The doctrine of the
divinity of Christ is the most fundamental tenet of the Christian religion.
Without a knowledge of the divinity of Christ, his unchangeableness, and his
eternal nature it would be impossible for anyone to exercise faith in him for
eternal life and salvation. R. Reuben Clark Jr has correctly recognized the
historical and theological significance of the Arian controversy:
For the first
Christian centuries, and following Simon the sorcerer, heretics and heresies,
great and small, sought to distort or wipe out the recognition of Jesus as the
Christ. Time buried the heretics and most of heresies. But one heresy has lived
on, usually in the dark corners of ecclesiastical discussion, but sometimes in
the open. I speak of Arianism that nearly wrecked the Christian Church
in the time of Constantine. It is an obscure and shifting doctrine that,
shortly put, and in general terms, denies the Godhood of Jesus Christ. (J
Reuben Clark Jr, tract, Our Bible. Emphasis added)
Thus Arianism was
indeed a heresy, possibly the most serious that had arisen in Christianity up
to that time, and the most controversial. It struck at the roto of the most
fundamental tenet of Christian faith: the divinity of Christ. (Bijhan
Nasser-Faili, Essays on Doctrine: Nine Articles Relating to the Doctrine of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [3d ed.; Antum
Publications, 2020], 9)
Further Reading