So Athanasius of Alexandria. I said he's one of the more famous of these early church fathers. Does anyone know what Athanasius had named after him? a creed. The Athanasian Creed is a statement that declares, we're going to get into that tonight, what Christians believe about the Trinity in specifics, even beyond what the Nicene Creed said. So, let's go ahead and start with a word of prayer, and then we'll jump into our lecture for the evening. Father, we thank you again for these men of God that we have records of through time, while fallen men and mere men, yet they were men and many times giants of men in the faith for the time that your providence put them. And so we're grateful for this record that we have. We pray you would cause us to follow them as they followed Christ. that we would also be discerning and aware of where they did have errors and that we would be able to avoid them. And that as we consider your hand and your providence working through your church in all ages, we would be encouraged that we are not facing any heresies or persecution or unpopularity that hasn't been faced by your people before, and through all of those things you have triumphed over all your enemies. And so we pray you would give us greater faith as we consider these men. We ask all this in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen. So let's start by considering the world in which Athanasius lived before we get into his life in particular. I've been trying to kind of paint with a broad brush about the kind of world that they lived in, what it was that was setting the tone for what they were going to accomplish in their life. And one of the I don't know, I think I could probably say one of the most important turning points in Christian history for many different reasons was the profession, if dubious, of faith by Constantine, the emperor. And this changed everything politically and geopolitically for the Christians and for the Church. And this happened In the 4th century, in the 300s, 312, Constantine made a profession. Many of you have probably heard the story before. Constantine was the emperor of Rome at that time. He said he saw a sign of the cross in the sky, and it said, by this sign, conquer. And he went in and thoroughly whipped his enemies. And so he came back and said, I'm a Christian. And so that all happened in around 312 AD. And the fruit that he bore out in his life has caused many to be skeptical whether he was actually converted or not. But whether he was actually converted or not, it changed everything for the Christians. Remember, up until this point, all these early church fathers that we've talked about, in one way or another, were facing political persecution. And sometimes it was just in pockets throughout the empire, sometimes it was an actual empire-wide decree by the emperor. But whether it was locale by locale or empire-wide, these Christians were under political persecution. Well, when Constantine professed Christianity a year later, in year 313, he gave what was known as the Edict of Milan. And the Edict of Milan gave religious tolerance to all religions. So basically he said, whatever religion you want to worship, however you want to go about your religion, you're free to do so. Similar to what we have in America today. Whatever you want to do, you can do. But, while it gave religious tolerance to all religions, What do you think became a very popular religion since the emperor was claiming it? It was Christianity. Oh, well, the emperor's a Christian, then it would be very politically expedient for me to be a Christian, right? And again, we see this. in our culture today. Everybody who runs for president is a deacon in their church and a Sunday school teacher. It's politically expedient to be a Christian. Well, that's kind of what happened. The whole world changed, in this sense, the Roman world, the civilized world, if you will, with this profession of faith and this edict that came from the emperor. And so with Christianity's prominence and popularity came hordes of unregenerate Romans wanting to be baptized into the Church. And it's hard for me to put into perspective what must have been going through these pastors' and bishops' minds when this happened. I mean, never before in the history of the world that I can think of has the quote-unquote, at least by profession, true worship of God been the most popular and prominent religion in the world. But it never happened that way. The Jews were never the largest and most prominent empire in the world. They were given a lot of tolerance by the Greeks and the Romans from time to time. And then when Christianity, after Christ came and died and Christianity came on the scene, Christians were being persecuted. And now, for the first time in 4,000 years, the at least professed true worship of God is the most prominent and popular religion in the world. just speculating, just imagining what it must have been. It was probably very exciting for a lot of these bishops. Wow, look at what God's doing. He's opened the door and now all of these heathens are being converted and want to come into the church and want to be baptized. But with that came many of the problems that always accompany external religion without internal regeneration. And that's what was