A new series on the seven great Church Councils beginning with the Council of Nicaea in 325AD (2020-12-10) #

0:00:01 hello and um i'd like to begin
0:00:03 a series of seven videos looking at the
0:00:07 seven
0:00:08 councils of the church these are the
0:00:10 great
0:00:11 gatherings of all the bishops in
0:00:13 christendom of the church
0:00:14 who met on seven occasions over many
0:00:16 centuries
0:00:18 to thrash out or agree to reach a
0:00:20 consensus
0:00:22 on what christians should believe on
0:00:24 christian doctrine on the christian
0:00:26 creed
0:00:27 and i think it's useful to look at this
0:00:29 and also perhaps to offer some comments
0:00:31 on it as well in the light
0:00:32 of the christian's own scriptures and
0:00:35 what we now know of the historical jesus
0:00:37 and the way
0:00:38 theology doctrine has evolved and
0:00:40 developed over the centuries
0:00:43 so um i think there's an opportunity to
0:00:45 look at seven different videos at the
0:00:47 seven councils
0:00:49 starting with the the most famous
0:00:51 council of them all the council of
0:00:53 nicaea
0:00:54 in the fourth century um so why is this
0:00:58 important
0:00:58 why is this not just a bit of ancient
0:01:00 history well the council of nicaea
0:01:03 for example is still recited in every
0:01:06 mass on sunday
0:01:08 so christians throughout the world who
0:01:10 are roman catholic
0:01:11 uh recite read out uh the council of
0:01:15 nicaea so it re and that's the biggest
0:01:18 church in the world
0:01:20 and virtually all other churches main
0:01:23 churches
0:01:24 agree that this council is true and they
0:01:26 subscribe to it it's their doctrine it's
0:01:28 it expresses their faith uh in the most
0:01:31 succinct way
0:01:32 uh whether it be the church of england
0:01:34 or the methodist church or or whoever
0:01:36 but that with the exception of um say
0:01:39 that you have his witnesses
0:01:41 most other churches accepted
0:01:44 so um i want to talk about these creeds
0:01:47 what they mean
0:01:48 why they were formulated why they're
0:01:50 important and also offer a few points
0:01:52 of comment by way as i say of um
0:01:56 what the historical jesus uh apparently
0:01:59 said and what even the christian's own
0:02:00 bible
0:02:02 says by way of contrast
0:02:05 so what was the counts of nicaea why is
0:02:07 it called the council of nicaea well
0:02:09 the nicaea was a town in what is today
0:02:14 called turkey
0:02:15 and it was chosen by the then emperor
0:02:18 constantine
0:02:19 as a convenient place in the center of
0:02:21 the roman empire
0:02:23 in 325 a.d where all the bishops who
0:02:26 were called were invited from other
0:02:28 world from britain
0:02:29 from greece from italy
0:02:32 from uh from the east
0:02:36 wherever they may be were called over a
0:02:37 thousand bishops were invited
0:02:39 uh in the end only about three 318
0:02:42 the number varies and the sources
0:02:44 actually were able to attend along with
0:02:46 all their assistants and fellow priests
0:02:48 and presbyters and deacons so
0:02:50 it's actually quite a large number of
0:02:51 people who attended we have
0:02:54 some records uh from that time a chap
0:02:57 called eusebius kept a record
0:02:59 um so we have some idea what actually
0:03:01 happened
0:03:03 but uh constantine the the emperor was
0:03:06 um
0:03:06 the guy who was uh in charge and he
0:03:09 wanted
0:03:10 a creed uh to express the common faith
0:03:13 of the church
0:03:14 because at that time be both before and
0:03:17 after actually the church was in
0:03:18 conflict was riven apart by
0:03:20 disagreements over who jesus
0:03:24 was and there were other issues as well
0:03:25 but this was the biggest
0:03:27 theological issue of all the churchmen
0:03:30 lead church leaders like say athanasius
0:03:32 who is a
0:03:34 a pretty famous high-profile bishop in
0:03:36 alexandria in uh
0:03:38 today's egypt he defended the idea
