What did Ignatius say about Jesus?

There is a common claim that the doctrine of the divinity of Jesus/the Trinity was a late idea that developed with time, and that it wasn’t until several hundred years later that Christians started to worship Jesus as God.

We could discuss what the Bible says about this, but that’s something that has been done many times. Instead let us have a look at what early Christian theologians thought about this topic. While their writings are not authoritative for doctrine, they do give us a brutally honest view of how the first Christians actually viewed these matters. We, two thousand years removed, may have our own ideas. But whatever we think does not matter as much as what the people who knew the Apostles thought, and what beliefs they were ready to die for. If they believed it, then we should believe it. If they were ready to die for it, we should be ready to die for it.

Ignatius of Antioch

Ignatius of Antioch was a direct disciple of John the apostle. We don’t know exactly when he was born, but he was about a generation younger than the apostles. Ignatius converted to christianity as a child or young man and learned from John the Apostle for many decades. Tradition has it that he was one of the children whom Jesus blessed, which would put his birth around 25-30 AD. (Mark 10:16) If so he had personaly met Jesus.

His teacher John the Apostle died about 98-100 AD. This would mean Ignatius had been his disciple for maybe half a century.

Ignatius was the bishop of Antioch until his martyrdom in 108 AD. Antioch was the most prominent Christian center in the late first century, from where Paul based his activities. So Ignatius held the most prominent position in the most prominent congregation in the Christian world.

On his way to be martyred he wrote letters to several well known congregations as well as to Polycarp, his friend and fellow disciple of John. These letters were written ca 105 AD, only 5-7 years after John the Apostle died. They are also written to Christians who knew and believed exactly what John and the other apostles had preached for decades. They had also gone through massive waves of persecution for their faith without wavering. There is absolutely no chance that they would accept any false teachings, so for Ignatius to write anything even slightly false to them would be meaningless.

Also, 5-7 years would be way to short a time for any false teachings to spread around the mediterranean world and take root.

Adding to these facts, Ignatius was about to be martyred for his beliefs, so what he wrote down was something that he was willing and ready to die for. So we can be certain that what Ignatius writes is in fact a perfect representation of what Christians in the second part of the first century believed.

What did Ignatius believe?

Here are some excerpts from his letters. You can go read the entirety of his letters online. In his letter to the Ephesians he writes:

Greeting: by the will of the Father, and Jesus Christ, our God… Ch. 7: 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…. Ch. 18: For our God, Jesus Christ, was, according to the appointment of God, conceived in the womb by Mary, of the seed of David, but by the Holy Ghost. … Ch. 19: God Himself was manifested in human form for the renewal of eternal life. …

In his letter to the Magnesia’s, Ignatius writes:

Ch. 8: there is one God, who has manifested Himself by Jesus Christ His Son

In his letter to the Trallians he writes:

Ch. 7: 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.

To the Romans he wrote:

Greetings: the Church which is beloved and enlightened by the will of Him that wills all things which are according to the love of Jesus Christ our God, which also presides in the place of the region of the Romans … [I wish] abundance of happiness unblameably, in Jesus Christ our God. Ch. 3: For our God, Jesus Christ, now that He is with the Father, is all the more revealed [in His glory]. Ch. 6: Permit me to be an imitator of the passion of my God. [the passion is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ] Ch. 9: the Church in Syria, which now has God for its shepherd, instead of me. Jesus Christ alone will oversee it

To the congregation in Smyrna he wrote:

Ch. 1: I Glorify God, even Jesus Christ, who has given you such wisdom.

Ch. 10: You have done well in receiving Philo and Rheus Agathopus as servants of Christ our God

To his friend Polycarp he wrote:

Ch. 8: I pray for your happiness for ever in our God, Jesus Christ, by whom continue in the unity and under the protection of God.

What does this mean?

It means that Ignatius, and all other first century Christians, believed that Jesus is God. They had lived through 3 big waves of persecution, and risked their lives or even given their lives for this belief. It’s just a historical fact. If you don’t agree, you could argue that you know better than they did. But that would be very arrogant. The humble thing to do is to adapt your beliefs to match theirs, and to also be ready to die for their beliefs. Including the belief that Jesus is God.