Why is Jesus called the “Word of God?”

Summary

God exists beyond the time, space, and matter of the creation. For that reason, He cannot be seen and always interacts with the creation through His Son. Through Him, God created all things, redeems sinners, resurrects believers, judges the world, and fulfills His promises. Through His Son, God reveals Himself, speaks to His creation, and rules the universe.

The WordThrough Him, God provides everything that the creation needs and, through Christ, the adoration and thanksgiving of the creation flow back to God. Jesus Christ is โ€œthe Word of Godโ€ because He alone is the communication between God and His creation.

– END OF SUMMARY –

 

Introduction

Jesus Christ is not just โ€œthe Word:โ€ He is โ€œthe Word of God.โ€

God exists beyond the time, space, and matter of creation. For that reason, He cannot be seen. Most certainly, He is able to cause an appearance of Himself to be visible to His creatures, but it remains only an appearance. God is omnipresent and can never be limited to one place in His universe. For example:

Jesus Christ โ€œis the image ofย the invisible Godโ€ (Col 1:15).

โ€œThe King eternal, immortal,ย invisible, the only Godโ€ (1 Tim 1:17);

โ€œNo one has seen Godย at any timeโ€ (1 John 4:12)

โ€œThe King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whomย no man has seen or can seeโ€ (1 Tim 6:15-16);

Therefore, in all respects, God interacts with His creation ONLY through His only begotten Son:

God created all things through Jesus Christ:

โ€œAll things came into being through Himโ€
(John 1:2-3; cf. 1:10)

โ€œThere is but one God, the Father,
from whom are all things
and we exist for Him;
and one Lord, Jesus Christ,
by whom are all things,
and we existย through Himโ€ (1 Cor 8:6).

โ€œBy (Gr. en = in) Him all things were created,
both in (Gr. en = in) the heavens and on earth โ€ฆ
all things have been createdย through Himโ€ (Col 1:16).

โ€œGod โ€ฆ in these last days has spoken to us in His Son โ€ฆ
through whomย also He made the worldโ€
(Heb 1:1-2; cf. 2:10).

God saves through Jesus Christ:

โ€œGod did … send the Son into the world … that the world might be saved through Himโ€ (John 3:16)

โ€œHe (Jesus) is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sinsโ€ (Acts 5:31).

โ€œGod has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesusโ€ (Acts 13:23).

โ€œAll have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
being justified asย a gift by
His grace through … Christ Jesusโ€ (Rom 3:23-24).

โ€œWhat the Law could not do … God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sinโ€ (Rom 8:3).

โ€œGod …ย gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christโ€ (1 Cor 15:57).

โ€œGod … reconciled us to Himself through Christโ€ (2 Cor 5:18).

โ€œThe God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ …
has blessed us with every spiritual blessing … in Christ,
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world โ€ฆ He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christโ€ (Eph 1:3-5).

โ€œIt was the Fatherโ€™s good pleasure …
through Him to reconcile all things to Himselfโ€
(Col 1:19-20).

โ€œGod has … destined us … for obtaining salvation
through our Lord Jesus Christโ€ (1 Thess 5:9).

โ€œThe God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ โ€ฆ
has caused us to be born again โ€ฆ
through the resurrection of Jesus Christโ€ (1 Peter 1:3).

โ€œGod has sent His only begotten Son into the world
so that we might live through Himโ€ (1 John 4:9).

God did miracles through Jesus Christ:

Jesus walks on waterโ€œJesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs whichย God performed through Himย in your midstโ€ (Acts 2:22).

God resurrects believers through Jesus Christ:

โ€œAn hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even soย He gave to the Son also to have life in Himselfโ€ (John 5:25-26).

God will judge through Jesus Christ:

โ€œGod โ€ฆ will judge the world … through a Man whom He has appointedโ€ (Acts 17:30-31).

โ€œHe gave Him authority to execute judgment,
because He is the Son of Manโ€ (John 5:27).

โ€œGod will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesusโ€ (Rom 2:16).

We glorify God through Jesus Christ:

โ€œI thank my Godย through Jesus Christย for you allโ€ (Rom 1:8).

โ€œThanks be to Godย through Jesus Christ our Lordโ€ (Rom 7:25).

โ€œTo the only wise God,ย through Jesus Christ,
be the glory foreverโ€ (Rom 16:27).

โ€œDo all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Himย to God the Fatherโ€ (Col 3:17).

