The Cross Means Nothing if Christ is Not God

A Faith Built on a Creature Is No Faith at All

“Those who deny that the Son is God, deny the Father also.” St. Athanasius, the “hammer” of the Arians

If Jesus Christ were a creature—made, and not begotten—then He would not be God. 

And if He is not God, there is no salvation. Because no creature can save another creature.

Only God saves.

This is the entire point of the Nicene Creed:

“God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father.”

Why did the Church fight so fiercely against Arianism?

Because Arianism destroys Christianity at its root. It turns Christ into a kind of “super-angel,” which means the Incarnation was not God Himself taking on our nature; just some spiritual middle-manager pretending to be God. That is blasphemy.

What is the Heresy of Arianism?

Arius – 4th Century Priest and Heretic:

“The Son is not eternal or co-eternal or co-unbegotten with the Father. He did not exist before He was begotten. The Son has a beginning, but God is without beginning.”

Arianism is the ancient heresy that claimed Christ was not truly God, but a created being—exalted, powerful, even heavenly, but not equal with the Father.

It began with Arius, a 4th-century priest who could not accept the mystery that the Son is eternally begotten, not made. By calling Christ a creature, Arianism stripped the Incarnation of its meaning and reduced the Cross to the death of a mere man. The Church recognized immediately that this was not a minor theological mistake, but a denial of Christianity itself—and the early councils fought it with everything they had.

These passages alone are fatal to Arianism:

John 20:28
Thomas does not call Him “a messenger.” He calls Him:
“My Lord and my God.”
Colossians 2:9
“For in Christ the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily.“
Titus 2:13
“Waiting for the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.“

This is why the Church did not treat Arianism as a harmless philosophical disagreement.

The Nicene Creed (325 A.D.)

We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only-begotten Son of God,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
consubstantial with the Father.

It goes straight to the heart of the faith. If Christ is not God, then the entire structure of Christianity falls apart—not gradually, but all at once. The Sacraments, the Gospel, the hope of salvation itself; all of it depends on the truth that the Son is of the same divine substance as the Father.

If Christ is not God, then every sacrament collapses. Not “becomes diminished” — but collapses, and here is why:

Because:

1. The Cross

If Christ is only a creature, then the Cross is the suffering of just another man.

• A creature cannot bridge the infinite gap between fallen humanity and the Almighty God.

• A creature’s death cannot atone for the sins of the world.

• A creature cannot offer a sacrifice of infinite value.

So the Cross, without Christ’s divinity, becomes:

• A tragic execution.

• A martyrdom at best.

• A symbolic gesture with no real power.

If the Cross has no divine power, then there is no redemption and we remain bound to our sins, with no chance of salvation.

2. The Eucharist

If Christ is not God, then:

• The Eucharist cannot be His Body.

• It cannot be His Blood.

• It cannot convey grace.

• It cannot transform the soul in holiness.

At that point, we are merely eating bread and performing a sentimental reenactment of the Last Supper.

• No Real Presence.

• No Communion with God.

• Just a ritual meal between creatures.

• The entire foundation of Christian worship becomes a hollow performance.

“The Son is not like the Father by grace, but by nature. He is God from God.”

3. Baptism

If Christ is not God, then Baptism is:

• Not a rebirth.

• Not a washing of sin.

• Not a joining to Christ’s Body, the Church.

Because a creature cannot give the Holy Spirit, and Baptism is only regenerative by the Holy Spirit.

St. Cyril of Alexandria

So if Christ is not God, then Baptism is just:

• Bathwater and empty tradition.

• Ceremony and empty tradition.

• Social initiation and empty tradition.

• A symbolic gesture that does nothing and is merely empty tradition.

No grace. No new creation. And no adoption as sons and daughters of God.

⸻

St. Gregory of Nazianzus (The Theologian):
“What is not assumed is not healed.”
If Christ is not truly God and truly man, the human race is not saved.

The Entire Faith Stands or Falls on This One Truth

If Christ is not God:

• Incarnation is a myth.

• Salvation is a myth.

• Every sacrament is empty of grace, and only a myth.

• The Church has no authority, and Scripture is nothing but a beautiful MYTH.

This is why the Church Fathers fought Arianism so adamantly. Because the denial of Christ’s divinity is not a small error; it is the total annihilation of Christianity.

Either Christ is God, or Christianity is false.

There is no middle ground.

Which is why the Nicene Creed does not hedge its words:

“True God from True God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father.”

This is not poetry, but a line drawn in the bedrock of the Church. Cross it; and you have stepped out of the Christian faith and into heresy. 

St. Athanasius — the hammer of the Arians:
“If the Son is a creature, then we are worshiping a creature.
But if we worship a creature, we are no longer Christians.”

“He became what we are that He might make us what He is.”
(i.e., divinization is impossible unless He is God.)

A Christianity where Christ is not God is no Christianity at all. It is a hollow shell with the name “Jesus” — who is an IMPOSTER and not the True Jesus – pasted on it. 

This is why the Church draws the line here—hard and clear.

Either:

Christ is the Eternal Son, one in being with the Father, or you are outside the Christian faith. Not because of arrogance; but because Truth has boundaries that cannot be crossed. And this boundary is the cornerstone of the whole structure of Christianity. 

Arianism is NOT Christianity. 

St. Augustine:
“If Christ were not God, He could not be the Mediator of God and men.”

And so the question is not merely doctrinal — it is personal. If Christ is God, then He is not merely a teacher to admire, but a Lord to worship. He is the One before whom every knee shall bow. He is the Lamb upon the Throne. He is the Alpha and the Omega.

We either receive Him as True God, or we create a false christ in our own image.

There is no middle Christ.
There is no halfway divinity.
There is only the Eternal Son — or an idol.

Therefore:

Let us confess Him boldly. Worship Him rightly. And never be ashamed of the creed that proclaims Him.

“My Lord and my God.” (John 20:28)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

— Grace