Today’s church desperately needs more men like Athanasius.
Athanasius served as the bishop of Alexandria during the most intense period of the Arian controversy, which denied the deity of Christ. Condemned in AD 325 by the Council of Nicaea, Arius taught that Jesus Christ was the first of God’s creation, worthy of honor, yet undeserving of the full adoration and worship to be reserved for God the Father alone.
Conversely, the Council of Nicaea proclaimed that Scripture is clear that the Son of God and the Father are homoiousios (of the same substance), sharing equally divine attributes, with one being no less God than the other.
Christ himself declared, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
As Anselm of Canterbury would echo some 700 years later, regarding Christ’ unique qualifications to serve as propitiation “for the sins of the whole world” (1 Jn. 2:2),
“For the God-Man to do this, the person who is to make this satisfaction must be both perfect God and perfect man, because none but true God can make it, and none but true man owes it.”
Refusing to change his views regarding Arius’ heresy, Athanasius was exiled five times for his defense of Nicene orthodoxy.
Sadly, today in the United States we see many once orthodox ministers and ministries caving to the current culture crush, having been taken “captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ” (Col. 2:8).
Amazingly, today, those relatively few who stand for biblical fidelity and theological orthodoxy are labeled enemies, by those who were once their allies in “contending earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3).
The statement below from Ligonier Ministries explains perfectly why the American Church should pray fervently this Christmas for more pastoral Athanasius’s while studying earnestly like congregational Bereans (Acts 17:11).
“Athanasius considered the preservation of truth in the church more important than position or power. He is an excellent model of the true servant of God—one who is absolutely committed to the teaching of Scripture, which is the very truth of our Creator.
Old heresies rarely die. Instead, they get repackaged and republished. Today, sects such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses promote views that are almost identical to the views of the ancient Arians. It is therefore incumbent upon us to know the truth of Scripture on essential matters of the faith so that we can give an answer when we see these heresies come our way.”
Please join the EA team in celebrating that, while sin decisively separated humanity from God, God himself rectified the situation through the incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection of Christ Jesus.
Merry Christmas!
