Jesus is from God. He proceeds from God. And that's all we need to say, if we're FIRM.

But you’ll notice that the authors of the Creed of Constantinople did not only state that Jesus is from God, they went further. They stated how Jesus came from God. How necessary was it for them to describe how Jesus came to be divine? Well, it definitely pushes the mind beyond the fundamentals of Christian doctrine.

For now, just know that their position on how Jesus is from God is what made them more than Church fathers--it made them Nicene fathers.

Arian Tendencies vs. Nicene Tendencies

In 325 AD there were no orthodox teachers who contradicted that Jesus was begotten of God or questioned whether he was from God. For example, the Arians (whose tendencies were more "Eastern" (from Constantinople) and were considered to be more “conservative” (since they opposed the use of metaphysical terminology in debates) never questioned whether Jesus was from God. They only differed on the manner in which Jesus proceeded from God.

The Arians said that Jesus was created (something the Bible never says) and the Nicene fathers said that he was begotten based upon the “brought forth” expression we find in Micah 5:2 and Proverbs 8:22–25—so the Nicene fathers were more Biblical, even if they used terminology from Greek philosophy to defend their position.

Regarding the how of Jesus’ proceeding, we side with the Nicene fathers—however, we also welcome discussion, debate, and conversation. Now, be clear on this: The Nicene fathers always welcomed discussion. In fact, all of them but one were in the pendulum on the issue of how Jesus proceeded from the Father. It was the Roman Emperor Theodosius I who in 380 AD outlawed Arianism. It was not the Church which requested that strict rule, but the Roman political body.

Christians share the Scriptures, and we always share it in love. Note that among the Church fathers on our list below, there were two who opposed the Nicene formula: 1. Eusebius—considered the greatest historian of the Early Church, and 2. Ulfilas—Constantinople’s missionary to the Visigoths.

Ulfilas was a devoted preacher who traveled from Cappadocia to the regions of what are today Romania and Serbia to translate the Bible into the Gothic language. He brought the Gospel to the Goths and it’s safe to say that he single-handedly pulled the East Germanic-Gothic language family into the written records of history, saving thousands of souls in the meantime. He was a Trinitarian, but disagreed that Jesus was "co-equal" to God. He thought that Jesus' nature was like God's, but not exactly the same.

Historical Context

So, now you know these two names, and you see their Arian sympathies, but did you know that Eusebius and Ulfilas were not treated badly by their peers? Eusebius participated in the debates that forged the Nicene Creed, stating publicly that the creed shouldn't say that Jesus and the Father were of the same essence (homoousios), but that didn't cause anyone to anathemize him.

In fact, for approximately 55 years from 325 to 381 bishops from around the World swung between the two positions freely because, like we just said, Arians also believed that Jesus proceeded from God. They were Trinitarians in the orthodox original sense of the word. The definition of how Jesus proceeded from God was up for debate at the time.

The topic was finally decided upon through the dialogues the Nicene and Arian bishops shared over those 55 years, but that particular topic was not black and white for anyone except Athanasius--who seems to have done a fine job contending for doctrine.

Remember: The Council of Nicaea was the first council the Church had organized since the Council of Jerusalem in approximately 49 AD. Almost 300 years had passed since pastors-elders and bishops joined together from around the World to resolve such grand matters of theology. They hadn’t gathered together to discuss the soundness of doctrine for centuries. And all of a sudden they were under great pressure by imperial Roman authorities to come up with a summary of Christian Faith.

It wasn't easy, and they agreed on almost everything except this: the origin of the Lord Jesus' status as divine prior to the Creation of the World. Now, in case you didn't notice, that's not a simple matter to resolve, especially since it’s not defined for us in the Bible! But, if you think it's simple, let's hear your debate points. Stand up in a seminary and make your case.