โ€œIn all things God may be glorifiedย through Jesus Christโ€ (1 Peter 4:11).

โ€œTo the only God our Savior,ย through Jesus Christ our Lord, be gloryโ€ (Jude 1:25).

“Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:11).

God fulfills His promises through Jesus Christ:

โ€œFor as many as are the promises of God,
in Him (the Son of God, Christ Jesus) they are yesโ€
(2 Cor 1:19-20).

Through Christ, we trust God:

โ€œSuch confidence we have through Christ toward Godโ€ (2 Cor 3:4).

God sends the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ:

โ€œThe Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly
through Jesus Christ our Saviorโ€ (Titus 3:4-6).

โ€œHaving received from the Fatherย the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hearโ€ (Acts 2:33).

We draw near to God through Christ:

โ€œJesus โ€ฆ is able also to save forever those who draw near to Godย through Himโ€ (Heb 7:24-25).

โ€œYou also โ€ฆ are being built up โ€ฆ to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to Godย through Jesus Christโ€ (1 Peter 2:5).

God is revealed through Jesus Christ:

โ€œHe who has seen Me has seen the Fatherโ€ (John 14:9).

โ€œHe is the image of the invisible Godโ€ (Col 1:15).

โ€œHe is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His natureโ€ (Heb 1:3).

God speaks through Jesus Christ:

โ€œI did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speakโ€ (John 12:49).

โ€œGod … in these last daysย has spoken to us in His Sonโ€ (Heb 1:2).

โ€œThe Revelation of Jesus Christ,ย which God gave Himย to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take placeโ€ (Rev 1:1).

God rules the universe through Jesus Christ:

โ€œThe God of our Lord Jesus Christ โ€ฆ raised Him from the dead andย seated Him at His right handย in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominionโ€ (Eph 1:17-21).

โ€œGod highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOWโ€ (Phil 2:9-10).

Conclusion

God always interacts with the creation through Jesus Christ. Through Christ, God provides everything that the creation needs and, through Christ, the adoration and thanksgiving of the creation flow back to God. This is the true circle of life. Jesus Christ is โ€œthe Word of Godโ€ because He alone is the communication between God and His creation:

โ€œThere is one God,
and one mediator also between God and men,
the man Christ Jesusโ€ (1 Tim 2:5).

Is Jesus God?

There are many texts that identify โ€œGodโ€ as our Savior (e.g., 1 Tim 2:3; 4:10; Titus 1:3). But there are also many texts that identify Jesus Christ as Savior (e.g., Eph 5:23; Phil 3:20; 2 Tim 1:20). This is one argument that Trinitarians use to say that Jesus is God. But when you look at verses that differentiate between the roles of God and of Jesus Christ in salvation, it is clear that Jesus Christ is the Means through which God saves as shown by many texts quoted above.

This same principle applies to creation. The Bible identifies both the Father and the Son as Creators but if one considers texts that differentiate between the roles of God and of Jesus Christ in creation, it is clear that Jesus Christ is the Means through whom God creates.

In other words, the Son is always presented as subordinate to the Father. In fact, while the Trinity doctrine teaches that Jesus is God and that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one single Being, the verses quoted above maintain a clear distinction between God and Jesus Christ. This the New Testament always does. See, Head of Christ.

I wonder why people are able to read the New Testament and come to a different conclusion. One reason is that the church has been brainwashed. Another is the extreme hostility that Christians experience when they reject the Trinity doctrine. They are often regarded as condemned. But I think another reason is simply that people are unable to conceptualize a being that is not God but is as exalted and as divine as Jesus Christ is described. In this respect, I think that it is important that people better understand the Logos-Christology that the church adopted during the first 300 years of its existence, while it still was persecuted by the Roman Empire. I think that explains the evidence in the Bible of the relationship between God and His Son better than what the Trinity doctrine does. For a discussion of Logos-Christology, see Hanson or The Real Issue.ย 


Other Articles

What did Fourth Century Arianism believe?

Summary of this article

In the first three centuries after Christ, the Roman Empire persecuted the church. In the fourth century, the church was first legalized (AD 313) and later became the official religion of the Roman Empire (AD 380). During that period, a controversy raged in the church with respect to the nature of Christ. The emperors could not allow disunity in the church because a split in the church could split the entire empire. The emperors, therefore, forced the church to formulate creeds, and, true to the nature of the empire, banish church leaders who were not willing to accept the creeds.

Arianism was named after Arius.

