Comparative Theology · Textual History & Manuscripts
The First Council of Nicaea (325 CE) & the Arian Controversy
In short
- 1.The doctrine that Jesus (PBUH) is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father was fixed by a political vote under Emperor Constantine — not by Jesus (PBUH).
- 2.Arius and early non-Trinitarian Christians held that "there was a time when the Son was not" — a created being subordinate to the Father.
- 3.Homoousios ("of the same substance") is a Greek philosophical term found nowhere in the Hebrew or Greek scriptures.
The claim being examined
The has always been the belief of the church, taught by Jesus (PBUH) himself.
The Islamic position
Co-equality was settled by imperial council three centuries after Jesus (PBUH), over the objection of a large body of Christians.
Analysis
Nicaea was convened by an emperor for imperial unity, not by apostolic authority. The debate hinged on homoousios versus homoiousios — a distinction of Greek metaphysics — and the losing party was exiled. Doctrine settled by council and enforced by state power is history, not revelation.
From the Qur'an
قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌۢ
qul huwa l-lahu aḥadun al-lahu l-ṣamadu lam yalid walam yūlad walam yakun lahu kufuwan aḥadun
Say: He is Allah, the One. Allah, the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor is born, nor is there to Him any equivalent.
From the Bible
But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
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