It was entirely revealing to me that the criteria of Christ’s deity and biblical Christology are articulated in the Nicene Creed of 325 A.D. Here we have an extra-biblical document that supports the doctrine of Christ’s deity before sola scriptura as framed by Martin Luther (1483-1546). Even while the creed was updated and made more explicit in defense of the Arian controversy, it was highly influenced by “Rule of Faith” teaching and experiences within the early Church. It was the foundation of all seven ecumenical councils while canonical formations ran concurrently.
Among other attempts to determine what’s authoritative, Athanasius comes along decades later (after Nicea) and works within the church body to form the canon of Scripture. Where an assembled 66-books set a standard for faith and practice. Over 1,000 years later, the Reformation arrives at the five Solas to assert the biblical grounding for Christological belief to become more distant from apostolic oral tradition, historical practice, creedal statements,1 and early Christian Hymns.2 Supposed errors in belief from first and second-century “Rule of Faith” approaches to the development of doctrine became an impetus toward the later hardening of Christology and the deity of Jesus.
Nicene Creed (325 A.D.)
This council occurred before the formation of the canon of Scripture as the final recognized closed canon at the Third Synod of Carthage as shepherded by Athanasius. It was then and from there twenty-seven books of the New Testament were formed, recognized, and accepted. From the Synod of Carthage, the canon of Athanasius was locked in place AFTER THE NICENE CREED was formed. Prior to that, the OT was already settled as the 22 books within the closed canon to eventually constitute a single OT and NT codex.
HANDS: Five Criteria of Deity1
Honors: Jesus shares the honors due to God.
Attributes: Jesus shares the attributes of God.
Names: Jesus shares the names of God.
Deeds: Jesus shares in the deeds that God does.
Seat: Jesus shares the seat of God’s throne.
Nicene Creed Excerpt (to retroactively validate the deity of Christ according to Bowman):
We believe … in one Lord Jesus Christ [honors], the only Son of God, eternally [attributes] begotten of the Father; God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God [names]; begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father [attributes].
Through him all things were made [deeds].
For us and for our salvation [deeds] he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the virgin Mary, and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father [seat]. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead [deeds], and his kingdom will have no end [seat].
I have much more work ahead to understand what occurred from the patristics to include Clement, Athanasius, the Didache, those who attended Nicea, Constantinople, and various others. I have the 22-volume Ante and Post-Nicene library of writings.
Proclamations, and doctrines of the reformation are foundational, but I think I’m going to check myself. —You know, trust but verify.— If I find out from the patristics that doctrinal truths are not as though they’re asserted, due to modernist or post-modern perspectives (to include the Reformers), I’m going to have questions and objections.
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1 Robert M. Bowman Jr. and J. Ed Komoszewski, Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2007), 276.
2 Daniel Liderbach, Christ in the Early Christian Hymns (New York; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1998), 37.
