Whence Came the Teaching that Christ Is True God

THE HOLY SCRIPTURES is very clear in its teachings that our Lord Jesus Christ is a man in His state of being. Yet, despite these explicit teachings of the Holy Bible, the Catholic Church believes, teaches, and argues that He is the true God. It is easy to dismiss such teaching as contrary to the doctrines taught by our Lord Jesus Himself and His Apostles. However, we will not instantly dismiss the “Jesus is true God” doctrine as man-made, but we will, for the sake of truth, prove that the said doctrine is nothing more than a human precept by tracing the genesis and history of its development.

What is the proof that the teaching “Christ is true God” is merely the result of a gradual development? Did those who follow immediately after the time of the Apostles believe that Christ is the true God from the very beginning? From the historical records, we can trace the development of this corrupt introduction of the Christ is God doctrine. The book “A History of the Christian Church” has this to say:

“Common Christianity, … Profoundly loyal to Christ, it conceived of Him primarily as the divine revealer of the knowledge of the true God, and the proclaimer of a ‘new law’ of simple, lofty, and strenuous morality. This is the attitude of the so-called ‘Apostolic Fathers,’ with the exception of Ignatius,…”

(Reference: Williston Walker, A History of the Cristian Church, by Williston Walker, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons 1970, Third Edition, p. 37, Emphasis Mine)

Common Christianity and the so-called Apostolic Fathers, with the exception of Ignatius, believed our Lord Jesus Christ as the divine revealer of the knowledge of the true God. He is not, therefore, the true God. They also believed Christ as the proclaimer of a new law of morality. How could anyone, therefore, make the mistake of believing that Christ is the true God when even the “Apostolic Fathers,” with the exception of Ignatius, did not believe that Christ is God?

Who are the so-called Apostolic Fathers?

“These Christian writers were thus named because it was long, though erroneously, believed that they were personal disciples of the Apostles. They include Clement of Rome (c. 93-97): Ignatius of Antioch (c. 110-117): Polycarp of Smyrna (c. 110-117): Hermas of Rome (c. 100-140): …”

(Reference: Williston Walker, A History of the Christian Church, by Williston Walker, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons 1970, Third Edition, p. 37, Emphasis Mine)

The so-called Apostolic Fathers who followed immediately after the time of the Apostles did not believe that Christ is true God but the revealer of the knowledge of the true God — with the exception of Ignatius.

What ancient confession of faith written by those who followed immediately after the time of the Apostles can we cite to prove further that in the beginning, they did not believe Christ is true God? From another historical record:

“…even the Didache, or ‘Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,’ the oldest literary monument of Christian antiquity outside of the New Testament canon… contains no formal profession of faith in the Divinity of Jesus Christ.”

(Reference: The Divine Trinity, A Dogmatic Treatise, By the Reverend Joseph Pohle, PH.D., D.D., Nihil Obstat: F. J. Holweck; Imprimatur: Joannes J. Glennon: Copyright 1915, p. 150, Emphasis Mine)

Here, we have established that those who followed immediately after the Apostles—the so-called Apostolic Fathers, with the exception of Ignatius—did not believe that Christ is God. Why with the exception of Ignatius?

Who first taught that Christ is God?

“The earliest time known at which Jesus was deified was, after the New Testament writers, in the letters of Ignatius, at the beginning of the second century.”

(Reference: Systematic Theology By Augustus Hopkins Strong, Philadelphia: The Judson Press, 1951, p. 305, Emphasis Mine)

Ignatius, believed to be a disciple of Apostle Paul, was the first to teach that Jesus Christ is God. Is it any wonder that from among the disciples of the Apostles emerged men who preached that Christ is God? Let us read, in the words of Apostle Paul:

“Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you guardians, to feed the Church of the Lord which he obtained with his own blood . . . and from your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.”

(Reference: Acts 20:28, 30 RSV Catholic Edition, Emphasis Mine)

The Apostles prophesied about men who will speak perverse things to draw away the disciples among them. These men will come from among the elders or bishops of the Church.

What is one of the perverse things they would speak, and who were these men whom the Apostles had forewarned about? Let us read:

“But I am afraid that as the serpent deceive Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached, or if you received a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you submit to it readily enough.”

(Reference: II Cor. 11:3-4 RSV Catholic Addition, Emphasis Mine)

The deceivers will preach another Jesus, different from that which the Apostles taught. Therefore, if it were true that Ignatius, who first taught that Christ is God, was really a disciple of Apostle Paul, we have here another fulfillment of the prophecy of the Apostles. However, there are Catholic books which state that before Ignatius, Clement of Rome taught that Christ is God.

