“We give you thanks, our Father, for the holy vine of David your servant, which you have made known to us through Jesus, your servant; to you be the glory forever.” Didache 9:2. (c. 70 AD).
“We give you thanks, our Father, for the life and knowledge which you have made known to us through Jesus, your servant.” Didache 9:3. (c. 70 AD).
“We give you thanks, Holy Father, for your holy name which you have caused to dwell in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality which you have made known to us through Jesus your servant; to you be the glory forever.” Didache 10:2. (c. 70 AD).
“But to us you have graciously given spiritual food and drink, and eternal life through your servant.” Didache 10:3. (c. 70 AD).
“For the Scripture speaks about us when he says to the Son: ‘Let us make man according to our image and likeness, and let them rule over the beasts of the earth and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea.’ And when he saw that our creation was good, the Lord said: ‘Increase and multiply and fill the earth.’ These things he said to the Son.” Barnabas 6:12. Barnabas (c. 75 AD).
“For it is written how the Father commands him to redeem us from darkness and to prepare a holy people for himself…” Barnabas 14:6. Barnabas (c. 75 AD).
“The apostles received the gospel for us from the Lord Jesus Christ; Jesus the 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 good order.” 1 Clement 42:1–2. Clement of Rome (96 AD).
“Do we not have one God and one Christ and one Spirit of grace which was poured out upon us? And is there not one calling in Christ?” 1 Clement 46:6. Clement of Rome (96 AD).
“In love the Master received us. Because of the love he had for us, Jesus Christ our Lord, in accordance with God’s will, gave his blood for us, and his flesh for our flesh, and his life for our lives.” 1 Clement 49:6. Clement of Rome (96 AD).
“. . . that the Creator of the universe may keep intact the specified number of his elect throughout the whole world, through his beloved servant Jesus Christ, through whom he called us from darkness to light, from ignorance to the knowledge for the glory of his name.” 1 Clement 59:2. Clement of Rome (96 AD).
“. . . the Creator and Guardian of every spirit, who multiplies the nations upon the earth, and from among all of them has chosen those who love you through Jesus Christ, your beloved Servant, through whom you instructed us, sanctified us, honored us.” 1 Clement 59:3. Clement of Rome (96 AD).
“. . . ‘Let all the nations know that you are the only God,’ that Jesus Christ is your servant, and that ‘we are your people and the sheep of your pasture.’” 1 Clement 59:4. Clement of Rome (96 AD).
“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 to be his own special people, . . .” 1 Clement 64:1a. Clement of Rome (96 AD).
“‘To the only God, invisible,’ the Father of truth, who sent forth to us the Savior and Founder of immortality, through whom he also revealed to us the truth and the heavenly life, to him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 2 Clement 20:5. Clement of Rome (100 AD).
“May the Father of Jesus Christ likewise refresh him….” Ephesians 2:1. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 107 AD).
“For Jesus Christ, our inseparable life, is the mind of the Father, just as the bishops appointed throughout the world are in the mind of Christ. . .” Ephesians 3:2. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 107 AD).
“. . . you may sing in unison with one voice through Jesus Christ to the Father.” Ephesians 4:2. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 107 AD).
“I congratulate you who are united with him [the bishop], as the church is with Jesus Christ and as Jesus Christ is with the Father, that all things might be harmonious in unity.” Ephesians 5:1. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 107 AD).
“Therefore as the Lord did nothing without the Father, either by himself or through the apostles (for he was united with him), so you must not do anything without the bishop and the presbyters.” Magnesians 7:1. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 107 AD).
“Let all of you run together as to one temple of God, as to one altar, to one Jesus Christ, who came forth from one Father and remained with the One and returned to the One.” Magnesians 7:2. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 107 AD).
“. . . that those who are disobedient might be fully convinced that there is one God who revealed himself through Jesus Christ his Son, who is his Word which came forth from silence, who in every respect pleased him who sent him.” Magnesians 8:2. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 107 AD).
“Be subject to the bishop and to one another, as Jesus Christ in the flesh was to the Father, and as the apostles were to Christ and to the Father, that there might be unity, both physical and spiritual.” Magnesians 13:2. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 107 AD).
“Nothing that is visible is good. For our God Jesus Christ is more visible now that he is in the Father.” Romans 3:3. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 107 AD).
“And Jesus Christ, the unerring mouth by whom the Father has spoken truly, will make it clear to you that I am speaking truly.” Romans 8:2. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 107 AD).
“. . . especially if they are at one with the bishop and the presbyters and deacons who are with him, who have been appointed by the mind of Jesus Christ, whom he, in accordance with his own will, securely established by his Holy Spirit.” Philadelphians Prologue. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 107 AD).
“Become imitators of Jesus Christ, just as he is of his Father.” Philadelphians 7:2. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 107 AD).
“You must all follow the bishop, as Jesus Christ followed the Father.” Smyrneans 8:1. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 107 AD).
“But we worship and adore both Him and the Son who came from Him, and taught us these things, and the army of the other good angels, who follow Him and are made like Him, and the prophetic Spirit, giving honor [to Him] in reason and truth.” First Apology 6.2. Justin Martyr (c. 155 AD).
“And that you will not succeed is shown by the Word, and after God who begat Him we know of no ruler more kingly or more just than He.” First Apology 12.7. Justin Martyr (c. 155 AD).
“Who is both Son and Apostle of God the Father and Master of all, that is Jesus Christ.” First Apology 12.9. Justin Martyr (c. 155 AD).
“And we will show that we worship Him rationally, having learned that He is the Son of the true God Himself, and holding Him in the second place, and the prophetic Spirit in the third rank.” First Apology 13.3. Justin Martyr (c. 155 AD).
“For they charge our madness to consist in this, that we give to a crucified man second place after the unchangeable and eternal God, begetter of all things.” First Apology 13.4. Justin Martyr (c. 155 AD).
“And follow the only unbegotten God through His Son.” First Apology 14.1. Justin Martyr (c. 155 AD).
“The Word of God was begotten of God in peculiar manner, different from the ordinary method of birth.” First Apology 22.2. Justin Martyr (c. 155 AD).
“Jesus Christ alone was really begotten as Son of God, being His Word and First-begotten and Power, and becoming man by His will He taught us these things.” First Apology 23.2. Justin Martyr (c. 155 AD).
“And the first Power after God the Father and Master of all is the Word, who is also Son.” First Apology 32.9. Justin Martyr (c. 155 AD).
“But for what reason He, through the power of logos and according to the will of God the Father and Lord of all, was born a virgin as a man.” First Apology 46.5. Justin Martyr (c. 155 AD).
“Now the Word of God is His Son, as we have said before.” First Apology 63.4. Justin Martyr (c. 155 AD).
“But He is also called ‘Angel’ and ‘Apostle’; for He announces whatever we ought to know, and is sent forth to testify to what is announced, as Our Lord Himself also said.” First Apology 63.5. Justin Martyr (c. 155 AD).
“But these words were spoken to prove that Jesus the Christ is Son of God and Apostle, being of old the logos, and appeared now in the form of fire, now in the image of bodiless creatures; but now having become man by the will of God for the human race.” First Apology 63.10. Justin Martyr (c. 155 AD).
“He became man of a virgin according to the will of the Father.” First Apology 63.16. Justin Martyr (c. 155 AD).
“But His Son, who is alone properly called Son, the logos who is with God and is begotten before the creation, when in the beginning God created and set in order everything through Him, is called Christ, with reference to His being anointed and God’s ordering all things through Him.” Second Apology 6.3. Justin Martyr (c. 155 AD).
“Having been conceived according to the will of God the Father.” Second Apology 6.5. Justin Martyr (c. 155 AD).
“For next to God we worship and love the logos who is from the unbegotten and ineffable God.” Second Apology 13.4. Justin Martyr (c. 155 AD).
“When, in accordance with the will of God, Jesus Christ, his Son, has been born of the Virgin Mary.” Dialogue with Trypho 23.3. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“It was expedient that, in accordance with the will of the Father, these things should have their end in him who was born of the Virgin… namely, in Christ, the Son of God.” Dialogue with Trypho 43.1. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“He is the Christ of God… and consented to become man with a body and feelings like our own, according to the will of the Father… and evidently became the Christ by the Father’s choice.” Dialogue with Trypho 48.3. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“I shall attempt to prove my assertion, namely, that there exists and is mentioned in Scripture another God and Lord under the Creator of all things, who is also called an Angel, because he proclaims to man whatever the Creator of the world—above whom there is no other God—wishes to reveal to them.” Dialogue with Trypho 56.4. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“One of these three is God, and yet is termed an Angel (because… he delivered the messages of God, the Creator of all, to whomsoever God desires… was in fact the God who existed before the creation of the universe.” Dialogue with Trypho 56.10. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“He who is said to have appeared to Abraham, Jacob, and Moses, and is called God, is distinct from God, the Creator; distinct, that is, in number, but not in mind. For I state that he never did or said anything other than what the Creator—above whom there is no other God—desired that he do or say.” Dialogue with Trypho 56.11. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“Tell me if it is your opinion that the Holy Spirit calls another God and Lord, besides the Father of all things and his Christ.” Dialogue with Trypho 56.15. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“He, indeed, is the Lord who was commissioned by the Lord in heaven, that is, the Creator of all things, to inflict those dreadful punishments upon Sodom and Gomorrah.” Dialogue with Trypho 56.23. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“God has begotten of himself a certain rational power as a beginning before all creatures . . . he performs the Father’s will and that he was begotten by an act of the Father’s will.” Dialogue with Trypho 61.1. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“But, does not something similar happen also with us humans? When we utter a word, it can be said that we beget the word, but not by cutting it off, in the sense that our power of uttering words would thereby be diminished. We can observe a similar example in nature when one fire kindles another without losing anything, but remaining the same; yet the enkindled fire seems to exist of itself and to shine without lessening the brilliancy of the first fire.” Dialogue with Trypho 61.2. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“God has appeared . . . how can we doubt and refuse to believe that, in conformity with the will of the Father of all, he could also be born man of a virgin, . . . even this has taken place according to the will of the Father?” Dialogue with Trypho 75.4. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“He was not a product of human activity, but of the will of God, the Father of all, who brought him forth.” Dialogue with Trypho 76.1. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“For he alone openly taught the great counsels that the Father intended for those who either were, or shall be, pleasing to him.” Dialogue with Trypho 76.3. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“If, then, the Father of the Universe willed that his Christ should shoulder the curses of the whole human race, fully realizing that he would raise him up again after his crucifixion and death, why do you accuse him, who endured such suffering in accordance with the Father’s will . . . For, although he suffered for humankind according to the will of the Father himself.” Dialogue with Trypho 95.2. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“Was also a prediction of what he would do in conformity with his Father’s will.” Dialogue with Trypho 102.5. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“For, if the Son of God clearly states that it is not because he is the Son, nor because he is powerful or wise, but that, even though he be sinless . . . he cannot be saved without God, how can you or others who expect to be saved without this hope, fail to realize that you are deceiving yourselves?” Dialogue with Trypho 102.7. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“Christ fulfilled by his crucifixion the Father’s plan of our redemption.” Dialogue with Trypho 103.3. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“The Father wished his Son to endure in reality these severe sufferings for us . . . he was the Son of God.” Dialogue with Trypho 103.8. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“[The Son] was appointed by the Father and Lord, and administers to his will, and is called God.” Dialogue with Trypho 126.5. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“He himself, being God and angel sent by the Father . . .” Dialogue with Trypho 126.6. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“And our Lord would not have affirmed, in conformity with the will of the Father and Lord of the universe, who sent him.” Dialogue with Trypho 140.4. Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD).
“In his book against Marcion, Justin does well say: I would not have 52 believed the Lord Himself, if He had announced any other than He who is our framer, maker, and nourisher. But because the only-begotten Son came to us from the one God, who both made this world and formed us, and contains and administers all things, summing up His own handiwork in Himself, my faith towards Him is stedfast, and my love to the Father immoveable, God bestowing both upon us.” Against Marcion (in Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.6.2)
“This is the cry, Israel, which you should have made to God: ‘Sovereign, if indeed your Son had to suffer, and this is your will…’” On Pascha 76. Melito of Sardis (c. 170 AD).
“…who sits at the Father’s right hand, who has power to save every man, through whom the Father did his works from beginning to eternity.” On Pascha 104. Melito of Sardis (c. 170 AD).
“He is the one who sits at the Father’s right hand; he carries the Father and is carried by the Father.” On Pascha 105. Melito of Sardis (c. 170 AD). (NOTE: the Son is carried by the Father by the Father exalting Him to His position, and the Father is carried by the Son by the Son revealing the Father to the world in the economy of the incarnation.)
“For this reason the Father sent his incorporeal Son from heaven.” Fragment 13. Melito of Sardis (c. 170 AD).
“He put on a body from a virgin because of men, he who is Word with you; and God is Word, and Word is Man, and Man is with God. For God visited his own creation, which he had made in his image and likeness. He sent out his own Son from heaven to earth incorporeal, and he took a body from a virgin.” New Fragment II.4. Melito of Sardis (c. 170 AD).
“The Lord died for all and rose for all, and he put on humanity, [ascended] to the heights, to heaven, and offered the Father a gift.” New Fragment II.17. Melito of Sardis (c. 170 AD).
“But him the Father exalted, and has made him sit at the right of his throne in high places and abundance; and him he made judge of the people and leader of angels and prince of cherubim, architect of Jerusalem and son of a virgin and king for ever, this one whom we see wholly as man with him. He is older than the morning star; he is brighter than the lightning-flash, higher than the heavens, creator of creatures.” New Fragment II.18. Melito of Sardis (c. 170 AD).
“For he is the Word of his Father, and the Spirit of his power, and the perfector of peace who came from heaven, and giver of Holy Spirit of the prophets.” New Fragment II.20. Melito of Sardis (c. 170 AD).
“And because he was God and is God . . . scorned by men and magnified by the Father, this is the Man who was sent by the Father to the world because he is God, both Man upon earth and God in heaven, and he is God over all creation.” New Fragment II.22. Melito of Sardis (c. 170 AD).
“God ‘was in the beginning’ and we have received the tradition that the beginning was the power of the Word. The Lord of all things who was himself the foundation of the whole was alone in relation to the creation which had not yet come into being. In so far as all power over things visible and invisible was with him, he with himself and the Word which was in him established all things through the power of the Word.” To the Greeks 5.1. Tatian (c. 170 AD).
“By his mere will the Word sprang forth and did not come in vain, but became the ‘firstborn’ work of the Father. Him we know as the beginning of the universe.” To the Greeks 5.2. Tatian (c. 170 AD).
“He came into being by partition, not by section, for what is severed is separated from its origin, but what has been partitioned takes on a distinctive function and does not diminish the source from which it has been taken.” To the Greeks 5.3. Tatian (c. 170 AD).
“Just as many fires may be kindled from one torch, but the light of the first torch is not diminished because of the kindling of the many, so also the Word coming forth from the power of the Father does not deprive the begetter of the power of rational speech.” To the Greeks 5.4. Tatian (c. 170 AD).
“And hence the holy writings teach us, and all the spirit-bearing [inspired] men, one of whom, John, says, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,’ showing that at first God was alone, and the Word in Him.” To Autolycus 2.22.5. Theophilus of Antioch (c. 180 AD).
“Then he says, ‘The Word was God; all things came into existence through Him; and apart from Him not one thing came into existence.’ The Word, then, being God, and being naturally produced from God, whenever the Father of the universe wills, He sends Him to any place; and He, coming, is both heard and seen, being sent by Him, and is found in a place.” To Autolycus 2.22.6. Theophilus of Antioch (c. 180 AD).
“…he sent him in gentleness and meekness, as a king might send his son who is a king; he sent him as God; he sent him as a man to men. When he sent him, he did so as one who saves by persuasion, not compulsion…” To Diognetus 7:4. Anonymous (c. 130–200 AD).
“When he sent him, he did so as one calling, not pursuing; when he sent him, he did so as one loving, not judging.” To Diognetus 7:5. Anonymous (c. 130–200 AD).
“For he will send him as Judge, and who will endure his coming?” To Diognetus 7:6. Anonymous (c. 130–200 AD).
“And after conceiving a great and marvelous plan, he communicated it to his Child alone.” To Diognetus 8:9. Anonymous (c. 130–200 AD).
“…but when he revealed it through his beloved Child and made known the things prepared from the beginning, he gave us everything at once…” To Diognetus 8:11. Anonymous (c. 130–200 AD).
“So then, having already planned everything in his mind together with his Child, he permitted us during the former time to be carried away by undisciplined impulses as we desired…” To Diognetus 9:1. Anonymous (c. 130–200 AD).
“…in his mercy he took upon himself our sins; he himself gave up his own Son as a ransom for us, the holy one for the lawless, the guiltless for the guilty, ‘the just for the unjust,’ the incorruptible for the corruptible, the immortal for the mortal.” To Diognetus 9:2. Anonymous (c. 130–200 AD).
“This is why he sent the Word, namely, that he might appear to the world.” To Diognetus 11:3. Anonymous (c. 130–200 AD).
“The Rule of the Truth that we hold is this: There is one God Almighty, who created all things through His Word… Now, it is the Father who made all things through Him… These He did not make through Angels or some Powers that were separated from His thought… No, He made all things by His Word and Spirit… This is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Against Heresies 1.22.1. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD).
“It is proper, then, that I should begin with the first and most important head, that is, God the Creator, who made the heaven and the earth.” Against Heresies 2.1.1. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD).
“…His Son who has received dominion from His Father over all creation… He [the Father] who gave Him [the Son] the inheritance of the heathen, and subjected to Him all His enemies. Since, therefore, the Father is truly Lord, and the Son truly Lord, the Holy Spirit has fitly designated them by the title of Lord… the Son, who had also been talking with Abraham, had received power to judge the Sodomites for their wickedness… 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… For she [the church] is the synagogue of God, which God—that is, the Son Himself—has gathered by Himself.” Against Heresies 3.6.1. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD).
“For all these things were foreknown by the Father; but the Son works them out at the proper time in perfect order and sequence… By which is made manifest, that all things which had been foreknown of the Father, our Lord did accomplish in their order, season, and hour, foreknown and fitting, being indeed one and the same, but rich and great. 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.” Against Heresies 3.16.7. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD).
“For in Abraham man had learned beforehand, and had been accustomed to follow the Word of God. 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.” Against Heresies 4.5.4. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD).
“For no one can know the Father, unless through the Word of God, that is, unless by the Son revealing [Him]; neither can he have knowledge of the Son, unless through the good pleasure of the Father. But the Son performs the good pleasure of the Father; for the Father sends, and the Son is sent, and comes.” Against Heresies 4.6.3. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD).
“…also that they ascend through the Spirit to the Son, and through the Son to the Father, and that in due time the Son will yield up His work to the Father, even as it is said by the apostle…” Against Heresies 5.36.2. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD).
“God the Father… fulfils the promises for the kingdom of His Son… For there is the one Son, who accomplished His Father’s will; and one human race also in which the mysteries of God are wrought, ‘which the angels desire to look into;’ and they are not able to search out the wisdom of God, by means of which His handiwork, confirmed and incorporated with His Son, is brought to perfection; that His offspring, the First-begotten Word, should descend to the creature, that is, to what had been moulded, and that it should be contained by Him; and, on the other hand, the creature should contain the Word, and ascend to Him, passing beyond the angels, and be made after the image and likeness of God.” Against Heresies 5.36.3. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD).
“But he does not give, as Christ did, by means of breathing, because he is not the fount of the Spirit.” Fragment 21. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD).
“…For if he has not the Holy Spirit, he has no knowledge of the Creator; he has not received Jesus Christ the Life; he knows not the Father who is in heaven.” Fragment 26. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD).
“…so did He also proceed from God as the First-begotten of every creature… And as He was the servant of God, so is He the Son of God, and Lord of the universe… also did He breathe the Holy Spirit into His disciples…” Fragment 52. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD).
“This then is the order of the rule of our faith, and the foundation of the building, and the stability of our conversation: God, the Father, not made, not material, invisible; one God, the creator of all things: this is the first point of our faith. The second point is: The Word of God, Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord, who was manifested to the prophets according to the form of their prophesying and according to the method of the dispensation of the Father: through whom all things were made; who also at the end of the times, to complete and gather up all things, was made man among men, visible and tangible, in order to abolish death and show forth life and produce a community of union between God and man. And the third point is: The Holy Spirit, through whom the prophets prophesied, and the fathers learned the things of God, and the righteous were led forth into the way of righteousness; and who in the end of the times was poured out in a new way upon mankind in all the earth, renewing man unto God.” Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 6. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD).
“And for this reason the baptism of our regeneration proceeds through these three points: God the Father bestowing on us regeneration through His Son by the Holy Spirit. For as many as carry [in them] the Spirit of God are led to the Word, that is to the Son; and the Son brings them to the Father; and the Father causes them to possess incorruption. Without the Spirit it is not possible to behold the Word of God, nor without the Son can any draw near to the Father: for the knowledge of the Father is the Son, and the knowledge of the Son of God is through the Holy Spirit; and, according to the good pleasure of the Father, the Son ministers and dispenses the Spirit to whomsoever the Father wills and as He wills.” Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 7. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD).
“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. Because to created things the Father of all is invisible and unapproachable, therefore those who are to draw near to God must have their access to the Father through the Son. And yet more plainly and evidently does David speak concerning the Father and the Son as follows: ‘Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: thou hast loved righteousness and hated unrighteousness: therefore God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.’ For the Son, as being God, receives from the Father, that is, from God, the throne of the everlasting kingdom, and the oil of anointing above His fellows. The oil of anointing is the Spirit, wherewith He has been anointed; and His fellows are prophets and righteous men and apostles, and all who receive the fellowship of His kingdom, that is to say, His disciples.” Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 47. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD).
“Here [in Isaiah 49:5–6], first of all, is seen that the Son of God pre-existed, from the fact that the Father spake with Him, and before He was born revealed Him to men: and next, that He must needs be born a man among men; and that the same God forms Him from the womb, that is, that of the Spirit of God He should be born; and that He is Lord of all men… And that the Son of the Father calls Himself servant, [this is] on account of His subjection to the Father: for among men also every son is the servant of his father.” Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 51. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD).
“The He should endure these things, and that too by the will of the Father, He manifestly declared: for by the will of the Father He was to endure sufferings.” Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 75. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD).
“And being raised from the dead and exalted at the Father’s right hand, He awaits the time appointed by the Father for the judgment, when all enemies shall be put under Him.” Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 85. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD).
“… for the Word had not passed through them [the Gentiles], nor given them the Holy Spirit to drink; who fashioned the new way of godliness and righteousness, and made copious streams to spring forth, disseminating over the earth the Holy Spirit; even as it had been promised through the prophets, that in the end of the days He should pour out the Spirit upon the face of the earth.” Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 89. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD).
“For the Word Himself is the manifest mystery: God in man, and man God. And the Mediator executes the Father’s will; for the Mediator is the Word, who is common to both — the Son of God, the Saviour of men; His Servant, our Teacher.” The Instructor 3.1. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195 AD).
“And Xenocrates the Chalcedonian, who mentions the supreme Zeus and the subordinate Zeus, leaves an indication of the Father and the Son.” The Stromata 5.14. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195 AD).
“(Jesus) is the Lord of all, and serves above all the will of the good and almighty Father…” The Stromata 7.2. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195 AD).
“There is, too, that will of God which the Lord accomplished in preaching, in working, in enduring: for if He Himself proclaimed that He did not His own, but the Father’s will, without doubt those things which He used to do were the Father’s will…” On Prayer 4. Tertullian (c. 200 AD).
“…in addition to the title of Son, He was the Sent. The authority, therefore, of the Sender must needs have first appeared in a testimony of the Sent; because none who comes in the authority of another does himself set it forth for himself on his own assertion, but rather looks out for protection from it, for first comes the support of him who gives him his authority. Now (Christ) will neither be acknowledged as Son if the Father never named Him, nor be believed in as the Sent One if no Sender gave Him a commission: the Father, if any, purposely naming Him; and the Sender, if any, purposely commissioning Him.” Against Marcion 3.2. Tertullian (c. 207 AD).
“…(Jesus) received from the Father the ability of uttering words in season: ‘The Lord has given to me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season (to him that is weary)’ (Isaiah 50:4); except that Marcion introduces to us a Christ who is not subject to the Father.” Against Marcion 4.39. Tertullian (c. 207 AD).
