2^nd Century Fathers' Witness

Second Century Church Fathers

JUSTIN MARTYR (AD 110–165)

 

For what is called by the Divine Spirit through the prophet “His robe,” are those men who believe in Him in whom abideth the seed of God, the Word. And what is spoken of as “the blood of the grape,” signifies that He who should appear would have blood, though not of the seed of man, but of the power of God. And the first power after God the Father and Lord of all is the Word, who is also the Son; and of Him we will, in what follows, relate how He took flesh and became man. (First Apology, Chapter XXXII.—Christ predictd by Moses.)
It is wrong, therefore, to understand the Spirit and the power of God as anything else than the Word, who is also the first-born of God, as the foresaid prophet Moses declared; and it was this which, when it came upon the virgin and overshadowed her, caused her to conceive, not by intercourse, but by power. (ibid., Chapter XXXIII.—Manner of Christ’s birth predicted)

But who, through the power of the Word, according to the will of God the Father and Lord of all, He was born of a virgin as a man, and was named Jesus, and was crucified, and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, an intelligent man will be able to comprehend from what has been already so largely said. (ibid., Chapter XLVI.—The Word in the world before Christ)

Now the Word of God is His Son, as we have before said. And He is called Angel and Apostle; for He declares whatever we ought to know, and is sent forth to declare whatever is revealed; as our Lord Himself says, “He that heareth Me, heareth Him that sent Me.” (ibid., Chapter LXIII.—How God appeared to Moses)
But so much is written for the sake of proving that Jesus the Christ is the Son of God and His Apostle, being of old the Word, and appearing sometimes in the form of fire, and sometimes in the likeness of angels; but now, by the will of God, having become man for the human race, He endured all the sufferings which the devils instigated the senseless Jews to inflict upon Him; who, though they have it expressly affirmed in the writings of Moses, (ibid.)

 

The Father of the universe has a Son; who also, being the first-begotten Word of God, is even God. And of old He appeared in the shape of fire and in the likeness of an angel to Moses and to the other prophets; but now in the times of your empire having, as we before said, become Man by a virgin, according to the counsel of the Father, for the salvation of those who believe on Him, He endured both to be set at nought and to suffer, that by dying and rising again He might conquer death. (ibid.)

But to the Father of all, who is unbegotten, there is no name given. For by whatever name He be called, He has as His elder the person who gives Him the name. But these words, Father, and God, and Creator, and Lord, and Master, are not names, but appellations derived from His good deeds and functions. And His Son, who alone is properly called Son, the Word, who also was with Him and was begotten before the works, when at first He created and arranged all things by Him, is called Christ, in reference to His being anointed and God’s ordering all things through Him; this name itself also containing an unknown significance; as also the appellation “God” is not a name, but an opinion implanted in the nature of men of a thing that can hardly be explained.
But “Jesus,” His name as man and Saviour, has also significance. For He was made man also, as we before said, having been conceived according to the will of God the Father, for the sake of believing men, and for the destruction of the demons.(Second Apology, Chapter VI.—Names of God and of Christ, their meaning and power)

Who He is that is called at one time the Angel of great counsel, and a Man by Ezekiel, and like the Son of man by Daniel, and a Child by Isaiah, and Christ and God to be worshipped by David, and Christ and a Stone by many, and Wisdom by Solomon, and Joseph and Judah and a Star by Moses, and the East by Zechariah, and the Suffering One and Jacob and Israel by Isaiah again, and a Rod, and Flower, and Corner-Stone, and Son of God, you would not have blasphemed Him who has now come, and been born, and suffered, and ascended to heaven; who shall also come again, and then your twelve tribes shall mourn. For if you had understood what has been written by the prophets, you would not have denied that He was God, Son of the only, unbegotten, unutterable God. (Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter CXXVI.—The various names of Christ according to both natures. It is shown that He is God, and appeared to the patriarchs.)

IRENÆUS(AD 120–202)

For it was for this end that the Word of God was made man, and He who was the Son of God became the Son of man, that man, having been taken into the Word, and receiving the adoption, might become the son of God. For by no other means could we have attained to incorruptibility and immortality, unless we had been united to incorruptibility and immortality. But how could we be joined to incorruptibility and immortality, unless, first, incorruptibility and immortality had become that which we also are, so that the corruptible might be swallowed up by incorruptibility, and the mortal by immortality, that we might receive the adoption of sons? ( Against Heresies: Book III, Chapter XIX.—Jesus Christ was not a mere man, begotten from Joseph in the ordinary course of nature, but was very God, begotten of the Father most high, and very man, born of the Virgin.)

