Bart D. Ehrman (Atheist): Constantine did call the Council of Nicea, and one of the issues involved Jesus’ divinity. But this was not a council that met to decide whether or not Jesus was divine, as Teabing indicates. Quite the contrary: everyone at the Council—and in fact, just about every Christian everywhere—already agreed that Jesus was divine, the Son of God. The question being debated was how to understand Jesus’ divinity in light of the circumstance that he was also human. Moreover, how could both Jesus and God be God if there is only one God? Those were the issues that were addressed at Nicea, not whether or not Jesus was divine. And there certainly was no vote to determine Jesus’ divinity: this was already a matter of common knowledge among Christians, and had been from the early years of the religion. (Bart D. Ehrman, Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code: A Historian Reveals What We Really Know About Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine, [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004], pp. 14-15.)
Pliny the Younger (c. 61-113 A.D.):
They also declared that the sum total of their guilt or error amounted to no more than this: they had met regularly before dawn on a fixed day to chant verses alternately amongst themselves in honour of Christ as if to a god, and also to bind themselves by oath, not for any criminal purpose, but to abstain from theft, robbery, and adultery, to commit no breach of trust and not to deny a deposit when called upon to restore it.
(Pliny the Younger, Letter, 96 [To the Emperor Trajan]; trans. The Letters of the Younger Pliny, trans. Betty Radice, [London: Penguin Books, 1969], p. 294.)
The Epistle of Barnabas (c. 70/132 A.D.):
There is yet this also, my brethren; if the Lord endured to suffer for our souls, though He was Lord of the whole world, unto whom God said from the foundation of the world, Let us make man after our image and likeness, how then did He endure to suffer at the hand of men?
(The Epistle of Barnabas, 5; trans. The Apostolic Fathers, trans. J. B. Lightfoot, ed. J. R. Harmer, [London: Macmillan and Co., 1907], p. 273. Cf. ANF, 1:139.) See also: ccel.org.
Second Clement [An Ancient Homily] (c. 95/140 A.D.):
Brethren, we ought so to think of Jesus Christ, as of God, as of the Judge of quick and dead.
(Second Clement (An Ancient Homily), 1; trans. The Apostolic Fathers, trans. J. B. Lightfoot, ed. J. R. Harmer, [London: Macmillan and Co., 1907], p. 86.)
Ignatius of Antioch (c. ?-108/40 A.D.):
Ignatius, who is also Theophorus, unto her which hath been blessed in greatness through the plenitude of God the Father; which hath been foreordained before the ages to be for ever unto abiding and unchangeable glory, united and elect in a true passion, by the will of the Father and of Jesus Christ our God; even unto the church which is in Ephesus [of Asia], worthy of all felicitation: abundant greeting in Christ Jesus and in blameless joy.
(Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Ephesians, Introduction; trans. The Apostolic Fathers, trans. J. B. Lightfoot, ed. J. R. Harmer, [London: Macmillan and Co., 1907], p. 137.)
Ignatius of Antioch (c. ?-108/40 A.D.):
There is one only physician, of flesh and of spirit, generate and ingenerate, God in man, true Life in death, Son of Mary and Son of God, first passible and then impassible, Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Ephesians, 7; trans. The Apostolic Fathers, trans. J. B. Lightfoot, ed. J. R. Harmer, [London: Macmillan and Co., 1907], p. 139.)
Ignatius of Antioch (c. ?-108/40 A.D.):
For our God, Jesus the Christ, was conceived in the womb by Mary according to a dispensation, of the seed of David but also of the Holy Ghost; and He was born and was baptized that by His passion He might cleanse water.
(Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Ephesians, 18; trans. The Apostolic Fathers, trans. J. B. Lightfoot, ed. J. R. Harmer, [London: Macmillan and Co., 1907], p. 141.)
Ignatius of Antioch (c. ?-108/40 A.D.):
…the ancient kingdom was pulled down, when God appeared in the likeness of man unto newness of everlasting life; and that which had been perfected in the counsels of God began to take effect.
(Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Ephesians, 19; trans. The Apostolic Fathers, trans. J. B. Lightfoot, ed. J. R. Harmer, [London: Macmillan and Co., 1907], p. 142.)
