Pre-Nicene Non-Trinitarian Patristic Quotes

Introduction

Throughout the early years of Christianity post the times of the death of the Apostles, there have been many writings which consist of apologetics and theological works amongst several Christian writers before the 4th Century A.D, who later became known to be prominent theologians through their works down to this day.

These writings are commonly known as the “Ante-Nicene Church Father writings” as well as the “Christian Patristic writings”.

One of the major theological debates through Christian history from early times to this day, has been that of Christology. Just who or what was Yeshua? A man? Spirit? Angel? Son of God? A god? Or the Almighty God himself?

Early Christological writings are filled with quotes which could argue all of these things at once.

Whilst it is a habit for many Trinitarian Apologists to quote mine these Patristic writings in defence of their Christology, (ie; quoting those like Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Ignatius or Tertullian when they say things such as; “The Logos is God from God”, or “he is the Substance of God”, or “He is Begotten before time”, and “he is co-eternal with God”… Of which, indeed, are all phrases one can find in these early writings)… Never do these same apologists quote the parts of the texts in which are very anti-Trinitarian, phrases such as;

“Only the Father is God”, or “there was a time the Son was not”, or “only the Father is uncreated”, “the Father is older”, and “the Son is subordinate”, “the Son was chosen by God”, “the Son was begotten by an act of will”, and “the Son is the first creation of God”.

In this reference, I shall thus be making a simple archive of such quotes from the early Patristic writings, which appear to demonstrate very non-Trinitarian understandings of Christology from these very authors so often placed on the pedestal of being “Trinitarian defenders”.

Early Non-Trinitarian Patristic Christian Quotes

We thank you, our Father, for the holy vine of David, your CHILD, which you have revealed through Jesus, your CHILD. To you be glory forever… We thank you, our Father, for the life and knowledge which you have revealed through Jesus, your CHILD. To you be glory forever… We thank you, holy Father, for your sacred name which you have lodged in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality which you have revealed through Jesus, your CHILD. To you be glory forever. Almighty Master, ‘you have created everything’ for the sake of your name, and have given men food and drink to enjoy that they may thank you. But to us you have given spiritual food and drink and eternal life through Jesus, your CHILD“ .
Didache 9:2-3, 10:2-3 (100-200s A.D)

“The Apostles received the Gospel for us from the Lord Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ was sent forth from God. So then Christ is FROM God, and the Apostles are FROM Christ. Both therefore came of the will of God in the appointed order”.
Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 42:1-2 (80s-90s A.D)

Receive our counsel, and you shall have no occasion of regret. For as GOD lives, AND the Lord Jesus Christ lives, AND the Holy Spirit, who are the faith and the hope of the elect, so surely shall he, who with lowliness of mind and instant in gentleness hath without regretfulness performed the ordinances and commandments that are given by God, be enrolled and have a name among the number of them that are saved through Jesus Christ, through whom is the glory onto Him for ever and ever. Amen”.
Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 58:2 (80s-90s A.D)

“Let all the Gentiles know that You, [Father, Lord and Master, the Creator of the Universe] are the God ALONE, and Jesus Christ is Your Son, and we are Your people and the sheep of Your pasture.”
Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 59:4 (80s-90s A.D)

“Finally may the all seeing God and Master of spirits and Lord of all flesh, who CHOSE the Lord Jesus Christ, and us through Him for a peculiar people, grant onto every soul that is called after His excellent and holy Name faith, fear, peace, patience, long-suffering, temperance, chastity and soberness, that they may be well pleasing onto His Name through our High priest and Guardian Jesus Christ, through whom onto Him be glory and majesty, might and honor, both now and forever and ever. Amen.”
Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 64:1 (80s-90s A.D)

“…they [the Jews] said they had understood them [the scriptures], but that the passages adduced brought forward no proof that there is any other god or lord… besides the Maker of all things… Then I replied; ‘…I shall attempt to persuade you… that there IS… another god and lord SUBJECT to the MAKER of all things who is also called an ANGEL… He who is said to have appeared to Abraham, and to Jacob, and to Moses, and who is called ‘God’, is DISTINCT from Him who MADE ALL THINGS… it must be admitted absolutely that some other one is called lord by the Holy Spirit BESIDES Him who is considered Maker of all things… He is the lord who received commission from the Lord who [remains] in the Heavens, i.e; the Maker of all things‘”.
Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho (150-160s A.D)

“And when we say also that the Word, who is the first-birth of God, was produced without sexual union…. we propound NOTHING DIFFERENT from what you believe regarding those whom you esteem sons of Jupiter. For you know how many sons your esteemed writers ascribed to Jupiter: …Æsculapius, who, though he was a great physician, was struck by a thunderbolt, and so ascended to heaven …and Bellerophon, who, though sprung from MORTALS, rose to heaven on the horse Pegasus. For what shall I say of Ariadne, and those who, like her, have been declared to be set among the stars? And what of the emperors who die among yourselves, whom you deem worthy of deification… ? Moreover, the Son of God called Jesus, EVEN IF ONLY A MAN by ordinary generation, yet, on account of his wisdom, is worthy to be called the Son of God; for all writers call God; ‘the Father of MEN AND GODS‘. And if we assert that the Word of God was born of God in a peculiar manner, different from ordinary generation, let this, as said above, be NO EXTRAORDINARY thing to you, who say that Mercury is the ANGELIC word of God… Jesus Christ is the only proper Son who has been begotten by God, being His Word and first-begotten, and power; and, becoming man according to His will” – Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, Chapters 21-23 (150-160s A.D)

“I know that the statement ‘[that Christ existed as [a second] god before the ages, then that he submitted to be born and become man, yet that he is not man of man]’, does appear to be paradoxical, especially to those of your [Jewish] race, who are ever unwilling to understand or to perform the [requirements] of God, but [ready to perform] those of your teachers, as God Himself declares. Now assuredly, Trypho, [the proof] that this man is the Christ of God does not fail, though I be unable to prove [to you] that he EXISTED FORMERLY as Son of the Maker of all things, being [a] god, and was born a man by the Virgin. But since I have certainly proved that this man is the Christ of God, whoever he be, even if I do not PROVE that he PRE-EXISTED, and submitted to be born a man of like passions with us, having a body, according to the Father’s will; in this last matter alone is it just to say that I have erred, and not to deny that He is the Christ, though [if] it should appear that he was born man of men, and [nothing more] is proved [than this], that he has become Christ by election? For there are some, my friends, of our [Christian] race, who admit that he is Christ, while holding him to be man of men; with whom I do not agree, nor would I, even though most of those who have the same opinions as myself should say so; since we were enjoined by Christ Himself to put no faith in human doctrines, but in those proclaimed by the blessed prophets and taught by Himself”. – Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 48 (150-160s A.D)

“I shall give you another testimony, my friends, from the Scriptures, that God begot before all creatures a Beginning, [who was] a certain rational power [proceeding] from Himself, who is called by the Holy Spirit, now the Glory of the Lord, now the Son, again Wisdom, again an Angel, then God, and then Lord and Logos; and on another occasion he calls himself Captain, when he appeared in human form to Joshua the son of Nave (Nun). For he can be called by all those names, since he ministers to the Father’s will, and since he was begotten of the Father by an ACT of WILL; just as we see happening among ourselves: for when we give out some word, we beget the word; yet not by abscission, so as to lessen the word [which remains] in us, when we give it out: and just as we see also happening in the case of a fire, which is not lessened when it has kindled [another], but remains the same; and that which has been kindled by it likewise appears to exist by itself, not diminishing that from which it was kindled. The Word of Wisdom, who is himself this god begotten of the Father of all things, and Word, and Wisdom, and Power, and the Glory of the Begetter, will bear evidence to me, when he speaks by Solomon the following. If I shall declare to you what happens daily, I shall call to mind events from everlasting, and review them; ‘The LORD CREATED me as the beginning of His ways for His works…'”. – Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 61 (150-160s A.D)

“How, again, could either the angels, OR the creator of the world [Jesus Christ], have been ignorant of the Supreme God, seeing THEY were His PROPERTY and His CREATURES, and were contained by Him? He might indeed have been invisible to them on account of His superiority, but He could by no means have been unknown to them on account of His providence”. – Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 2 Chapter 6 (175-189 A.D)

“…there is one only God, the Creator — He who is above every Principality, and Power, and Dominion, and Virtue; He is the Father, He is God, He the Founder, He the Maker, He the Creator, who made those things by Himself, that is, through His Word and His Wisdom…. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…
Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 2 Chapter 30 (175-189 A.D)

“…never should fall from the belief by which it is most clearly proclaimed that this BEING ALONE is truly God and Father… there is but one true God… He alone is our Father… the Father Himself is ALONE called GOD, who has a real existence… the Scriptures acknowledge Him [the Father] ALONE as God… the Lord [Jesus Christ] confesses Him alone as his own Father, and knows no other… but, beyond reason inflated [with your own wisdom], you presumptuously maintain that you are acquainted with the unspeakable mysteries of God; while even the Lord [Jesus Christ], the very Son of God, allowed that the Father alone knows the very day and hour of judgment… If, then, the Son was not ashamed to ascribe the knowledge of that day to the Father only, but declared what was true regarding the matter, neither let us be ashamed to reserve for God those greater questions which may occur to us. For no man is superior to his master.… If anyone, therefore, says to us; ‘How then was the Son produced by the Father?’ We reply to him, that no man understands that production, or generation, or calling, or revelation, or by whatever name one may describe his generation, which is in fact altogether indescribable…. If anyone should inquire the reason why the Father, who has fellowship with the Son in all things, has been declared by the Lord [Jesus Christ], alone to know the hour and the day [of judgment]… the Father is above all things. For ‘the Father,’ says he, ‘is greater than I.‘ …The Father, therefore, has been declared by our Lord [Jesus Christ] to excel with respect to knowledge…”.
Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 2 Chapter 28 (175-189 A.D)

“The prophets and the apostles confessing the Father and the Son, but naming no other as God, AND, confessing no other as Lord, and the Lord [Jesus Christ] himself handing down to his disciples, that He the FATHER is the ONLY God and Lord who ALONE is God and ruler of all, —it is incumbent on us to follow, if we are their disciples indeed, their testimonies to this effect“.
Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 9 (175-189 A.D)

“For Abraham, according to his faith, followed the command of the Word of God, and with a ready mind delivered up, as a sacrifice to God, his only-begotten and beloved son, in order that God also might be pleased to offer up for all his seed, His own beloved and only-begotten Son, as a sacrifice for our redemption” – Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 4, Chapter 5 (175-189 A.D)

“…they say that God pervades all being; while we call Him solely Maker, and Maker by the Word. They were misled by what is said in the book of Wisdom; “He pervades and passes through all by reason of His purity”, since they did not understand that this was said of Wisdom, which was the first of the CREATION of God“.
Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, Book 5, Chapter 13 (180-215 A.D)

“‘And the Word became flesh’ not only by becoming man at his Advent, but also ‘at the beginning’ the essential Word became a Son by circumscription and not in essence. And again he became flesh when he acted through the prophets. And the Saviour is called an offspring of the essential Word; therefore; ‘in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God’ and ‘that which came into existence in him was life’ and life is the Lord. And when Paul says; ‘Put on the new man created according to God’ it is as if he said; Believe on him who was ‘CREATED’ by God, ‘according to God,’ that is, [according to] the Word in God… Having been begotten without passion, he BECAME the creator and progenitor of all creation and substance, for by him the Father made all things. Wherefore it is also said that he ‘received the form of a servant’, which refers not only to his flesh at the advent, but also to his substance, which he derived from its underlying reality, for substance is a slave, inasmuch as it is passive and subordinate to the active and dominating, cause. For we thus understand ‘I begot thee before the morning star’ with reference to the first-CREATED Word of God…”.
Clement of Alexandria, Excerpts from Theodotus (180-215 A.D)

“…But as for me, who derive the Son from no other source but from the substance of the Father… The Word, therefore, is both always in the Father, as He says; “I am in the Father“, and is always with God, according to what is written; “And the Word was with God” and never separate from the Father, or other than the Father, since “I and the Father are one.” …But although I must everywhere hold one only substance … I am bound to acknowledge, from the necessity of the case, that He who issues a command is different from him who executes it….”
Tertullian, Against Praxeas, Chapters 2-13, 19, 25-26, 30 (170-200s A.D)

“Listen therefore to Wisdom herself, constituted in the character of a Second Person; ‘At the first the Lord CREATED me as the beginning of His ways… moreover, before all the hills did He beget me’. That is to say; ‘He CREATED AND generated me in His own intelligence’… But you [Modalists] will not allow him to be really a substantive being, by having a substance of his own in such a way that he may be regarded as an objective thing and a person, and so be able (as being constituted second to God the Father) to make two; the Father and the Son, God, AND, the Word…. the Father is the entire substance, but the Son is a derivation and portion of the whole, as he Himself acknowledges; ‘My Father is greater than I.’ In the Psalm, his inferiority is described as being ‘a little lower than the angels.’ Thus the Father is distinct from the Son, being greater than the Son, inasmuch as He who begets is ONE, and he who is begotten is ANOTHER… Again, He who makes is ONE, and he through whom the thing is made is ANOTHER… Now if he [the Son] too is God, according to John, (who says); ‘The Word was god’, then you have TWO BEINGS… In what sense, however, you ought to understand him to be another, I have already explained, on the ground of Personality, not of Substance, in the way of distinction, not of division…”
Tertullian, Against Praxeas, Chapters 2-13, 19, 25-26, 30 (170-200s A.D)

“God… has NOT always been Father… merely on the ground of His having always been God. For He could not have been the Father previous to the Son… There was, however, a time when NEITHER sin EXISTED with Him, NOR the Son… Let Hermogenes then confess that the very Wisdom of God is declared to be born and CREATED, for the special reason that we should not suppose that there is any other being than God alone who is unbegotten and UNCREATED. For if that, which from its being inherent in the Lord was of Him and in Him, was yet NOT without a BEGINNING — I mean His wisdom, which was then born and CREATED, when in the thought of God It began to assume motion for the arrangement of His creative works… But if this same Wisdom is the Word of God, in the capacity of Wisdom, and (as being he) without whom nothing was made, just as also (nothing) was set in order without Wisdom, how can it be that anything, except the Father, should be OLDER, and on this account indeed nobler, than the Son of God, the only-begotten and first-begotten Word?”
Tertullian, Against Hermogenes, Chapters 3, 18 (170-200s A.D)

“Grant that there may be some individuals among the multitudes of believers who are not in entire agreement with us, and who incautiously assert that the Saviour is the Most High God; however, we do not hold with them, but rather believe him when he says; ‘The Father who sent me is greater than I'”.
Origen, Against Celsus, Book 8, Chapter 14 (200-250s A.D)

“…our duty is to pray to the Most High God Alone, AND to the Only-begotten, the First-born of the whole creation, and to ask him as our High Priest to present the prayers which ascend to him from us, to his God and our God, to his Father and the Father of those who direct their lives according to His word”.
Origen, Against Celsus, Book 8, Chapters 26-27 (200-250s A.D)

“‘He said, and it was done; He commanded, and all things stood fast’ remarking that the immediate Creator, and, as it were, very Maker of the world was the Word, the Son of God; while the Father of the Word, by commanding His own Son — the Word — to create the world, is primarily Creator…. If you understand the words ‘work with His own hands’ literally, then neither are they applicable to the second god, nor to any other being partaking of divinity… And as there is no absurdity in God thus working, so neither is there in His issuing commands so that what is done at His bidding should be beautiful and praiseworthy, because it was God who commanded it to be performed”.
Origen, Against Celsus, Book 6, Chapters 60-61 (200-250s A.D)

“…in the Proverbs. ‘God,’ we read, ‘created me the beginning of His ways, for His works.’ Here the term could be interpreted as in the first application we spoke of, that of a way; ‘The LORD,’ it says, “created me the beginning of His ways.’ One might assert, and with reason, that God Himself is the beginning of all things, and might go on to say, as is plain, that the Father is the beginning of the Son and the craftsman [of] the beginning of the works of the craftsman, and that God in a word is the beginning of all that exists… if the first-born of every creature is the image of the invisible God, then the Father is his beginning in the SAME WAY Christ is the beginning of those who are made according to the image of God. For if men are according to the image, but the image according to the Father; in the first case the Father is the beginning of Christ, and in the other Christ is the beginning of men…. Let us consider, however, a little more carefully what is the Word which is in the beginning…. I wonder at the stupidity of the general run of Christians in this matter…. What is the Son of God when called the Word? The passage they employ most is that in the Psalms; “My heart has produced a good Word” and they imagine the Son of God to be the utterance of the Father deposited, as it were, in syllables, and accordingly they do not allow him, if we examine them farther, any independent hypostasis, nor are they clear about his essence. I do not mean that they confuse its qualities, but the fact of his having an essence of his own. For no one can understand how that which is said to be “Word” can be a Son. And such an animated Word, not being a separate entity from the Father, and accordingly as it, having no subsistence is not a Son, or if he is a Son, let them say that God the Word is a separate being and has an essence of His own…..”.
Origen, Commentary on John’s Gospel, Book 1 Chapters 17, 19, 22-23, 34 (200-250s A.D)

