Semper Theologia

This May marks the 1700 anniversary of the start of the Council of Nicea. In the Year 325, bishops from all across Christendom met in Nicea for an ecumenical council to define the orthodox position regarding Jesus' relationship in the Godhead. Convened by Emperor Constantine, this first ecumenical council put an end to the Arian controversy and solidified the doctrine of Jesus as God the Son having full divinity. Background of Nicea     The original controversy requiring the need for a council was a dispute among the clergy in the city of Alexandria, Egypt. The original actors in the dispute where Archbishop Alexander of Alexandria and a presbyter named Arius. While Alexander taught that Jesus as God the Son was coeternal with the Father and not a created being, Arius taught that God the Son had a point of creation or generation because the Father alone is eternal and therefore subordinate to the Father. Arius had then accused Alexander of teaching Sabellianism, a teaching tha...

 Theology is a lovely thing. In his famous work, The Golden Chain, William Perkins writes,  "Theology is the science of living blessedly forever. Blessed life consists in the knowledge of God." Studying God so deeply that you acquire intimate knowledge of Him only leads to blessedness. However, theology can be dangerous. As the apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 8:1-3, "...we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.  I f anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.   But if anyone loves God, he is known by God." Although intimate knowledge of God leads to blessedness, intellectual knowledge of God merely puffs oneself up. The key difference between the two is love. What good is knowledge of God if it is not a loving knowledge of God? Without love we are a clanging cymbal (1 Cor 13:1) and no better off than demons who also have knowledge of God (James 2:19) ...

Apparently in some online circles, the Theotokos debate has picked up steam again. To no surprise, some so-called "reformed" folks online are responding with a theological overcorrection at the faintest scent of Roman Catholicism that has completely ignored the Council of Chalcedon. For example, let's look at a John MacArthur quote found in a recent X post. "In fact, Roman Catholics refer to her as the God bearer. They say she gave birth to God and thus is to be elevated and adored. She gave birth to God. That is a terrible misconception. She gave birth to Jesus in His humanity. She did not give birth to God. God was never born." What John MacArthur has done here is overcorrected his Christology to avoid associating with Roman Catholic Mariology. The doctrine of Theotokos is not to elevate Mary in order to require adoration for her. The doctrine is to keep the two natures of Christ unified in one person as we will now see. What is Theotokos? Theotokos is a Gree...