1 John 2:22-28; Ps 97; John 1:19-25
We believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, that he is without sin, and that he ascended into heaven, and will come again. We believe that Jesus taught Godâs word with great prophetic authority, that he proclaimed the Gospel and performed miracles. These are the essential facts of the Jesusâ life. And it might surprise us to learn that all these things are also stated in the Qurâan, and so, believed by Muslims. But what the Qurâan also says is that Jesusâ virgin birth, although miraculous, was like that of Adam and Eve â an act of Godâs creative power. So, Jesus was, ultimately, created by God.Â
My purpose in drawing our attention to this is to make the early Christian heresy of Arianism more accessible today. Because in the distant fourth century a good number of people, including the Emperor Valens and his court in Constantinople, believed in Jesus, his miraculous virgin birth and his miracles and his works. They believed, too, in his pre-eminence and a kind of participation in Godâs divinity. But ultimately, like the Muslims of today, Jesus was created by an act of Godâs creative power; willed into being by God, and so, ultimately, a creature. As one of the Arian sayings put it: âThere was a then when he [the Logos] did not existâ. Although the Arians (rather inconsistently) worshipped Jesus and prayed to him, they were firm in holding that Jesus was definitely not of the same substance âousiaâ, as God the Father because God was One, Alone and Eternal. Such strict Arian monotheism, as I have suggested, continues to hold sway today, and this is understandable. Â
But Christian orthodoxy struggled with what Jesus had revealed about himself and about God, who are so united, somehow, that St John can write: âNo one who denies the Son has the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father alsoâ. As such, God is essentially relational: eternally Father who generates the Son from eternity. Todayâs two saints, two Doctors of the Church were among a group of three bishop-theologians of the 4th-century from Cappadocia â a part of eastern Turkey; firm friends who strived to enunciate this true Faith, namely, that Jesus Christ is true God from true God, of one substance (homoousios) with God the Father.Â
This formula, homoousios was translated into the Creed in Latin as consubstantialem, and it is now rendered in English as âconsubstantialâ. This theological coinage was strange then, even as it is strange to us now in the new translation of the Missal, but it is an important theological term, fought over by saints such as Basil and Gregory. Why? Because it tries to counteract any notion of Jesusâ being other than God, subordinate to God, or created and not eternal. The Cappadocian saints went on to say the same of the Holy Spirit, that he, too, is consubstantial with the Father. Thus, they advanced our knowledge, if not our understanding, as such, of the mystery of God the Holy Trinity.Â
But why is it so crucial that Jesus be âtrue God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Fatherâ? For the same reason that we celebrate Christmas, namely, for the sake of our salvation. Because only one who is truly divine, who is true God, can redeem humanity from sin by freely dying for our sins on the Cross. Only one who is truly God, then, can make us, human beings, partakers in his divinity, and so, have eternal life. As St John affirms: âThis is what he has promised us, eternal lifeâ. If Jesus was not God, he could not promise us this.Â
Interestingly, the Quâran understands this correlation between Christâs divinity, the Cross, and our salvation through them. Hence, it affirms that Christ is just a creature, and as such, there is no need for the Crucifixion, which it denies, and therefore, salvation does not come through Christ. For, quite rightly, if Christ were not true God, then to worship him would be not just foolish Arian inconsistency â it would be idolatry.Â