What led them to believe that Clement taught that Christ is God?

“St. Clement of Rome, who was a disciple and fellow-laborer of St. Paul, and the third successor of St. Peter in the See of Rome, invariably refers to Christ as ‘the Lord’ ― a title proper to God alone. He furthermore expressly teaches that ‘the scepter of the majesty of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, did not come with arrogance of pride and overbearing, which He might have done, but with humility. While this text does not embody any explicit profession of faith in the Divinity of Christ, it involves such a profession, inasmuch as no mere creature, whether man or angel, could without blasphemy be called ‘the scepter of God’.”

Clément’s reference to Christ as “the Lord” led Catholic authorities to assert that Clement taught that Christ is true God. The text, as Catholic authorities themselves admit, does not embody an explicit profession of faith in the Divinity of Christ. Nowhere in the writings of Clement can we find that he called or referred to Christ as true God. He undoubtedly referred to Christ as “the Lord.” Yes, it is true; he did refer to Christ as Lord. But does that mean, by default, Clément automatically believed that the Lordship of Christ means that Christ is the true God? Christ’s Lordship was not inherent in Him, but He was made Lord by God (Acts 2:36).

Why are we absolutely certain that Catholic mentors erred in their understanding of Clément’s writings? Because according to Clement himself, Christ is a man exposed to stripes:

“He (Christ) is a man exposed to stripes and suffering, and acquainted with the endurance of grief…”

(Reference: The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians ― The Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1969, Vol. 1. p. 9, Emphasis Mine)

It is not true, therefore, that before Ignatius, Clement of Rome taught that Christ is true God. It was Ignatius who first taught that our Lord Jesus is true God.

What is one of the reasons why the Catholic Church teaches that Christ is true God? Let us read:

“… Celsus, a scoffing pagan philosopher of the third century, contended that the Christians had no right to criticize the polytheism of the pagan world since their own worship of Christ was essentially polytheistic. ‘The Christians, he declared, ‘worshiped no God; no, not even a demon, but only a dead man . . . If they do not wish to worship the pagan gods, he said, ‘why should they not rather pay their devotions to some of their own prophets than to a man who had been crucified by the Jews’? …”

(Reference: The Faith of Millions, By John A. O’Brien, The Credentials of the Catholic Religion, Ind.: Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 17th printing, Nihil Obstat: Lawrence A. Gollner; Imprimatur: Leo A. Pursley, p. 99)

The pagans criticized the Catholics because they worship Christ, a dead man. How did the so-called early fathers of the Catholic Church answer the pagan criticism?

“Origen, the greatest of the early Christian writers, defended the Christians from the attacks of Celsus. This he did, not by denying the charge that they worshiped Christ but by showing that the Savior was worthy of such adoration because He was God.”

The Catholic Church, in the person of Origen, answered the criticism of Celsus, a pagan, by teaching that Christ is God. Origen did not deny that Christ is worshipped but justified the actuation by asserting that Christ is God.

Was Origen right in giving such justification of worshipping Christ? Should Christ be worshipped because He believed Christ to be God? Why is Christ worshiped?

“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on an earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus: Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father.”

(Reference: Phil. 2:9-11 RSV Catholic Edition, Emphasis Mine)

It is the will of God that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. Christ must be worshipped, not because He is God, but for the glory of God. Origen’s rejoinder to the pagans, therefore, was erroneous. Hence, even the so-called Christians as late as the fourth century did not agree with Origen:

“The very fact that as late as the fourth century there were those within Christianity who, despite their acceptance of the Epistles of Paul and the Gospel of John, still argued against the divinity of the preexistent Christ shows that there was nothing in these writings which could be taken as conclusive evidence of a belief on the part of Paul and John that the preexistent Christ was God in the literal sense of the term.”

(Reference: The Philosophy of the Church Fathers, Vol. 1, Faith Trinity, Incarnation By Harry Austryn Wolfson, pp. 306-307, Emphasis Mine)

As late as the fourth century, there were those who argued against the alleged divinity of Christ. Who was one of the most outstanding opponents of the teaching that Christ is God in those days?