Regardless of how passionate you are about that point, the origins of Christ's "coming forth" as divine, the soundest list of the Church Fathers in chronological order follows here:

First Century

1. Clement of Rome (35–99)

2. Ignatius of Antioch (35–110)

3. Polycarp of Smyrna (69–155)

4. Aristides of Athens (90–134)

Second Century

5. Justin Martyr (100–165)

6. Melito of Sardis (105–180)

7. Theophilus of Antioch (120–185)

8. Irenaeus of Lyons (130–202)

9. Athenagoras of Athens (133–185)

10. Clement of Alexandria (150–215)

11. Tertullian (160–220)

12. Hippolytus of Rome (170–235)

13. Origen of Alexandria (185–254)

Third Century

14. Novatian of Rome (200–258)

15. Cyprian of Carthage (200–258)

16. Dionysius of Alexandria (200–265)

17. Dionysius of Rome (210-268)

18. Gregory Thaumaturgus (213–270)

19. Methodius of Olympus (250–311)

20. Lactantius (250–325)

21. Alexander of Alexandria (250–328)

22. Anthony the Great (251–356)

23. Eusebius of Caesarea (260–339)

24. Athanasius of Alexandria (296–373)

Fourth Century

25. Ephrem the Syrian (306–373)

26. Hilary of Poitiers (310–367)

27. Epiphanius of Salamis (310–403)

28. Ulfilas (311–383)

29. Cyril of Jerusalem (313–386)

30. Gregory of Nazianzus (the Theologian) (329–390)

31. Basil of Caesarea (330–379)

32. Gregory of Nyssa (335–395)

33. Ambrose of Milan (340–397)

FIRM in the Realities

The Truths that make us FIRM, also called the “Realities,” come from Jesus and the Apostles, and they were argued by these Church Fathers—all the way up to Ambrose. As we just saw, as late as 381 AD, the Church was still composing sound solid creeds. However, during the fifth century, the Church fell into the hands of a paid clergy—the kind of men Jesus called hirelings (John 10:11-13). Those men were the ‘wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing’ (Matthew 7:15) Jesus warned us about.

The Roman Catholic clergy—men with ecclesiastical jobs paid by the Roman government--turned away from Biblical theology, and exchanged it for Greek philosophy. They exchanged the terminology of the Bible (like One God and Father, divine nature, deity, human nature / flesh) for a vocabulary of metaphysics (essence, person, and oneness [monad in Greek]). They became elitist. They became a different class of Roman citizen.

Proud of their important position in the Empire, these men stopped teaching Bible truths about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. They locked up any knowledge of the relationship between the Three by deeming God to be a “mystery.” Then, since their focus turned from the Bible and towards metaphysics (which, conveniently, nobody really understands), they took their boldest swipe at the flock: They stole terminology.

Bad bad bad. It was Augustine of Hippo who dared to hijack the very term the Church fathers used as the baseline for orthodoxy, Trinity. Very bad, but we’re claiming it back. The term Trinity does not belong on the lips those who deny that the Father is the One God. It belongs to the Church because it came to us through the Church fathers, our forefathers. So, we're taking Trinity back.

Creedence

So, that's the issue with words, but what of the creeds? Is there a creed the Church must return to as our rule of Faith? No. It’s enough to go back to the original list of Realities, which we find in the Bible in Ephesians 4:4-6. On that powerful list we read about what binds us together--the ‘unity of the spirit.’

We see there Seven Realities. So, there are seven Truths all Christians share. Among them are: the One Spirit, the One Lord, and the One God. Bingo--the Trinity right there among the Realities!

But it gets better. The Apostle Paul concludes Ephesians 4:4-6 specifying that the One God is ‘the Father.’ So far so good, but then he describes how the Father is ‘above all, through all, and in all.’ That simple description is the economy of the Trinity. It's the operational unity of the Three.

How does that economy work? Well, the Father is ‘above all,’ including being above Jesus and the Holy Spirit. He is their Authority. He heads the Trinity.

Then, the Father is ‘through all’ by means of Jesus through whom he created the World and through whom God saved us. When we say that Jesus paid the price for our sins by presenting his blood to God, that's the Trinity at work.

Finally, the Father is ‘in all’ by means of the Holy Spirit. Doesn’t the Spirit live within us? Yes, he does. And that's God in us--but through the Trinity.

Again, this “operational unity” in which the One God, the Father authoritatively through the power he has given to Jesus and the Holy Spirit carries out his will is properly called the Trinity. It is a unity of Three—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That unity is what makes everything work: Creation, Salvation, and the Church.

In conclusion, and in honor of the Church fathers, let's reclaim this theology. Let's reclaim the Trinity for the Church. If we do, we'll dispel the confusion that so characterizes our generation.