0:03:42 that jesus was god just like the father
0:03:44 was god father was god
0:03:46 jesus was god there were other people
0:03:48 some of who were bishops but perhaps the
0:03:50 most famous one was called
0:03:51 arius and arius um
0:03:54 was what's called a presbyter kind of
0:03:56 like a priest
0:03:58 also from the same part of the world who
0:04:01 although
0:04:02 he agreed that jesus was divine
0:04:05 believed actually that there was a time
0:04:07 when he did not exist
0:04:08 and that was almost his catchphrase that
0:04:10 the son uh was god but there was a time
0:04:13 when he was not
0:04:14 he didn't exist only the father existed
0:04:16 from all eternity
0:04:17 the son ultimately although he was the
0:04:20 greatest
0:04:21 and existed before anything else was
0:04:23 created was ultimately
0:04:25 created by god so the sun was in a sense
0:04:28 a created god
0:04:29 if you like and many people in the
0:04:33 church
0:04:33 at that time agreed but many people also
0:04:37 agreed with athanasius
0:04:39 and uh in those days when christians
0:04:41 disagreed they got violent and
0:04:43 particularly athanasius had a reputation
0:04:45 for being a bit of a thug
0:04:46 and um it was alleged that he uh
0:04:49 through various mercenaries he got
0:04:51 people beaten up for their theological
0:04:53 views
0:04:54 and even people famously in the
0:04:55 marketplace used to argue and get a bit
0:04:58 violent
0:04:58 um about theological disputes about the
0:05:01 trinity
0:05:01 and about jesus and whatever um it
0:05:04 reminds me somewhat of muslims who are
0:05:06 so passionate about their faith some are
0:05:08 that they uh do things they shouldn't
0:05:10 in those days christians fulfill that
0:05:13 role today's christians
0:05:15 are pretty lukewarm and securized don't
0:05:17 really mind if they get walked all over
0:05:18 by
0:05:19 by other people and their faith is
0:05:21 insulted and they say oh well
0:05:22 we should make fun of our religion we're
0:05:24 happy with that but
0:05:26 um but in the fourth century christians
0:05:28 took their faith very seriously and
0:05:29 wouldn't have put up with any nonsense
0:05:31 um anyway so this council meets um
0:05:35 and um the arguments take place between
0:05:38 uh those representing athanasius the
0:05:41 bishop
0:05:41 who defended the idea that jesus was god
0:05:44 um
0:05:45 and the idea that the father and the son
0:05:48 shared the same being the same substance
0:05:52 the word in greek and this is a bit of
0:05:53 jargon but it's gone down in history
0:05:56 is homousion homo meaning the same
0:05:59 and usion coming from the greek word
0:06:01 uzia meaning
0:06:02 being excuse me or substance same beings
0:06:06 in this word
0:06:07 homo usion entered into the vocabulary
0:06:09 of the church
0:06:10 and it's still part of the vocabulary of
0:06:11 the church in its understanding of the
0:06:13 relationship between the father and the
0:06:15 son
0:06:16 between the father who's god and jesus
0:06:18 is god they share the same sub they're
0:06:20 both
0:06:20 divine they're both god in the absolute
0:06:23 sense
0:06:24 whereas those who are opposed to the
0:06:27 idea of
0:06:28 jesus being the uncreated god people
0:06:30 like arius
0:06:32 rejected that term and they rejected it
0:06:34 on the good sound principle that
0:06:36 actually
0:06:36 it's not in the bible it's simply not
0:06:38 there in the jewish bible it's not
0:06:40 they're the new testament jesus never
0:06:41 preached homoresion neither did the
0:06:43 apostles needed the
0:06:44 paul or anyone so why are we using this
0:06:48 bidder this innovative term to describe
0:06:51 the god head the term comes from pagan
0:06:54 philosophy from greek philosophy
0:06:55 anyway so at the end of the day
0:06:59 a vote was taken and this is how
0:07:02 doctrine was created
0:07:05 at some crucial points in the church
0:07:07 through majority
0:07:08 votes and the majority vote was that
0:07:12 athanasius was right and god