“The problem of the relationship between God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ became an acute problem in the Church soon after the cessation of persecution. In Western Europe, Tertullian, for example, insisted upon the unity of essence in three personalities as the correct interpretation of the Trinity. Hence the dispute centered in the Eastern section of the Empire. It must be remembered that the Church has always had to fight Unitarian conceptions of Christ…

“In 318 or 319, Alexander, the bishop of Alexandria, discussed with his presbyters ‘The Unity of the Trinity. One of the presbyters, Arius, an ascetic scholar and popular preacher, attacked the sermon because he believed that it failed to uphold a distinction among the persons in the Godhead…

“Three views were put forth at the council. Arius, who was backed by Eusebius of Nicomedia (to be distinguished from Eusebius of Caesarea) and a minority of those present, insisted that Christ had not existed from all eternity but had a beginning by the creative act of God prior to time. He believed that Christ was of a different (heteros) essence or substance than the Father. Because of the virtue of His life and His obedience to God’s will. Christ was to be considered divine. But Arius believed that Christ was a being, created out of nothing, subordinate to the Father and of a different essence from the Father. He was not coequal, coeternal or consubstantial with the Father. To Arius He was divine but not deity.”

(Reference: Christianity Through the Centuries, A History of the Christian Church by Earle E. Cairns, Zondervan Publishing House, 1954, pp. 142-143, Emphasis Mine)

Arius, a popular preacher did not believe that Christ is God; He was a created being, subordinate to the Father and of a different essence from God. To Arius, Christ is not co-equal or consubstantial with the Father. The controversy regarding the alleged divinity or deity of Christ arose when Arius heard the sermon of Alexander, bishop of Alexandria. Arius attacked the sermon, declaring that it failed to uphold a distinction among the “persons” in the “Godhead.”

How did they settle the dispute or controversy?

“The controversy became so bitter that Alexander had Arius condemned by a synod. Arius then fled to the friendly palace of Eusebius… Since the dispute centered in Asia Minor, it threatened the unity of the Empire as well as that of the Church. Constantine tried to settle the dispute by letters to the bishop of Alexandria and Arius, but the dispute had gone beyond the power even of a letter from the Emperor. Constantine then called a council of the bishops of the Church to work out a solution to the dispute. This council met at Nicaea in the early summer of 325. Three hundred and eighteen bishops of the church were present, but less than ten were from the Western section of the Empire. The Emperor presided over the council and paid its expenses. For the first time the Church found itself dominated by the political leadership of the head of the state.” (Christianity Through the Centuries, A History of the Christian Church by Earle E. Cairns, Zondervan Publishing House, 1954, pp. 143, Emphasis Mine)

The letter of Emperor Constantine to the protagonist in the controversy failed miserably to solve the dilemma. He, therefore, convened the Council of Nicaea and presided over it. Over three hundred bishops attended and all expenses were paid by him.

What was decided upon by the Council of Nicaea? From the Discourses on the Apostles’ Creed, this is what history reveals:

“Thus, for example, it was not until 325 A.D., at the Council of Nicaea, that the Church defined for us that it was an article of faith that Jesus is truly God.”

(Reference: Clement H. Crock, Discourses on the Apostles’ Creed, New York: Joseph F. Wagner, Inc., 1938, Nihil Obstat: Arthur J. Scanlan; Imprimatur: Patrick Cardinal Hayes, p. 206, Emphasis Mine)

The Council of Nicaea decided that Christ is truly God; such is the article of faith that now serves as the basis of the belief of the Roman Catholic Church, and now, presently, billions of others from different faiths have inherited this false doctrine of Christ established by the Catholic church.

What else does the Catholic Church presently teach about Christ, which was not their belief in the past?

“The Catholic Church teaches that there is but one God…

“In this one God there are three distinct Persons,― the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, who are perfectly equal to each other.”

(Reference: The Faith of Our Fathers by James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, Pub. John Murphy Company, Baltimore, R. & T. Washbourne, Ltd., 1904, p. 1)

The Roman Catholic Church now believes that God has three distinct Persons all of whom are perfectly equal to each other.

Was this their belief in the past?

“Now, observe, my assertion is that the Father is one, and the Son one, and the Spirit one, and that they are distinct from Each Other… because the Father is not the same as the Son, since they differ one from the other in the mode of their being. For the Father is the entire substance, but the Son is a derivation and portion of the whole, as He Himself acknowledges: ‘My Father is Greater than I. In the Psalm His inferiority is described as being ‘a little lower than the angels.’ Thus the Father is distinct from the Son, being greater than the Son…”

(Reference: Against Praxeas, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968, ed. by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, Vol. III, pp. 603- 604, Emphasis Mine)

In the past, the Catholic Church did not believe that Christ is coequal with the Father because the Son was created “a little lower than the angels.” The Father is not the same as the Son; They differ from each other in the mode of their being. This belief was voiced by Tertullian using the Bible as his basis. Ironically, this same Tertullian invented the term Trinity:

“The term ‘Trinity’ is not found in Scripture… The invention of the term is ascribed to Tertullian.”

