Throughout the history of Christianity, we find the body of Christ or the Church had to contend with false teachers and their heretical doctrines. Just like how we have people today that distort the gospel and heterodox groups that do not hold to the core doctrines of the faith such as The Trinity, the early church fathers also had to face the infamous heresy of Arianism. If you have not heard of Arianism, no worries, below is a citation that briefly explains about Arianism:-
Arianism a movement in the early church that distinguished the divinity of God the Father from the divinity of Christ by arguing that Jesus was a created being. The movement derived from the teachings of Arius. In the early fourth century ad, the church was still debating the nature of Christ and his relationship to God the Father. Arius taught that Christ was a created being—the first one created by God the Father. This view made Christ subordinate to the Father and set off what is often called the “Arian controversy.” Church leaders opposed Arianism because they felt it denied full divinity to Jesus. The debate over Arianism raged throughout the fourth century, but the now-orthodox view that Christ was co-equal and co-eternal with the Father was strongly defended by the Cappadocian fathers: Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianus, and Gregory of Nyssa. The orthodox view was ultimately accepted as the official position of the Church at the Council of Constantinople in 381. After this, Arianism gradually died out.1
Based on the brief citation above, we can understand that Arianism is the belief that Jesus Christ is subordinate to the Father which makes him a creature rather than the Creator. That is a huge red flag and rightly so dealt with by the church fathers, thank God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit for preserving His Church from damnable heresies such as this. Now, we will spend the rest of the article to understand what the early church fathers – prior to Arius – believed regarding the deity of Christ and more importantly searching the scripture to ground our faith in Christ as our God and Saviour.
Ignatius
Lets first look at the writtings of Ignatius and how he proclaimed the name of Jesus.
There is one Physician who is possessed both of flesh and spirit; both made and not made; God existing in flesh; true life in death;
both of Mary and of God; first possible and then impossible, even Jesus Christ our Lord.2
Ignatius goes on to show that Jesus is the God-Man, the God that took on flesh, and ultimately proclaiming Jesus Christ as being God who is spirit but takes on the nature of man or flesh. How about another quotation:-
I pray for your happiness for ever in our God, Jesus Christ, by whom continue ye in the unity and under the protection of God, I salute Alce, my dearly beloved3
Another clear quotation from Ignatius and his belief in Jesus Christ as God. We also need to remember that Ignatius was not just an early church father but an Apostolic Father as he is known to be a disciple of the apostles themselves, specifically John the disciple of Christ. Hence, the believe of Jesus as God was not made up but rather the core teaching of the apostles of Christ that was further handed down to their disciples.
Justin Martyr
Another prominent early church father that we still have valuable writtings of, that enable us to understand the beliefs of the early church. And to keep this article as brief and readible as possible – as I want to look at the scriptures too – I just want to show you a quote from the works of Justin Martyr with his dialogue with Trypho:-
when I asserted that this power was begotten from the Father, by His power and will, but not by abscission, as if the essence of the Father were divided; as all other things partitioned and divided are not the same after as before they were divided4
In this chapter of his writting, Justin Martyr was basically affirming the belief that Jesus though is called the Begotten Son of God, He is in no way divided in substance from the Father, do go and read the whole chapter to get the fuller context of his belief. Take note also how Justin Martyr argues that if Jesus partioned or divided from the Father, then He cant be the same substance with the Father; as we find in scripture when Jesus again and again proclaims equality with the Father, which brings us to the most important part of this article, scriptural evidence for the Deity of Christ and Jesus being of the same essence or substance with the Father.
Scripture – Who did Jesus claim to be?
This is the most important part of this article and definitely holds more weight compared to the words of the church fathers, Here we will see what Jesus Christ himself claimed to be based on scripture.
The Eternal knowledge of the Father and the Son
27 “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. – Matthew 11:27 (NASB95)
In this verse, we find Jesus not only proclaiming that it is the Father who knows Him, but Jesus also says that it is ONLY THE SON that knows the Father. The literary declaration of Jesus simply means that He knows the Father just as much as the Father knows Him; and the term “know” is used in a manner to describe complete understanding and comprehension of each other. Can any creature or created being proclaim in having complete comprehension, understanding and recognition of God? Did not God say is Isaiah 55:8-9 that His thoughts and ways are higher, declaring to be distinct from creation, to be higher and greater than creation? Even the idea that God is eternal goes to show that Jesus has to possess the same nature as the Father to have the ability to fully comprehend Him.
The Glory of the Father and the Son
3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. – John 17:3–5 (NASB95)
The irony of this passage is that so many anti-trinitarians use this passage as a proof text to deny the deity of Christ because Jesus says that the Father is the ONLY TRUE GOD, logically how else is Jesus going to address His Father when there is ONLY ONE GOD! Often times, people tend to just pick verses that suit their ideology rather than just letting scripture speak. In this very passage, Jesus goes on to assert his deity and this time in his equal glory with the Father. In John 17:4-5, Jesus goes on to ask His Father to glorify Him together with His Father, that HE HAD PRIOR TO THE WORLD; again can any creature say this to God? In essence, Jesus is not only saying that the Father is the only true God but also affirming His deity and equality with the Only True God which means Jesus is the only true God. See why Trinitarians believe that Jesus is distinct from the Father yet One in substance and essence.
We are One
27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 “I and the Father are one.” – John 10:27–30 (NASB95)
In this passage, Jesus claims to be the one who gives eternal life, something that no creature can ever give but more clearly seen in the next statement said by Jesus, where He claims to have the ability to save and protect his sheep just as His Father also does. To make things even more clearer, Jesus plainly says that He and His Father are One. We also should distinguish that Jesus is not claiming to be the Father, rather proclaiming his equality with the Father and that they are ONE in unity. The phrase “I and the Father are one” in Greek goes like this; “ego kai ho pater esmen hen“; where the Greek word esmen is used in the sense of first person plural, meaning Jesus say that He and His Father, WE ARE ONE, this oneness is seen as the unity between the Father and the Son where again no creature can claim to be.
In conclusion, in no way we find Jesus claiming to be subordinate to the Father in power, glory and nature, in no way we find church fathers such as Ignatius and Justin Martyr (and many more that I have not mentioned here) to say that Jesus is begotten in the sense that He is created and subordinate to the Father. What we do see from scripture is that Jesus is said to be distinct from the Father yet One with Him in power, glory and knowledge; to be more specific Jesus is of the same substance or essense with His Father which is the core of Trinitarianism. Hope this article was helpful and edifying, till next time,
God Bless and keep Exploring Theology!
Reference
1 Barry, J. D., Bomar, D., Brown, D. R., Klippenstein, R., Mangum, D., Sinclair Wolcott, C., … Widder, W. (Eds.). (2016). Arianism. In The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
2Ignatius Epistle to the Ephesians Chapter 7 – Beware of False Teachers
3Ignatius Epistle to the Polycarp Chapter 8 – Let other churches also send to Antioch
4Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho – Chapter CXXVIII.—The Word is sent not as an inanimate power, but as a person begotten of the Father’s substance.
[NOTE: All Bold/Italic/Underline are mine for the purpose of emphasis]