Institute for Pastoral Initiatives News

By Prof. Dennis Doyle

Well, it’s about time.

I’m not suggesting that we’ve all been waiting with bated breath for the 1700^th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea (May 325 CE) to finally arrive. Probably very few of us Christians, even Christian historians, have been thinking about it all that much ... let alone eagerly anticipating it.

What I am saying, rather, is that the most well-known teaching of the Council of Nicaea ... that Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, is consubstantial with the Father ... is about time. Of course, it is also about other important things, such as the nature of Christ and the relationship between Christ and the Father. In a very deep way, however, it is about time.

Was there a time when He was not? This was a key question addressed by the Council. If there was a time when He was not, then He would not be eternal. Rather, He would have been created at some moment in time. If He had been created at some moment in time, and not eternal, He could not be fully divine. The position of Arius, which would be rejected by the Council, was that Jesus Christ was a divine-like creature, very much like God, but not exactly the same as God. He was a creature, made at the very beginning of time, but not eternal in the way that God is. For Arius, then, Christ is neither fully divine nor fully human, but rather a third thing, almost, but not quite, as high as God.

Drawing upon the alternative teaching of Athanasius, the Council of Nicaea taught that “we believe ... in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God ... God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father, through whom all things came to be. ...”   These words would later be incorporated into what is commonly called the Nicene Creed, which, however, was actually issued by the Council of Chalcedon 126 years later in 451 CE.

So, the Council of Nicaea taught that there was never a time when He was not. Jesus Christ is fully divine, therefore eternal. The Council of Chalcedon, relying upon theologians following Athanasius known as the Cappadocian Fathers, would add that He is both fully divine and fully human, as well as, that there are three Persons in one God.

Without these teachings, the Christian story and the meaning of Christian discipleship would be quite different. There would be no concept of an incarnation, or of the Trinity. The Christian story is that God became a human being. He lived, taught among us, and died to save us. Christians follow Christ by seeking the will of the Father and listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. To follow Christ is to follow God. To listen to the Spirit is to listen to God. Although we are creatures made in time, through Christ we are given a share in eternal life, the very life of God.

The New Testament contains significant testimony to the divinity of Christ expressed in trinitarian language and concepts. It took centuries, however, for these expressions of faith experience to be formulated as clearly taught doctrines. So I guess we can all say that it was about time ...

... and also about eternity.

Here at the Institute for Pastoral Initiatives (IPI), we love to foster conversations such as this, as it relates to our objectives of faith formation and service to the Church. So we thank our friend Dennis Doyle, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Religious Studies, for contributing this thoughtful reflection. 

If you're interested in more faith-filled dialogue and e-learning with a diverse community of like-minded individuals from all around the world, feel free to visit the Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation, the IPI's main hub for online Catholic faith development, or peruse UD's Department of Religious Education to see if a graduate or undergraduate program is the right fit for you.