Ignatius of Antioch (d. 108)

“Ignatius … to the Church which is at Ephesus, … united and elected through the true passion by the will of the Father, and Jesus Christ, our God” (Proem.) “Being the followers of God, and stirring up yourselves by the blood of God, ye have perfectly accomplished the work which was beseeming to you”. (ch.1) “We have also as a Physician the Lord our God, Jesus the Christ, the only-begotten Son and Word, before time began, but who afterwards became also man, of Mary the virgin. For “the Word was made flesh.” Being incorporeal, He was in the body; being impassible, He was in a passible body; being immortal, He was in a mortal body; being life, He became subject to corruption, that He might free our souls from death and corruption, and heal them, and might restore them to health, when they were diseased with ungodliness and wicked lusts.” (Ch. 7) “Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David according to the flesh, being both the Son of man and the Son of God…” (ch.20) “Jesus Christ, who was with the Father before the beginning of time” (ch. 6) “there is one God, who has manifested Himself by Jesus Christ His Son, who is His eternal Word” (Ch. 8) “…I pray for your happiness for ever in our God, Jesus Christ, …” (Ch. 8) “Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which has obtained mercy, through the majesty of the Most High Father, and Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son; the Church which is beloved and enlightened by the will of Him that willeth all things which are according to the love of Jesus Christ our God, which … is named from Christ, and from the Father, which I also salute in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father: to those who are united, both according to the flesh and spirit, to every one of His commandments; who are filled inseparably with the grace of God, and are purified from every strange taint, [I wish] abundance of happiness unblameably, in Jesus Christ our God.” (Proem) “I Glorify God, even Jesus Christ, … He was truly of the seed of David according to the flesh, and the Son of God according to the will and power of God; that He was truly born of a virgin, was baptized by John, in order that all righteousness might be fulfilled by Him; and was truly, under Pontius Pilate and Herod the tetrarch, nailed [to the cross] for us in His flesh. Of this fruit we are by His divinely-blessed passion, that He might set up a standard for all ages, through His resurrection, to all His holy and faithful [followers], whether among Jews or Gentiles, in the one body of His Church.” (Ch. 1)

Aristides (123- 129AD)

“The Christians, then, trace the beginning of their religion from Jesus the Messiah; and he is named the Son of God Most High. And it is said that God came down from heaven, and from a Hebrew virgin assumed and clothed himself with flesh; and the Son of God lived in a daughter of man. This is taught in the gospel, as it is called, which a short time was preached among them; and you also if you will read therein, may perceive the power which belongs to it. This Jesus, then, was born of the race of the Hebrews; and he had twelve disciples in order that the purpose of his incarnation might in time be accomplished. But he himself was pierced by the Jews, and he died and was buried; and they say that after three days he rose and ascended to heaven. Thereupon these twelve disciples went forth throughout the known parts of the world, and kept showing his greatness with all modesty and uprightness. And hence also those of the present day who believe that preaching are called Christians, and they are become famous.” (Ch.2)

Polycarp (110/130)

“…to all under heaven who shall believe in our Lord and God Jesus Christ and in his Father who raised him from the dead.” (Ch. 12, 2. Loeb. I, p.299) “…Jesus Christ Himself, who is the Son of God…”(Ch. 12, ANF)

Justin Martyr (d.165)

