One Lord, Jesus Christ

When Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do you say that I am?", He was asking the single most important question that can be asked of every human. In 325 AD, that question became front and center for the early church. The core dispute at Nicaea involved the nature of Jesus Christ. If there is only one God, how could both the Father and Jesus the Son be truly divine? The group following the Biship named Arias did not believe Jesus was God in the same way and with the same substance as the Father. They believed the language about Jesus being begotten by God implied that he was the ultimate created being, but creature none the less. This group declared, "There was a time when he (Jesus) was not." The church leaders at Nicaea boldly rejected this view, affirming the deity of Jesus. God of God, light of light, very God of very God! This deity of Jesus was not a new belief invented at this gathering; rather, it was the affirmation of three centuries of Christian doctrine taught in the New Testament and affirmed by the early church. Today, the Scripture text will reveal that the fullness of God dwelt in Jesus, and that all things were created by, through, and for Him.