Arius v. Alexander

Question 1

What, according to Arius, is it that he and his compatriots say and think, that which they have taught and do teach?

Answer 1

…before he was begotten or created or defined or established, he was not. For he was not unbegotten.

Question 2

What are the two (different) sayings that Arius lists for their persecution?

Answer 2

• Son has a beginning, but God is without beginning.

- He is from nothing

Question 3

How many hypostases does Arius say constitute God?

Answer 3

3 – Father Son and HS

Arius says that says that only the hypos of the father is divine.

Question 4

What are the hypostases that he identifies AND what are the defining characteristics of each?

Answer 4

1. God – cause of all, without beginning, most alone (supremely unique)
2. Son – begotten by the father, created and founded before the ages, was not before he was begotten

Question 5

Arius distinguishes the Son from the rest of the created order, how is “the Son begotten” AND who caused the Son to subsist according to Arius?

Answer 5

Son begotten by the father TIMELESSLY; before everything else
Caused to subsist by the Father; directly created by the father and the Son creates everything else

Question 6

In the final few sentences of section 4 Arius then moves to distinguish the Son from the Father, state his (3) main points.

Answer 6

1. Not everlasting or co-everlasting or unbegotten with the father
2. Does not have being with the Father (because otherwise there would be two sources/Gods)
3. God is the monad and cause therefore before the Son

Question 7

What are the three logical propositions of Arianism?

Answer 7

1. God is one.
2. God is uncaused
   a. God is unoriginate (agenema) meaning umproduced/without a beginning. There is no room for causality in God.
3. Begotten language (gennema) is causal
   a. To be born/begotten is the same as to be originate/produced/caused
   b. You can’t use this language for something that is eternal

Question 8

What is Alexander’s stance on Arianism?

Answer 8

1. God is one (agrees)
2. God is uncaused
   a. But denies that There is no room for causality
   b. It’s proper to speak of God as uncaused in relation to all the created stuff but it IS proper to speak in terms of God being caused within the Godhead (ie. Son being caused by the Father/gennema)
   c. Alexander says begotten is NOT made; begotten specifically refers to the relationship between the Father and the Son but not in a created way
   d. Alexander = Begotten, NOT MADE
3. Begotten language is causal
   a. BUT Strictly between the Godhead

Question 9

How does Alexander summarize Arius’ theology?

Answer 9

1. There was once when the Son of God was not
2. He who before was not, later came into existence; and when he came into existence, he baceme as every human being is by nature
3. For God made all things from nothing, including the Son of God

Question 10

What is a 2-Point Summary of Arius’ Theology?

Answer 10

1. The Son is not eternal, he has a beginning

2. The generation of the Son is like the creation of any other creature: he was made from nothing.

Question 11

What kind of nature do “they (Arians) even say that he (the Son) is of” according to Alexander?

Answer 11

Mutable nature, capable of both virture and evil

Question 12

When Arius says that we can become sons of God just like the Son of God what is he saying about the nature of the Son of God?

Answer 12

His nature is just like ours.

“Then we too are able to become sons of God, just as he.”

Question 13

What scripture does Alexander use to support his claim that the Father and the Word are inseparable?

Answer 13

John 1:1, 3

Question 14

how does the fact that the Word gave existence to all things show that the Word can’t be something that came into existence itself (that the Word “once was not”)?

Answer 14

The Word, that which makes, is not defined so as to be of the same nature as those who came into existence

Question 15

How does the Word’s creation of time itself enable Alexander to counter the Arian affirmation that an “interval (of time) preceded the Wisdom of God which fashioned all things”?

Answer 15

If the Word brought time into existence there can’t be time before the Word.
Then scripture would be false in proclaiming that he is firstborn of every creature.

Question 16

What is Alexander’s argument that there never was a time when the Son was not?

Answer 16

The father is always the father of the always present son.

Question 17

How does the Sonship of the Son, the Savior, differs from the sonship of all other beings?

Answer 17

His sonship possesses the nature of his paternal divinity; they share the same nature
All others are like sons through him by grace/adoption; receive this adoption through the Son

Question 18

Where does Alexander say the only-begotten nature stands with respect to the unbegotten nature of the Father and the “rational and irrational” natures of the created order?

Answer 18

“He possesses an immutable nature, being perfect and in want of nothing, but they who are subject to change in either of two ways need assistance from him.”

Question 19

What does Alexander say “we have learned” about the Son in comparison to the Father?

Answer 19

wanting only his unbegotten character

Question 20

Alexander - When we say we believe “the Son always is from the Father”, no one should take the “always” as a reference to what supposition?

Answer 20

As a reference to the supposition that he is unbegotten… for “he was” or “always” or “before the ages” are not the same thing as unbegotten.

Question 21

What must we affirm about the Father and Son, according to Alexander, in order to preserve “the characteristic high status” of the Father and “the befitting honor” of the Son?

Answer 21

• no one is the cause of being

- the befitting honor must be assigned to the Son by ascribing to him generation without beginning from the Father