We are not sure what Arius taught, for his books were destroyed after Nicaea, and we cannot trust what his opponents wrote about him. For example, Athanasius claimed that Arius said that โ€œthere was a time when the Son was not,” but below we quote Arius saying that the Son existed โ€œbefore time.โ€ย 

‘Arianism’ dominated the church for 50 years.

Many erroneously understand the Nicene Creed of 325 to say that the Son is equal to the Father but, after 325, the consensus in the church was that the Son is subordinate to the Father. What the church believed at the time was different from what Arius believed, but it is practice today to describe anything that is not perfectly consistent with the Trinity doctrine as Arianism. Therefore, since, in the Trinity doctrine, the Son is co-equal to the Father, it is common for people to the refer to the belief in the fourth century, that the Son is subordinate to the Father, as Arianism.

This ‘Arianism’ remained the dominant view in the church for the next 50 years. During those fifty years, this ‘Arianism’ evolved and divided into a number of branches. It is, therefore, important to understand what the church believed after the intense debates of those years.

God and theos

Today, we use the modern word โ€œGodโ€ as the proper name of the One who exists without a cause. The ancient Greek word, in the Bible and other ancient documents, such as the Nicene Creed, that is translated as “God” is theos. But theos is the common name for the Greek gods and means “god” in Eglish. When it refers to the One who exists without a cause, it is correctly translated as โ€œGod.โ€ย In instances where theos refers to Jesus, it can be translated as โ€œGodโ€ only if one assumes the Trinity doctrine. In Arianism, in which only the Father is the One who exists without a cause, theos, when it describes Jesus, or to any being other than the Father, must be translated as โ€œgod.โ€ See the article – theosย – for a further discussion.

What the Arian church believed

In Arianism:

The Father is the โ€œonly one God.โ€ In contrast to the Son who is the “begotten,” the Father is “the unbegotten,” which means that He exists without a cause and, therefore, is the ultimate Cause of all else.ย 

The Son is our god, but the Father is His god. God created all things through the Son. Since the Son was โ€œbegottenโ€ by the Father, which is understood to mean that He was born of the Being of the Father, He was not created but, nevertheless, subordinate to the Father.

The Holy Spirit is not a Person, but as a power; subject to the Son.

– END OF SUMMARY –ย 

Purpose of this article

The Metamorphosis of the Church

The fourth century was a remarkable period in which the church changed from being PERSECUTED to being the OFFICIAL STATE RELIGION of the Roman Empire. For all practical purposes, the church became part of the state and, as will be explained, the emperor became the head of the church. Adopting the character of the empire, the church changed from being persecuted to persecuting church leaders who do not accept the official church decrees.

Arian Controversy

Emperor Constantine standing before the bishops

In that fourth century, a huge controversy raged with respect to the NATURE OF CHRIST. The Nicene Creedโ€”formulated in the year 325 at the city of Nicaeaโ€”described the Son as “true theos from true theos” and as of the “same substance” as the Father. Many today interpret these phrases as that the Son is EQUAL to the Father. The article on the Nicene Creed shows that this interpretation is wrong and that that Creed described the Son as subordinate to the Father.

After the creed was formulated in the year 325, for the next 50 years, the church was dominated by teachings in which the Son is SUBORDINATE to the Father. This Arian period was brought abruptly to an end when Theodosius became emperor in the year 380. He was an ardent supporter of Nicene Christology and, on ascending the throne, IMMEDIATELY declared Arianism to be illegal and Nicene Christology to be THE ONLY religion of the empire. He then replaced the Arian church leadership with Nicene leaders.

Purpose of this article

The purpose of this article is to analyze what Arianism believed in the fourth century. Some of the historical facts mentioned in this article are described in more detail in other articles.

Conflicting evidence in the Bible

To understand the war between Nicene Christology and Arianism, we must appreciate the seemingly conflicting evidence in the Bible about the nature of Christ. Many Bible statements describe Him as equal with the Father, but many others imply that He is subordinate to God, for example:

EQUAL SUBORDINATE
He โ€œupholds all things by the word of His powerโ€ (Heb 1:3) has โ€œlife in Himselfโ€ (John 5:26) sent the Holy Spirit to His disciples (Luke 24:49), is โ€œthe first and the lastโ€ (Rev 1:17) and owns everything which the Father has (Matt 11:27). โ€œAll things have been created through Himโ€ (Col 1:16) and โ€œall will honor the Son even as they honor the Fatherโ€ (John 5:23). In Him, all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form (Col 2:9). โ€œAt the name of Jesus, every knee will bowโ€ (Phil 2:10). Only He knows the Father. (Matt 11:27) Only the Father knows the โ€œday and hourโ€ of His return (Matt 24:26). Everything which the Son has, He received from the Father, including to have โ€œlife in Himselfโ€ (John 5:22, 26). The Father sent Him and told Him what to say and do (John 7:16). The NT consistently makes a distinction between Jesus and God (e.g., Philemon 1:3). For example, Jesus is today at the right hand of God. The โ€œone Godโ€ and โ€œthe only true Godโ€ is always the Father (1 Cor 8:6; 1 Tim 2:5; Eph 4:4-6; John 17:3). The Father is His God and He prayed to the Father. (Rev 3:12; John 17; Acts 7:56).

What Arius believed about Christ

Arius

The words Arian and Arianism are derived from the name of Arius (c. 250โ€“336); a church leader who had significant influence at the beginning of the fourth century. His teachings initiated the Arian controversy and Emperor Constantine called the council at Nicaea specifically to denounce His teachings.ย 

We are not sure what Arius taught.ย After Nicaea in 325, the emperor gave orders that all of Ariusโ€™ books be destroyed and that all people who hide Ariusโ€™ writings, be killed. Very little of Ariusโ€™ writings survived, and much of what did survive are quotations selected for polemical purposes in the writings of his opponents. Reconstructing WHAT Arius actually taught, andโ€”even more importantโ€”WHY, is, therefore, a formidable task. There is no certainty about the extent to which his teachings continued those of church fathers in previous centuries.

Letter to Eusebius

We have a brief statement of what Arius believed in a letter to the Arian archbishop of Constantinople; Eusebius of Nicomedia (died 341). He wrote as follows:

We say and believe โ€ฆ
that the Son is not unbegotten,
nor in any way part of the unbegotten;
and that he does not derive his subsistence from any matter;
but that by his own will and counsel
he has subsisted (existed) before time
and before ages as perfect as God,
only begotten and unchangeable,
and that before he was begotten, or created, or purposed, or established, he was not.
For he was not unbegotten.
We are persecuted because we say
that the Son has a beginning
but that God is without beginning.

(Theodoret: Arius’s Letter to Eusebius of Nicomedia, translated in Peters’ Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe, p. 41)

Brief reflections on Arius’ view

The Son is not unbegotten,
nor in any way part of the unbegotten.

โ€œUnbegottenโ€ is how the ancients described the Being who exists without a cause (the Father). Since the Son is begotten, Arius argued that He is not part of that which exists without a cause. For Arius, only the Father is unbegotten.

He does not derive his subsistence from any matter.

ARIUS INTERPRETATION
NOT UNBEGOTTEN
The Son is not unbegotten, nor in any way part of the unbegotten.
โ€œUnbegottenโ€ is how the ancients described the Being who exists without a cause. Since the Son is begotten, Arius reasoned that He is not part of that which exists without a cause. For Arius, only the Father is unbegotten.ย 
ONLY BEGOTTEN
He does not derive his subsistence from any matter.
The phrase โ€œonly begottenโ€ identifies the Son as unique. There is no other like Him. โ€œBegottenโ€ indicates that His being came from the being of the Father. He was not created from other matter.
BEFORE TIME
By his own will and counsel he has subsisted before time and before age.
He existed as an independent Person with His own will; distinct from the will of God. He was begotten by God before time began.
PERFECT
as perfect as God โ€ฆ unchangeable
This shows the extremely high view which Arius had of the Son. Created beings change over time due to influences, but God and the Son are “unchangeable.”
HE WAS NOT.
Before he was begotten, or created, or purposed, or established, he was not. The Son has a beginning but God is without beginning.
Firstly, here, Arius indicates that he does not know what it means that the Son was begotten. Nevertheless, since He was is begotten, or created, or purposed, or established, He exists by the will of God (the Father) and “was not” before He was “begotten.”

Arius seems to contradict himself. Above, he wrote that the Son “subsisted before time.” But he also wrote that the Son “was not” before He was begotten and that the Son “has a beginning.” It is a pity that we do not have Arius’ book that he can explain himself. Below, I propose how these statements can be reconciled.

A time when the Son was not

In the fourth century, Athanasius was the arch-enemy of Arianism and the great advocate of the homoousian (Nicene) theology. He quoted Arius as saying:

“If the Father begat the Son,
then he who was begotten
had a beginning in existence,

and from this, it follows
there was a time when the Son was not.”

