Recently, I had the beautiful yet unsettling experience of sitting in a small group where we reflected on why Jesus had to die.  To be fair, we were discussing the deepest mysteries of human history: forgiveness, the Trinity and the meaning of Jesus quoting Psalm 22:1 from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  Pretty heavy fare for a Monday night. What seemed to be at the center of our loving debate was the person of Jesus. Too often, there seemed to be an unrecognized diminishment of the divinity of Jesus. One person said, without even realizing it, “God cannot have anything to do with sin, so Jesus had to take our sins.”  

Many of you may be aware that the Church struggled to summarize the biblical message of exactly who Jesus was. The argument went like this: 

1. We cannot save ourselves from sin; only God can save,
2. But God cannot save without fully understanding our need, 
3. That requires that God become like us, so the Eternal Son became one of us in every respect (Hebrews 2:14). 
4. He bore our sins on the Cross in order to save us and to make us like Him – holy.  

The first clear agreement on these issues by the Church formed what we call the Nicene Creed, produced in the town of Nicea (modern-day Iznik in  Turkey) in 325 AD –1700 years ago this year. Here are some of its key points about our Lord Jesus Christ: 

“the Only Begotten Son of God,

 born of the Father before all ages.

 God from God, Light from Light,

 true God from true God,

 begotten, not made, 

 consubstantial (of the same essence) with the Father;

 through him all things were made.

 For us men and for our salvation

 he came down from heaven”

As I looked at my dear friends discuss forgiveness and how Jesus gave Himself sacrificially on the cross to redeem us, I thought of the hard-fought battle that gave us nearly 1700 years later the ability to explore the God-Man, Jesus. Without Nicea, we would all be Arians. Arius knew that describing Jesus as both God and Man was difficult. So, to make that easier to swallow, he added one little letter to a word, claiming that Jesus was more like God than anyone else, but … he had been created by God. Oh, it was way back in the past that He became divine, but he was not eternal like the Father. Everyone jumped on board. Arius made so much sense.

Along came a short, not-so-attractive theologian named Athanasius who said “no” to Arius’ easy theology. He wrote that Jesus was the Incarnate Son, the Eternal Word made flesh (John 1:14 ESV). Without Jesus being 100% God and 100% Man, we would not know who God is, the cross was meaningless, and there would be no salvation. Pretty important stuff. This debate was so heated that it was summarized as “Athanasius against the world” because so many other preachers and teachers had been influenced by Arius’ popular but destructive theology. 

Out of that battle, the Church formed what the Bible said about Jesus. It stated that Christians believe in: 

“One Lord Jesus Christ,

 the only-begotten Son of God,

 (eternally) begotten of the Father before all worlds,

 God from God, Light from Light,

 very God of very God,

 begotten, not made, 

 being of one (eternal) substance with the Father;

 through him all things were made.

 For us men and for our salvation

 he came down from heaven”

Every generation of Christians has been tempted with Arian simplicity, to make Jesus just a little bit less divine than the Father. We must never allow Jesus to be reduced in His glory in any way.  Getting Jesus right is a matter of life or death. The Gospel we preach is a Person – the Eternal Son who became the Son of Mary and by His self-giving has made a way for us to be daughters and sons of God.  

Questions to ponder

1. How do you personally view Jesus’ identity? What do you think it means for Jesus to be both fully God and fully man?
2. How can we, as Christians, guard against misunderstandings or “easy” versions of Jesus that leave out His full nature?