Jesus is the Great I AM
Introduction
Arius’ doctrine began from the absolute uniqueness and distinctness of God—‘one God, alone ingenerate, alone everlasting, alone unbegun, alone true, alone having immortality, alone wise, alone good, alone sovereign’. This God could not possibly have communicated his essence to any other, for that would remove the great gulf between creator and creature, and would in effect be a reversion to polytheism. But Arius’ Supreme Being was God the Father, not the triune God (see Trinity). The Son, by contrast, was a being created by the will and power of the Father. Hence he was not ‘without beginning’. (Arius took particular exception to Bishop Alexander’s assertion—‘always the Father, always the Son’.) Certainly Arius was prepared to treat the Son as a special creature in the sense that the Father created him first and for the specific function of undertaking the rest of the creation. Indeed, the Son was created precisely because the created order could not bear the immediate hand of God. Thus Christ’s major role for the Arians was as God’s servant in the work of creation and (to a lesser extent) in revelation.
THE NICENE CREED
(A.D. 325; revised at Constantinople A.D. 381)
I believe in one God the Father Almighty; Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the 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 Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried; and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spake by the Prophets. And one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
2. GOD THE SON
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.
Genesis 18:1ff.; Psalms 2:7ff.; 110:1ff.; Isaiah 7:14; 53; Matthew 1:18–23; 3:17; 8:29; 11:27; 14:33; 16:16, 27; 17:5; 27; 28:1–6, 19; Mark 1:1; 3:11; Luke 1:35; 4:41; 22:70; 24:46; John 1:1–18, 29; 10:30, 38; 11:25–27; 12:44–50; 14:7–11; 16:15–16, 28; 17:1–5, 21–22; 20:1–20, 28; Acts 1:9; 2:22–24; 7:55–56; 9:4–5, 20; Romans 1:3–4; 3:23–26; 5:6–21; 8:1–3, 34; 10:4; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2:2; 8:6; 15:1–8, 24–28; 2 Corinthians 5:19–21; 8:9; Galatians 4:4–5; Ephesians 1:20; 3:11; 4:7–10; Philippians 2:5–11; Colossians 1:13–22; 2:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:14–18; 1 Timothy 2:5–6; 3:16; Titus 2:13–14; Hebrews 1:1–3; 4:14–15; 7:14–28; 9:12–15, 24–28; 12:2; 13:8; 1 Peter 2:21–25; 3:22; 1 John 1:7–9; 3:2; 4:14–15; 5:9; 2 John 7–9; Revelation 1:13–16; 5:9–14; 12:10–11; 13:8; 19:16.