In the 4th century AD the church was embroiled in a bitter controversy over the nature of Christ, and his relationship to the Father. A pastor and teacher named Arius believed and taught what came to be called Arianism: that God was greater than His Son, as a father must be superior to a son, and that the Son in turn had a literal beginning — thus, that he did not exist from all eternity, as had his Father. In general outline, at least, this was much closer to the truth of the Bible than were the “orthodox” views of the time — which should be considered the beginnings of the formulation of the false doctrine of the Trinity.
While the whole content of the Arian position was condemned by the orthodox church, the terms of the debate turned upon two very similar Greek words: “homoousios” and “homoiousios”. The difference was that the second word had one letter added, an iota. But the difference in meaning was very significant. The supporters of Arianism claimed that the Son was subordinate to the Father, who was the one true God. Thus they believed the Son was ‘like or similar in substance’ [“homoi” = similar] to the Father, but not identical. The word they used to denote the SIMILAR (but not exact) substance was “homoiousios”.
However, the Council of Nicea selected the word “homoousios” for what came to be called the Nicene Creed. This word means ‘of one or the same substance’ thus the Church insisted on the essential and absolute unity of the Father and the Son; in English translation: “And [I believe] in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God... being OF ONE SUBSTANCE with the Father...”
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Author: George Booker
Keywords: Trinity, Triunity, Homoousios, Arian, Arianism, Nicean, Nicean Creed, Trinitarian, Nature of Christ, Jesus' divinity, Was Jesus God, Jesus is God, Divine nature of Jesus, God the Son, Preexistence, Pre-existence, Pre-existence and the Jewish Messiah, Preexistence and the Jewish Messiah, Jesus preexisted, Jesus pre-existed, Christ preexisted, Christ preexistence, Christ's pre-existence, Jesus' pre-existence, Jesus' preexistence
Bible reference(s): John 1:1-3, Philippians 2:6
Source: “‘Homoousios’ (Of the Same Substance),” The Agora.
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