I am a strong critic of Constantine The Great. I find what he did to the church has created such problems that not even The Reformation could banish them, mainly the building and priest class, “However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands,” (Acts 7:48), and “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9). That said The Nicene Council was important in affirming the Scriptural proofs that Jesus is not just Son of God but is God, of one substance (Homoousion) with The Father. What was also important is the fight against Aruis and his acolytes called The Arians.
Arianism was a heresy that taught that Jesus was not God, not divine, which is refuted by holy scripture, “For in Jesus the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,” (Colossians 2:9), “Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,” (Titus 2:13), “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made,” (John 1:3), “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ, He is the true God and eternal life,” (1 John 5:20), “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross,” (Philippians 2:5-8).
The problem is the Arian heresy did not die at Nicea, it spread throughout the Eastern Churches, and got its hooks in the Goths. Ironically during this period The Roman Catholic Church was the good guys, they at least affirmed Jesus was God The Son who is One with The Father and Holy Spirit. I think of that verse, “Noah was righteous in his time,” (Genesis 6:9), and so The Roman Church was so in comparison to the easily infected Eastern Churches.
Seeing the threat of Arianism to the Church, an Emperor of the Eastern Roma, a man named Justinian made war upon the Arians. To us this seems rather brutal, why not just fight as orthodox apologists against the Arian heretics? There were scholars who did, but the threat of Arianism was not like a false cult such as Jehovah Witnesses who come to your door in preppy suites, no the Goths who were being infected with the heresy had suites of armor and pikes, and they were like a standing army to threaten the kingdoms of True Christianity.
Justinian was an Emperor who fought not only Paganism, but all false sects of Christianity, “In the religious sphere, Justinian took a leading role in shaping church policy. As an adamant defender of Christian Orthodoxy, he fought to extinguish the last vestiges of Greco-Roman paganism, to root out Manichaeans and Samaritans, and to oppose competing Christian sects, including the Arians and the Monophysites.” (https://www.metmuseum.org). Justinian was a adamant defender of the True Faith as laid out in Nicene Creed based on the Scriptures. His efforts should be remembered, and we need a Justinian spirit today in apologetics, not with swords but words, the Words of Scripture as our blades to fight the tide of Prosperity Hersey, Radical Ecumenicalism, Non-Grace / Works Based gospel churches, Christo-Angelism (Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah Witnesses who say Jesus is an angel, Hebrews 1:1-28 refutes this), Ladder-Day Saints, Chrislam, Messianic Judaism that refuses to acknowledge Jesus as Lord God (43% of Messianics), and many more.
Sadly Justinian did not see the end of Arianism, it would take two more emperors to eradicate it, “It was not until the co-reigns of Gratian and Theodosius that Arianism was effectively wiped out among the ruling class and elite of the Eastern Empire. Valens died in the Battle of Adrianople in 378 and was succeeded by Theodosius I, who adhered to the Nicene Creed.” (Arianism, Wikipedia).
Of course the emperors were not perfect, and it took The Reformation to get the True Gospel and The Scriptures in our hands. But these emperors were like Noah, “righteous in their time,” (Genesis 6:9) and we could possibly have ended up heretics, our ancestors, if it had not been for Justinian and Theodosius. So while we find fault in much from this tine period, we should be thankful for men who fought to preserve the orthodox faith from the tide of heresy. Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment