The Divinity of Jesus Before Nicaea – Evidence from the Writings of the Early Church

Is there evidence that belief in the divinity of Jesus existed before the Council of Nicaea?

The Council of Nicaea, which took place in AD 325, is surrounded by much controversy. Some believe that it was there that the books of the Bible – the canon – were decided (even though the council had nothing to do with that). However, the question of the divinity of Jesus was closely tied to this council, which ultimately affirmed that Jesus is true God.

But does that mean this Christian teaching was invented there? Or did Christians already believe beforehand that Jesus is God?

Ignatius of Antioch

1 Clement

The First Epistle of Clement (c. AD 96) is a letter from the congregation in Rome to the congregation in Corinth. It was later attributed to the person Clement. In this letter we encounter a Trinitarian formula comparable to that in Matthew 28:19:

“For as God lives, and as 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 persistent gentleness has without regret performed the ordinances and commandments given by God be enrolled and have a name among the number of those who are saved through Jesus Christ, through whom is the glory to Him forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Clement 58)

James White writes concerning this passage: "Just as in the New Testament, so in Clement’s thinking the close co-working of Father, Son, and Spirit (here using the Trinitarian designations that Paul uses: God, Lord, and Spirit) in the work of salvation is clearly recognizable. He describes the three persons as the faith and hope of the elect – a phrase that would make no sense outside of belief in the full divinity of all three."[2]

Irenaeus

Irenaeus lived in the second century AD. As someone who in his youth claimed to have heard the teachings of Polycarp in Smyrna, he was an important link to the post-apostolic age.[3] In his works against heresies he also speaks to the divinity of Jesus:

“The Son, who existed together with the Father from eternity, has from the beginning – indeed, from the very start – always revealed the Father: to the angels, to the archangels, to the powers, to the authorities, and to all to whom he wills that God be revealed.” (Against Heresies 2.30.9)

“He received testimony from all that He was true man and true God – from the Father, from the Spirit, from the angels, from creation itself, from men, from fallen spirits and demons, from the enemy, and finally even from death itself.” (Against Heresies 4.6.7)

Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria – not to be confused with the namesake of 1 Clement – also lived in the second century (d. c. 215). “He represents the educated and cultured convert to Christianity”[4], who also held philosophy in high esteem. In his work Exhortation to the Greeks he writes about the Lord Jesus:

“He alone is both – both God and man.” (Chapter 1)

“For it did not happen without divine providence that so great a work was accomplished in so short a time – through the Lord, who though outwardly despised was in reality worshipped: the atoner of sin, the Savior, the Gracious One, the divine Word, the most manifestly true God, who is made equal to the Master of the universe […]” (Chapter 10)

Justin Martyr

“Probably the most important and influential of the Christian apologists of the second century was Justin Martyr, who in his life and death embodied the two Christian responses to persecution that have produced literary works: apologetics and martyrdom.”[5] In his First Apology (Chapter 63) he writes, also in the second century:

“For those who claim that the Son is the Father thereby show that they have known neither the Father, nor do they know that the Father of the universe has a Son – who is also the first-begotten Word of God and himself God.”

Conclusion

In summary, it can be said that belief in the divinity of Jesus was not an invention of the Council of Nicaea, but was already widespread among Christians of the second century.

Everett Ferguson, Church History, Volume 1: From Christ to the Pre-Reformation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), 141, 44. ↩︎

James White, The Forgotten Trinity, 179. ↩︎

Ferguson, Church History, 95. ↩︎

Ferguson, Church History, 99. ↩︎

Ferguson, Church History, 57. ↩︎