The Early Witnesses

The Early Witnesses The Shepherd of Hermas was widely read and accepted in the early church. Irenaeus and Tertullian cite the Shepherd as Scripture. Clement and Origen also quote from it with reverence. Hermas may be the individual mentioned at Romans 16:14 (Origen). The date of the book is contested and may have been written anytime between 80 AD and 140 AD. God here is presented as "the one God" and was "He" who created all things. First, believe that there is one God who created and framed all things, and made all things out of nothing. (Commands, 1). The God of powers, who by His invisible mighty power and great wisdom has created the world, and by His glorious counsel has beautified His creation, and by His powerful Word has fixed the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth upon the waters. (Visions, 1, 3) The holy, pre-existent Spirit, that created every creature, God made to dwell in flesh, which He chose. This flesh, accordingly, in which the Holy Spirit dwelt, was nobly subject to that Spirit, walking religiously and chastely, in no respect defiling the Spirit; and accordingly, after living excellently and purely, and after labouring and co-operating with the Spirit, and having in everything acted vigorously and courageously along with the Holy Spirit, He assumed it as a partner with it. For this conduct of the flesh pleased Him, because it was not defiled on the earth while having the Holy Spirit. He took, therefore, as fellow-councillors His Son and the glorious angels, in order that this flesh, which had been subject to the body without a fault, might have some place of tabernacle, and that it might not appear that the reward [of its servitude had been lost ], for the flesh that has been found without spot or defilement, in which the Holy Spirit dwelt. (Similitudes, V, 6). Ignatius is perhaps the most famous of all the earliest Christians. He also refers to himself in his letters as "Theophorus." A church legend says he was the little child taken up in Jesus' arms (Mk 9:35). He was bishop of Antioch, friend of Polycarp who was a disciple of John, and may have known the Apostle John. Ignatius was martyred under Trajan. However, we know very little else about him and the early church fathers do not say much about his life or his writings. Irenaeus alludes to him when he quotes from Ignatius' letter to the Romans but does not mention his name even though Ignatius' name does appear in the letter. "As a certain man of ours said, when he was condemned to the wild beasts because of his testimony with respect to God: 'I am the wheat of Christ, and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of God.'" (Against Heresies, V, 28, 4). Eusebius, in his Ecclesiastical History (III, 36), written about 315 AD, mentions Ignatius as being in charge of the episcopate of Smyrna at the time of Papias. He records Ignatius as having been sent to Rome to be fed to the wild beasts and on his way edified the churches by giving them oral homilies and by writing several letters. Eusebius mentions seven of his letters: Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, Romans, Philadelphians, Smyrneans and a letter to Polycarp. Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which is at Ephesus... being united and elected through the true passion by the will of the Father, and Jesus Christ, our God.

Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which is at Ephesus... being united and elected through the true passion by the will of God the Father, and of our Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. I have become acquainted with your name, much-beloved in God, which ye have acquired by the habit of righteousness, according to the faith and love in Jesus Christ our Saviour. Being the followers of God, and stirring up yourselves by the blood of God (I). 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 passible and then impassible, even Jesus Christ our Lord. (VII). To the Magnesians The ministry of Jesus Christ, who was with the Father before the beginning of time, and in the end was revealed. (VI). The ministry of Jesus Christ. He, being begotten by the Father before the beginning of time, was God the Word, the only-begotten Son, and remains the same for ever; for "of His kingdom there shall be no end. (VI). Do ye therefore all run together as into one temple of God, as to one altar, as to one Jesus Christ, who came forth from one Father, and is with and has gone to one.(VII). Do ye all, as one man, run together into the temple of God, as unto one altar, to one Jesus Christ, the High Priest of the unbegotten God. (VII). There is one God, who has manifested Himself by Jesus Christ His Son, who is His eternal Word. (VIII). There is one God, the Almighty, who has manifested Himself by Jesus Christ His Son, who is His Word. (VIII). Fare ye well in the harmony of God, ye who have obtained the inseparable Spirit, who is Jesus Christ. (XV). To the Trallians Be on your guard, therefore, against such persons. And this will be the case with you if you are not puffed up, and continue in intimate union with Jesus Christ our God, and the bishop and the enactments of the apostles. (VII). To the Romans Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which has obtained mercy, through the majesty of the Most High Father, and Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son; the Church which is beloved and enlightened by the will of Him that willeth all things which are according to the love of Jesus Christ our God....I also salute in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father...abundance of happiness