“No charge about the salvation of angels did Christ ever receive from the Father; and that which the Father neither promised nor commanded, Christ could not have undertaken.” On the Flesh of Christ 14. Tertullian (c. 206 AD).
“And certainly, when the Son of God has faith’s protection absolutely committed to Him, beseeching it of the Father, from whom He receives all power in heaven and on earth…” De Fuga in Persecutione 2. Tertullian (c. 212 AD).
“I believe that the Spirit proceeds not otherwise than from the Father through the Son.” Against Praxeas 4.1. Tertullian (c. 208 AD).
“He has also heard and seen all things with the Father; and what He has been commanded by the Father, that also does He speak. And it is not His own will, but the Father’s, which He has accomplished, which He had known most intimately, even from the beginning. For what man knows the things which be in God, but the Spirit which is in Him? But the Word was formed by the Spirit, and (if I may so express myself) the Spirit is the body of the Word. 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.’ This will be the prolation, taught by the truth, the guardian of the Unity, wherein we declare that the Son is a prolation from the Father, without being separated from Him.” Against Praxeas 8. Tertullian (c. 208 AD).
“He accordingly says Unum, a neuter term, which does not imply singularity of number, but unity of essence, likeness, conjunction, affection on the Father’s part, who loves the Son, and submission on the Son’s, who obeys the Father’s will.” Against Praxeas 22. Tertullian (c. 208 AD).
“For the Father indeed is One, but there are two Persons, because there is also the Son; and then there is the third, the Holy Spirit. The Father decrees, the Word executes, and the Son is manifested, through whom the Father is believed on. The economy of harmony is led back to one God; for God is One. It is the Father who commands, and the Son who obeys, and the Holy Spirit who gives understanding: the Father who is above all, and the Son who is through all, and the Holy Spirit who is in all.” Against Noetus 14. Hippolytus of Rome (c. 205 AD).
“But on further thought one may perhaps see reason to consider that the Son is second beside the Father, He being the same as the Father, while manifestly a distinction is drawn between the Spirit and the Son in the passage, ‘Whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him, but whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, he shall not have forgiveness, either in this world or in the world to come.’ We consider, therefore, that there are three hypostases, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit… we were anxious to make it clear that if all things were made by Him, then the Spirit also was made through the Word, and is seen to be one of the all things which are inferior to their Maker. This view is too firmly settled to be disturbed…” Commentary on the Gospel of John 2.6. Origen of Alexandria (c. 230 AD).
“For, according to the prophet David, God spoke and they came into being, He commanded and they were created. For the Unbegotten-God commanded the First-Born of all creation, and they were created…” Commentary on the Gospel of John 2.8. Origen of Alexandria (c. 230 AD).
“For we who say that the visible world is under the government to Him who created all things, do thereby declare that the Son is not mightier than the Father, but inferior to Him. And this belief we ground on the saying of Jesus Himself, ‘The Father who sent Me is greater than I.’ And none of us is so insane as to affirm that the Son of man is Lord over God.” Against Celsus 8.15. Origen of Alexandria (c. 248 AD).
“For who does not acknowledge that the person of the Son is second after the Father, when he reads that it was said by the Father, consequently to the Son, ‘Let us make man in our image and our likeness;’ and that after this it was related, ‘And God made man, in the image of God made He him?’” On the Trinity 26. Novatian (c. 250 AD).
“Since the divine Scripture, not so much of the Old as also of the New Testament, everywhere shows Him to be born of the Father, by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made, who always has obeyed and obeys the Father; that He always has power over all things, but as delivered, as granted, as by the Father Himself permitted to Him. And what can be so evident proof that this is not the Father, but the Son; as that He is set forth as being obedient to God the Father, unless, if He be believed to be the Father, Christ may be said to be subjected to another God the Father?” On the Trinity 26. Novatian (c. 250 AD).