“‘And the Word was with The God (Ho Theos), and the Word was god (Theos)’…We next notice John’s use of the [Definite] Article in these sentences. He does not write without care in this respect, nor is he unfamiliar with the niceties of the Greek tongue…. the God who is over all is God WITH the [Definite] Article (‘Ho’), NOT without it… God [the Father] on the one hand is Very God (Autotheos, God of Himself); and so the Saviour says in his prayer to the Father; “That they may know You the only true God”, but that ALL beyond the Very God [the Father] is MADE god by participation in His divinity, and is NOT to be called simply ‘The God’ (‘Ho Theos’ – with the article), but rather [just] ‘god’ (‘Theos’ – without article). And THUS the first-born of all creation, who is the first to be with God, and to ATTRACT to himself divinity, is a being of more exalted rank than the other gods beside him, of whom God is the God [of], as it is written; ‘The God of gods, the LORD has spoken and called the earth’. It was by the offices of the first-born that they became gods… The True God, then, is ‘The God’ (‘Ho Theos’ – with the Article), and those who are FORMED after Him are gods, IMAGES, as it were, of Him the prototype. But the archetypal IMAGE, again, of all these images is the Word of God, who was in the beginning, and who by being with God is at all times god, not possessing that of himself, but by his being with the Father, and NOT continuing to BE God, if we should think of this, except by remaining always in uninterrupted contemplation of the depths of the Father… Some may dislike what we have said representing the Father as the one True God but admitting [ALL] OTHER beings besides the True God [the Father], who have BECOME gods by having a share of God. They may fear that the glory of him [the Son] who surpasses all creation may be lowered to the level of those other beings called gods. We drew this distinction between him and them that we showed god the Word to be to all the other gods the minister of their divinity.…. As the Father who is Very God and the True God is to His image and to the images of His image… As, then, there are many gods, but to us there is but one God, the Father, and many Lords, but to us there is one Lord, Jesus Christ… What we have drawn out from the truths with which we started will now be clear enough. First, we spoke about God, AND the Word of God, AND of gods, either, that is, beings who PARTAKE in deity or beings who are called “gods” and are not. And again of the Word of God, and of the Word of God made flesh, and of logoi (words), or beings which partake in some way of the Word, of second logoi (words) or of third, thought to be logoi (words), in addition to that Word that was before them all, but not really so”.
Origen, Commentary on John’s Gospel, Book 2, Chapters 1-3 (200-250s A.D)

“…the Apostle Paul says in the Epistle to the Hebrews… that God made the ages through His Son… Thus, if all things were made… through the Word, then they were NOT made BY the Word, but by a STRONGER and GREATER than he. And who else could this be but the Father? Now if, as we have seen, all things were made through him [the Son], we have to enquire if the Holy Spirit also was made through Him. It appears to me that those who hold the Holy Spirit to be created, and who also admit that “all things were made through him,” must necessarily assume that the Holy Spirit was made through the Word, the Word accordingly being OLDER than he…. We consider, therefore, that there are three hypostases, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; and at the same time we believe NOTHING to be UNCREATED but the FATHER…. We therefore, as the more pious and the truer course, admit that all things were made by the Word, and that the Holy Spirit is the most excellent and the first in order of all that was MADE by the Father through Christ… On the words; ‘All things were made by him’, there is still one point to be examined. The word is, as a notion, from life, and yet we read; ‘What was made in the Word was life…’. Now as all things were made through him, was the ‘life’ made through him, which is the light of men, and the other notions under which the Saviour is presented to us? Or must we take the all things were made by him subject to the exception of the things which are in himself? The latter course appears to be the preferable one…. therefore, which is about the Word (His relations or conditions) was not made by the Word, and the result is that, with the exception of the notions under which Christ is presented, all things were made through the Word of God, the Father MAKING them IN Wisdom.’ In Wisdom have You made them all‘, it says, not ‘through’, but ‘in’ Wisdom.
Origen, Commentary on John’s Gospel, Book 2, Chapters 5-6 (200-250s A.D)

“Therefore this solitary and supreme Deity, by an EXERCISE of REFELCTION, brought forth the Word first… the being born from Him was the cause of all things that are produced… when the Father ordered the world to come into existence, the Word one by one completed each object of creation, thus pleasing God … The Creator did not wish to make him [the first man Adam] a god… nor an angel… but a man. For if He had WILLED to MAKE YOU a god, He could have done so; You have the EXAMPLE of the Word.… But if you are desiring of also becoming a god, obey Him that has created you… The Word alone of this God is from God himself; therefore also the Word is [a?] God, being the substance of God… Now the Word of God controls all these; the first begotten child of the Father, the voice of the Dawn antecedent to the Morning Star. “.
Hippolytus of Rome, The Refutation of All Heresies, Book 10, Chapter 29 (200s A.D)

