John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God."
Titus 2:13-14, “13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the
glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave
himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a
people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”
Jesus is the Eternal God-Man
The
doctrine of Jesus’ divinity was a sure thing among the first Christians because
the writers of the New Testament so clearly taught it and believed it even unto
death. Therefore, the wealth of quotes
and sources are great. I have chosen
just a few to prove the clarity in which the fathers declared Jesus’
divinity. Though it was never a question
to whether Jesus was divine, certain sects, like the Gnostics and Arians, had
heretical views of Jesus’ combination of divinity and humanity.
The
Gnostics denied Jesus humanity, and thus only considered him a divine spirit in
the form of man. And the Arians believed
Jesus was a lesser-created god and was not to be considered equal with the
father. However, neither of these views
tried to totally deny Jesus’ divinity because it was so clearly taught in
Scripture. This is good to remember when
dealing with Muslims and Atheists who try to teach that Jesus was not
considered a divine being until after the Council of Nicea. This was not true. Jesus was always considered divine; the only
debate with smaller heretical sects was to what extent was he divine and human.
Therefore,
by the time of the Council of Nicea the church had over 200 years of the church
father’s writings to prove their creeds and doctrinal statements. Here is a list of just some of the father’s
teachings on Jesus.
Ignatius, Letter to the Ephesians, Prologue
| 107AD
Ignatius
shows in his prologue to the Ephesians that just twenty-five years after the
death of the last apostle Jesus is openly confessed as God without any
reservation or long explanation. It
proves that to the early church Jesus was truly their Great God and
Savior. Even though it wasn’t until
later that the church would have to describe in detail the differences of the
persons in the trinity, it was however 100% clear how the first church regarded
Jesus, He was God.
“…elected through the true passion by the will of the Father, and Jesus
Christ, our God: Abundant happiness through Jesus Christ, and His undefiled grace.”
Justin Martyr, Dialogue With Trypho, Chapter 34
| 160AD
In this
letter Justin is teaching Trypho that Jesus must have been more than just a man
because the Scriptures refer to Him as God.
The beauty of Justin’s point is that He proves it from the Old Testament
Scriptures that refer to the Messiah, and therefore, he shows that Jesus has
always been God, and has always been referred to by the Prophets as God,
whether the Jews recognized it or not.
Also,
the fact that Justin calls Jesus “Angel” refers to the appearances of the
“Angel of the Lord” in the Old Testament (Genesis 22:11-18, Exodus 3:2, &
Judges 2:1-4). This angel was given
worship and divine authority, but his name is never known, here Justin states
that the Angel is Jesus and thus God.
“For Christ is
King, and Priest, and God, and Lord, and angel, and man, and captain, and
stone, and a Son born, and first made subject to suffering, then returning to
heaven, and again coming with glory, and He is preached as having the
everlasting kingdom: so I prove from all the Scriptures.”
Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 19,
Verse 2 | 180AD
In this
long portion I choose to show Irenaeus’ strong conviction that Jesus could not
just have been a just a prophet, a “good man”, and or a lesser divine
being. He proves with the Scripture in
this section that Jesus could only rightly be God.
“For this
reason [it is, said], “Who shall declare His generation?” since “He is a man,
and who shall recognize Him?” But he to whom the Father which is in heaven
has revealed Him, knows Him, so that he understands that He who “was not born
either by the will of the flesh, or by the will of man,” is the Son of man, this is Christ, the Son of the living God.
For I have
shown from the Scriptures, that no one of the sons of Adam is as to
everything, and absolutely, called God, or named Lord. But that He is Himself
in His own right, beyond all men who ever lived, God, and Lord, and King
Eternal, and the Incarnate Word, proclaimed by all the prophets, the apostles,
and by the Spirit Himself, may be seen by all who have attained to even a small
portion of the truth.
Now, the
Scriptures would not have testified these things of Him, if, like others, He
had been a mere man. But that He had, beyond all others, in Himself that
pre-eminent birth which is from the Most High Father, and also experienced that
pre-eminent generation which is from the Virgin, the divine
Scriptures do in both respects testify of Him: also, that He was a man without
comeliness, and liable to suffering; that He sat upon the foal of an ass; that He
received for drink, vinegar and gall; that He was
despised among the people, and humbled Himself even to death and that He is the holy Lord, the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Beautiful
in appearance, and the Mighty God, coming on the
clouds as the Judge of all men;—all these things did the Scriptures prophesy of Him.”
Reflection
1. Describe the nature of Jesus from Scripture.
1. Describe the nature of Jesus from Scripture.
2. Defend
the deity of Jesus from the church father’s use of the Old Testament.
3. Explain
how the divinity of Jesus predates the Council of Nicaea.
4. Pray
that you can teach the nature of Jesus with clarity and authority.
Resources
1. "The Forgotten Trinity," by James White.
1. "The Forgotten Trinity," by James White.
2. "The Case for the Real Jesus," by Lee Strobel.
