This is the second article in a three-part series marking the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. The first article explored the drama of the council itself. In this article, we turn to the Bible, showing that Nicaea and the subsequent Nicene Creed weren’t innovations but a faithful confession of what God had already revealed about his Son, particularly in Colossians.
Christ Diminished: In Colossae, Nicaea and Africa
False teaching has a common strategy: it often diminishes Christ. In Colossae, believers were pressured to consider Jesus one among many spiritual “powers.” False teachers were urging them to seek angelic visions or to appease cosmic rulers (Colossians 2:8, 18). Jesus wasn’t denied. Not outright. But those teachers subtly dragged the one mediator down into the spiritual marketplace.
Syncretism always begins by lowering the uniqueness of Christ.
Three centuries later, at the Council of Nicaea (325 AD), Arius used the same strategy in a different form. His famous slogan declared: “There was a time when the Son was not.” Christ, for Arius, was exalted but created—the highest of creatures but not true God. Different settings, same danger. Whether by syncretism in Colossae or subordination in Nicaea, both moves aimed to dethrone Christ.
Byang Kato warned that “the greatest threat to Christianity in Africa is syncretism” (Theological Pitfalls in Africa, p15). And, as he noted, syncretism always begins by lowering the uniqueness of Christ. That is exactly what happened in Colossae, in Constantine’s empire, and is still happening today.
Christ Declared: The Witness of Colossians
Paul’s answer to the Colossians is one of the most exalted Christological passages in the entire New Testament, the so-called Christ hymn (Colossians 1:15-20). In six sweeping verses, he proclaims:
- Christ over creation. “By him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible” (Colossians 1:16). He is no creature but the Creator, the one for whom all things exist.
- Christ in fullness. “In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (Colossians 1:19). Every attribute of deity, every perfection of God, dwells bodily in Christ (Colossians 2:9).
- Christ for reconciliation. “Through him to reconcile to himself all things…making peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:20). The one who made all things is the one who redeems all things.
A Christ who is one spiritual power among many cannot reconcile the cosmos.
The logic is unmistakable. Christ can save precisely because he is God. A Christ who is one spiritual power among many cannot reconcile the cosmos. Only the eternal Son, Lord of creation and fullness of deity, could make peace by his blood. Tite Tiénou cautioned that when Christ is presented merely as one option among many, the uniqueness and power of his saving work are undermined.
Paul will not permit such emptiness. For him, the sufficiency of Christ flows from the supremacy of Christ.
Christ Defended: From Colossae to Nicaea
So, the Nicene Creed was not a philosophical invention. It was a biblical defence of the Christ we meet in scripture.
- Paul: “By him all things were created” (Colossians 1:16). Creed: “Through him all things were made.”
- Paul: “He is before all things” (Colossians 1:17). Creed: “Begotten, not made.”
- Paul: “In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9). Creed: “Of one essence with the Father.”
Nicene faith was not innovation but exegesis.
Nicaea simply echoed scripture’s witness. Faced with Arius’ claim that Christ was a creature, the church confessed the Son as eternal, divine, and consubstantial with the Father. What Paul preached in the Lycus Valley was defended on the shores of the Bosphorus. The connection is crucial. Colossians shows us that the Nicene faith was not innovation but exegesis. It was the church faithfully confessing what had already been revealed.
Christ Denied: Why All of This Still Matters
The same old errors resurface with new names. Jehovah’s Witnesses repeat Arius almost word for word: Christ is a created being, exalted but not God. Islam honours Jesus as a prophet but denies his divine Sonship, reducing him to a messenger rather than the message. Prosperity preachers and New Apostolic Reformation leaders subtly sideline Christ, presenting him as a tool for success or as a background figure behind new “apostles” and “prophets.”
A diminished Christ is no Christ at all.
But the gospel insists: a diminished Christ is no Christ at all. A Christ who is created cannot recreate. If Christ is merely human, he cannot reconcile humanity to God. A Christ who is one option among many cannot be the all-sufficient Lord. This is not academic hair-splitting. It is the difference between a powerless gospel and the power of God for salvation.
Christ’s Demand: Hold Fast
Paul urged the Colossians to hold fast. “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him…rooted and built up in him” (Colossians 2:6-7). The Nicene Fathers did the same, refusing to surrender the apostolic Christ to philosophical speculation.
If we lose the supremacy of Christ, we lose the substance of the gospel.
Today, the African church faces the same calling. We must resist every attempt to marginalise or domesticate Christ. Byang Kato put it well, “The uniqueness of Christ must be safeguarded if Christianity is to remain truly Christian” (Theological Pitfalls in Africa, p30). If we lose the supremacy of Christ, we lose the substance of the gospel.
Seventeen centuries after the Council of Nicaea, the confession still rings true: Christ is supreme; he is sufficient; Jesus Christ is Lord.
Confess Christ With Colossians and Nicaea
Colossians declared it. Nicaea defended it. The African church must confess it. The Son isn’t one power among many. He is God of very God. Only such a Christ is enough for the Church in every age. And as we shall see in the final article of this series, the Nicene faith does more than preserve orthodoxy; it equips us for apologetics, grounding our witness in the supremacy of Christ against all rival saviours.
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