Today, this quote by Athanasius is quite famous and is still used to characterize Ariusโ€™ teaching. But Arius wrote to Eusebiusโ€”in the quote aboveโ€”that the Son existed โ€œbefore time.โ€ This seems to contradict what Athanasius wrote. We do not know whether Arius really wrote “there was a time when the Son was not” or whether this was a straw man created by Athanasius.

Today, Trinitarians regard Athanasius of Alexandria as a hero who stood for โ€˜the truthโ€™ when โ€˜the whole worldโ€™ was Arian. Athanasius is counted as one of the four great Eastern Doctors of the Church in the Catholic Church.

But in his day, he was a highly controversial character in his day. The church accused him of horrible crimes and exiled no less than five times. We are not able to judge either way today, but Athanasius was a prolific writer, and we can judge his spirit by his writings. For this purpose, listen to the following podcasts:

Assessing Athanasius and his Arguments
Athanasiusโ€™s On the Nicene Council

The Son had a beginning.

Eternal generation

In the Trinity doctrine today, the Son had no beginning but always existed with the Father. The Bible is clear that He is begotten by the Father but that is explained with the concept of eternal generation, namely that the Father always was the Father, that there never was a time that the Father was not the Father.

Arius, as quoted above, wrote that โ€œthe Son has a beginning but โ€ฆ God is without beginning.โ€ But in the same statement, he wrote that the Son existed โ€œbefore time and before ages.โ€ Did Arius contradict himself? I wish we had Ariusโ€™ book to explain his own words but would like to propose the following explanation:

God created time. God is that which exists without a cause, and time exists because God exists. God, therefore, exists outside time, cannot be defined by time and is not subject to time. We cannot say that God existed โ€˜before timeโ€™, for the word โ€œbeforeโ€ implies the existence of time, and there is no such thing as time before time. Therefore, I prefer to say that God exists โ€˜outside timeโ€™.

Since God created time, time had a beginning and is finite.

God created all things through the Son (e.g. 1 Col 8:6). Therefore, God created time through the Son. It follows that there never was a time when the Son did not exist. Arius, therefore, could validly write that the Son existed โ€œBEFORE TIME.โ€

But, there exists an infinity beyond the boundaries of time. All the power and wisdom that we see reflected in this physical universe, comes out of that incomprehensible infinity beyond time, space and matter. In that infinity beyond time, Arius wrote, โ€œTHE SON HAS A BEGINNING.โ€ But this is not a beginning in time, for there is no such thing as time in infinity.

This explains why Arius could both claim that the Son existed before time and had a beginning. If this was Arius’ thinking, he could not that written that โ€œthere was a time when the Son was not,โ€ as Athanasius claimed.

Arianism evolved after Nicaea.

Forced unity

Under the stern supervision of the emperors, who demanded unity in the church to prevent a split in the empire, the fourth-century church fathers would not allow different views about Christ to co-exist within the church. The churchโ€™s view of Christ changed from time to time, but, nevertheless, it always formulated a view of Christ and, through persecution, forced all Christians to abide by the formal church doctrine.

Numerous synods

The fifty-year Arian period after Nicaea resulted in numerous synods, including at Serdica in 343,ย Sirmium in 358 and Rimini and Seleucia in 359. The pagan observer Ammianus Marcellinus commented sarcastically: “The highways were covered with galloping bishops.”

Numerous creeds

The best-known creed today is the Nicene Creed, but no fewer than fourteen further creeds were formulated between 340 and 360, depicting the Son as subordinate on the Father, e.g. the Long Lines Creed. Historian RPC Hanson lists twelve creeds that reflect the Homoian faithโ€”one of the variants of Arianismโ€”including the creeds of Sirmian (AD 357), Nice (Constantinople – 360), Akakius (359), Ulfilas (383), Eudoxius, Auxentius of Milan (364), Germinius, Palladius’ rule of faith (1988. The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. pp. 558โ€“559).

Arianism evolved.

During the fifty years between Constantine and Theodosius, Arianism was refined and nuanced, relative to what Arius believed. Consequently, although Ariusโ€™ views are important, it is far more important to understand what version of Arianism the church adopted after Ariusโ€™ views and the Nicene Creed were intensely debated in the decades following Nicaea.

The word “GOD” is ambiguous.

