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The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, (ibid., 1999), page 81: “ … the name ‘Apologists’ is given to the group of Christian writers who (c.120-220) composed defences of Christianity … They include Athenagoras, Justin Martyr, Minucius Felix, Tatian, and Tertullian.”

 

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As noted above, expert sources indicate there was in fact a rise in apologetics among the earliest christians, in which the deity of Christ was defended. This suggests the deity of Christ was already established by the apostles. If it was not taught by the apostles, we should expect to find disbelief in it among those figures that lived near the apostles. Some of these earliest figures lived under the apostolic times (within the first century), and even knew certain apostles. Let’s look at several of these ancient christians …

 

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The Da Vinci Hoax, pages 116-117, “ … the New Testament books alone … clearly refutes Teabing’s statement that prior to Constantine and the Council of Nicaea none of Jesus’ followers believed he was anything more than a mortal. But there is also the testimony of numerous Christian writers between A.D. 100 and the fourth century to the belief in Jesus’ divinity … proving what Christians really did believe about Jesus in the first three centuries of Christianity … ”

 

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IGNATIUS (lived c. AD 35/65-107)
- an eyewitness of the apostles -
The Ante – Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, page 57
Ignatius – a personal disciple of apostle John, and likely other apostles; overseer of church in Antioch; his letters were written after his arrest by the Roman government under certain anti-religious jurisprudence;
he was later executed:

 

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Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians: “I therefore, yet not I, but the love of Jesus Christ, entreat you that ye use Christian nourishment only, and abstain from herbage of a different kind; I mean heresy. For those [that are given to this] mix up Jesus Christ with their own poison, speaking things which are unworthy of credit … Be on your guard, therefore, against such persons. And this will be the case with you if you are not puffed up and continue in intimate union with Jesus Christ, our God … ” (The Ante – Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, page 68).

 

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Epistle of Ignatius to Polycarp: “ … glorify your ever active love to the praise of Christ … I pray for your happiness for ever in our God, Jesus Christ, by whom continue ye in the unity and under the protection of God … ” (The Ante – Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, page 96).

 

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The World Book Encyclopedia, (2005) Vol. 10, pp. 48-49: “Ignatius … was a bishop of Antioch and an early Christian martyr. He was supposed to have been born in Syria about A.D. 50. Ignatius is famous for seven letters he wrote to various churches as he traveled as a prisoner to Rome, where he was martyred.”

 

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The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, (ibid., 1999), page 466 : “ Ignatius, St. (d. c.107). Bishop of Antioch. Nothing is known of his life beyond his journey under guard across Asia Minor to Rome to be martyred. He was received along the way by representatives of five local churches (Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Philadelphia, Smyrna), and sent a letter back to each. These five letters, with one to the church at Rome and one to Polycarp, were early collected and venerated (and other spurious letters added to them).”

 

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Religions of the Ancient World, (ibid., 2004, Harvard University Press), page 235: “Ignatius of Antioch, martyred in Rome under the emporer Trajan around 110. On his way to battle the beasts, Ignatius composed a series of letters to communities in Asia Minor and Greece, emphasizing the importance of Episcopal authority, as well as belief in the incarnation of Christ.”

 

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The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, (ibid., 2002), Vol. 6, page 247-8: “Ignatius of Antioch, Saint, also called Ignatius Theophoros (Greek: ‘God Bearer&#8217 (d. c.110, Rome), bishop of Antioch, Syria, known mainly from seven letters that he wrote during a trip to Rome, as a prisoner condemned to be executed for his beliefs. He was eager to counteract the teachings of the Judaizers, who did not accept the authority of the New Testament, and the Docetists, who held that Christ’s sufferings and death were apparent but not real. The letters have often been cited as a source of knowledge of the Christian church at the beginning of the 2nd century … an influential church leader and theologian, Ignatius is known almost entirely from his own writings … Eusebius of Caesarea reported that Ignatius’ arrest and condemnation occurred during the reign of the Roman emporer Trajan (98-117) … Ignatius’ letters contain the only reliable information about him … His thought is influenced by the letters of St. Paul and also by the tradition connected with the apostle John, whom he may have known … The letters of Ignatius warn against false doctrines and false teachers and call for peace … Concern for the doctrine that Christ is man as well as God is the main reason that Ignatius insisted on ‘Siding with the bishop’ … Preservation of the letters. Polycarp made a collection of Ignatius’ letters and sent them to the church at Philippi, as he had been requested by the Philippians. The collection apparently contained some, if not all, of the seven letters that were known to Eusebius and are now commonly held to be genuine … In the 4th century these letters were corrupted by the heavy insertions of an interpolator, and the collection was augmented by six letters forged under Ignatius’ name … The genuine collection, freed from interpolations and forgeries, was restored by 17th-century scholarship … the rediscovery of the letters in their original form … ”

 

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JUSTIN MARTYR (lived c. AD 100-165)
- chief of the Apologists -
The Ante – Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, page 263
Justin Martyr -

 

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Dialogue with Trypho: “For if you had understood what has been written by the prophets, you would not have denied that He was God, Son of the only, unbegotten, unutterable God. For Moses says … ‘A man wrestled with Jacob’ [Genesis 32:24, 30], and asserts it was God; narrating that Jacob said, ‘I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.’ And it is recorded that he called the place where He wrestled with him, appeared to and blessed him, the Face of God (Peniel). And Moses says that God appeared also to Abraham near the oak in Mamre, when he was sitting at the door of his tent at mid-day. Then he goes on to say: ‘And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, three men stood before him [Genesis 18:2] … He who is both God and the Angel, sent by the Father, is described as saying and doing these things.”

