Why were the Councils of Nicea Necessary?
There were two main purposes of the Council of Nicea: 1. To end the debate on whether or not Jesus actually WAS God. There was little doubt that He was, in fact, the Son of God. But they weren’t sure He was actually God in human flesh. 2. Because of the influx of heretical teachings that were contrary to the original Gospels. By the fourth century A.D., MANY books had appeared with the claim that they were written by disciples. But they weren’t. They were written MUCH later. It was decided that they needed to have ONE last council to decide once and for all what was canonical. The process used for this included the age of the Gospels. Revelations is the “newest” book in the Bible. It was written in 95 A.D. (at the latest. Some scholars think that it may have been written as early as 85 A.D.), by the Apostle John. Great question, by the way.
Because Constantine needed a way to unite the Roman empire politically. He began putting money into the coffers of these early “churches” and getting their leaders in his back pocket. He called the Council of Nicea together for the express purpose of setting doctrine that would unite paganism with this jewish gnostic group. This would give him the power and puppets he needed to keep control. The debate over whether Jesus was divine was the biggest one they had. Many of the early believers felt this doctrine was blasphemous. But, Constantine insisted that they have one doctrine- and the council chose to go with Jesus being God.
