Day 56- FOUNDATION STONE IN THE A YEAR

The first early Church leader we’re going to look at is Ignatius of Antioch. He was born in 30AD, in other words, before Jesus died, and lived until 107. You can’t get much closer to the actual times of Jesus than someone who was born in his lifetime. 

Ignatius consistently spoke of the deity of Jesus Christ. Some of his writings have been preserved and they clearly state his position on the matter. 

In his writings To the Ephesians, To the Romans, To the Magnesians and other letters, we find references such as the following: “Jesus Christ our God”; “who is God and man”; “received knowledge of God, that is, Jesus Christ”; “for our God, Jesus the Christ”; “for God was manifest as man”; “Christ, who was from eternity with the Father”; “from God, from Jesus Christ”; “from Jesus Christ, our God”; “Our God, Jesus Christ”; “suffer me to follow the example of the passion of my God”; “Jesus Christ the God” and “Our God Jesus Christ.”

The fact that Ignatius was not rebuked, nor branded as teaching heresy by any of the churches or Christian leaders he sent such letters to, proves that the early church, long before 107 A.D., accepted the deity of Christ as the truth and a fundamental doctrine of Christianity.