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Originally Posted by blhowes  In 325, the Council of Nicaea...Saint Athanasius, who was a participant in the Council, stated that the bishops were forced to use this terminology, which is not found in Scripture, because the Biblical phrases that they would have preferred to use were claimed by the Arians to be capable of being interpreted in what the bishops considered to be a heretical sense.They therefore "commandeered the non-scriptural term homoousios ('of one substance') in order to safeguard the essential relation of the Son to the Father that had been denied by Arius." | If I may offer one correction (and I know this came from a second hand source), Athanasius was not a participant at the Council of Nicaea. I have seen this assumption repeated many times. But he played no part in the deliberations of this council. He was there as an assistant to Alexander of Alexandria (a personal aid of sorts), and did succeed Alexander as bishop of Alexandria in 327 A.D (the year Alexander died), probably largely due to Alexander's commendation of him. What is true is that Athanasius was a staunch defender of the Nicene Creed in the years to come following that council. But he did not play a part in the deliberations and formulations of the Council of Nicaea.
DTK
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Sola Scriptura est norma normans non normata
David T. King, pastor
Christ Presbyterian Church (OPC)
Elkton, Maryland
Augustine (354-430): Therefore what He [i.e., Christ] has deigned to speak to us, we ought to believe that He meant us to understand. But if we do not understand He, being asked, gives understanding, who gave His Word unasked. NPNF1: Vol. VII, Tractates on John, Tractate XXII, ยง1.
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