going on here. There were all these people that wanted to be a part of this Christian religion, this popular, prominent religion, but they hadn't actually been converted. God hadn't changed their heart. They didn't hear the message of Jesus Christ, and convicted of their sins, and turned from their ways, and turned to Christ. But it was very politically expedient, and so they wanted to join the church. And what became the Roman Catholic Church in the centuries to follow this has its birth in many ways with this point in history. And that's why I say the world changed with this edict. And this is all going on while Athanasius was alive. I believe Athanasius was born in 298 or something like that. So he's a boy while all this is going on. He's a young teenager. In this compromised position, so now you have Christianity, it's popular, it's prominent, it's now being filled with every type of prominent and popular person in the world. And can you imagine how ripe the church was for heresy? Because now you have hordes of people who haven't had a heart change, who aren't humbly and earnestly desiring truth, submitting to the authorities that God has put in their life, reading the scriptures, attempting to lead their family. That's not what's going on here. But there's churches full of people that it's popular to be a Christian, so I'm going to go to church. Welcome to the South, right? It's the way, the society we live in. And it's ripe for heresies when you have that. And so there was a presbyter, a pastor, if you want to use that terminology, in Alexandria during this time named Arius. A-R-I-U-S. This is an important figure in church history as well. Arius. And he was a pastor. He was a presbyter. And he began teaching that Jesus was the first of God's creation. Now, you see the problem with that? Jesus is the first of God's creation. Well, we know that's not true. Jesus is God. I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father, I am the Father gain a lot of popular adherence. A lot of people began to say, yeah, that sounds right. And he took a couple of passages of scripture that we're going to read later and took them out of context. And people just said, okay, that sounds good. Well, in the year 321, A synod in Alexandria met. Remember when we talked last week about the synods that first started, the councils that first started being called in Africa, even before the worldwide ecumenical councils were called? Well, this is one of those. In Alexandria, a local synod was called, a council was called of the pastors in the area, and they came together and they condemned Arius as a heretic. And he said, now what you're teaching is heresy. And they stripped him of his pastoral office. They said, you can't continue to be a presbyter here in Alexandria if you're going to be teaching that Jesus is not God, but is the first of His creation. And the official deposition, the official word that was written from this council was written by a young secretary of the church named Athanasius. So he was actually the one who penned out the official deposition when all these bishops came together. He wasn't a bishop yet at this point, but he was an assistant to a bishop, and he was the one that was tasked with writing the official deposition against Arius, and so he did. Now, this didn't stop Arius, though. He was stripped of his pastoral office, so he became a traveling evangelist, so to speak. He began to travel the empire, and with his charismatic personality and his unbiblical teaching, he began to gain followers and adherents not only in Alexandria, but around the Roman Empire. People began to be Arians. They began to be followers, disciples of Arius and his teaching. Well, it became such a big deal that Constantine, remember I said, Some of his future actions cause us to be a little bit skeptical of what was going on. Well, this is one of them. Arius said, there's this theological dispute going on in the church, and the church has grown to a huge size and scale at this point. I can't have this kind of disruption in my realm. I said, I'm a Christian, and now the Christians are fighting against each other about which is our true doctrine. So, Constantine called What we know today in historical perspective, the first ecumenical council. And again, when I say ecumenical, I'm not saying Catholics and Methodists and Presbyterians and Pentecostals all come together. We're talking about pastors from all over the world, all over the Roman Empire. 318 bishops came to a town in Turkey known as Nicaea. And the first council of Nicaea was the first ecumenical council, and this was in year 325 AD, if you're following the timeline here. So at this point, Athanasius is 27 years old. This is four years after. The Synod in Alexandria was held and condemned Arius as a heretic, and now 318 bishops from all across the civilized world, everywhere there was a church basically, come together to this little town in modern Turkey, Nicaea, and hold a council on Arianism. What are we going to do with this preacher who's saying that Jesus isn't God, that he's the first of God's creation? And of 318 bishops, guess how many sided with Arius? Two. Two bishops sided with Arius and 315, if you count Arius as the 318th, I'm not sure how they were doing the math