A State of the Church Part 1: Jesus is the First and Greatest Being Created by God

 We will be examining over the next week different topical issues facing the church and modern evangelicals. Sixty-two per cent of US Evangelicals agreed with the following statement: "Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God." This is a heretical statement that dates back to the early church. The orthodox Christian doctrine as expressed in the Nicene Creed states that the Lord Jesus Christ is "the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made."

The Nicene Creed was in response to the Arian controversy in the 4th Century. Arius and his followers taught that Jesus was the first and greatest being created by God. This would place Jesus on the creature side of the Creator-creature distinction. The Nicene Creed was created at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. It was in response to the teaching of Arian.  After the Council concluded, variations of the error developed regarding the Holy Spirit. The Council of Constantinople met in AD 381 to deal with that issue. The Nicene Creed summarizes the teaching of the Bible on the topic of the Holy Trinity.

The Scriptures make clear that Jesus is not a "lesser God." Jesus is on the Creator side of the Creator-creature distinction. John 1:14 states that the Word (Jesus) is the only begotten of the Father and John 1:1 declares that Jesus (the Word) is God. Jesus wants His disciples to pray to Him (John 14:14),  He forgives sin (Matthew 9: 1-8), He is sovereign over nature (Matthew 8: 23-27) and He is worshipped as God (Matthew 2:2).

I have consistently taught that to deny the Trinity is to take you outside the family of faith. Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses deny the trinity. Popular minister and author T.D. Jakes also denies the Trinity. Muslims and Orthodox Jews deny the Trinity. 

The study of theology is important. Without it, you could easily fall into error. 62% of US Evangelicals already have. Don't be one of them.