Just this week Ligonier Ministries released the annual “Survey of Theology.” This year 3011 individuals were surveyed and 73% confessed their belief that “Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God.” This confession is 100% in line with Arian Christology which was condemned in the 4th century.
Christ cannot be the first and greatest of God’s creatures because God the Son is eternal with the Father and Spirit. The Word was with (in the state of being with) God when the beginning of space and time began (Jn. 1:1). God the Son was incarnate in Bethlehem, but his divine life is eternal as Micah said “from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days”(Micah 5:2). Even in God’s eternal timelessness, there never was a time when the Son was not.
God the Son cannot be a creature because God the Son shares the divine nature with the Father and Spirit. Jesus commanded the Gospel to be preached in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19-20). The three share the same “name” or essence. If one is eternally timeless, then the three must be eternally timeless. The Son is “The radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Heb. 1:3). Since the Son is the radiance and imprint of God’s essence, then the Son must be timelessly the same essence as the Father.
God the Son is the one through whom every created thing has been created (Jn. 1:3; Col. 1:16; 1 Cor. 8:6). Since every created thing was made by the Son it seems illogical to say that the Son himself was created.
Leo the Great summarized some great Christology when he preached
The Deity and the Manhood were present in Christ from the very first
Keep far from your hearts, dearly beloved, the poisonous lies of the devil’s inspirations, and knowing that the eternal Godhead of the Son underwent no growth while with the Father, be wise and consider that to the same nature to which it was said in Adam, “Thou art earth, and unto earth shall thou go,” it is said in Christ, “sit Thou on My right hand6.” According to that Nature, whereby Christ is equal to the Father, the Only-begotten was never inferior to the sublimity of the Father; nor was the glory which He had with the Father a temporal possession; for He is on the very right hand of the Father, of which it is said in Exodus, “Thy right hand, O Lord, is glorified in power;” and in Isaiah, “Lord, who hath believed our report? and the arm of the Lord, to whom is it revealed?” The man, therefore, assumed into the Son of God, was in such wise received into the unity of Christ’s Person from His very commencement in the body, that without the Godhead He was not conceived, without the Godhead He was not brought forth, without the Godhead He was not nursed. It was the same Person in the wondrous acts, and in the endurance of insults; through His human weakness crucified, dead and buried: through His Divine power, being raised the third day, He ascended to the heavens, sat down at the right hand of the Father, and in His nature as man received from the Father that which in His nature as God He Himself also gave.
Leo, Sermon 28.6
In the final analysis, we must agree that Jesus is true God. He said “unless you believe that I AM you shall die in your sins” (Jn. 8:24). Athanasius and others rose to the occasion to teach Chrisotlogical orthodoxy despite great opposition (see On the Incarnation). Soldiers of Christ must take up the Scriptures to defend and preach Christological orthodoxy today. Souls hang in the balance.
See the Ligonier Survey
https://thestateoftheology.com
Christianity Today Report on the Survey
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/september-web-only/state-of-theology-evangelical-heresy-report-ligonier-survey.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=article