“He is therefore the Son, not the Father: for He would have confessed that He was the Father had He considered Himself to be the Father; and He declares that He was sanctified by His Father. In receiving, then, sanctification from the Father, He is inferior to the Father. Now, consequently, He who is inferior to the Father, is not the Father, but the Son; for had He been the Father, He would have given, and not received, sanctification. Now, however, by declaring that He has received sanctification from the Father, by the very fact of proving Himself to be less than the Father, by receiving from Him sanctification, He has shown that He is the Son, and not the Father. Besides, He says that He is sent: so that by that obedience wherewith the Lord Christ came, being sent, He might be proved to be not the Father, but the Son, who assuredly would have sent had He been the Father; but being sent, He was not the Father, lest the Father should be proved, in being sent, to be subjected to another God.” On the Trinity 27. Novatian (c. 250 AD).
“Now if the Son was obedient to do His Father’s will, how much more should the servant be obedient to do his Master’s will!” Treatise 4.14. Cyprian of Carthage (c. 250 AD).
“Assuredly, the will of the Son is not one thing, and the will of the Father another. For He who wills what the Father wills, is seen to have the Father’s will. So He is speaking figuratively when He says, ‘Not my will, but yours.’ For it is not that He wishes the cup to be removed, but that He refers the correct issue of His passion to the Father’s will. He thereby honors the Father as the First [arche].” Dionysius of Alexandria (c. 262 AD), preserved in Athanasius of Alexandria.
“[There is] one Holy Spirit, having substance from God, and who is manifested through the Son; image of the Son, perfect of the perfect; life, the cause of living; holy fountain; sanctity, the dispenser of sanctification; in whom is manifested God the Father who is above all and in all, and God the Son who is through all. Perfect Trinity, in glory and eternity and sovereignty neither divided nor estranged.” Confession of Faith. Gregory the Wonderworker (265 AD).
“And His head and His hairs were white as it were white wool, and as it were snow. On the head the whiteness is shown; but the head of Christ is God.” Commentary on the Apocalypse 14. Victorinus of Pettau (c. 260 AD). (NOTE: Victorinus is obviously only quoting what Paul says, but I decided to include it because it demonstrates that he believed the Father isn’t merely the head of the Son for as long as the Son is living as a man on earth)
“And so the prophets and apostles, who spoke more more fully concerning the Son of God, and assigned to Him a divinity above other men, did not refer their praises of Him to the teaching of angels, but to Him upon whom all authority and power depend. For it was fitting that He who was greater than all things after the Father, should have the Father, who alone is greater than Himself, as His witness.” The Banquet of the Ten Virgins 1. Methodius of Olympus (c. 290 AD).
“. . . and he who does not receive Christ, does not receive His God and Father . . .” Apostolic Constitutions 2.20. (c. 375 AD).
“For as Christ does nothing without His Father, so neither does the deacon do anything without his bishop; and as the Son without His Father is nothing, so is the deacon nothing without his bishop; and as the Son is subject to His Father, so is every deacon subject to his bishop; and as the Son is the messenger and prophet of the Father, so is the deacon the messenger and prophet of his bishop. Wherefore let all things that he is to do with any one be made known to the bishop, and be finally ordered by him.” Apostolic Constitutions 2.30. (c. 375 AD).
“But we, who are the children of God and the sons of peace, do preach the holy and right word of piety, and declare one only God, the Lord of the law and of the prophets, the Maker of the world, the Father of Christ; not a being that caused Himself, or begot Himself, as they suppose, but eternal, and without original, and inhabiting light inaccessible; not two or three, or manifold, but eternally one only; not a being that cannot be known or spoken of, but who was preached by the law and the prophets; the Almighty, the Supreme Governor of all things, the All-powerful Being; the God and Father of the Only-begotten, and of the First-born of the whole creation; one God, the Father of one Son, not of many; the Maker of one Comforter by Christ, the Maker of the other orders, the one Creator of the several creatures by Christ, the same their Preserver and Legislator by Him; the cause of the resurrection, and of the judgment, and of the retribution which shall be made by Him: that this same Christ was pleased to become man, and went through life without sin, and suffered, and rose from the dead, and returned to Him that sent Him.” Apostolic Constitutions 6.11. (c. 375 AD)
“O God Almighty, unbegotten and inaccessible, who only art the true God, the God and Father of Your Christ, Your only begotten Son; the God of the Comforter, and Lord of the whole world.” Apostolic Constitutions 8.6. (c. 375 AD)