Council Day Two: the nature of the Son

I am quite dissatisfied with our council session. I feel we did not get anywhere in establishing the creedal statement for the Son. Instead, we went around in circles in logic. Yet logic does not belong in discussions of God. Understanding God is from the Scriptures and faith and recognizing the complexity of God and not try to simplify him and his greatness by breaking him apart.

Arius and his followers presented the idea that Jesus is lesser than God, that they are of similar substance and not the same substance. They emphasize how Jesus was begotten and thus a creature. Yet we pray to Christ. If Christ is a creature of God and divine, that creates two divinities and betrays our core belief in one God and creates a polytheistic argument to Christianity. Christianity is monotheistic, one God, three in one together in unity. Arius attempted to explain his beliefs by saying that by praying to Christ it is still praying to God as Christ is a messenger for these prayers and it goes to the same place. It is said in Scriptures that we shall only worship the Lord and serve Him only. We do not worship angels who are God’s messengers, so we couldn’t worship Christ as a messenger. Christ is the eternal Son of God, not created. When He descended from heaven, He took on the form of a servant, giving up His heavenly glory. A question the Arians asked is if Christ is God, then how He pray to Himself? It is a very fair question, and the answer should not be simplified in logic that He is lesser. Instead it is explained in that Jesus’ praying to God was a demonstration of His relationship within the Trinity. It was through Christ that all things are created, through the Father in which prays are heard and answered, and through the Holy Spirit that the Word is spoken. Christ took on the form of humanity for the salvation of men, his praying exemplifies the dependence upon God that we have as humanity.