(Reference: Systematic Theology by Augustus Hopkins Strong, D. D., Ll. D., Vol.1., The Doctrine Of God, Pub. 1907, P. 304, Emphasis Mine)

Why can’t we accept the teaching that Christ is God? Because it is easily discernable that the Catholic doctrine regarding Christ is a gradual deviation from the Bible. Besides, the belief that there is only one God ― the Father ― leads to salvation and eternal life:

“‘Turn to me now and be saved, people all over the world! I am the only God there is.”

(Reference: Isa. 45-22 GNT, Emphasis Mine)

“After Jesus had said this, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father…

And this is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent—Jesus the Messiah.”

(Reference: John 17:1,3 ISV, Emphasis Mine)

The Holy Scriptures never teach that Christ is God. The “Jesus is God” doctrine was the result of gradual development and gradual deviation from true Christian precepts. Therefore, it is a man-made doctrine. We, the Church of Christ, can never accept such doctrines, for we do not want to forfeit our right to salvation and eternal life, which can only be attained by believing that the Father, not Christ, is the only true God.

IN CONCLUSION

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The Father is the only one true God. This truth was taught by Christ Himself and was upheld by His apostles. After the departure of Christ and the apostles poisonous man-made doctrines creeped into the church from within the church itself among the bishops fulfilling the prophecy that, “from your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them,” preaching “another Jesus” than the one the apostles preached. Thus, gradually the true Church of Christ completely apostatized and became the Catholic Church. For this reason, it is not surprising to encounter many different conflicting teachings and doctrines produced by her, later giving birth and rise to the many other protestant faiths and churches that branched off from her, all claiming to contain the true teachings of Christ that can lead people towards their salvation. Consequently, all these religions have adopted various tainted and corrupted teachings from the Catholic Church, such as the “Trinity” doctrine and among many other false teachings.

This alarming truth should not be ignored. It is vital to one’s internal soul to listen to the invitation of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ) to learn the pristine doctrines taught by Christ and His apostles, as recorded in the Holy Scriptures as they were taught and practiced in the first-century church. There is only one true church established by Christ. This church, the Church Of Christ, was biblically prophesized to emerge once again in these last days to restore the true teachings of Christ and to introduce the one true God through our Lord Jesus Christ. With the restoration of the true Church of Christ, people once again have the opportunity to render the proper worship to God that is pleasing before Him to attain eternal life.

To gain a deeper understanding of what happened to the first-century Church Of Christ and how it evolved into becoming the Catholic Church and then eventually giving birth to other religions and protestant organizations that inherited various false doctrines, follow the link below:

The Apostasy

AFTER THE DEATH of Jesus Christ and His Apostles, the Apostasy took place. Christians were hunted down, persecuted, and killed, causing the church to drift from the original teachings of Christ and His Apostles. False teachings emerged, leading to the contamination of the pure doctrine. With the Apostles no longer around to defend the truth, the Church Of Christ evolved into a different organization ( the Catholic Church), adopting many pagan rituals and deviating from the pristine gospel established by Christ. This era is known as the “Great Apostasy.”

Or to learn more about the True God and who our Lord Jesus Christ is, follow the link below:

The Truth about God and Jesus Christ

SUPPORTERS OF THE BELIEF in the divinity of Christ, also known as the Christ-is-God or the God-man doctrine, assert that God exists as a trinity consisting of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Although they are three in nature and considered distinct beings, proponents maintain that they form a single God. The concept of the Trinity lacks explicit biblical endorsement; thus, proponents often argue that it represents a profound mystery beyond human comprehension and should be accepted by faith alone.

Reach Out

If you wish to acquire a deeper understanding of our Church Doctrines and have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We would be delighted to direct you to one of our local resident ministers in your vicinity. Kindly include any queries you may have so that we may forward your inquiry in advance. Thank you.

“Do not let unwholesome [foul, profane, worthless, vulgar] words ever come out of your mouth, but only such speech as is good for building up others, according to the need and the occasion, so that it will be a blessing to those who hear [you speak].”
(Eph. 4:29, Amplified Bible)

“Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured.”
(1 Corinthians 13:4-5, Amplified Bible)