Click here to read a previous discussion of the other Apostolic Fathers.
6. Mathetes
An anonymous early apologist, who is often called Mathetes, wrote a single epistle to a certain Diognetus defending the Christian faith. Seven times Mathetes calls Christ "the Word" (λόγος) which is likely due to his familiarity with the Johannine corpus or a common tradition. (Diog. 11:2, 7, 8; 12:9) Towards the end of the epistle, Mathetes has a sublime section where he describes God and his Son,
"The invisible God himself, established among humans the truth and the holy, incomprehensible word from heaven and fixated it firmly in their hearts, not, as one might imagine, by sending them some subordinate, or angel or one of those who manage earthly matters or one of those entrusted with the administration of things in heaven, but the Designer and Creator of the universe himself, by whom he created the heavens." (Diog. 7:2)
He describes the pre-existent Christ as one "by whom" the Father created the universe, a co-creator of the universe, but not a mere "angel." Mathetes seems to be drawing implicitly upon such texts as Gen. 1:26 and 3:22 which mention another who was involved in creation beside God the Father. It is noteworthy that Christ is called "the Creator of the universe himself." Elsewhere he says that God,
"Sent (Christ) in gentleness and meekness, as a king might send his son who is a king; he sent him as a God (ως θεόν έπεμψεν) he sent him as a human to humans." (Diog. 7:4)
Mathetes does not say that Christ was a mere man upon the earth, rather he was sent "as a God" and "as a man" simultaneously. Rather reminiscent of later traditional language for the hypostatic union. Such language implies that the Logos did not give up his deity when he became human. He also teaches that God communicated his plan of salvation to the Logos before he sent him into the world. (Diog. 8:9-11; 9:1-3) Mathetes he describes the Son as"his Son, the only-begotten,"τον υιόν αυτού μονογενή (Diog. 10:2) and once calls the Son ο ἀεί which Holmes renders as "the eternal one." (Diog. 11:5) This implies to my mind an eternal begetting, putting the author quite in line with later Nicene (325) and Chalcedonian (451) definitions of Christ. The epistle is unfortunately devoid of any detailed discussions of the nature of the Holy Ghost.
7. The Shepherd of Hermas
The Shepherd (c. 95) is a very curious work written by a certain Hermas who describes himself as a Christian and former slave who was owned by a certain "Rhoda." (Vis. 1.1.1.) There is a certain Christian woman named Rhoda mentioned in Acts 12:13 and the apostle St. Paul mentions a certain "Hermas" in Romans 16:14, whom Eusebius suggests is the author of the Shepherd. (Eusebius, Ecc. Hist. 3.3.6.) It is a lengthy work containing parables, visions, and commandments which mostly relate to salvation and repentance. He says that the first or most important commandment is to "believe that God is one who created and finished all things, and made all things out of nothing. He alone is able to contain the whole, but Himself cannot be contained." (Mand. 1.1.1.)
There is a similarity to St. Mark 12:29 where Christ says that the "first commandment is, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God the Lord is one." He also speaks of his Son, the "Shepherd" and "angel of repentance" who was sent to dwell with Hermas 'the remaining days of his life.' (Vis. 5.5.7.) Hermas does not use the name "Jesus" for his savior, evidently out of reverence for the name, but instead uses the titles "Lord," and "Son of God" to refer to his Messianic Shepherd, who is not a mere man, but "the holy, pre-existent Spirit, that created every creature, whom God made to dwell in flesh." (Par. 5.6.6) He may have a reverential avoidance of using the name Jesus, but he does acknowledge that the Shepherd has a "name." (Par. 8.6.4; 9.12.4.)
Hermas states the same concept more clearly when he says, "the Son of God is older than all His creatures, so that He was a co-counsel with the Father in his work of creation that is why he is old." (Par. 9.12.2.) This latter statement seems to be a denial of adoptionism, as the Son was a son even before the creation of the cosmos. To Hermas, Son of God is a highly exalted figure, second to God himself. There is no way to approach God "than through his Son," and even the angels cannot approach God except by him. (Par. 9.12.6; 9.12.8.) The basis for this exalted status is never directly explained and there is a striking absence to any talk of the crucifixion or resurrection of the Lord. Hermes regards the Holy Spirit as a person who "speaks" and reveals divine truths. He abides in Christians and intercedes on their behalf with God the Father. (Mand. 5:1.2; 10.3.3.) Unrepentant sinners "grieve the Holy Spirit" and "sadden" him with their transgressions. (Mand. 10.2.1-5; 10:3.2.) He often confuses the Son to be with the Holy Spirit. He refers to the Son as the "Holy Spirit," who dwelt in flesh even saying at one point, "the Spirit is the Son of God." (Par. 5.6.5; 9.1.1.) He does elsewhere talk of "Holy Spirits." (Par. 9.13.2.) It is then possible that Hermas regarded the Son as a Holy Spirit, of sorts. He elsewhere distinguishes the Father, Son, and Spirit as three distinct persons, "the Lord has put you to the test, and enrolled you among our number, and your whole seed will dwell with the Son of God for you received his Spirit." (Par. 9.24.4.) No word is said of the begetting or origin of the Son of God. Nor is any word said of the Procession or origin of the Holy Spirit. Despite the vague and seemingly confused theology of the Shepherd of Hermas, it was treasured by the ancient Church and treated as Scripture by Irenaeus and Tertullian.
