Early Christian Beliefs About the Only Begotten Son and the Word of God

Ignatius, Epistle to the Magnesians (Long Version) Direct teaching

He, being begotten by the Father before the beginning of time, was God the Word, the only-begotten Son, and remains the same for ever;

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Direct teaching

...take away Your assistance from me; pay attention to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword, and my only-begotten from the hand of the dog; save me from the lion’s mouth, and my humility from the horns of the unicorns'—was also information and prediction of the events that would happen to Him. For I have already shown that He was the only-begotten of the Father of all things, being uniquely begotten as Word and Power by Him, and later becoming man through the Virgin, as we have learned from the writings. Moreover, it is also predicted that He would die by crucifixion. For the passage, ‘Deliver my soul from the sword, and my only-begotten from the hand of the dog; save me from the lion’s mouth, and my humility from the horns of the unicorns,’ indicates the suffering by which He would die, namely, by crucifixion. I have already explained to you that the ‘horns of the unicorns’ are a representation of the cross. And the prayer that His soul should be saved from the sword, the lion’s mouth, and the hand of the dog, was a request that no one should take possession of His soul: so that, when we reach the end of life, we may make the same request to God, who can prevent any shameless e

Justin Martyr, The Second Apology Direct teaching

And His Son, who alone is properly called Son, the Word, who also was with Him and was begotten before the works, when at first He created and arranged all things by Him, is called Christ, in reference to His being anointed and God’s ordering all things through Him;

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Direct teaching

2. That John knew the one and the same Word of God, and that He was the only begotten, and that He became incarnate for our salvation, Jesus Christ our Lord, I have sufficiently proved from the word of John himself.

Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Direct teaching

...cannot indeed be contained, and is not found in a place, for there is no place of His rest. But His Word, through whom He made all things, being His power and His wisdom, taking the person of the Father and Lord of all, went to the garden in the person of God and talked with Adam. For the divine writing itself teaches us that Adam said he had heard the voice. But what else is this voice except the Word of God, who is also His Son? Not as the poets and writers of myths speak of the sons of gods begotten from intercourse with women, but as the truth explains, the Word always exists, dwelling within the heart of God. For before anything came into being, He had Him as a counselor, being His own mind and thought. But when God wished to make all that He had decided on, He begot this Word, uttered, the firstborn of all creation, not being Himself emptied of the Word, that is, Reason, but having begotten Reason, and always talking with His Reason. Therefore the holy writings teach us this, and all the Spirit-bearing men as well, one of whom, John, says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God," John 1:1, showing that at first God was alone, and the Word was in Him. The

Tertullian, Against Praxeas Direct teaching

...John 1:1-3 Now, since these words cannot be taken in any other way than as they are written, they clearly show that there is One who was from the beginning, and also One with whom He always was: one, the Word of God; the other, God. Although the Word is also God, He is God regarded as the Son of God, not as the Father. There is One through whom all things were made, and Another by whom all things were made. But in what sense we call Him Another, we have already often explained. In calling Him Another, we must mean that He is not identical. He is not identical, yet not as if separate. He is Other by divine arrangement, not by division. Therefore, He who became flesh was not the very same as He from whom the Word came. "His glory was seen, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father." John 1:14 Notice: not "as of the Father." He alone declared what was in the bosom of the Father. The Father did not reveal the secrets of His own bosom. For this is preceded by another statement: "No man has seen God at any time." Then again, when John the Baptist designates Him as "the Lamb of God," John 1:29 he is not described as being Himself the same as Him whose beloved Son He is. He is cer

Gregory Thaumaturgus, On the Trinity Direct teaching

...at there is a soul within us joined with the body. Thus then we reason and believe that the Word is begotten by the Father, although we neither possess nor know the clear rationale of the fact. The Word Himself is before every creature, eternal from the Eternal, like spring from spring, and light from light. The word Word, indeed, belongs to those three genera of words which are named in Scripture, and which are not substantial: namely, the word conceived, the word uttered, and the word articulated. The word conceived certainly is not substantial. The word uttered, again, is that voice which the prophets hear from God, or the prophetic speech itself. And even this is not substantial. And lastly, the word articulated is the speech of man formed in air, composed of terms, which also is not substantial. But the Word of God is substantial, endowed with an exalted and enduring nature, and is eternal with Himself, and is inseparable from Him, and can never fall away, but shall remain in an everlasting union. This Word created heaven and earth, and in Him all things were made. He is the arm and the power of God, never to be separated from the Father, by virtue of an indivisible nature,

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Declaration of Faith Direct teaching

There is one God, the Father of the living Word, who is His subsistent Wisdom and Power and Eternal Image: perfect Begetter of the perfect Begotten, Father of the only-begotten Son.