 

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The First Apology of Justin: “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 Father of the Universe has a Son; who also, being the first-begotten Word of God, is even God. And of old He appeared in the shape of fire and in the likeness of an angel to Moses and to the other prophets; but now in the times of your reign, having, as we before said, become Man by a virgin, according to the counsel of the Father, for the salvation of those who believe on Him, He endured both to be set at nought and to suffer, that by dying and rising again He might conquer death.” (The Ante – Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, page 184).

 

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The World Book Encyclopedia, (2005) Vol. 11, pp. 204: “Justin the Martyr … (100?-165?), was the first prominent defender of the Christian faith against non-Christians. Justin is known as an apologist because he defended the Christian beliefs and practices against suspicions and false accusations … Justin was born into a Greek family in what is now Nablus, in the West Bank region of southwest Asia. He tried various Greek and Roman philosophies before converting to Christianity in about 130 … By about 150, Justin was teaching Christian philosophy in Rome. He was beheaded in Rome because he was a Christian. Christianity was an outlawed religion at that time.”

 

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The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, (ibid., 2002), Vol. 6, page 663: “Justin Martyr, Saint (b. c. 100, Flavia Neaplois, Palestine [now Nabulus]) – d. c. 165, Rome [Italy] … one of the most important of the Greek philosopher-Apologists in the early Christian church … A pagan reared in a jewish environment, Justin studied Stoic, Platonic, and other pagan philosophies and then became a Christian in 132, possibly at Ephesus, near modern Selcuk, Turkey … He spent a considerable time in Rome. Some years later, after debating with the cynic Crescens, Justin was denounced to the Roman prefect as subversive and condemned to death. Authentic records of his martyrdom survive. Of the works bearing Justin’s authorship and still deemed genuine are two Apologies and Dialogue with Trypho. The first, or ‘Major Apology,’ was addressed to the Roman Emporers Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius … Justin asserts that Jesus Christ is the incarnation of the entire divine logos … The Dialogue with Trypho is a discussion in which Justin tries to prove the truth of Christianity to a learned Jew named Trypho. Justin attempts to demonstrate that a new covenant has superseded the old covenant of God with the Jewish people; that Jesus is both the messiah announced by the Old Testament prophets and the preexisting logos through whom God revealed himself in the Scriptures … ”

 

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The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity, (1990) edited by John McManners, Regius Professor Emeritus of Ecclesiastical History, University of Oxford, with Henry Chadwick, Regius Professor Emeritus of Divinity and Master of Peterhouse College, Cambridge as the contributor, note that “Defenders of the Faith: Justin Martyr … The Christians found themselves under attack not only from the Roman governmentbut also from Greek philosophers and representatives of high literary culture, orators, historians … Justin came from Nablus in Palestine to Ephesus … Justin moved on to Rome where he offered lectures in his own school … Christ’s ethical teaching proclaimed the way to true happiness, for he was not only man but God … ” (p.46, Oxford University Press, Great Britain).

 

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The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, (ibid., 1999), pages 517-18: “ Justin Martyr, St. (c.100-c.165). Early Christian apologist (see Apologetics). A native of Samaria, he became a Christian after a long search for truth in pagan philosophies … He taught first at Ephesus, and then as head of a Christian school in Rome where Tatian was one of his pupils. According to an authentic record of proceedings, he and some of his disciples were denounced as Christians and, on refusing to sacrifice, they were beheaded.”

 

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POLYCARP (lived c. AD 69-155)
- an eyewitness of the apostles -
Ante – Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, page 57

 

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The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, (ibid., 1999), page 757: “Polycarp, St. (c.69-c.155). Christian bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor. According to his pupil Irenaeus he associated with ‘John and with the rest of those who had seen the Lord’; he is thus a link between the apostles and the orthodox writers of the 2nd cent. His letter to the Philippians is preserved, as well as one of Ignatius’ letters addressed to him. According to the contemporary Martrydom of Polycarp he was arrested during a pagan festival and, on his refusing to recant his faith, burnt to death.”

 

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The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, (ibid., 2002), Vol. 9, page 577: “Polycarp, Saint (fl. 2nd century … ), Greek bishop of Smyrna who was the leading 2nd century Christian figure in Roman Asia by virtue of his work during the initial appearance of the fundamental theological literature of Christianity. Historically, he formed a link between the apostolic and patristic ages. By his major writing, The Letter to the Philippians, and by his widespread moral authority, Polycarp combated various heretical sects … Not only does he repeatedly quote from Paul’s writings but he also stresses the personal importance of Paul as a primary authority … Paul had been adopted as a primary authority by the Gnostic heretics. Polycarp, in response, reclaimed Paul … Polycarp’s orthodox use of the Pauline texts marked a crucial advance in the Christian theology of biblical interpretation … Polycarp’s Letter to the Philippians is doubly important for its early testimony to the existence of various other New Testament texts. It probably is the first to quote passages from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, the Acts of the Apostles, and the first letters of St. Peter and St. John … On his return to Smyrna, Polycarp was arrested by the Roman proconsul and burned to death when he refused to renounce Christianity.”