Why was the Third Council of Toledo important?

In AD 589, Christians in Spain met in the city of Toledo to discuss the condition of the Spanish church. During the fourth and fifth centuries, Christians in Spain followed the teachings of the Arian church, which denied the doctrine of the Trinity. At the Third Council of Toledo, the Spanish church rejected Arianism and joined the other Western churches in affirming the apostles’ teaching about Jesus Christ. The council also mended a break between Spain and Rome.

Christianity came to Spain during the first century AD, possibly through the apostle Paul himself. Missionaries from modern Turkey, Italy, and France also brought the gospel to Spain when the nation was part of the Roman Empire in the first and second centuries. As a result, the Spanish church thrived and sent bishops to the Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople in 325 and 381, respectively. At these councils, the church discussed the doctrine of the Trinity. They addressed the question of whether Jesus was fully God or merely a created being. A teacher named Arius argued that the Son was created, but the councils rejected his teaching as unbiblical. Even so, Arianism continued to spread in parts of Europe.

In the following decades, the Visigoth tribe moved into Spain from modern Germany and Sweden. They defeated the Romans as they traveled south and conquered the nation. During the 400s AD, Arian missionaries converted the Visigoths to their false version of Christianity. For nearly two hundred years, the Visigoths remained divided from the churches of Rome, Gaul, and Britain because of their different beliefs about Christ. Their acceptance of Arianism created a lasting theological division within Western Christianity.

During the sixth century, church leaders from other parts of Western Europe encouraged the Visigoths to abandon Arianism and embrace orthodox Christian teaching. Bishop Leander of Seville became the leader in this effort. For many years, Leander preached and taught among the Visigoths. His ministry helped prepare the way for the Third Council of Toledo in AD 589, where the Visigoth church officially rejected Arianism and affirmed the doctrine of the Trinity.

Two previous councils took place in Toledo in 400 and 527. Both councils were small and sought to persuade the Spanish church to accept the teachings of the Council of Nicaea. Toledo was a large city in central Spain and allowed Christians from across the country to meet without traveling far. Then, throughout the 560s and 570s, Bishop Leander worked to organize a third council at Toledo. This time, he was confident the Spanish church, led by the king of the Visigoths, would join the rest of Europe in recognizing the biblical doctrine of the Trinity.

The Third Council of Toledo is also important because of its connection to the Filioque controversy. Filioque is a Latin word meaning "and from the Son." At Toledo, the Western church added this phrase to the Council of Nicaea’s statement–the Nicene Creed. The creed originally said that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father. The churches of Italy, Spain, France, England, and Germany believed that the Bible taught the Spirit also proceeded from Jesus the Son. They made this doctrine official at the Third Council of Toledo.

The addition of the Filioque clause became a major source of disagreement between the churches of the West and the East. Christians in modern Turkey, Greece, Syria, Egypt, and Israel deeply resented the Western churches for making a change to the Nicene Creed without consulting them. Over the following centuries, this disagreement became one of several issues that contributed to the formal split between the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches in 1054.

Finally, the Christians at the Third Council of Toledo caused tension with the sizable Jewish population in Spain. One of the council's decrees prohibited Jews from holding most government offices, marrying Christians, or owning Christian slaves. Thus, Jews had little representation in or protection from the Spanish government.

The Third Council of Toledo brought Spain into the broader Christian church while creating conflict with the Eastern church and the Jewish community. At the same time, its decisions contributed to later conflict with the Eastern churches and placed new restrictions on Spain's Jewish population.