8. Ignatius of Antioch
It is a difficult thing to summarize the theology of the Ignatius of Antioch (died c. 140) because there are so many fraudulent epistles attributed to him and those which are genuine suffer from textual corruption. We know little of Ignatius with historical certainty, aside from the fact that he was bishop of Antioch, that he was known to Polycarp, and that he was martyred in the early second century. There are fifteen ancient epistles which claim to be written by Ignatius which offer contradictory theological views and historical details. The spurious epistle to the Tarsians even teaches a form of Arianism. There is also a purported epistle to the Virgin Mary and another to the blessed apostle St. John, both of which are forgeries.
Nowadays, only seven epistles out of fifteen attributed to Ignatius are sometimes considered authentic works of the martyr. The seven which some consider authentic are the epistles to the Ephesians, the Magnesians, the Trallians, the Romans, the Philadelphians, the Smyrnaeans and the one to Polycarp. These seven epistles were known and used by fourth century writers but there is a great deal of corruption in their textual transmission. There are basically three different versions or recensions of the seven epistles which differ from one another greatly in terms of style and theology. Holmes gave the following opinion.
"The letters (of Ignatius) exist in three basic forms. The long recension consists of an expanded (interpolated) version of the original letters created in the fourth century accompanied by six spurious letters (some of which came to be associated with the middle recension as well). The short recension is a Syriac abridgment of the letters to the Ephesians, the Romans, and Polycarp. The middle recension, which was known to Eusebius, preserves the original form of the letters." (M. Holmes, Apostolic Fathers, 171.)
Now, I am of the opinion that all the short and long recensions are somewhat corrupted but give us a general picture of the theology of Ignatius. Athanasius quotes from the middle recension and from another lost recension, which shows that there were different versions of the Ignatian epistles circulating in the fourth century. (Athanasius, De Synodis 47.) The short and long recensions are not total forgeries, nor are they entirely genuine, both contain interpolations and corruptions. Cureton published short recension which survives in Syriac, an early translation of three of the epistles. It is admitted by everybody that the long recension is heavily interpolated. But what can we gather from the epistles of Ignatius as they have been transmitted to us? Ignatius taught that the pre-existent Logos voluntarily chose to reside "in" a human body. (I. Eph. 3:2; 6:1; 7:1.) No time is devoted to explaining the details of this incarnation. There is a somewhat difficult statement in the middle recension of the epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians.
"There is one Physician who is possessed both of flesh and spirit; both begotten and unbegotten (γεννητός καὶ αγέννητος); God existing in flesh; true life in death; both of Mary and of God; first possible and then impossible, even Jesus Christ our Lord." (I. Ep. 7:2)
This language appears far removed from the Nicene confession that Christ is "the only-begotten (μονογενής) Son of God, begotten (γεννηθέντα) of the Father before all worlds," Ignatius calls him as "unbegotten," αγέννητος, language which is reserved for the Father alone among patristic authors. (I. Eph. 7:1) This language, taken plainly, would be highly objectionable. Athanasius condemned all who said the Son was "unbegotten," αγέννητος, to deny eternal generation, and argues that this passage in Ignatius must be understood merely as a denial that the Logos came into existence in Mary or was created at the incarnation. (Athanasius, De Syn. 27, 47.) This is plausible. The longer recension has an entirely different reading in this place,
"But our Physician is the only true God, the unbegotten and unapproachable, the Lord of all, the Father and Begetter of the only-begotten Son. 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."