Before we discuss what Ulfilas wrote, we need to explain the difference between the word โ€œGodโ€ and the words used in the New Testament:

Modern English

In modern languages, we differentiate between the words โ€œgodโ€ and โ€œGod:โ€

When we use a word as a proper name, we capitalize the first letter. The word โ€œGod,โ€ therefore, has a very specific usage: It is the PROPER NAME of one specific being; the One who exists without cause.

The word โ€œgod,โ€ on the other hand, is a general category name used for all supernatural beings. It is even for human beings with super-human qualities.

Ancient Greek

The capital โ€œG,โ€ therefore, makes a huge difference. But, when the Bible was written, and also in the fourth century, there were no capital letters. Or, more precisely, the ancients wrote only in capital letters. The distinction between upper and lower case letters did not yet exist. According to the article on the timeline of writing in Western Europe, the ancients used Greek majuscule (capital letters only) from the 9th to the 3rd century BC. In the following centuries, up until the 12th century AD, they used the uncial script, which still was only capital letters. Greek minuscule was only used in later centuries.

Te Greek word theos

Since the word โ€œGodโ€ is a name for one specific Being, the original New Testament does not contain any one word with the same meaning as โ€œGod.โ€ The New Testament writers used the word theos, which is the same word that was used for the pantheon of Greek gods. The word theos, therefore, is equivalent in meaning to our modern word โ€œgod.โ€ย  The word theos was also used for beings other than the one true God, even for โ€œthe god of this worldโ€ (2 Cor 4:4) and for human judges (John 10:35). Therefore, by describing the Father and the Son as โ€œgod,โ€ the Bible and the fourth-century writers only indicated that the Father and the Son are immortal beings; similar to the immortal Greek gods. Consequently, the word โ€œgodโ€ does not elevate the Father or the Son above the pagan gods.

The word โ€œGod,โ€ in the translations of the New Testament and other ancient Greek writings, therefore, is an INTERPRETATION. When the translator believes that theos refers to the One who exists without a cause, theos is rendered as โ€œGod.โ€ย  But when Paul wrote spoke about the theos of the pagan nations, the New Testament translates that as โ€œgod.โ€ And when it translates theos, when it refers to Jesus, as โ€œGod,โ€ it does that on the assumption of the Trinity doctrine.

True god

To indicate that the Unique Being is intended, the Bible writers added words such as โ€œonly,โ€ or โ€œtrueโ€ or โ€œoneโ€ to theos. But most often they simply added the definite article โ€œtheโ€ to theos to indicate that the God of the Bible is intended.ย 

In the Nicene Creed, both the Father and the Son are described as โ€œtrue god.โ€ The Bible never identifies the Son as โ€œtrue god.โ€ In the Bible, the โ€œtrue godโ€ is always the Father.ย  For example:

โ€œYou, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ whom You have sentโ€ (John 17:3)

โ€œYou turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God,
and to wait for His Son from heavenโ€ (I Thess 1:9-10).

โ€œSo that we may know Him who is true;
and we are in Him who is true,
in His Son Jesus Christ.
This is the true God and eternal lifeโ€ (1 John 5:20).

But then translators translate the Greek equivalent of โ€œtrue godโ€ as โ€œtrue God.โ€ Not only is this faulty translation, the word โ€œtrueโ€ in the phrase โ€œtrue Godโ€ is SUPERFLUOUS, for there is only one โ€œtrue God.โ€ย  Since โ€œGodโ€ already indicates the only true god, โ€œtrue theosโ€ should be translated either as โ€œtrue godโ€ or as โ€œGod.โ€ย 

Ulfilas’ Christology

Germanic missionary – The Goth Ulfilas (c. 311โ€“383) was ordained as bishop by the Arian Eusebius of Nicomedia and returned to his Gothic people to work as a missionary. He translated the New Testament into the Gothic language and is credited with the conversion of the Gothic peoples, which resulted in the wide-scale conversion of the Germanic peoples.ย 

Ulfilas’ Arianism – What he believed is perhaps a good reflection of the Arianism that was generally accepted in the church between Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381). He wrote:

I, Ulfila โ€ฆ believe in
only one God the Father,

the unbegotten and invisible,

and in his only-begotten Son,
our lord/master and God,
the designer and maker of all creation,
having none other like him.

Therefore, there is one God of all,
who is also God of our God;

and in one Holy Spirit,
the illuminating and sanctifying power โ€ฆ
Neither God nor lord/master,
but the faithful minister of Christ;
not equal, but subject and obedient in all things to the Son.

