The doctrine of trinity, although being a subject of dispute between different Christian confessions can be considered as one of the main pillars of Christianity. The establishment of the doctrine of trinity and its support is largely related to two major events in Christian history, the Arian heresy and the formulation of the Nicene Creed. In that regard, this paper analyzes the Nicene Creed, explaining the relation between the affirmation of Trinity in the Creed and the roots of the Arian heresy.
The adoption of the Nicene Creed and the Arian heresy are two related events, in which the latter led to the occurrence of the first. The Arian heresy was the view of Arius, a priest from Egypt, that only Father is truly eternal God, and that Christ was a created God, and thus, did not exist eternally, as “there was when he was not” (Ludwig 156). Such opinion was a threat to Christianity at the time.
In response to such heresy, a council was convened to establish a solution to the problem, stating that Jesus is “true God of true God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the father”. It can be seen that the difference between the affirmation of Trinity in the Nicene Creed and its refutation in the heresy in that Arius’ view put an emphasis on the timeline of creation, rather than questioning the divine nature of Jesus.
Following the aforementioned, the Nicene Creed states that Jesus was incarnated by the Holy Ghost, made man, and that the Holy Ghost proceeds “from the father and the son”. Thus, the Creed did not refute the claim that there was a time when only the Father was present, where the superiority of Father can be seen in the aforementioned excerpts, although he is “true God from true God”. Thus, it can be stated that the Trinity opposed in the heresy differs from the Trinity affirmed in the Nicene Creed.
Defending the Trinity it can be stated that the Bible already indicated a support of the doctrine. Analyzing the first verse of John, the verses state that at the beginning of things, “the word already was, the word dwelt with god, and what god was, the word was”.
Thus, it is understandable that the word and the God are in unity, where the passage “what god was, the word was”, indicates their equality and similar nature. The line stating that the word “was with god at the beginning”, indicate their existence at the same time, with no time where one of them was absent.
Following the verses, it can be seen that the word represented Jesus, as “the word became flesh; he came to dwell among us… full of grace and truth”. Finally, the identification by name can be seen when John testifies that “while the Law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ”.
Thus, it can be seen that the Bible all along contained an explanation of the relation between the Father and the Son as a confirmation of the Trinity doctrine. In that regard, it can be seen that the support contained in the Bible, unlike the Nicene Creed, not only answers the claim of the creation of Jesus, but also the existence of the Father and the Son at the same time eternally.
Works Cited
Ludwig, Theodore M. The Sacred Paths of the West. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education, 2006. Print.