THEOPHULIS OF ANTIOCH (THE 7TH BISHOP OF ANTIOCH, AD. 169 – AD 183)

Theophilus writes concerning the Pre-existant Word,

God, then, having His own Word internal within His own bowels, begat Him, emitting Him along with His own wisdom before all things. He had this Word as a helper in the things that were created by Him, and by Him He made all things. He (the Word) is called "governing principle,” because He rules, and is Lord of all things fashioned by Him. He (the Word), then, being Spirit of God, and governing principle, and wisdom, and power of the highest, came down upon the prophets, and through them spoke of the creation of the world and of all other things. (To Autolycus, book II, chapter X)

ATHENAGORAS (AD 177)

An Athenian philosopher who had embraced Christianity.

But the Son of God is the Logos of the Father, in idea and in operation; for after the pattern of Him and by Him were all things made, the Father and the Son being one. And, the Son being in the Father and the Father in the Son, in oneness and power of spirit, the understanding and reason ( νοῦς καὶ λόγος) of the Father is the Son of God. But if, in your surpassing intelligence, it occurs to you to inquire what is meant by the Son, I will state briefly that He is the first product of the Father, not as having been brought into existence (for from the beginning, God, who is the eternal mind [ νοῦς] , had the Logos in Himself, being from eternity instinct with Logos [ λογικός] ) ;

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA (AD 150 - AD 210/215)

But the nature of the Son, which is nearest to Him who is alone the Almighty One, is the most perfect, and most holy, and most potent, and most princely, and most kingly, and most beneficent. This is the highest excellence, which orders all things in accordance with the Father’s will, and holds the helm of the universe in the best way, with unwearied and tireless power, working all things in which it operates, keeping in view its hidden designs. For from His own point of view the Son of God is never displaced; not being divided, not severed, not passing from place to place; being always everywhere, and being contained nowhere; complete mind, the complete paternal light; all eyes, seeing all things, hearing all things, knowing all things, by His power scrutinizing the powers. To Him is placed in subjection all the host of angels and gods; He, the paternal Word, exhibiting the holy administration for Him who put [all] in subjection to Him . . . And that He whom we call Saviour and Lord is the Son of God, the prophetic Scriptures explicitly prove. (The Stromata, Book VII Chapter II)

Summary

It should be obvious from the sheer weight of evidence and quoted material, that the early First and Second Century Ekklesia believed that Jesus, born of Mary, was truly the ever-existing Word of God. This Word was always being in the beginning with God; it was always being equal with God, being (face to face) with God, because He was always being God. There was never a time the Word (Logos) did not exist, for He, the Son, was forever internal in the bosom of God [Jn. 1:18].

By His own will, God sent forth His Word, to be His helper in the creation of all things. Nothing came into being apart from God’s Word. Whenever God desired to speak and reveal Himself to His creation, He sent forth His Word, as His Apostle, to act and speak on His behalf. It was His Word who walked in the garden with Adam and Eve. It was His Word who visited Abraham, announcing the coming of Sarah’s promised seed. It was His Word who appeared to and spoke to Moses from the burning bush. It was His Word that lead the children of Israel through the wilderness, with the pillar of fire by night, and the cloud by day. It was His Word who spoke to the prophets to foretell His own coming to bring salvation to His people and the world.

And finally, it was this same Word which became flesh, and tabernacled among His people [John 1:14]. He came announcing the coming of the kingdom of God. When Jesus completed His Passion, the reason for which He came [Jn. 12:27], He was caught up unto God and to His throne, from whence He now rules the nations [Rev. 12:5].

I believe the New Testament writings were completed before the close of the First Century AD. Many, if not all of them, were completed before the fall of Jerusalem, in AD 70. These writings are the true record of the early Ekklesia that the Jewish Messiah indeed came, who was the son of David, and the Son of God, believed to be God in flesh. It is also apparent from the witness of the Church Fathers of the Second Century, that they too held this opinion. The deity of Jesus Christ was not something invented later in Church history, but was held from the beginning.