Galatians 1:6-7 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.
What happened in the Church of God in Galatia at that time that made Apostle Paul use such strong words? After Jesus’ ascension, Satan made use of false doctrines to lead people away from salvation by incorporating false teachings into the gospel of Jesus Christ. This scheme of Satan which had amplified following the death of Jesus and the Apostles, reached its peak at the Council of Nicaea.
1. What is the Council of Nicaea?
In A.D. 325, the Council of Nicaea—the first worldwide religious council—was convened by Constantine I, the 57th emperor of the Roman Empire. The council marked an important point in Church history, as the disputes and decisions made at the Council led to much bloodshed, resulting in a dark chapter in the history of Christianity and the world.
The Council of Nicaea—the first worldwide religious council, held in A.D. 325 1)
2. Why Was the Council of Nicaea Instituted?
The Council of Nicaea was convened mainly to settle the dispute over Arianism as well as the controversies surrounding the Passover.
A) Arianism Controversies
Constantine I, the 57th emperor of the Roman Empire
After surveying his new domains as the new emperor of both the Eastern and Western Roman Empire, Constantine was appalled to find his new territories split by its own conflict—a ‘theological trifle’. The question that divided them was to dominate the whole century and beyond: who is Jesus? The church worshipped him as God, the New Testament called him God; and yet if the scriptures are clear about anything, it was that there was one God and that worshipping anyone else was blasphemous idolatry. Then how does it add up? How are the two, one?
Teaching the Trinity came to become a tricky balance. So Arius, the elder of a church in Alexandria, tried to end the confusion and started a theological world war. Using the words of Apostle Paul in Colossians 1:15, Arius founded a new doctrine, claiming that since Jesus is ‘the firstborn over all creation’, he is immeasurably greater, more glorious and more godlike than creation, but a creation nonetheless. Older than time, he is not as old as God; prior to all creation, he is not uncreated. Arius still calls him God, but it reads like an honorary title.
Click here to read more about the Arianism controversy.
B) Passover Controversies
Jesus kept the Passover at twilight on the 14th day of the first month by the sacred calendar, died on the cross on the Feast of the Unleavened Bread and was resurrected on Sunday (the day of Firstfruits). So the early Church continued to keep the Passover on the evening of the 14th day of the first month according to the will of Christ (1 Corinthians 5:7; 11:23-26); the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Mark 2:19-20) on the 15th day; and the Resurrection Day on the following Sunday by breaking bread (Acts 20:6-7; Luke 24:30-31).
After the death of Jesus and all His disciples, the church in Rome—the capital of the world at that time—began to influence all the other churches in the world. They refused to have the Holy Supper on the Passover but had it on Sunday [Resurrection Day] after the Passover. They combined the two feasts—the Passover and the Resurrection Day—which are completely distinct and created a custom of having the Holy Supper on Sunday when Jesus was resurrected. Anicetus and Victor, the Bishops of Rome advocated the abolishment of the Passover but failed.
Click here to read more about the Passover controversy.
3. Decisions Made At the Council of Nicaea
A) Definition of Trinity—The Nicene Creed
The Council of Nicaea—establishment of the Nicene Creed 2)
At that moment, the doctrine of Origen from Alexandria (A.D. 185-254) which takes the mid-way of the 2 theories, seemed to have won: God exists in a hierarchy—Son and Spirit receiving their divinity from the Father, equally eternal and perfectly united.
When in A.D. 325, the Emperor Constantine ultimately convened the Council of Nicaea in modern day Turkey, to decide who Jesus was. In order to dispose of Arius, Constantine commanded the 300 bishops who were present at the council to create an anti-Arian “creed” doctrine to kill off the heresy, basing it on Origen’s theory, such that all of Christianity would follow and obey. This doctrine came to be called the “Nicene Creed”, which declared that God and Jesus Christ are of the same substance.
Afterwards, the Nicene Creed was accepted as legitimate. This Nicene “Trinitarianism” was adopted as a basic formula of belief by the Roman Catholic Church that led the Dark Ages, and also by many Protestant churches that appeared after the Reformation. However, this creed did not approach the core of the “Trinity”, being still very vague. That is why many Christians and even theologians today, who claim to believe in the Trinity, cannot easily accept the fact that “Jesus Christ is God”, even though they acknowledge that “Jesus is the Son of God”.
Click here to read more about the decisions made regarding the definition of the Trinity.
B) Change of Passover Date—Establishment of Easter
Jesus Christ kept the Passover of the New Covenant with His disciples—a feast later abolished at the Council of Nicaea 3)
Despite the failed efforts of Anicetus and Victor to abolish the Passover, the Passover controversy arose again in the 4th century at the Council of Nicaea. The religious assembly decided in favour of the church of Rome that they would abolish the Passover on the 14th day of the first month by the sacred calendar, and instead celebrate the Holy Supper on the Resurrection Day.
However, since the Biblical standards to determine the date of this new “combined celebration” have been abolished, the first Sunday after the full moon of the vernal equinox, which is not from the Bible, was adopted to mark the Resurrection Day, or henceforth known as Easter Sunday.
Click here to read more about the decisions made regarding the change of Passover date.
4. Consequences on Modern-day Christianity
The Council of Nicaea is the most important event of the 4th century. The mercilessly scheming victory of a dangerous error is of far greater consequence to the progress of true civilisation than all the bloody victories of Constantine and his successors. It forms an epoch in the history of doctrine, putting an end to all previous discussions on the deity of Christ and the Passover, and at the same time, regulating the further development of the modern theology for centuries.