“Our teacher of these things is Jesus Christ, who also was born for this purpose, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judaea, in the times of Tiberius Caesar; and that we reasonably worship Him, 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, we will prove. For they proclaim our madness to consist in this, that we give to a crucified man a place second to the unchangeable and eternal God, the Creator of all; for they do not discern the mystery that is herein, to which, as we make it plain to you, we pray you to give heed.” (First Apology, Ch. 13) “…that Jesus Christ is the only proper Son who has been begotten by God, being His Word and first-begotten, and power; and, becoming man according to His will, He taught us these things for the conversion and restoration of the human race:” (Ch. 23) “But lest some should, without reason, and for the perversion of what we teach, maintain that we say that Christ was born one hundred and fifty years ago under Cyrenius, and subsequently, in the time of Pontius Pilate, taught what we say He taught; and should cry out against us as though all men who were born before Him were irresponsible-let us anticipate and solve the difficulty. We have been taught that Christ is the first-born of God, and we have declared above that He is the Word of whom every race of men were partakers…” (Ch. 46) “But so much is written for the sake of proving that Jesus the Christ is the Son of God and His Apostle, being of old the Word, and appearing sometimes in the form of fire, and sometimes in the likeness of angels; but now, by the will of God, having become man for the human race, He endured all the sufferings which the devils instigated the senseless Jews to inflict upon Him; who, though they have it expressly affirmed in the writings of Moses, “And the angel of God spake to Moses in a flame of fire in a bush, and said, I am that I am, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” yet maintain that He who said this was the Father and Creator of the universe. Whence also the Spirit of prophecy rebukes them, and says, “Israel doth not know Me, my people have not understood Me.” “(Ch. 63) “the Father of the universe has a Son; who also, being the first-begotten Word of God, is even God.” (Ch. 63) “For next to God, we worship and love the Word who is from the unbegotten and ineffable God, since also He became man for our sakes, that becoming a partaker of our sufferings, He might also bring us healing.” (Ch.13) “…which I wish to do in order to prove that Christ is called both God and Lord of hosts…” (Ch. 36) ” “For you utter many blasphemies, in that you seek to persuade us that this crucified man was with Moses and Aaron, and spoke to them in the pillar of the cloud; then that he became man, was crucified, and ascended up to heaven, and comes again to earth, and ought to be worshipped.” ” (Ch. 38) “And there are some who maintain that even Jesus Himself appeared only as spiritual, and not in flesh, but presented merely the appearance of flesh: these persons seek to rob the flesh of the promise.” (Ch. 2)

Melito of Sardis (Apology ca. 170)

“Born as a son, led forth as a lamb, sacrificed as a sheep, buried as a man, he rose from the dead as a God, for he was by nature God and man. He is all things: he judges, and so he is Law; he teaches, and so he is Wisdom; he saves, and so he is Grace; he begets, and so he is Father; he is begotten, and so he is Son; he suffers, and so he is Sacrifice; he is buried, and so he is man; he rises again, and so he is God. This is Jesus Christ, to whom belongs glory for all ages. (8-10)

Athenagoras the Athenian, Philosopher and Christian (176 – 180)

“Who, then, would not be astonished to hear men who speak of God the Father, and of God the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and who declare both their power in union and their distinction in order, called atheists?” (Ch. 10) “That we are not atheists, therefore, seeing that we acknowledge one God, uncreated, eternal, invisible, impassible, incomprehensible, illimitable, who is apprehended by the understanding only and the reason, who is encompassed by light, and beauty, and spirit, and power ineffable, by whom the universe has been created through His Logos, and set in order, and is kept in being-I have sufficiently demonstrated. [I say “His Logos”], for we acknowledge also a Son of God. Nor let any one think it ridiculous that God should have a Son. For though the poets, in their fictions, represent the gods as no better than men, our mode of thinking is not the same as theirs, concerning either God the Father or the Son. But the Son of God is the Logos of the Father, in idea and in operation; for after the pattern of Him and by Him were all things made, the Father and the Son being one. And, the Son being in the Father and the Father in the Son, in oneness and power of spirit, the understanding and reason (nou=j kai\ lo/goj) of the Father is the Son of God. But if, in your surpassing intelligence, it occurs to you to inquire what is meant by the Son, I will state briefly that He is the first product of the Father, not as having been brought into existence (for from the beginning, God, who is the eternal mind [nou=j], had the Logos in Himself, being from eternity instinct with Logos [logiko/j]; …” (Ch.10)

Irenaeus of Lyons (ca 170-190)

” ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; the same was in the beginning with God.’ … Very properly, then, did he say, “In the beginning was the Word,” for He was in the Son; “and the Word was with God,” for He was the beginning; “and the Word was God,” of course, for that which is begotten of God is God.” (I, 8, 5) “He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: through His Word, who is His Son, through Him He is revealed and manifested to all to whom He is revealed; for those [only] know Him to whom the Son has revealed Him. But the Son, eternally co-existing with the Father, from of old, yea, from the beginning,…” (II, 30) “…the Word of God, by whom all things were made, who is our Lord Jesus Christ.” (III, 8, 2) “For Christ did not at that time descend upon Jesus, neither was Christ one and Jesus another: but the Word of God–who is the Saviour of all, and the ruler of heaven and earth, who is Jesus, as I have already pointed out, who did also take upon Him flesh, and was anointed by the Spirit from the Father–was made Jesus Christ,…” (III, 9, 3) “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.” (III, 16, 2) “…the Son of God was born of a virgin, and that He Himself was Christ the Saviour whom the prophets had foretold; not, as these men assert, that Jesus was He who was born of Mary, but that Christ was He who descended from above.” (III, 16, 2) “First of all it admonishes us to remember that we have received baptism for remission of sins in the name of God the Father, and in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became incarnate and died and was raised, and in the Holy Spirit of God;” (ch.3) “5. In this way, then, there is declared one God, the Father, uncreated, invisible, maker of all things, above whom is no other God whatever, and after whom there is no other God.30 And God is rational, and therefore produced creatures by his Word, and God is a spirit, and so fashioned everything by His Spirit … so the Word is fitly and properly called the Son, but the Spirit the Wisdom of God…”(ch. 5) “But the second article [of our faith] is the Word of God, the Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord, who was shown forth by the prophets … He also … is become a man among men, visible and tangible, in order to abolish death …” (ch. 6) “From this [the angel of death] He saved the children of Israel, showing forth in a mystery the Passion of Christ, by the immolation of a spotless lamb, and by its blood …” (ch. 25) “…the prophets … were the heralds of the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, announcing that His flesh would blossom forth from the seed of David, that he would be according to the flesh a son of David…; but according to the Spirit, Son of God, pre-existent with the Father, born before all the building of the world and appearing to the whole world at the end of the age as man, the Word of God, resuming anew in Himself all things in heaven and on earth.” (ch. 30) “31. So He united man with God and brought about a communion of God and man… . So the Word was made flesh … and therefore our Lord took up the same first *formation for an Incarnation …” “…the Son of man was nailed to the tree… And because He is himself the Word of God Almighty, who in his invisible form pervades us universally in the whole world, and encompasses both its length and breadth and height and depth – for by God’s Word everything is disposed and administered – the Son of God was also crucified in these, imprinted in the form of a cross on the universe; …” (ch. 34) “So, He who was preached by the law through Moses and the prophets of the Most High and Almighty God, Son of the Father of all, Source of all things, He who spoke with Moses – He came into Judaea, begotten by God through the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary, of her who was of the seed of David and of Abraham: Jesus, God’s anointed…” (40) “99. And now let none think that there is any other God the Father than our Maker, as the heretics think; they despise the real God and make an idol of some unreal one, and create for themselves a father superior to our creator, and think they have found on their own account something greater than the truth. For they are all wicked men and blasphemers against their Creator and father, as we have shown in the ‘Exposure and overthrowal of knowledge falsely so called’. And others again despise the coming of the Son of God and the dispensation of his incarnation, which the apostles have transmitted to us, and which the prophets foretold would be the summing-up of humanity, as we have shown you in brief. And such people too should be counted among the unbelievers. …”(ch. 99)

Theophilus of Antioch (180-192AD)

“God, then, having His own Word internal within His own bowels, begat Him, emitting Him along with His own wisdom before all things.” (II, 10) “In like manner also the three days which were before the luminaries, are types of the Trinity, of God, and His Word, and His wisdom.” (II, 15). “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. Then he says, ‘The Word was God; all things came into existence through Him; and apart from Him not one thing came into existence.’ ” (II, 22)

Athanasius, Deacon and sinner.