there, but 315 or 316 of the rest in overwhelming agreement said, Arianism is a heresy. Jesus is God. He's not the first of God's creation. He's the second person of the Trinity. And Arius and the two bishops that sided with him were all defrocked. They were all stripped of their pastoral office. And all of their writings that they could get their hands on were gathered and burned. And they said, they're teaching heresy. Nobody needs to be reading this stuff. They can't be pastors in the church. We're not going to let their works be passed out. And they were declared to be anathema. And that's a biblical word that means to be damned, to be outside of God and the faith. And so out of this, the Council wrote a very carefully worded statement about what the Christian faith believed about the Trinity. And really what the Christian faith was at its most basic foundation. And you've probably heard of the Nicene Creed. Even if you didn't know it was called the Nicene Creed, You've probably sang the hymn here, O Come All Ye Faithful, and you know that third verse that says, God of God, Light of Light, Lo, He abhors not the Virgin's womb, Very God, begotten, not created, O come, let us adore Him. That is a paraphrase of the Nicene Creed. Let me read to you the Nicene Creed. This is what it said. This is what these 316 bishops said we believe the Christian faith is. We believe in one God. the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, 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, who for us men, for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end." And we believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church." And that Catholic is with a small c, means universal. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins, and we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen." So this is a creed that's still used today in Protestant denominations, in Roman Catholicism, in Eastern Orthodox. Basically, it's so basic that anyone who even says they're a Christian can agree with it. use the name Christian, basically, you can agree to the Nicene Creed. Now, if you're an Arian, you can't. If you don't believe that Jesus is of one substance with the Father, then you can't say you believe that. But you can have a lot of wrong doctrines. You can hold to a lot of heresies and affirm the Nicene Creed. I mean, it's just that foundational. Basically, it's saying we believe that God is a Trinity. And it says a little bit about His church. resurrection of the dead and life of the world to come. But basically it just gives a super, super general description of the three persons of the Trinity. And yet when I say it's super general, it was definitive enough to condemn these three men as heretics and to say, that's not Christian. Now despite all of this, so now Arius has been denounced and defrocked at the Synod of Alexandria. Then the Ecumenical Council of 316 bishops comes together, declares him to be anathema, burns his works, and Arianism didn't die. It just continued to find adherents throughout the world. And not only did it continue to find adherence, but over the next decade, convictions began to wane and compromises began to be made. And some of those very bishops who were there at the council, who agreed with the near unanimous decision, began to say, well actually, I mean is it really that big a deal? Finally, about 10 years after this council, Constantine, under the advice of many of his advisors who were not true believers, who were not theologically astute, but once again were just trying to make sure they had their fingers on the pulse of the culture and did whatever was most politically expedient at the time, In the name of maintaining the peace and unity of the church, Constantine took it on himself to overturn the council's anathema and reinstate Arius as a bishop. So the emperor said, I know what 316 of the bishops from all over the world said, but I think they were wrong. I'm going to put Arius back in his position as a pastor in the church there in Alexandria." Providentially, Arius died before he ever made it back to Alexandria to be reinstated. So he never was reinstated. According to Athanasius, when he died, his bowels burst asunder, which is hearkening back to the great apostate Judas. There's been some debate about that over the years, whether he was using just picturesque language or whether that's actually what happened. I don't know. I'm going to take Athanasius at his word. If that's what he said happened, I don't have any reason to believe that's not what happened. But either way, he never was reinstated. He simply died before he got back. Did you have a question for Tommy? No. By this time, a majority of the bishops were now on Arius' side. And there's a phrase you may have heard before. The phrase is Athanasius Contramunda. It's a Latin word that means Athanasius against the world. And it was given to him because there was a point, we're going to talk about this when we get into Athanasius' life, there was a point where Athanasius was pretty much the only voice on a large scale speaking for the Trinity and the Deity of Christ. Almost every bishop had reneged on it. Constantine was against him. The political sphere was against him. And Athanasius said, I don't care what you all