LUTHER 1527 The Council of Nicaea, 325

LUTHER 1527

With this rancor, however, my dear fanatics prepare the way for the virtual denial of Christ, God, and everything. In part, already, they have made a start at believing nothing at all.  (Perhaps Luther was thinking of such a statement as that of Zwingli: “Almost everything the Hebrews, Christ, Paul, and the apostles said, I call a trope.” Reply to Bugenhagen. C. R. 91, 575; St. L. 20, 519. Cf. p. 16, n. 7.) They follow the fancy of reason, which they expect to lead them aright. But this scoffing only serves the purpose of stirring up the foolish masses, who do not trouble themselves with Scriptures. They themselves know perfectly well that all their heathenish vomiting proves nothing against this article, or if it disproves this one, it also disproves all articles. For God’s Word is always folly to reason, I Corinthians 1[:18]. Therefore they would keep silent about all this if they were really in earnest about the Scriptures and did not have hearts full of sheer rancor and unbelief which had to spill out of their mouths. More on this subject later.-Martin Luther

The Council of Nicaea, 325.

In reference to the theological question the council was divided in the beginning into three parties.
The orthodox party, which held firmly to the deity of Christ, was at first in the minority, but in talent and influence the more weighty. At the head of it stood the bishop (or “pope”) Alexander of Alexandria, Eustathius of Antioch, Macarius of Jerusalem, Marcellus of Ancyra, Rosins of Cordova (the court bishop), and above all the Alexandrian archdeacon, Athanasius, who, though small and young, and, according to later practice not admissible to a voice or a seat in a council, evinced more zeal and insight than all, and gave promise already of being the future head of the orthodox party.
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH Schaff Volume 3 NICENE AND POST-NICENE CHRISTIANTY A.D. 311-600
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