0:07:15 was declared to be the father and the
0:07:19 son
0:07:20 so uh those who were disagreed
0:07:23 were banished so there's a great
0:07:24 incentive to vote the way the
0:07:27 emperor wanted you to vote and he
0:07:29 supported the ideas of athanasius
0:07:31 and if you didn't support the uh the
0:07:33 views of the roman empire
0:07:35 and the emperor uh then you were
0:07:37 banished
0:07:38 which was not a punishment that you'd
0:07:40 want so
0:07:41 um the the council uh agreed
0:07:44 uh with athanasius as i was saying
0:07:47 and the creed that came out of creed is
0:07:50 a statement of belief like
0:07:51 akida basically uh which is the arabic
0:07:54 term
0:07:55 um the arab the nicene creed was created
0:07:58 and it had
0:07:58 phrases like jesus been described as
0:08:01 light from light
0:08:02 true god from true god that was one
0:08:04 expression from the
0:08:06 nicen creed that proclaims his divinity
0:08:08 jesus christ is said to be begotten
0:08:11 not made i'm not quite sure what
0:08:13 begotten means because if you beget
0:08:14 something that implies
0:08:15 priority ontological priority of the one
0:08:18 who is begetting but hey
0:08:20 uh begotten not made uh asserting
0:08:23 therefore that he was not a mere
0:08:24 creature brought out of brought into
0:08:27 being out of nothing like
0:08:28 aries believed but uh of the same
0:08:31 substance
0:08:32 as the father um so
0:08:36 at homorescius as i say or
0:08:37 consubstantial that's
0:08:39 another term from latin
0:08:42 meaning of the same substance um so this
0:08:46 creed was
0:08:47 uh declared to be binding on all
0:08:49 christians
0:08:51 and we still have it recited today as i
0:08:53 say now there are a couple of
0:08:55 misconceptions
0:08:56 um which have become quite popular in
0:08:59 recent years one is that
0:09:01 somehow the idea that the bible the
0:09:03 biblical canon the gospels
0:09:05 were somehow decided which gospels would
0:09:08 become part of the new testament of that
0:09:10 time and which were
0:09:11 rejected this is complete border dash
0:09:14 there's no evidence in history
0:09:15 for that um the main source of the idea
0:09:19 that the canon i the list of books to go
0:09:22 into the bible was created at the
0:09:24 council and i say it seems to be
0:09:25 voltaire who's a
0:09:26 18th century french guy he popularized
0:09:28 the story
0:09:30 um so that that is um a falsehood
0:09:33 that's a an urban myth call it that the
0:09:36 other
0:09:36 uh misconception um perhaps more serious
0:09:39 is the idea that the council
0:09:42 created the doctrine of the trinity or
0:09:44 discussed the trinity
0:09:46 um the council had nothing to do with
0:09:48 the trinity as i say it was to deal with
0:09:49 the issue of the deity of christ
0:09:53 questions of the holy spirit um
0:09:56 this is the third so-called third person
0:09:58 of trinity that was not
0:09:59 that was left until another year
0:10:03 in fact um that was discussed really in
0:10:05 the fourth century
0:10:07 at the council of constantinople one of
0:10:09 the other councils
0:10:10 that i hopefully god willing will be
0:10:13 addressing
0:10:14 in another video so um
0:10:17 that in summary is a very brief uh
0:10:20 synopsis of
0:10:21 what happened at the council it's the
0:10:23 most important christian council in
0:10:25 history uh still uh influencing
0:10:28 christians today what might one say
0:10:31 about it in view of the bible
0:10:33 and the historical jesus well that's
0:10:36 where it gets a bit
0:10:37 awkward because just to give you just
0:10:40 a couple of examples in the earliest
0:10:42 gospel gospel of mark
0:10:44 in the new testament um there's a story
0:10:47 in chapter 10
0:10:48 uh verse 17 onwards where uh i don't
0:10:51 know this is a true story but this is
0:10:52 what the gospel says
0:10:54 he says a man a rich man young man came
0:10:56 to jesus and said good teacher
0:10:58 what must i do to inherit eternal life