Ignatius of Antioch (c. ?-108/40 A.D.):
Be ye therefore on your guard against such men. And this will surely be, if ye be not puffed up and if ye be inseparable from [God] Jesus Christ and from the bishop and from the ordinances of the Apostles.
(Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Trallians, 7; trans. The Apostolic Fathers, trans. J. B. Lightfoot, ed. J. R. Harmer, [London: Macmillan and Co., 1907], p. 148.)
Ignatius of Antioch (c. ?-108/40 A.D.):
Ignatius, who is also Theophorus, unto her that hath found mercy in the bountifulness of the Father Most High and of Jesus Christ His only Son; to the church that is beloved and enlightened through the will of Him who willed all things that are, by faith and love towards Jesus Christ our God;
(Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Romans, Introduction; trans. The Apostolic Fathers, trans. J. B. Lightfoot, ed. J. R. Harmer, [London: Macmillan and Co., 1907], p. 149.)
Ignatius of Antioch (c. ?-108/40 A.D.):
Await Him that is above every season, the Eternal, the Invisible, who became visible for our sake, the Impalpable, the Impassible, who suffered for our sake, who endured in all ways for our sake.
(Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to Polycarp, 3; trans. The Apostolic Fathers, trans. J. B. Lightfoot, ed. J. R. Harmer, [London: Macmillan and Co., 1907], p. 161.)
Ignatius of Antioch (c. ?-108/40 A.D.):
I bid you farewell always in our God Jesus Christ, in whom abide ye in the unity and supervision of God.
(Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to Polycarp, 8; trans. The Apostolic Fathers, trans. J. B. Lightfoot, ed. J. R. Harmer, [London: Macmillan and Co., 1907], p. 162.)
Aristides of Athens (c. 124 A.D.):
The Christians, then, trace the beginning of their religion from Jesus the Messiah; and he is named the Son of God Most High. And it is said that God came down from heaven, and from a Hebrew virgin assumed and clothed himself with flesh; and the Son of God lived in a daughter of man. This is taught in the gospel, as it is called, which a short time ago was preached among them; and you also if you will read therein, may perceive the power which belongs to it.
(Aristides of Athens, The Apology of Aristides, 2; trans. ANF, 9:265.) See also: ccel.org.
Polycarp of Smyrna (c. 69-155 A.D.):
Now may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the eternal High priest Himself, the [Son of] God Jesus Christ, build you up in faith and truth, and in all gentleness and in all avoidance of wrath and in forbearance and long suffering and in patient endurance and in purity; and may He grant unto you a lot and portion among His saints, and to us with you, and to all that are under heaven, who shall believe on our Lord and God Jesus Christ and on His Father that raised Him from the dead.
(Polycarp of Smyrna, Epistle to the Philippians, 12; trans. The Apostolic Fathers, trans. J. B. Lightfoot, ed. J. R. Harmer, [London: Macmillan and Co., 1907], p. 181.)
Justin Martyr (c. 100-165 A.D.):
…the Word, inasmuch as He is divine…
(Justin Martyr, The First Apology, 10; trans. ANF, 1:166.) See also: ccel.org.
Justin Martyr (c. 100-165 A.D.):
Our teacher of these things is Jesus Christ, who also was born for this purpose, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judæa, in the times of Tiberius Cæsar; and that we reasonably worship Him, having learned that He is the Son of the true God Himself…
(Justin Martyr, The First Apology, 13; trans. ANF, 1:166-167.) See also: ccel.org.
Justin Martyr (c. 100-165 A.D.):
…the Father of the universe has a Son; who also, being the first-begotten Word of God, is even God.
(Justin Martyr, The First Apology, 63; trans. ANF, 1:184.) See also: ccel.org.
Justin Martyr (c. 100-165 A.D.):
For next to God, we worship and love the Word who is from the unbegotten and ineffable God, since also He became man for our sakes, that becoming a partaker of our sufferings, He might also bring us healing.
(Justin Martyr, The Second Apology, 13; trans. ANF, 1:193.) See also: ccel.org.
Justin Martyr (c. 100-165 A.D.):
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.
(Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 34; trans. ANF, 1:211.) See also: ccel.org.
