Ignatius was a personal disciple of the Apostle John and became the Bishop of the Church at Antioch. He lived between the time of 50-100 AD. He was executed around the end of the first century. Here is what he said concerning Jesus Christ:
"I pray for your happiness forever in our God, Jesus Christ."
"Continue in intimate union with Jesus Christ, our God."
Justin Martyr lived between the time of 110-165 AD. He was a converted philosoper and became a tireless evangelist. His works are the earliest Christian apologies in existence. He was executed during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, about 165 AD. Here is what he believed about Christ:
"The Word......He is Divine."
"The Father of the universe has a Son. And He, being the First-Begotten Word of God, is even God."
"He deserves to be worshipped as God and as Christ"
"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."
Irenaeus (120-205 AD) Bishop of the Church at Lyons, France and a pupil of Polycarp. His beliefs concerning Jesus Christ were as follows:
"I have shown from the Scriptures that none of the sons of Adam are, absolutely and as to everything, called God, or named Lord. But Jesus is Himself in His own right, beyond all men who ever lived, God, Lord, King Eternal, and the Incarnate Word....He is the Holy Lord, the Wonderful, the Counselor, the Beautiful in appearance, and the Mighty God."
"Thus He indicates in clear terms that He is God, and that His advent in Bethlehem...God, then, was made man, and the Lord did Himself save us."
"He is God, for the name Emmanuel indicates this."
"It is plain that He was Himself the Word of God, who was made the son of man. He received from the Father the power of remission of sins. He was man, and He was God. this was so that since as man He suffered for us, so as God He might have compassion on us."
Clement of Alexandria lived between 150-200 AD. He was Presbyter in the Church at Alexandria, Egypt. He was in charge of the school of instruction there for new Christians. Here's His testimony concerning Christ:
"He is God in the form of man, stainless, the minister of His Father's will, the Word who is God, who is in the Father, who is at the Father's right hand. And with the form of God, He is God."
"O the great God! O the perfect child! The Son in the Father and the Father in the Son....God the Word, who became man for our sakes."
"Our Instructor is the holy God Jesus, the Word."
"Nothing then, is hated by God, nor yet by the Word. For both are one--that is, God. For He has said, 'In the beginning the Word was in God, and the Word was God'".
Tertullian (140-230 AD): Leader in the Church at Carthage, North Africa, and one of the few early Christians who wrote in Latin. He wrote numerous apologies, works against heretics, and exhortations to other Christians. Here is his testimony concerning Christ Jesus:
""This opens the ears of Christ our God."
"We who believe that God really lived on earth,and took upon Him the low estate of human form, for the purpose of man's salvation, are very far from thinking as those do who refuse to believe that God cares for anything....Fortunately, however, it is a part of the creed of Christians even to believe that God did die, and yet that He is alive forevermore."
"Christ is received in the person of Christ, because even in this manner is He our God."
As you can see, the evidence of what the Early Church believed concerning Christ is quite overwhelming. What we must remember is that these are the men that the Apostles of our Lord passed their teachings down to. These are the men that were commissioned with the safeguarding of the Truth after the Apostles had died. Some of the Early Church Fathers were even discipled by the Apostles themselves!! And this is just a small sample of the myriads of quotations available! Now lets
go on to see WHY they believed what they did about Christ. Lets open God's Word!