0:11:01 jesus said why do you call me good
0:11:05 there is no one good but god alone
0:11:09 now this verse is usually understood to
0:11:11 mean that jesus was denying that he was
0:11:12 god
0:11:14 there's another verse in the bible um
0:11:16 where jesus
0:11:17 says um again historicity is debated but
0:11:20 anyway it's there in the bible
0:11:22 the father is greater than i the father
0:11:25 is greater than i
0:11:26 so obviously he both can't be god if one
0:11:29 of the
0:11:29 persons of the godhead is greater than
0:11:31 the other god is god after all
0:11:33 so that's a bit of an odd thing to have
0:11:36 in your bible if you believe in what
0:11:38 nicaea
0:11:39 determined and another verse in john's
0:11:42 gospel
0:11:42 um in chapter 17 verse 3 and i'll just
0:11:44 read it to you this is
0:11:46 where jesus prays for his disciples and
0:11:48 he is said
0:11:49 and this is eternal life so this really
0:11:52 matters
0:11:53 that they may know you the only true god
0:11:56 and jesus christ whom you have sent so
0:11:59 this is jesus praying
0:12:01 this is eternal life that they may know
0:12:03 you
0:12:04 god the only true god and
0:12:07 jesus christ whom you have sent so
0:12:10 clearly
0:12:11 god and jesus are two separate beings
0:12:14 jesus is not god he's praying to god
0:12:16 and he refers to the father only as
0:12:19 the true god so that verse sits very
0:12:23 uncomfortably
0:12:24 to put it mildly with the counts of
0:12:26 nicer's insistence that
0:12:28 jesus as well is god and indeed there
0:12:31 are countless verses
0:12:33 in the new testament even in the
0:12:35 christian new testament
0:12:36 which suggests that jesus is not god
0:12:38 jesus doesn't know the day to the end he
0:12:40 gets tired
0:12:41 he is not omniscient he dies on a cross
0:12:44 god doesn't die according to the bible
0:12:46 according to the crown god is eternal
0:12:47 he's immortal
0:12:48 how can an immortal eternal god
0:12:52 die and so on and so on and so on so
0:12:55 um this this is a a an issue which will
0:12:59 haunt christians as people look in the
0:13:01 bible and say hey
0:13:02 your bible doesn't quite match up with
0:13:04 the beliefs of nicaea
0:13:06 now in terms of recommended reading
0:13:08 there are several books i would
0:13:09 recommend if you really want to go into
0:13:10 this now
0:13:11 it's a great it's a great story uh this
0:13:13 one i recommend
0:13:14 a lot it's called when jesus became god
0:13:16 the struggle to define
0:13:18 christianity during the last days of
0:13:20 rome by richard
0:13:21 rubinstein he's an american academic and
0:13:23 there's a very
0:13:24 readable story there of the council
0:13:26 itself how it came to be
0:13:29 what happened the debate the arguments
0:13:31 what happened to the people who lost the
0:13:32 vote and were persecuted
0:13:35 this book um early christian doctrines
0:13:38 by jnd kelly
0:13:40 when i was at university studying this
0:13:42 very council which i did
0:13:44 some research on this was one of the
0:13:46 main
0:13:47 books that was on the bibliography and i
0:13:49 i i've always treasured this jd kelly
0:13:52 was a
0:13:52 an anglican historian theologian and
0:13:55 this is the
0:13:55 the go-to reference work if you want to
0:13:58 really get into the history the theology
0:14:00 of this academically
0:14:02 he also wrote this book um which
0:14:05 is called the early christian creeds by
0:14:07 jnd kelly
0:14:09 the one on christian doctrines is i
0:14:10 think the the better one
0:14:13 so that is it for now next time god
0:14:16 willing i will address the next council
0:14:18 why it was convened uh why it's
0:14:21 important and some of the criticisms
0:14:23 one might make of it from a monotheist
0:14:26 unitarian
0:14:27 muslim perspective um in the light of
0:14:30 and also in the light of what we know
0:14:31 from biblical studies as well
0:14:33 so i hope that it is of some interest
0:14:36 see you next time