Gregory Thaumaturgus, A Sectional Confession of Faith Direct teaching

God the Father, being Himself the perfect Person, has thus the perfect Word begotten of Him truly, not as a word that is spoken, nor yet again as a son by adoption, in the sense in which angels and men are called sons of God, but as a Son who is in nature God.

Early Liturgies, Divine Liturgy of St. James Supporting witness

You who art the only-begotten Son and Word of God, immortal;

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

The only-begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him, John 1:18 — calling invisibility and ineffableness the bosom of God.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

The Father is the God over all; Christ is the only-begotten God, the beloved Son, the Lord of glory;

Alexander of Alexandria, Epistles on the Arian Heresy Direct teaching

...of the patriarchs and apostles, and of all the saints. And we believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. He was not begotten from things that are not, but from Him who is the Father. He was not begotten in a bodily manner, by excision or division, as Sabellius and Valentinus thought, but in a certain inexplicable and unspeakable manner, according to the words of the prophet quoted above: "Who shall declare His generation?" Isaiah 53:8. Since no nature that is begotten can investigate His subsistence, just as no one can investigate the Father, because the nature of rational beings cannot receive the knowledge of His divine generation by the Father. But men who are moved by the Spirit of truth have no need to learn these things from me. For the words spoken before by Christ on this very matter are sounding in our ears: "No man knows the Father, save the Son; and no man knows who the Son is, save the Father." Matthew 11:27. We have learned that He is, equally with the Father, unchangeable and immutable, lacking nothing, the perfect Son, and like the Father. In this alone He is inferior to the Father: that He is not unbegotten. For He is the exact image of the F

Alexander of Alexandria, Epistles on the Arian Heresy Direct teaching

But John the evangelist clearly shows that the Son of God was not made out of things that did not exist, and that there was no time when He did not exist, when he writes about Him like this: "The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father," John 1:18. Since that divine teacher meant to show that the Father and the Son are two realities inseparable from each other, he spoke of Him as being in the bosom of the Father. And the same John also says that the Word of God is not included among the things that were created out of things that did not exist: "All things were made by Him." For he presented His distinct personhood when he said, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made," John 1:1-3. For if all things were made by Him, how can it be that He, who gave existence to the things that were made, at one time did not exist? The Word who makes is not to be described as having the same nature as the things that are made. He was in the beginning, and all things were made by Him and formed out of things that did not exist. Moreover, that which exists seems to be

Hippolytus, Against the Heresy of Noetus Direct teaching

...in your power to acquaint yourself with the Maker's practiced and indescribable art, or method, but only to see, and understand, and believe that man is God's work. Moreover, you are asking for an account of the generation of the Word, whom God the Father in His good pleasure begot as He willed. Is it not enough for you to learn that God made the world? Do you also dare to ask from where He made it? Is it not enough for you to learn that the Son of God has been manifested to you for salvation, if you believe? Do you also inquire curiously how He was begotten after the Spirit? Truly, no more than two have been entrusted to give the account of His generation after the flesh. And are you then so bold as to seek the account of His generation after the Spirit, which the Father keeps with Himself, intending to reveal it then to the holy ones and those worthy of seeing His face? Rest satisfied with the word spoken by Christ, namely, "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit," just as, speaking by the prophet of the generation of the Word, He shows the fact that He is begotten, but reserves the question of the manner and means, to reveal it only in the time determined by Himself. For

Hippolytus, Against the Heresy of Noetus Direct teaching

...ore the incarnation and when by Himself, yet the perfect Son, although He was the perfect Word, the only begotten. Nor could the flesh subsist by itself apart from the Word, because it has its subsistence in the Word. Thus, then, one perfect Son of God was manifested.

Alexander of Alexandria, Epistles on the Arian Heresy Supporting witness

4. But that the Son of God was not made from things which are not, and that there was no time when He was not, the evangelist John sufficiently shows, when he thus writes concerning Him: The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father.

Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness

...ods, since He received His beginning by being born from Him who is one God. In this way, being both only begotten and first-begotten of Him who has no beginning, He is the only one, of all things both Source and Head. And therefore He declared that God is one, in that He proved Him to be from no source and from no beginning, but rather the beginning and source of all things. Moreover, the Son does nothing by His own will, nor does He do anything by His own decision. Nor does He come from Himself, but obeys all His Father's commands and precepts. So although His birth proves Him to be a Son, yet His obedience even to death declares Him to be the minister of His Father's will, of whom He is. Thus, by making Himself obedient to His Father in all things, although He also is God, He still shows the one God, the Father, by His obedience, from whom He also drew His beginning. And so He could not make two Gods, because He did not make two beginnings, since from Him who has no beginning He received the source of His birth before all time. For since that which is unborn is the beginning for other creatures, and God the Father alone is this, being beyond a beginning, and He is the one from

Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Supporting witness

...o is before all time. And He is always in the Father, unless the Father has not always been Father. Only, in a certain sense, the Father also goes before Him, since it is necessary, in some degree, that He should be before He is Father. Because it is essential that He who knows no beginning should go before him who has a beginning. In this way, He is less, since He knows that He is in Him, having an origin because He is born, and being of like nature with the Father in some measure by His nativity. Although He has a beginning in that He is born, since He is born of that Father who alone has no beginning. He, then, when the Father willed it, proceeded from the Father. And He who was in the Father came forth from the Father. And He who was in the Father because He was of the Father was afterward with the Father because He came forth from the Father. That is to say, He is that divine substance whose name is the Word, by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made. For all things are after Him, because they are by Him. And rightly, He is before all things, but after the Father, since all things were made by Him, and He proceeded from Him by whose will all things wer

Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Supporting witness

...I am not of this world"? But if every man is of this world, and Christ is in this world for that reason, is He only man? God forbid! But consider what He says: "I am not of this world." Does He then speak falsely when He says He is not of this world, if He is only man? Or if He does not speak falsely, then He is not of this world. Therefore He is not man only, because He is not of this world. But so that it should not be hidden who He was, He declared where He was from. "I am from above," He said, that is, from heaven, where man cannot come from, for man was not made in heaven. Therefore He is God who is from above, and therefore He is not of this world; although, in a certain way, He is also of this world. Therefore Christ is not God only, but man also. For just as He is not of this world according to the divinity of the Word, so He is of this world according to the frailty of the body that He has taken upon Himself. For man is joined with God, and God is linked with man. But for that reason Christ here laid more stress on the one aspect of His divinity, because the blindness of the Jews saw in Christ only the aspect of the flesh. So in this passage He passed over in silence th

Tertullian, Against Hermogenes Supporting witness

In the beginning was the Word John 1:1 — that is, the same beginning, of course, in which God made the heaven and the earth Genesis 1:1 — and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Alexander of Alexandria, Epistles on the Arian Heresy Supporting witness

who, not in time, nor after an interval, nor from things which are not, has begotten His only-begotten Son.

Clement of Alexandria, Fragments Supporting witness

as also the Word itself, that is, the Son of God, who being, by equality of substance, one with the Father, is eternal and uncreate.

Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness

...the Father's proper invisibility and to remove from an angel the lower status proper to him, it was only God the Son, who also is God, who was seen by Abraham and was believed to have been received with hospitality. For He symbolically anticipated what He was later to become. He was made a guest of Abraham, since He was going to be among the sons of Abraham. And He washed the feet of his children as a way of showing what He was, returning among the children the hospitality that the Father had formerly entrusted to Him. From this also, so that there might be no doubt that it was He who was the guest of Abraham at the destruction of the people of Sodom, it is declared: "Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah fire and brimstone from the Lord out of heaven." For the prophet also spoke in the person of God: "I have overthrown you, as the Lord overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah." Therefore the Lord overthrew Sodom, that is, God overthrew Sodom. But in the overthrow of Sodom, the Lord rained fire from the Lord. And this Lord was the God seen by Abraham. And this God was the guest of Abraham, certainly seen because He was also touched. But the Father, being invisible, was certainly

Tertullian, Against Praxeas Direct teaching

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book I Direct teaching

And he expresses himself thus: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God;

Gregory Thaumaturgus, A Sectional Confession of Faith Direct teaching

For we know that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Supporting witness

John 1:10-11 Moreover, this Word was in the beginning with God, and God was the Word.

Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness

because in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.

Hippolytus, Against the Heresy of Noetus Supporting witness

And the blessed John, in the testimony of his Gospel, gives us an account of this economy (disposition) and acknowledges this Word as God, when he says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Origen, Commentary on John Supporting witness

...that the Son is second beside the Father, He being the same as the Father, while a distinction is clearly drawn between the Spirit and the Son in the passage, Matthew 12:32: “Whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever 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, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. At the same time, we believe that nothing is uncreated except the Father. Therefore, as the more pious and truer course, we 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. And this, perhaps, is the reason why the Spirit is not called God’s own Son. The Only-begotten alone is by nature and from the beginning a Son, and the Holy Spirit seems to need the Son to minister His essence to Him, so as to enable Him not only to exist, but also to be wise and reasonable and just, and all that we must think of Him as being. All this He has by participation in the character of Christ, of which we have s

Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness

Colossians 1:16 Moreover, this is that word which came unto His own, and His own received Him not.

Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness

but the Son of God is the Word of God: and the Word of God was made flesh, and dwelt among us;