say, I know what's true. I know what the scriptures say, and you can exile me, and you can do whatever you want. But it seemed like the whole world was against him. And then the tide shifted again, and eventually Arianism again was denounced as a heresy, and Athanasius' defense of the Trinity came to be understood as the biblical But no, by the time Constantine reinstated him, that was the popular opinion, that he ought to be reinstated. So that's the world that Athanasius lived in. This is what he dealt with from when he was a young teenager. Constantine declares Christianity. By the time he's in his twenties, he's an assistant to a bishop in Alexandria, and he goes to the Synod of Alexandria, and then the Council in Nicaea. And then in his early thirties, he becomes the bishop. We're going to talk about this in a moment, of Alexandria. And all through this time, Heresies are continuing to pop their ugly heads up, and particularly this large one that Jesus was not of one substance with the Father. So Athanasius, what about his life? Let's talk about him for just a moment, what we know about him. He was born to wealthy Christian parents in Alexandria. Alexandria was the second largest city in the world at this time, in the Roman Empire at this time, second only to Rome itself. It was a hub of culture and politics and everything else. You've probably heard of the library at Alexandria, and particularly the fact that it burned. Well, this was 350 years before Athanasius was born. The library in Alexandria burned in about 48 BC. But there was still a large library at Alexandria at this time as they began to rebuild the city and the library. And this library in Alexandria boasted a Christian catechetical school. you. And this Christian catechetical school in Alexandria became the prototype of the later European university system. So really to this day, obviously there's been a lot of changes, but the large structural system, the way that classes are taught with a professor and the students sitting there, and the larger system of the schooling and the way it's done followed the school at Alexandria. And that's where Athanasius was educated. Now, he was born to a Christian family, from what we know, and he was educated in this Christian system. And someone who later on wrote about Athanasius' life said he learned the things that needed to be learned to just function in society. We would call them the three R's here in America, right? Reading, writing, and arithmetic, although only one of them start with an R. The basics, though, of education, but then beyond that, the catechisms of the Christian Church. He began to study theology and the scriptures and was taught in this school in that way. In his early twenties, he became the personal assistant to Alexander, who was the bishop of Alexandria at that time. So there was this bishop in the city of Alexandria, and his name was Alexander, and Athanasius became his personal assistant. And in this role as his personal assistant, this was how he was able to attend the Synod of Alexandria in 321, and this was how he was able to attend the Council of Nicaea in 325, even though he wasn't a bishop technically at either of those times, he was the personal assistant to a bishop. So he got to tag along and hear the debates and actually write the sentence against Arius in that first one. And when Alexander died in around 328, Athanasius was the logical successor, and therefore he was elected by the presbytery as the bishop of Alexandria, and he was only 30 years old. So he was young to be a bishop, but particularly when you think about the size and influence of Alexandria. A 30-year-old man appointed as the bishop to the church in the second largest city in the world at that point. So at 30 years old, this is three years after the Council of Nicaea, I'm sure there was still little voices here and there arguing for Arianism and Arius to be allowed back and all of these things, but pretty much when he was elected back into the church, things were peaceful. Christianity had been legalized, it had been popularized, Arius seems to have been defeated. Twice now at councils he's been declared to be a heretic and the Athanasius has to think, good, I get to step into the role here as a bishop and things are as peaceful as they've ever been for Christianity. Gnosticism's not around, Arian's been defeated, even the Roman empire is recognizing Christianity as a legitimate and a popular religion. But the peace didn't last long. When Constantine changed his mind, this was about seven years into Athanasius' role as a bishop there in Alexandria, when Constantine said Arius needs to be reinstated as a presbyter there, Athanasius basically said, over my dead body. He said, that's just not going to happen. I've been appointed as the bishop here. He's not coming back as a presbyter. And so Constantine said, well, then we're going to exile you. You're going to leave, and we're going to make sure my rule gets put into place, and Arius gets to come back. So he was exiled to the outer fringes of the Roman Empire into what is today modern-day Germany. So he was sent from North Africa to Germany. Just a total change of everything he's ever seen and known. And Athanasius said, basically, do what you must. I'm not folding. I