Arianism

Arianism is the Christological heresy which denies that the Lord Jesus Christ is truly God. Specifically, while Arians would refer to the Lord as the Son of God, they deny that the Son of God is Himself divine. It is named after the heresiarch Arius.

Arian teachings exist with a considerable variation in terminology, although in essence they are all oriented towards the same goal. This came about historically because as the Holy Fathers defeated the heretics in council, they repeatedly invented new ways of expressing their heresy and reinterpreting words, so that they may appear Orthodox to the laity and to the civil authorities. (The First Ecumenical Council had force of law.) This is also why the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed is verbose in calling the Lord “begotten of the Father before all ages” and “Light of Light, True God of True God” and in employing the term homoousios to prevent Arian heretics from wiggling through meanings which appear correct but nevertheless leave room for heretical interpretation.

Like virtually every heresy in existence, there are forms of Protestantism and its derivatives today which teach Arianism. The Jehovah's Witnesses are one such group.

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