Justin Martyr (c. 100-165 A.D.):
And I said, “As you wish, Trypho, I shall come to these proofs which you seek in the fitting place; but now you will permit me first to recount the prophecies, which I wish to do in order to prove that Christ is called both God and Lord of hosts, and Jacob, in parable by the Holy Spirit; and your interpreters, as God says, are foolish, since they say that reference is made to Solomon and not to Christ, when he bore the ark of testimony into the temple which he built.
(Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 36; trans. ANF, 1:212.) See also: ccel.org.
Justin Martyr (c. 100-165 A.D.):
Therefore these words testify explicitly that He is witnessed to by Him who established these things, as deserving to be worshipped, as God and as Christ.
(Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 63; trans. ANF, 1:229.) See also: ccel.org.
Justin Martyr (c. 100-165 A.D.):
And David predicted that He would be born from the womb before sun and moon, according to the Father’s will, and made Him known, being Christ, as God strong and to be worshipped.”
(Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 76; trans. ANF, 1:237.) See also: ccel.org.
Justin Martyr (c. 100-165 A.D.):
And that Christ would act so when He became man was foretold by the mystery of Jacob’s wrestling with Him who appeared to him, in that He ministered to the will of the Father, yet nevertheless is God, in that He is the first-begotten of all creatures.
(Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 125; trans. ANF, 1:262.) See also: ccel.org.
Justin Martyr (c. 100-165 A.D.):
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.
(Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 126; trans. ANF, 1:263.) See also: ccel.org.
Justin Martyr (c. 100-165 A.D.):
“And that Christ being Lord, and God the Son of God, and appearing formerly in power as Man, and Angel, and in the glory of fire as at the bush, so also was manifested at the judgment executed on Sodom, has been demonstrated fully by what has been said.”
(Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 128; trans. ANF, 1:264.) See also: ccel.org.
Melito of Sardis (c. ?-180 A.D.):
The whole creation was amazed, marvelling and saying, “What new mystery, then, is this? The Judge is judged, and holds his peace; the Invisible One is seen, and is not ashamed; the Incomprehensible is laid hold upon, and is not indignant; the Illimitable is circumscribed, and doth not resist; the Impossible suffereth, and doth not avenge; the Immortal dieth, and answereth not a word; the Celestial is laid in the grave, and endureth! What new mystery is this?” The whole creation, I say, was astonished; but, when our Lord arose from the place of the dead, and trampled death under foot, and bound the strong one, and set man free, then did the whole creation see clearly that for man’s sake the Judge was condemned, and the Invisible was seen, and the Illimitable was circumscribed, and the Impassible suffered, and the Immortal died, and the Celestial was laid in the gave.
(Melito of Sardis, Melito, The Philosopher (Fragments): Part 2: Discourse on Soul and Body; trans. ANF, 8:756.) See also: ccel.org.
Melito of Sardis (c. ?-180 A.D.):
It was He because of whom the earth quaked. He that hung up the earth in space was Himself hanged up; He that fixed the heavens was fixed with nails; He that bore up the earth was borne up on a tree; the Lord of all was subjected to ignominy in a naked body—God put to death! the King of Israel slain with Israel’s right hand! Alas for the new wickedness of the new murder! The Lord was exposed with naked body: He was not deemed worthy even of covering; and, in order that He might not be seen, the luminaries turned away, and the day became darkened because they slew God, who hung naked on the tree.
(Melito of Sardis, Melito, The Philosopher (Fragments): Part 5; trans. ANF, 8:757.) See also: ccel.org.
The Epistle to Diognetus (c. 2nd Century A.D.):
But truly the Almighty Creator of the Universe, the Invisible God Himself from heaven planted among men the truth and the holy teaching which surpasseth the wit of man, and fixed it firmly in their hearts, not as any man might imagine, by sending (to mankind) a subaltern, or angel, or ruler, or one of those that direct the affairs of earth, or one of those who have been entrusted with the dispensations in heaven, but the very Artificer and Creator of the Universe Himself… Was He sent, think you, as any man might suppose, to establish a sovereignty, to inspire fear and terror? Not so. But in gentleness [and] meekness has He sent Him, as a king might send his son who is a king. He sent Him, as sending God…
(The Epistle to Diognetus, 7; trans. The Apostolic Fathers, trans. J. B. Lightfoot, ed. J. R. Harmer, [London: Macmillan and Co., 1907], p. 507.)
Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-202 A.D.):
…in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, “every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess” to Him, and that He should execute just judgment towards all…
(Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, 1.10.1; trans. ANF, 1:330.) See also: ccel.org.
Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-202 A.D.):
And this [text following] does declare the same truth: “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; the sceptre of Thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee.” For the Spirit designates both [of them] by the name, of God—both Him who is anointed as Son, and Him who does anoint, that is, the Father.
(Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, 3.6.1; trans. ANF, 1:419.) See also: ccel.org.
Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-202 A.D.):
For He fulfils the bountiful and comprehensive will of His Father, inasmuch as He is Himself the Saviour of those who are saved, and the Lord of those who are under authority, and the God of all those things which have been formed, the only-begotten of the Father, Christ who was announced, and the Word of God, who became incarnate when the fulness of time had come, at which the Son of God had to become the Son of man.
(Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, 3.16.7; trans. ANF, 1:443.) See also: ccel.org.
Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-202 A.D.):
Thus he indicates in clear terms that He is God, and that His advent was [to take place] in Bethlehem, and from Mount Effrem which is towards the south of the inheritance, and that [He is] man.
(Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, 3.20.4; trans. ANF, 1:451.) See also: ccel.org.
Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-202 A.D.):
Carefully, then, has the Holy Ghost pointed out, by what has been said, His birth from a virgin, and His essence, that He is God (for the name Emmanuel indicates this).
(Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, 3.21.4; trans. ANF, 1:452.) See also: ccel.org.
Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-202 A.D.):
Christ Himself, therefore, together with the Father, is the God of the living, who spake to Moses, and who was also manifested to the fathers.
(Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, 4.5.2; trans. ANF, 1:467.) See also: ccel.org.
Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-202 A.D.):
He, therefore, who was known, was not a different being from Him who declared “No man knoweth the Father,” but one and the same, the Father making all things subject to Him; while He received testimony from all that He was very man, and that He was very God, from the Father, from the Spirit, from angels, from the creation itself, from men, from apostate spirits and demons, from the enemy, and last of all, from death itself.
(Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, 4.6.7; trans. ANF, 1:469.) See also: ccel.org.
Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-202 A.D.):
…[for] how can they be saved unless it was God who wrought out their salvation upon earth? Or how shall man pass into God, unless God has [first] passed into man?
(Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, 4.33.4; trans. ANF, 1:507.) See also: ccel.org.
Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-202 A.D.):
For if no one can forgive sins but God alone, while the Lord remitted them and healed men, it is plain that He was Himself the Word of God made the Son of man, receiving from the Father the power of remission of sins; since He was man, and since He was God, in order that since as man He suffered for us, so as God He might have compassion on us, and forgive us our debts, in which we were made debtors to God our Creator.
(Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, 5.17.3; trans. ANF, 1:545.) See also: ccel.org.
Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-202 A.D.):
So then the Father is Lord and the Son is Lord, and the Father is God and the Son is God; for that which is begotten of God is God. And so in the substance and power of His being there is shown forth one God; but there is also according to the economy of our redemption both Son and Father.
(St. Irenæus, The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, trans. J. Armitage Robinson, [London: The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1920], §. 47, p. 112.) See also: ccel.org.
See Further:
Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215 A.D.):
This Word, then, the Christ, the cause of both our being at first (for He was in God) and of our well-being, this very Word has now appeared as man, He alone being both, both God and man—the Author of all blessings to us; by whom we, being taught to live well, are sent on our way to life eternal.
(Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Heathen, 1; trans. ANF, 2:173.) See also: ccel.org.
Tertullian of Carthage (c. 150-225 A.D.):
For God alone is without sin; and the only man without sin is Christ, since Christ is also God.
(Tertullian of Carthage, A Treatise on the Soul (De Anima), 41; trans. ANF, 3:221.) See also: ccel.org.