feel like God's given me this church. He's put me in charge of it, and I'm not going to allow this heretic to be let back in. So Athanasius gets exiled to the outer fringes of the Roman Empire. Then Constantine dies. And when Constantine died, his empire was basically being fought over by his three sons. He had three sons that almost, in a sense, kind of split the empire up and said, I'll take care of this section and you take care of that section. Well, the section that Constantine's son had jurisdiction over in Africa and Alexandria said, Arius is dead. Remember, he died even before he could make it back to be reinstated in Alexandria. And so the emperor, then Constantine's son, said, come on back, Athanasius. You can come back. Your church misses you. As Athanasius comes back, and after he's been back not long, Constantine's son says, Glad you're back, but we just need to do one thing. You know that line in the Nicene Creed about Jesus where it says, being of one substance with the Father? Well, that's just a little bit too dogmatic. Let's change that to of similar substance with the Father. And in the Greek, that was a change of one letter. I'm sure I'm going to butcher it, but it was something like homoousis to homoeousis. It was putting an I in there, in the Greek word. But what it would do is it would change the meaning from of one substance with the Father to of a similar substance to the Father. And Athanasius basically said, over my dead body. He understood that to take anything away from the deity of Christ, to crack the door open... Because if you did that, if you changed the Nicene Creed to say, I have a similar substance with the Father, the Arians could agree with it now. He was a similar substance. He was the first created being of God. He was over all the rest of the creation. He was an archangel. He was more like the substance of God than we are. It cracked the door open. to allow Arianism to flourish once again. And Athanasius said, I won't stand for that, whatever else anyone else does. Once again, many of the bishops backed this move. They said, yeah, this will allow for more unity, this will allow for more peace. If we just change this one word, just put one letter in, then we can have a lot more peace and agreement among the church. And so Athanasius was exiled again. In fact, he was the bishop in Alexandria for 45 years, from 328 to 373 when he died. And over those 45 years, he was exiled five different times for a total of 17 years. 17 of his 45 years as the bishop was spent in exile. And yet, throughout all of that, throughout his whole time of being exiled on five different occasions, his church remained loyal to him. They continued to consider him to be their bishop, even when he wasn't there, and to seem to hold true to the faith. Eventually, that phrase of one substance once again prevailed. and became the prevailing idea in Christianity and the Church's understanding of the deity of Christ. Let me read you how one man summed up Athanasius' life. He said this, Athanasius set his name to the creed which expressed his belief. Remember I told you a creed was named after him, the Athanasian Creed? In the Athanasian Creed, the relationship between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is much more lengthy and outlined and delineated than in the Nicene Creed. So, Athanasius set his name to the creed which expressed his belief, and for fifty years he stood unswervingly by that confession. Because remember, he was there before he was even a bishop, and he was still just a secretary, just an assistant in his twenties, he was standing by this belief. Every argument that ingenuity could invent was used to prove it false. So all of these arguments of men were used to try to prove his belief in the deity of Christ to be false. Bishops met together in great numbers, condemned his views, and invoked upon him the curse of God. Emperors took sides against him, banished him time and time again, and chased him from place to place, setting a reward on his head. At one time, all bishops of the church were persuaded or coerced into pronouncing sentence against him, so that the phrase originated, Athanasius against the world. But with all this pressure bearing on him, he changed his ground not one inch. His clear eye saw the truth once, and he did not permit his conscience to tamper with the temptations to deny it. His loyalty to the truth made him a great power for good, and a great blessing to the churches of his own and of all times." So that's the testimony that Athanasius bears. Very similar to many of men throughout Christian history, but he's been often times compared to Martin Luther. Because the church took counsel against him, and he was declared to be a heretic, and what did he say? Here I stand, I can do no other. To go against conscience is neither good or right. And that's basically what Athanasius was saying. Sorry, this is what the scriptures have convinced me of. I can't go against it. And though all the religious and political world seems to be against him, he wouldn't budge an inch. Now, what about his writings? We have two major writings from Athanasius. And his first work is the first full work that I ever read from an early church father. I don't know, probably 8 or 10 years