And I believe
the Son to be subject and obedient in all things
to God the Father

(Heather and Matthews. Goths in the Fourth Century. p. 143 –ย  Auxentius on Wulfila).

Discussion of Ulfilas’ Christology

The Father – Ultimate Cause of all else

Only one God

Ulfilas believed in โ€œonly one God,โ€ who he identified as the Father.ย  Actually, this was the standard opening phrase of all ancient creeds. The Nicene Creed also starts as follows:

โ€œWeย believe in one God,ย the Father Almighty,
Maker of all things visible and invisible
.โ€

But then it continues to perhaps contradict this opening phrase by adding that the Son is “true god from true god“.

The unbegotten

Ulfilas identified the Father as “the unbegotten.” Arius also mentioned โ€œthe unbegotten,โ€ which is that which exists without a cause. That means that the Father is the ultimate Cause of all else. ย 

Invisible

Ulfilas added that the Father is invisible. This is also stated a number of times in the New Testament (e.g. Col 1:15). Certainly, in the past, God appeared to people (theophanies), but an appearance is vastly different from God Himself. An appearance does not contain God in His fullness. It is not possible for God in His fullness to be seen, for He exists outside this visible realm.

Only-begotten Son

Ulfilas also believed in:

โ€œHis only-begotten Son,
our lord/master and God,
the designer and maker of all creation,
having none other like him
.โ€

Our God

In this translation of Ulfilasโ€™ statement, the Son is โ€œour โ€ฆ God,โ€ but this is faulty translation. It should be rendered โ€œour god,โ€ with a small “g.”ย  As explained above, the Greek of the New Testament does not have a name for the God of the Bible. It uses theos; the common word for the pagan gods but added words such as “the” or “only” or “true” to identify “the only true god” (John 17:3). To say that the Son is โ€œgodโ€ simply means that He is a immortal being, like the pagan gods. Consequently, Ulfilas followed up His description of the Son with the following explanation:

Therefore, there is one God of all,
who is also God of our God;

In this phrase, “our God” again refers to Jesus. This is similar to Hebrews 1:8-9, which also refers to Jesus as theos, but then says that the Father is His theos.

The phrases โ€œonly-begottenโ€ and โ€œnone other like himโ€ identify the Son as utterly unique.ย 

Maker of all creation

Ulfilas described Son as the โ€œdesigner and maker of all creation.โ€ If He made all things, presumably, He was not made Himself.ย ย 

Arius wrote that the Son was โ€œbegotten, or created, or purposed, or established.โ€ In other words, Arius did not make a clear distinction between begotten and created. But after Nicaea, Arianism emphasized that the phrase โ€œonly begottenโ€ means that the Son was not created. See, for example, the Long Lines Creed.

Only-Begotten

Ulfilas described the Son as the “only-begotten Son” of the “only one God the Father, the unbegotten.” The word โ€œbegotten,โ€ which means that the Father gave birth to the Son, implies that the Son came from the being or substance of the Father. “Only-begotten” means that He is the only being that ever was born of God.ย 

Because He was “begotten” of the being or substance of God, the Nicene Creed described the Son as homoousios with the Father. This word comes from homรณs (same) and ousรญa (being or essence) and means “same substance.” In Latin, it is consubstantial. In other words, the Nicene claimed that the Son is of the “same substance” as the Father.

In Arianism, this means that the Father and the Son have the “same substance,” just like we as people have the “same substance,” but remain different persons with different skills and capacities.

Trinitarian theology replaces the word “same” with “one” and understands homoousian as that the Father and Son have “one substance;” like three Persons with one body.

In his description of the Father and the Son, Ulfilas does not mention substance at all, which is a good thing, for that concept is not revealed in the Bible (Deut 29:29). It was an unfortunate addition to the Nicene Creed, probably due to the insistence of the emperor, who presided over the proceedings. (Listen to Kegan Chandler on the term โ€œhomoousios.โ€)

Subordinate

In Trinitarian theology, the Son is in all respects equal with the Father. In contrast, in Arianism, โ€œbegottenโ€ means that the Son’s existence was caused by the Father, and that He is dependent on the Father, who alone is the uncaused Cause of all things. Arianism claims that the Bible reveals Him as subordinate to the Father; both before and after His existence as a human being. See the article – Subordinate.

The Father is God of our God.