“Thus God the Father, the Founder and Creator of all things, who ONLY knows no beginning, invisible, infinite, immortal, eternal, is one God; … WHEN He WILLED it, the Son, the Word, was born… in the substance of the power put forth by God… since he was begotten of the Father, is always in the Father…

And I thus say always, that I may show him not to be unborn, but born. But he who is before all time must be said to have been always in the Father; for no time can be assigned to him who is before all time. And he is always in the Father, unless the Father be not always Father, only that the Father also precedes him… it is essential that He who knows no beginning must go before him who has a beginning… having a beginning because he is born, and of like nature with the Father in some measure by his nativity, although he has a beginning in that he is born… he who was in the Father came forth from the Father; …because he was of the Father, was subsequently with the Father…. IF he had NOT been born — compared with Him who was unborn, [resulting in] an EQUALITY being manifested in both — he would make two unborn beings, and thus would make two Gods. If he had not been begotten… and as being found EQUAL… would have reasonably given two Gods, and thus Christ would have been the cause of two Gods. Had he been formed WITHOUT beginning as the Father… this would have made two beginnings, and consequently would have shown to us two Gods also… Moreover, the Son is god of all ELSE, because God the Father put before all him whom He begot. Thus, the Mediator of God and men, Christ Jesus, having the power of every creature subjected to him by his own Father, inasmuch as he is god; with every creature subdued to him, found at one with his Father God, has, by abiding in that condition that he moreover ‘was heard’, briefly proved God His Father to be One and Only and True God.”
Novatian, A Treatise of Concerning the Trinity (220s-250s A.D)

Conclusion

As we see, there are many blatant statements regarding Yeshua’s submission and inferiority, as opposed to total co-equality and co-existence with God the Father. We also see many times a ‘distinction’ made between not merely the “Father and Son”, but “God” and “the Son”, and we even see some writers make distinctions of the Holy Spirit also.

It’s obvious that these writers viewed the Son of God as to be literally begotten of God, some even stating that he was of God’s eternal substance, but at the same time calling him “created”, having a “beginning” and not always “being in existence”, and begotten as an “act of will”. We also see the Son being called “God’s child”, and whilst this might not be of significance to many on the surface, it actually informs us in how early Christians ‘defined’ the meaning of what it was to be God’s “Son”, ie; an “aspect” of God versus a “literal” Son of God – a “child” being the latter, just so too are all faithful Christians called “children of God” via adoption (1 John 3:1).

Some of these early writers we also even see, go as far to say that calling the Son; “the True God” or “the Most High God”, is “blasphemous” and “heretical”.

Their many statements are in extreme contradiction to the later Trinitarian writers and theologians of the 4th Century and beyond such as Athanasius, who state firmly it to be “blasphemy” to say the Son had a beginning, was created, or begotten by an act of will, statements we have seen spoken verbatim from Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Hippolytus, Origen, and Novatian:

“He who says, ‘The Son came to be at the Divine will,’ has the same meaning as another who says, ‘Once He was not,’ and ‘The Son came to be out of nothing,’ and ‘He is a creature.'” – Athanasius of Alexandria, Discourse III, Against the Arians

Of course, some of these writers, as aformentioned in my introduction, also call Yeshua “God”, and some of them, for example Ireneaus, even would say Yeshua was “eternal” in the very same chapters and passages they call him “created” or “subordinate” to the Father, or that the “Father alone is God”. As to why they “appear” to contradict themselves, has been the spark of theological debate for centuries, resulting in several Christological camps, predominantly; Arianism, Semi-Arianism and Trinitarianism (whereas Modalism, Adoptionism and Socinianism are from purely an intepretation of a Sola Scriptura approach in overall disregard of the Patristic writings, given their pro pre-human existence and anti-modalist tendencies).

Some time in the far future, I shall be looking more deeply into each of these writings, to write my own thoughts and commentaries as part of my Patristics Series, to investigate their overall theology in comparison to the teachings of the Apostles as laid out in the New Testament (Galatians 1:8-10, 1 John 4:1) and to ascertain what these men truly believed regarding the nature of Lord Yeshua.