Today I received an e-mail asking about the divinity of Christ — and a word without the “i”, or in Greek, an “iota”. One may quip, “That doesn’t make an iota of difference!”
But it DOES!
Tom wrote:
I heard you with Teresa Tomeo this morning. You gave an explanation of removing the letter iota from a particular word changed the meaning of it. I think that it was in the context of meaning “like God” or “is God” .
I was wondering if you could provide that explanation again, so I can gain a better understanding.
Tom, you ask a very good question. It is such a good question that it consumed the early Church for the first four centuries, and wars were fought over it, and creeds were written about it, and we still recite those creeds today.
The council that defined this definitively was the Council of Nicea in AD 325, exactly 1700 years ago, we are celebrating that anniversary this year.
To your point:
In AD 325, the Council of Nicea said Jesus was not created, nor did he have a beginning. He is eternally begotten of the Father and the same substance as the Father and the Holy Spirit. There is one God, but three Persons who make up that godhead. There was never a time when he was not God the Son.
A priest named Arius started a heretical movement known as Arianism. He stated that God created Jesus and he was not of the same substance or nature as God the Father.
There is an important technical Greek word that can be written with or without an iota (i) which made all the difference in the definition defined by the Church. The iota is the Greek vowel for “I”.
Here are the two words: one with the i included, the other with the i excluded. That small iota gives two words very different meanings.
Homoousios = same substance as the Father
Homoiousios = not of the same substance, a similar but different substance
NOTICE: the Greek letter “i” (iota) is the only difference. That is why in popular language today someone may say, “It doesn’t make one iota of difference.” Many people say it but have NO IDEA what it means or where it came from.
It makes a huge, profound difference! Without the iota it means “of the same divine substance or nature” — Jesus is God! With the iota it means “of a different substance” — Jesus is NOT God
It is a very small letter worth fighting over!
Also, see the Catechism, par. 465.