The Importance of the Early Ecumenical Councils

      Before 300 A.D., most churches had very few documents outlining the faith.  In fact, churches were more localized than they were connected.  At this time the canon of Scripture did not exist, and churches were lucky to have portions of the New Testament Scriptures.  As a result of this localization and lack of canon, there was no universally accepted set of doctrines unifying the Early Church churches. The early ecumenical councils were very important to the solidification of key doctrines of the Christian faith.
      When the third century came to a close, it opened the fourth as a period of change for Christianity.  In 312, Emperor Constantine of Rome converted to Christianity after seeing a vision, which came true, of a banner of the cross leading him to victory in battle.  With Constantine's conversion came a dramatic shift for Christianity.  Though Rome persecuted Christianity before Constantine, Christianity suddenly became tolerated and promoted within the Roman Empire. At this time the Church began to take on a more episcopal structure. 
      After Constantine converted to Christianity, he noticed that there were many divisions within the Church and wanted to reunify the Christian Church.  One reason of the divisions was a debate over the divinity/humanity of Christ between followers of Arius who believed Jesus was fully human yet not divine, the followers of Docetism who viewed Christ as fully God yet only appearing human, and those who believed that Christ was fully human and fully divine.  In order to reunify the Church, Constantine called for all of the bishops of the surrounding areas to gather in Nicea (325 A.D.).  This council, known as the Council of Nicea, came together to place in writing the keystone doctrines of the Christian faith against heresies. 
      On top of the Council of Nicea there are six other ecumenical councils, namely: the Council of Constantinople (381), the Council of Ephesus (431), the Council of Chalcedon (451), the Council of Constantinople II (553), the Council of Constantinople III (680), and the Council of Nicea II (787).  All of these councils were reactions against heresies to defend the orthodox Christian faith. The ecumenical councils were and are important, because they helped define the core core doctrines of Christianity while exposing heresies as false doctrine.  At a time when the New Testament canon was scarce, the councils provided Christian orthodoxy for the Church and set the standard for Christendom. 
      Today, the ecumenical councils shine light into the the history of Christianity.  For the modern day theologian, the creeds provide insight into the integral doctrines of the faith.  Though the creeds are not inspired as Scripture, they are a witness to doctrines found within Scripture.  The council's creeds reveal the Church's effort to proclaim the timeless truths revealed in Scripture during a time of theological reaction to false teachings.