Arianism - Mark of the Beast

Was the Arian Son Really a Creature? Rethinking Nicaea

Andries Van Niekerk / August 31, 2026

Popular church history often characterizes fourth-century non-Nicene (“Arian”) theology as reducing the Son to a mere “creature” created out of non-existence. However, modern patristic scholarship (including Lewis Ayres, R.P.C. Hanson, Khaled Anatolios, and Rowan Williams) demonstrates that this binary distinction between uncreated God and created non-God was not a shared starting premise, but rather an outcome of the fourth-century debates. Non-Nicenes like Eusebius of Caesarea placed the Son within a unified divine hierarchy (trias), holding that He was uniquely begotten out of the Father’s divine being before all time. This post examines how the “Son as creature” framing originated as a brilliant polemical strategy by Athanasius to simplify his opponents’ nuanced subordinationism—a narrative that has persisted for over 1,500 years due to pedagogical convenience, apologetic utility, and historiographical inertia.

Arianism

Are Jehovah’s Witnesses Arians? A Historical Comparison

Andries Van Niekerk / August 29, 2026

This article examines whether the theology of Jehovah’s Witnesses can accurately be classified as “Arian.” While both Watchtower doctrine and 4th-century Arianism reject the Nicene Trinity—viewing the Son as a generated, non-eternal being subordinate to God the Father—significant theological differences separate the two systems. By evaluating key criteria including the origin of the Son, substance categories (ousia), the identity of Michael the Archangel, the nature of Christ’s incarnation, the status of the Holy Spirit, and the legitimacy of worshipping Jesus, the author highlights where Jehovah’s Witness theology diverges from historical Arian and Eusebian traditions. The study concludes that while Jehovah’s Witnesses share notable subordinationist affinities with early anti-Nicene movements, their rejection of Christ’s worship, reduction of the Holy Spirit to an impersonal force, and unique angelic Christology place them outside classical Arianism, making “Arian-like” a far more accurate historical description.

Arianism

Andries Van Niekerk / August 11, 2026

From ancient times, many writers believed that Arius inherited his heresy from the third-century theologian Paul of Samosata. Paul taught that Jesus Christ had no personal pre-existence. In his view, Jesus was a mere man whom God adopted as His Son. This teaching is commonly called Adoptionism. Paul was condemned for these views by a council at Antioch in 268.