Hippolytus of Rome (c. 170-235 A.D.):
“And came to the Ancient of days.” By the Ancient of days he means none other than the Lord and God and Ruler of all, and even of Christ Himself, who maketh the days old, and yet becometh not old Himself by times and days.
(Hippolytus of Rome, On Daniel: Section 3: Scholia on Daniel; trans. ANF, 5:189.) See also: ccel.org.
Cf. Hippolytus of Rome (c. 170-235 A.D.):
The Logos alone of this God is from God himself; wherefore also the Logos is God, being the substance of God.
(Hippolytus of Rome, Refutation of All Heresies, 10.29; trans. ANF, 5:151.) See also: ccel.org.
Cf. Hippolytus of Rome (c. 170-235 A.D.):
For all, the righteous and the unrighteous alike, shall be brought before God the Word. For the Father hath committed all judgment to Him; and in fulfilment of the Father’s counsel, He cometh as Judge whom we call Christ.
(Hippolytus of Rome, Against Plato, On the Cause of the Universe (Against the Greeks), 3; trans. ANF, 5:222.) See also: ccel.org.
Origen of Alexandria (c. 185-253 A.D.):
And as no one ought to be offended, seeing God is the Father, that the Saviour is also God; so also, since the Father is called omnipotent, no one ought to be offended that the Son of God is also called omnipotent. For in this way will that saying be true which He utters to the Father, “All Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine, and I am glorified in them.” Now, if all things which are the Father’s are also Christ’s, certainly among those things which exist is the omnipotence of the Father; and doubtless the only-begotten Son ought to be omnipotent, that the Son also may have all things which the Father possesses.
(Origen of Alexandria, De Principiis (On First Principles), 1.2.10; trans. ANF, 4:250.) See also: ccel.org.
Novatian (c. 200-258 A.D.):
Therefore He is not only Man but also God because all things are through Him. Consequently, we must understand not only that Christ is not a mere man who is after all things but that He is also God because all things were made through Him.
(Novatian, The Trinity (De Trinitate), 13; trans. FC, 67:55. Cf. ANF, 5:623.) Compare: ccel.org.
Cf. Novatian (c. 200-258 A.D.):
If Christ is only man, how is He present wherever He is invoked—since it is not man’s nature but God’s to be able to be present everywhere?
(Novatian, The Trinity (De Trinitate), 14; trans. FC, 67:56. Cf. ANF, 5:623.) Compare: ccel.org.
Theonas of Alexandria (3rd Century A.D.):
I thank our Almighty God and Lord Jesus Christ, who hath not ceased to blazon abroad the faith of Himself through the whole world as the one remedy whereby we are saved, and to enlarge that faith even in the persecutions of tyrants. Nay, by the storms of persecutions, it hath glowed the brighter, like gold purified in the furnace; and the truth and the loftiness thereof hath grown ever more and more dazzling, so that peace being now given to the Churches by grace of a good Prince, the works of Christians shine even before the unbelievers, and thereby God, your Father which is in heaven, is glorified: and that is what we,—if we wish to be Christians in deed and not in words,—ought to seek and desire as the principal thing for our salvation’s sake. For if we seek our own glory, we strive after a mutable and perishable thing, that doth but bring our own selves to death; but the glory of the Father and of the Son, who for our salvation was nailed to the Cross, maketh us safe unto an eternal redemption, which is the most earnest expectation of Christians.
(The Epistle of Saint Theonas, 1; trans. Arthur James Mason, The Persecution of Diocletian: A Historical Essay, [Cambridge: Deighton Bell and Co., 1876], p. 348.)The Deity of Christ in the Scriptures.
For information regarding the biblical testimony of the deity of Christ see: Michael F. Bird, “The Divinity of Jesus;” In: How God Became Jesus: The Real Origins of Belief in Jesus’ Divine Nature, [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014], pp. 45-70; J. Ed Komoszewski, M. James Sawyer, Daniel B. Wallace, Reinventing Jesus: How Contemporary Skeptics Miss the Real Jesus and Mislead Popular Culture, [Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2006], Part 4: pp. 169-218; Michael F. Bird, Jesus Is the Christ: The Messianic Testimony of the Gospels, [Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2012].
καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν πρὸ πάντων καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκεν ~ Soli Deo Gloria
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