Answers for a Friend – Arius
November 17, 2002
Dear Friends,
The next question posed to me from my friend was as follows: Do you consider Arius to be a ‘Christadelphian’?
For those of you who are not familiar with Arius, let me give you a very brief history lesson. During the early years of the third century, the burning controversy of the day was how many Gods are there. There were two primary camps (although anyone who knows anything about schisms knows that it is never really that simple). One camp became identified with a man named Athanasius who taught the doctrine of the Trinity; namely that there are three Gods – God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit – in One God. The other group became associated with another man named Arius who taught that there was only one God, the Father, and Jesus was His son. Some may be surprised to discover that, along with Arius, the majority of Christians still believed in one God at the beginning of the third century.
In the book, When Jesus Became God, by Richard Rubenstein, the author summarizes Arius’ beliefs concerning God and Jesus thusly: “Arius did preach that ‘Before Christ, God was not yet a Father,’ and ‘There was when he [Jesus] was not eternal, like God.’ Rather than asserting that Jesus was divine by nature, Arius emphasized that he had earned his ‘adoption’ as Son and his ‘promotion’ to divine status through moral growth and obedience God. The priest did accept the idea, current throughout the East, that Christ was ‘preexistent’ — that God had conceived him before time began and used him to create the Universe. But it was not clear whether Arius believed this literally, or whether he meant that God merely had foreseen Jesus’ coming before his birth to Mary.” If Arius believed the “preexistence” of Christ to be, as the author states “that God merely had foreseen Jesus’ coming”, then, as stated here, the view is similar, if not identical, to the current position held by Christadelphians. Yet, this does not answer the question.
Was Arius a “christadelphian” (an intentional change in capitalization based on last week’s comments)? I do not know. There are more than doctrinal considerations at stake here. One can have a proper understanding one doctrine and have major problems when it comes to other doctrines, attitude and walk. We need look no further than the Pharisees for evidence of this.
Concerning proper walk, you will find if you study the strange case of Arius and Athanasius that the ecclesia had degraded to the point that followers of both men were ruthless in their pursuit of their doctrinal stance up to and including slander, mob violence, political backbiting and murder. These are not qualities that I would consider to be indicative of a true believer in the Gospel. The Scripture judges these men, not I. Concerning “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, drug use in connection with the occult, hatred, contentions, jealousies, wrath, strife, seditions, strong opinions which lead to divisions, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Could it be clearer? I am not aware of the historical record attributing any of these sins to Arius himself, only his followers (while history records “Saint” Athanasius guilty of many atrocities.)
I would suggest (and I think that ecclesiastical history supports me) is that the ecclesia had degraded so far at this point that the remnant at this point in time becomes very hard to identify in number. The ecclesia was about to complete a process which it had begun years earlier and merge completely with Roman paganism. Will Durant, the noted historian, puts it like this: “Christianity did not destroy paganism; it adopted it. The Greek mind, dying, came to a transmigrated life in the theology and liturgy of the Church; the Greek language, having reigned for centuries over philosophy, became the vehicle of Christian literature and ritual; the Greek mysteries passed down into the impressive mystery of the Mass. Other pagan cultures contributed to the syncretist result. From Egypt came the ideas of a divine trinity… Christianity was the last great creation of the ancient pagan world.” (Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, pg. 595)
Have a great week!
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