Galatians 1:6-7 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.
During the time of the early Church, the Apostle Paul severely rebuked the Christians in the Church of God in Galatia for turning away from the gospel teachings of Jesus and the Disciples and following a different gospel instead. Then what about the decisions made at the Council of Nicaea, which forms the basis of modern-day Christian theology? Should we build our faith on the gospel of the early Church or on the verdict of the Council of Nicaea?
History says it all. There is no doubt that most Christians nowadays don’t know that they are following a different gospel other than the one that was preached by Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago. Instead of keeping man-made doctrines such as Sunday service and Christmas, which will never lead us to salvation, let us instead keep the New Covenant Feasts of God as written in the Bible. I hope that in the year 2019, all of our loving brothers and sisters can recieve eternal blessings from our Elohim God by keeping the Feasts of God and to enter the kingdom of heaven at last :).
You sure know what you’re talking about. Everyone is going to soon be visiting your site.
Great information. Lucky me I found your website by accident (stumbleupon).
I’ve book marked it for later!
Its like you read my mind! You seem to know so
much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something.
I think that you can do with some pics to drive the message home a little bit, but other than that, this is wonderful blog.
A fantastic read. I will certainly be back.
Thanks God Elohim. We are heavenly family .I love God the father and God the mother .
I wondered why God, who can do everything, would have the Passover abolished through the Council of Nicaea. But now I realize that it was to show us what God’s love is. Thanks to Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother!!
It’s very bad news the passover which given by God was abolished by people.
Thanks Father and Mother so much!
as God’s people it is basic to keep the Passover which Jesus established by sacrificing .
Thru the history we can understand that God never said that we don’t need to keep the Passover.
So we SHOULD keep the Passover~!
Through this article, I understand the amazing facts about the Council of Nicaea.
We can not abolish the commandments of God with any cause.
Amen! Nowhere in the bible God said keep the Easter instead of Passover. We should keep the Passover because our God want us to. Singapore zion Animo! We are seprated now, but we can be happy together very soon!
Great thanks to Elohim God for allowing us this informative article. Hope everyone living on earth gets to know this important fact and truth so that he shall not be deceived by falsehood any more.
Let’s learn the importance of Passover.. the way to EL..
Before I went to WMSCOG, I thought the Passover is abolished by God. However, I know the truth after studying about the history of the Passover. I want to everyone come to Zion and study about it! 🙂
We should find out how God gives salvation through the bible, which is the ultimate way to heaven 🙂
We need to find out through the bible what God teaches us to give us salvation, instead of just listening to what others say 😊
Wow! Shocking to me as a Christian… thanks for doing up the research on history of Christianity.
I realise a lot more of early churches compare to modern day theology.
We must know and keep the Truth of God. One of the Truth is Passover of the New Covenant for our Salvation.
This matter should be known to everybody living on earth!
Many people must know about it !
Satans changed the commandments of God, but our God has established the New covenant again.
Wow such hard solid evidence. Amazing!
Many people don’t know the history.
They must know it and realize God’s truth.
It was prophecy of God who moves the world history. The truth of God disappeared in there. However, It appeared again at the scheduled time. Christ Ahnsahnghong who is our savior in the age of the Holy spirit, restored all feast and rule of God following the prophecy of the Bible. I give eternal thank to Christ Ahnsahnghong because he has brought back the lost truth of life.
It is such a great article. Clearly shows how the Passover of the New Covenant is abolished. Even though it has been abolished during the dark ages. But it has been restored again so that we may received eternal life when we keep passover od the new covenant.
Who could let us know this important truth? None other than God!! Very thankful to be a member of WMSCOG where Elohim God dwell and let us know all the truths which are critically related with our salvation!!
I always wondered where the word Easter is from in the Bible…
It’s from Council of Nicaea not from the Bible…
How can a anyone change Passover to Easter?
Let’s keep Passover that God Himself established, instead of Easter!
We need to know exactly God’s sayings. When we believe in God, the believe isn’t based on the Bible, God’s saying, we must correct our believe.
We can clearly see how at the council of nicaea, God’s commandments had been changed when God said we should neither add nor take away God’s words. I hope people who believe in God will know this important piece of history.
We must know what is true. Passover of the New Covenant was abolished through the council of nicaea by man. But the Passover is the only way to receive Salvation.
Oh … so nice article! Summarize the history of Christianity well👍 Thanks to Elohim God for leading me to WMSCOG where the new covenant Passover is being kept.
Truth with evidence. False teachings are everywhere while the truth is already here!
I feel so shocked by the truth! Thanks to God allow us to know. Let’s keep Passover together!
Wow. What a great article! The people at this church are surely truthseekers. 😄
Amazing, I didn’t know that there was so much history going on! Of course we must build our faith on the gospel of Jesus Christ!
oh…. now i understand! thanks to God! gonna keep the Passover from now on!
God bless you.
We have the 2nd passover on May 10th.
A fresh perspective to an age-old subject matter. Good job!
when we study the world history,we could know how was the Passover abolished n when was it and by whom. Our God, Jesus Christ established the Passover. but, it was changed by empire of Rome, Constantine as you read the article in A. D 325 after Jesus ascended. Since that from Christians have no any acknowledgement of Passover n Sabbath Day even not keep them. How poor !! That’s why God has come again to recover to the earth
Amazing! All Christians must definitely know this fact!!!