unblameably, in Jesus Christ our God. Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which has obtained mercy, through the majesty of the Most High God the Father, and of Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son; the Church which is sanctified and enlightened by the will of God, who formed all things that are according to the faith and love of Jesus Christ, our God and Saviour....I also salute in the name of Almighty God, and of Jesus Christ His Son... abundance of happiness unblameably, in God, even the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. "For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." For our God, Jesus Christ, now that He is with the Father, is all the more revealed [in His glory]. (III). To the Philadelphians [Missing]. (IV). Since, also, there is but one unbegotten Being, God, even the Father; and one only-begotten Son, God, the Word and man; and one Comforter, the Spirit of truth.... [be obedient to] the bishop to Christ, even as Christ to the Father. (IV). [Missing] (V). For there is one God of the Old and New Testament, "one Mediator between God and men. (V). The priests indeed, and the ministers of the word, are good; but the High Priest is better, to whom the holy of holies has been committed, and who alone has been entrusted with the secrets of God. The ministering powers of God are good. The Comforter is holy, and the Word is holy, the Son of the Father, by whom He made all things, and exercises a providence over them all. This is the Way which leads to the Father, the Rock, the Defence, the Key, the Shepherd, the Sacrifice, the Door of knowledge, through which have entered Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, Moses and all the company of the prophets, and these pillars of the world, the apostles, and the spouse of Christ, on whose account He poured out His own blood, as her marriage portion, that He might redeem her. All these things tend towards the unity of the one and only true God. (IX). To the Smyrneans Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church of God the Father, and of the beloved Jesus Christ. Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church of God the most high Father and His beloved Son Jesus Christ. Glorify God, even Jesus Christ, who has given you such wisdom....He was truly of the seed of David according to the flesh, and the Son of God according to the will and power of God; that He was truly born of a virgin, was baptized by John, in order that all righteousness might be fulfilled by Him; and was truly, under Pontius Pilate and Herod the tetrarch, nailed [to the cross] for us in His flesh. (I).

Glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who by Him has given you such wisdom...that He was the Son of God, "the first-born of every creature," God the Word, the only-begotten Son, and was of the seed of David according to the flesh, by the Virgin Mary; was baptized by John, that all righteousness might be fulfilled by Him; that He lived a life of holiness without sin, and was truly, under Pontius Pilate and Herod the tetrarch, nailed [to the cross] for us in His flesh. (I). Ye have done well in receiving Philo and Rheus Agathopus as servants of Christ our God. (X). Ye have done well in receiving Philo, and Gaius, and Agathopus, who, being the servants of Christ. (X). There is then One God and Father, and not two or three, One who is, and there is no other besides Him, the only true One. For "the Lord [YAHWEH] thy God," saith, "is one Lord." And again, "Hath not one God created us? Have we not all one Father? And there is also one Son, God the Word. For "the only-begotten Son," saith, "who is in the bosom of the Father." And again, "One Lord Jesus Christ." And in another place, "What is His name, or what His Son's name, that we may know? " And there is also one Paraclete. For "there is also," saith, "one Spirit," since "we have been called in one hope of our calling." And again, "We have drunk of one Spirit," with what follows. And it is manifest that all these gifts "worketh one and the self-same Spirit." There are not then either three Fathers, or three Sons, or three Paracletes, but one Father, and one Son, and one Paraclete. Wherefore also the Lord, when He sent forth the apostles to make disciples of all nations, commanded them to "baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," not unto one having three names, nor into three who became incarnate, but into three [persons] possessed of equal honour [one name]. (To the Philippians, II). Note carefully, that to Ignatius, as to all the early Christians, there is One God and that One God is the Father alone. The Son is divine only in the sense that he derives his divinity from that One and Only True God, the Father. For Ignatius "God the Word" does not mean the second person of "the Trinity" because for Ignatius there is Only One God, the Father. For Ignatius, "God the Word" means that God is manifested in His Word Jesus Christ, but that Word is not He Himself, the One and Only True God. This was the common voice of all Christians prior to the late third and early fourth centuries.