What we have put as the subtitle of this section of our pamphlet was a matter of the most utmost concern in the early history of the church. It is sad how these heresies of ancient times seem to continue more or less to these present times.
Arius, a presbyter of Alexandria, died in 336. He taught that our Lord existed before His incarnation, but was created of God, the highest of His creatures, empowered to create all else; and, that as the highest and most ancient of God's creatures, He is to be worshipped, but not in full measure as applied to God, the supreme Creator. This perversion of truth obtains more or less with Millennial Dawnists and its offshoot, Jehovah's Witnesses.
However, in the mercy of God, there was raised up a mighty defender of the faith in the person of Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria (326). He suffered greatly in his defense of the truth, for he was exiled several times. He died in 373.
The controversy raged for years round the meaning of two Greek words, differing only by a single letter, yet that small difference in the lettering of the two words revealed that which was of vital importance in regard to the Christian faith. One word as applied to our Lord stood for the truth, a matter of supreme importance. The other word as applied to our Lord contained blasphemous error, undermining the very foundations of the Christian faith, striking a fatal blow wherever it obtained a foothold.
These two Greek words, homoiousian and homoousian, were used in this controversy in relation to the Person of our Lord. The former stood for SIMILAR in Substance with the Father; the latter for SAMENESS of Substance with the Father, thus claiming full equality of the Son
with the Father. Similar stands for two things not the same, however close the similarity may be. Sameness means identity of Substance; mark well that word identity.
In the Bampton Lectures at Oxford in 1866, the late Canon Liddon, the Lecturer, said:
" Ascribe to the Christ of Arius an antiquity as remote as you will from the age of the Incarnation, place him at a height as high as any you can conceive, above the highest archangel; still what, after all, is this ancient, this super-angelic being, but a creature who had a beginning, and who, if the Author of his existence should so will, may yet cease to be? Such a being, however exalted, is parted from the Divine Essence by a FATHOMLESS CHASM; whereas the Christ of Christendom is internal to that Essence: He is of one Substance with the Father; and in this sense, as distinct from any other, He is properly and literally Divine." (P. 32). Deny that the Lord was of the same Substance as the Father, and you have completely shattered and destroyed the Christian Faith.
Our Lord Himself testified, " I and My Father are One." (John 10: 30). The creed that evolved from all this controversy, as far as it goes, is something we may be deeply thankful for. It was indeed a very great deliverance that was given to the church at that time, the benefits of which we are reaping today. "I believe in One Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God, Begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, Begotten not made, Being of ONE SUBSTANCE WITH the Father; by Whom all things were made, Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made Man."
The Arian heresy raged for many years. The Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great, presided at the First General Council at Nicaea, a city of Bithynia, Asia, when no fewer than 318 bishops were assembled. It was held from June 15th to August 25th, 325. It condemned the Arian heresy,. though alas! its evil teaching obtains a measure of currency to this present day.
We do well to learn a solemn lesson in drawing attention to this sad attack upon the Person of our adorable Lord, that we may be strengthened resolutely to stand by the truth of our Lord's Person as revealed in Holy Scripture, as being of the same Substance as the Father and Holy Spirit—one God.