ago, I read his work called, On the Incarnation. or a lengthier title, On the Incarnation of the Word. So, On the Incarnation of the Word. And this was written by him at 335, so this was being written by him right around that time that Constantine was saying, Arius gets to come back. And so while all this was going on, I don't know exactly when in 335 he wrote it, I don't know if it was after that decree, but basically all this was coming to a head, all this was bubbling to the surface, And Athanasius writes this work on the incarnation of the Word. And basically what it is, is it's just an explanation of the Christian belief of the divinity of Christ, and the necessity of it for the full salvation of man. I don't know how many of you have seen that quote by C.S. Lewis, where he recommends that for every new book you read, you should read an old book in between. Well, that comes from his introduction to his translation of Athanasius' work on the Incarnation. C.S. Lewis did a translation of that, and in his introduction to it, that's where that quote comes from. Yes ma'am. of the divinity of Christ and the necessity of it for the full salvation of man." You're welcome. So, on the incarnation of the Word, he's teaching that Christ was divine, but he doesn't just stop at arguing for the fact that Christ was divine, that Christ was God, but he says he had to be God. in order for man to be saved. There couldn't be salvation for mankind if Jesus Christ is not God. If He's not of one substance with the Father, then salvation can't come through Him, because if He was a created being, He couldn't fully bear the sins of the world and expiate His righteousness to their accounts. Only the full righteousness and holiness of God can do that. Man can't do that. argument, he's not so much attacking Arius or Arianism in this book as he's just defending his understanding of the scriptures. Now years later, from around 356 to 360, again I'm not that concerned with you keeping track of all the dates, but he wrote a second work called Discourses Against the Aryans. And this is a four-volume polemic work. When we say polemic, we mean on the war path. He's attacking the Aryans in this book, or in this four-volume set, in this work. It's a full frontal attack on Aryanism. So his first work is on the defensive, And his next work, he goes on the offense. And he begins to break down why their teachings are wrong, and where they fail, and how they don't match up to Scripture. We've got time. Let's read a few Bible verses. Those of you who have your Bibles, someone flip. Whoever gets there first, can you start reading? Acts chapter 2 and verse 36. Acts 2.36. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." So these verses that we're about to read are some of the verses that the Arians were abusing to defend their position. So you heard that phraseology in there, God has made Him to be both Lord and Christ. So the Arians would say, see, God made Him. Okay, now that's really not the context of what he's saying there. He's not saying God created him. He's saying that this is the position that he's been put into as the second person of the Trinity. He's both Lord and Christ. But that's one of the verses the Arians were abusing. Alright, how about Colossians chapter 1 and verse 15. Colossians 1.15. Landon? Here is the image of the Invisible God, the first form of every creature. Okay, so it's talking about Jesus Christ there in the area of Jerusalem. See, He's the firstborn of every creature. See, so He's a creature. He's the first one that was created. And again, in context, we realize that's not what He's saying. He's saying He's been given the position of preeminence over all of creation. He's actually arguing just the opposite. He's saying that He's been made the one that's above everything else. He's above all creation. And how about Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 14? Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? That's Hebrews 1.14. I don't even know where they're going with that one. I guess that's one of the verses they would use to say that Jesus was one of the archangels. I'm not sure. Those are the three verses that supposedly Athanasius takes and breaks down that the Arians were using in their defense of the view that Jesus wasn't divine, that he was one of the first created beings, that he was an archangel. So they were using Acts 2.36, Colossians 1.15 and Hebrews 1.14 for their position and in his work discourses against the Arians, he breaks that down. He shows why each of those are misinterpretations, to use them in that way. And then he turns it around and he exegetes some passages which clearly teach and defend the divinity of Christ, such as John 14.10. And John 17, 11. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world. Come to Thee, Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one as We are. He says that they may be one as We are, Father, as the Father and I are one. So those are some of the verses that Athanasius used as he exegeted those passages to teach the divinity of Christ. So that's all in the Discourses Against the Arians, this four-volume polemic. work that attacks Arianism. So, by the time he died in I'll go back to where I had the exact date written down. He died on May 2nd, 373. And by the time he died, everything had pretty much come full circle. He was bishop there in Alexandria again. He had successfully defended the divinity of Christ and his defense of one substance with the Father was understood and accepted as the true teaching of the Scriptures about the divinity of Christ. and the godhead. And that's when he died after serving us 45 years as the bishop there in Alexandria. So what do we learn from Athanasius? What do we learn from his life, and why would we read his writings? I would say the first thing that we learn from Athanasius' contramundum, Athanasius against the world, is that the vast majority of experts and scholars can be wrong. and they are when they contradict scripture. So, Athanasius can be an example to us that just because, you know, you'll hear these stats sometimes thrown out to you from enemies of the scriptures and 95% of all scientists agree that the earth couldn't have been created in six days. Guess what? Joshua against the world. If scriptures say it was, it was. And 95% of the scientists can say what they want, but it's not the case. 95% of all preachers believe that, and I'm just making this one up, I'm not actually quoting a stat here, but 95% of preachers think that church discipline shouldn't be used anymore. Sorry, they can be wrong. The Scriptures are clear on what the Scriptures teach, and we don't want to be arrogant. We don't want to set ourselves up so that we don't ever listen to wise counsel. But where the Word of God is clearly spoken, sometimes you've got to be contramundum. Sometimes it's got to be, it doesn't matter who says what, let God be true and every man a liar. That's basically where Athanasius stood. He said, They've turned the bishops against me, the emperor is against me, but God is for me. And therefore, I'm going to stand by the truth. That's the strongest argument against us for baptism that they use. Yes, you're right. The churches always believed this. So many of the denominations agree with this. Baptists are the only holdouts. Why would you recommend Athanasius' works, particularly to someone who's an Arian, who follows Arianism? If there's someone who's arguing with you that Jesus isn't divine, that maybe the Trinity isn't what Christians have always taught it to be, basically, I'd recommend on the Incarnation. It's an easy read. I've not read the entirety of Discourses Against the Arians, but you can sit down and easily read on the Incarnation of the Word. It's a pretty short, easy read, and it defends the divinity of Christ. Yes, sir? So, as far as Arians today in our time, Jehovah's Witnesses? Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons both. Yeah, it would be two of them that would disagree that Jesus is of one substance with the Father. And as far as the Trinity goes, would you like Pentecostals? One is Pentecostal. Now there are Trinitarian Pentecostals, but the one that is Pentecostal, yeah, would teach that modalism, which is what Cyprian was fighting against, right? We talked about it last week. But yeah, particularly on the issue of the divinity of Christ, it would be two of the more prominent ones are Jehovah's Witness and Mormons. And thirdly, we learn from Athanasius that difficult passages must be interpreted in the light of other scriptures. Yeah, maybe some of those passages that the Arians were using, if you just pulled it out of context and just read that one verse, You might hear how they make a defense for, you know, he was made the firstborn of all creatures. Oh, okay, well, I guess he was a firstborn then. Okay, but what does the rest of Scripture say? What is the context around it? You know, the Campbellites, Church of Christ around here, they love to quote, be baptized for remission of your sins. That means that you've got to have water baptism in order for your sins to be forgiven. When you run across a difficult passage like that, let's compare it with the rest of Scripture. What does the whole counsel of God teach on that topic, rather than just running with your one verse that you twisted out of context? So Athanasius was willing to do that. He was willing to interpret scripture in light of scripture. He firmly stood by the doctrine of the divinity of Christ and the fact that it was central to the gospel. You can't sacrifice the doctrine of the divinity of Christ and have a gospel, have a true biblical gospel. It just doesn't work. And he, like many others through history, proved that the vast majority of experts and scholars can be wrong and are when they contradict scripture. Any questions or comments before we close this lecture this evening? It looks like it's Hebrew 1.13. Is it 1.13? It says, but to which of the angels said he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies my footstool? Okay. Which I'm guessing they're interpreting as, he was just an angel. He was an angel. Maybe so. And really, it would be ironic if it was because it's exactly the opposite. He's saying he can't be an angel. He didn't ever say this to an angel. But you're right. Again, that very easily could have been, you see, twisted out of context that way. All right. You've got about four minutes to use the restroom, refill your coffee, whatever you need to do, and be back for Pastor Michael's lecture.