What really sets Him apart from the pagan gods is not the title โ€œgod,โ€ but that He is โ€œthe designer and maker of all creation.โ€

God, the Father – All instances of the word โ€œGodโ€ in the quote from Ulfilas should be translated โ€œgod;โ€ even when referring to the Father.ย  Ulfilas made a distinction between the Father and the Son and the pagan gods in HOW he described Him, namely as the โ€œonly one godโ€ who is โ€œgod of allโ€ and also “god of our god.”ย 

God of our God โ€“ As Ulfilas wrote, โ€œthere is one God of all, who is also GOD OF OUR GOD.โ€ย  In other words, the Father is the Sonโ€™s god.ย  The Bible similarly describes Jesus as โ€œonly-begotten god” (John 1:18) and โ€œmighty godโ€ (Isaiah 9:6); the Lord of the universe (1 Cor. 8:6), but the Father as Jesusโ€™ โ€œGodโ€ (e.g. Rev. 3:2, 12; Heb. 1:8-9; John 20:17).ย  Paul described the Father is the Head of Christ.ย 

Subordinate – Ulfilas closed by saying, โ€œI believe the Son to be subject and obedient in all things to God the Father.โ€ย 

The Holy Spirit is not a person.

Subject and obedient – Ulfilas furthermore believed “in one Holy Spirit, the illuminating and sanctifying power โ€ฆ Neither God nor lord/master, but the faithful minister of Christ; not equal, but subject and obedient in all things to the Son.” That the Holy Spirit is โ€œneither God nor lordโ€ implies that Ulfilas did not think of the Holy Spirit as a Person, but as a power, and a power that is subject and obedient in all things to the Son.

Therefore, the Son is SUBORDINATE to the Father and the Holy Spirit is SUBORDINATE to the Son.ย 

No Trinity in the first four centuries

Ulfilas did not believe is the Trinity.ย  For him:

The Father alone was God.ย 
The Holy Spirit is not a Person.
There is no mention of three Persons in one Being.

It is often said that Arians do not believe in the traditional doctrine of the Trinity, which is true.ย  However, the concept of the Trinity, as we know it today, did not yet exist in Ariusโ€™ day.ย 

First 300 years – In the first three centuries, the church fathers did not think of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as three Persons in one Being.ย  Tertullian did use the word “trinity,” but he used it to refer to a group of three distinct beings; not use in the sense of a single being.ย 

Nicene Creed – Neither does the Nicene Creed contain the Trinity concept, as a careful reading of that creed will show.ย  The purpose of that creed was to say that the Son is equal to the Father; not say that they are one Being; the same God.ย  It does say that they are homoousios (of the same substance), but that does not mean that they are one being.ย  We may argue that human beings are of the same substance, and that does not make us all one being.ย 

The Trinity doctrine was formulated later in the fourth century, perhaps by the Cappadocian Fathers, probably in response to the Arian criticism that the Nicene Creed creates the impression of two gods and can be accused of polytheism.

Three Forms of Arianism

In fact, as debates raged during the five decades after Nicaea, in an attempt to come up with a new formula, different forms of Arianism evolved. Three camps are identified by scholars among the opponents of the Nicene Creed:

Different Substance

One group, similar to Arius, maintained that the Son is of a different substance than the Father. They described the Son as unlike (anhomoios) the Father.

Similar Substance

The Homoiousios Christians (only an โ€œiโ€ added to โ€œhomoousiosโ€) accepted the equality and co-eternality of the persons of the Trinity, as per the Nicene Creed, but rejected the Nicene term homoousios. They preferred the term homoiousios (similar substance). This is very close to the different substance view of the Arians. Therefore, they were called “semi-Arians” by their opponents. (See homoousia.)

No speculation about Substance

Homoian Arianism maintained that the Bible does not reveal whether the Son is of the same substance as the Father, and we, therefore, should not speculate about such things. They avoided the word ousia (substance) altogether and described the Son as homoios = like the Father. Although they avoided invoking the name of Arius, in large part they followed Arius’ teachings. RPC Hanson (The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. pp. 557โ€“559) lists twelve creeds that reflect the Homoian faith in the years 357 to 383.

None of these groups, therefore, adopted the Trinitarian approach of “one substance.”

In the fourth century, these differences were taken quite seriously and divided the church; similar to the denominations in Christianity we know today. Depending on the interpretation supported by Emperor Constantius, for example, wavered in his support between the first and the second party, while harshly persecuting the third.

Historians, unfortunately, categorize all three positions as Arianism, but there are important differences between these views.