Dr Paul Allen

The early church fought off false teachers and doctrines to obtain a better understanding of what the Bible teaches about who God is and how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit relate to one another in terms of their existence and works. They thought deeply and biblically regarding the Scripture’s affirmation that we worship one God in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In so doing, the church defended biblical truth against three errors: modalism, Arianism, and semi-Arianism. Yet, these errors did not go away but have periodically reappeared throughout church history. MODALISM Modalism1 arose in the late second and early third centuries when theologians promoted the doctrine of Monarchianism. Monarchianism (from the Greek mono, “one,” and arch, “ruler”) is the heretical doctrine that teaches that the one God is only one person who manifests Himself in different ways at different times. A third-century theologian by the name of Sabellius (c. AD 215) could not reconcil...

If you were to ask me why I am not a Jehovah’s Witness, though there are many reasons, these would be the top three: JW teaching is derived from a misleading translation of the Bible.  Jehovah’s Witnesses ascribe to the Bible as their sacred text for faith and practice. However, only one translation, the Watchtower Society’s New World Translation (NWT), is encouraged for JW use. Since it’s inception in 1961, the NWT has undergone a few revisions. JW’s also rely heavily upon a few other works produced by the Watchtower Society for beliefs and doctrinal dissemination. The  Watchtower  is a periodical featured in over 200 languages, with 53 million copies printed monthly, started by JW founder, Charles Taze Russell , in 1879. The periodical’s purpose is to show “the significance of world events in the light of Bible prophecies” and “it comforts people with the good news of God’s Kingdom and promotes faith in Jesus Christ.” Awake!  is the other JW p...

Nativity from Duccio’s Maestá, 13th century, a compromise shed-within-a-cave (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Mention “ Christmas ” and “controversy” together in the same sentence, and most evangelicals will assume you’re talking about Santa Claus , Christmas trees, or the secularization of the winter holiday season. But, from a historical perspective, a much more significant controversy surrounded Christmas for the first five centuries of church history; and its effects still linger in some circles today. It centered on the very essence of Jesus’ birth – the doctrine of His incarnation. There is, of course, an element of mystery in the incarnation. After all, how can one person be both fully God and fully man at the same time? Yet, that is precisely the miraculous truth that the Scriptures affirm regarding the Person of Jesus Christ . Nonetheless, despite the clarity of biblical revelation, the doctrine of Christ ’s incarnation came under attack from the very beginning. The Ebionites,...

Magyar: Arius (Areios) (260, Líbia - 336, Konstantinápoly) püspök, az arianizmus tanának szellemi létrehozója. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Arius is said to have been Libyan by descent, and he was probably born around 256 AD. We know little about his early days except that he studied under Lucian, the presbyter of Antioch . He later returned to Alexandria and became a presbyter there where he quickly became both prestigious and popular. Arius’ difficulties began in 318 when he clashed with Alexander, the bishop of Alexandria. Alexander believed in the co-eternality of the Word of God while Arius taught that the Word was created by God. Because Alexander understood this as a dangerous threat to the church, he publicly condemned Arius’ teaching and removed him from all church posts. However, Arius refused to accept Alexander’s judgments and appealed to the people of the city and to other eastern bishops. In this way the dispute spread and became a severe threat to church unity. Seein...

English: Icon from Mount Athos depicting the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) This question prompted the First Council of Nicaea started in 325 and concluded with the Second Council of Nicaea in 787.  Setting   &  Purpose The First Council of Nicaea was convened in 325 by the Roman Emperor Constantine . Constantine had hoped to unite his empire under the banner of Christianity, but now saw such unity threatened by a grave theological dispute. Hosius of Cordoba recommended a council as the means to address the brewing controversy and Constantine responded by calling church leaders to Nicaea in Bithynia (modern-day Iznik, Turkey). Somewhere between 250 and 318 bishops from across the Roman empire attended, and the council began its formal deliberations on  May 20 . The major issue the council was charged with addressing was the nature of Christ‘s divinity, and in particular, the relationship between the Father and the...

Arius was arguably  the most notorious heretic of the early church . Though Arius’ heretical views were soundly condemned by the Council of Nicaea (in A.D. 325), the controversy he sparked raged for another fifty years throughout the Roman Empire . During those tumultuous decades, the defenders of Trinitarian orthodoxy often found themselves outnumbered and out of favor with the imperial court. Yet they refused to compromise. Among them, most famously, stood Athanasius of Alexandria —exiled on five different occasions for his unwavering commitment to the truth. He was joined by the Cappadocian Fathers : Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzas, and Gregory of Nyssa . But how did these early Christian leaders know that the doctrine they were defending was, in fact, a truth worth fighting for? How did they know that they were right and the Arians were wrong? Was it on the basis of oral tradition, a previous church council, or an edict from the bishop of Rome? No. T...