The meaning is changed radically. Although the Son is still depicted as pre-existent, the title “one Physician” is applied to the Father rather than the Son and any confusing assertions of being “unbegotten” are omitted. The more difficult reading is the more plausible to be correct, hence, the middle recension likely preserves the original wording. The later editor of the long recension sought to remove anything which might be used by advocates of Sabellianism. Some versions of the epistle of Ignatius to Polycarp describes Christ as "above time," and "eternal," but this language is omitted from the short recension. (I. Pol. 3:2)
The Ignatian epistles in all their forms contain scathing attacks upon the docetae, any who deny that the Lord "was clothed in flesh" is figuratively "clothed in a corpse," because their demise is assured. (I. Smyr. 6:2) The descent of the Word to earth was a departure from the "divine silence" of heaven, "who before the ages was with the Father and appeared at the end of time … the Word, that came forth from silence, who in every respect pleased the one who sent him." (I. Magn. 6:1; 7:2; 8:2) The seven epistles refers to Jesus Christ as "God," θεὸς at least eleven times, which is far more than any single New Testament author. (I. Eph. Prol, 1:1; 7:2; 18:2; 19:3; I. Smyr. 1:1; I. Trall. 7:1; I. Rom. Prol. (2*); 3:2; 6:3; I. Poly. 8:3.) The middle recension often refers to Christ frequently as "our God," θεός ημών, and "God, come in the flesh," εν σαρκί γενομενος θεός. There may, or may not be an additional three instances of this, but at this time we cannot conclusively determine due to textual variants or ambiguity. (I. Eph. 8:1; I. Magn. 6:1)
The short recension, which survives in Syriac, is devoid of much of the high Christology in the middle Recension. William Cureton translated the Syriac text of three epistles into English in 1845, and thought their content 'vindicated' Ignatius 'from the charge of heresy' brought upon him by the popular middle recension. (William Cureton, The Antient Syriac Version of the Epistles of St. Ignatius London: Rivingtons, 1845; Vindicæ Ignatianæ or the Genuine Writings of St. Ignatius as Exhibited in the Antient Syriac version London: Rivingtons, 1846).
The short recension contains no language which might be considered Sabellian or adoptionist. The Syriac version of the epistle to Polycarp begins with salutations mentioning "by God the Father and by Jesus Christ our Lord." (The Antient Syriac Version of the Epistles of St. Ignatius, p. 5.) The Son is not a mere man, but existed before the ages and became incarnate for our sakes.
"Be discerning of the times. Expect Him who is above times, Him to whom there are no times, Him who is unseen, Him who for our sakes became seen, Him who is impalpable, Him who is without suffering, Him who for our sakes suffered, Him who for our sakes endured every thing in every form." (Ibid. p. 6, 7.)
The reality of the incarnation is emphasized in these paradoxical descriptions, the Son did not merely appear to suffer or take a human form, but truly did. In the Syriac version of his epistle to the Ephesians, he twice speaks of "Jesus Christ our God." (Ibid. p. 11, 25.) We also find the curious phrase, "ye are fervent in the blood of God," (Ibid. 11.) which is likely taken from Acts 20:28. The ancients freely spoke of Christ as "God" and "Spirit" though never intending him to be literally identified with either the Father or the Holy Spirit as Sabellius later did. Although Christ is divine, God remains "the greatness of the Father Most High." (Ibid. p. 17.) The Syriac version also contains an illustration which distinguishes between the Father, Son, and Spirit in the economia,
"Ye are prepared for the building of God the Father, and ye are raised on high by the engine of Jesus Christ, which is the Cross, and ye are drawn by the rope, which is the Holy Ghost, and your pulley is your faith, and your Love the way that raiseth up on high to God." (Ibid. p. 13.)
The Syriac epistle of Ignatius to the Romans speaks little of Christology and includes sections of morbid excitement over the prospect of martyrdom; where he goes so far as to beg Roman Christians not to prevent his execution by the hands of wild beasts. Although, it should be noted that all three versions of the Ignatian epistles contain a morbid fascination with martyrdom, it is astounding that there are not many variants readings in this section,
"Ye will not give me anything which is better than this, that I should be sacrificed to God whilst the altar is prepared, that in love ye may be in one concord, that ye may praise God the Father in Jesus Christ our Lord because he deemed a Bishop worthy that he should be God's when he called him from the East to the West… I am the wheat of God, and by the teeth of the beasts am I ground, that I may be found the pure bread of God." (Ibid. p. 19.)
The translator of the Syriac text evidently did not know of any other epistles of Ignatius besides these three because the Syriac manuscript ends with the words, "here end the three epistles of Ignatius, bishop and martyr." (Ibid. p. 23.) These epistles were not intended to present a systematic theology and speak mostly of martyrdom and pastoral matters, however they do give valuable insights, such as the fact that Ignatius already had a belief in the pre-existence of Christ, although he is hazy in explaining the details.
9. Summary
In summary, the Apostolic Fathers tend to describe the Father alone as the "only God" and the "one God." They generally taught the pre-existence of Christ and described him as the creator. And in some of their writings the personhood of the Spirit seems to be taught although their view of the Holy Spirit is hazy, and occasionally authors such as Hermas and the writer of 2 Clement seem to confuse him with the Son. Those who speak on the matter tend to describe the Logos as "begotten," but the middle recension of the Ignatian epistles seems teach the doctrine of an unbegotten Logos who became a Son at his incarnation, which is more akin to that of Marcellus than anything apostolic.
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