So it would seem. But,
Link to writings of the early church fathers (ECF).
Irenaeus Against Heresies [A.D. 120-202.] Disciple of Polycarp, disciple of John, Book 4
And again, He says to them a second time: And ye have made void the word of God by reason of your tradition; Christ confessing in the plainest manner Him to be Father and God, who said in the law, Honor thy father and mother; that it may be well with thee.
For the true God did confess the commandment of the law as the word of God, and called no one else God besides His own Father.
Clement Of Alexandria [A.D. 153-193-217] Exhortation To The Heathen
Chapter 1 Such are the reveries of my mysteries. If it is thy wish, be thou also initiated; and thou shalt join the choir along with angels around the unbegotten and indestructible and
the only true God, the Word of God, raising the hymn with us. This Jesus, who is eternal, the one great High Priest of the one God, and of His Father, prays for and exhorts men.
Hippolytus [A.D. 170-236] Expository Treatise Against The Jews
4. Now
Christ prayed all this economically as man; being, however, true God. But, as I have already said, it was the form of the servant that spake and suffered these things.
Novatian, A Roman Presbyter Concerning The Trinity [A.D. 210-280]
If Christ was only man, wherefore did He lay down for us such a rule of believing as that in which He said,
And this is life eternal, that they should know Thee, the only and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent? Had He not wished that He also should be understood to be God, why did He add, And Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent, except because He wished to be received as God also? Because if He had not wished to be understood to be God, He would have added, And the man Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent; but, in fact, He neither added this,
nor did Christ deliver Himself to us as man only, but associated Himself with God, as He wished to be understood by this conjunction to be God also, as He is. We must therefore believe, according to the rule prescribed, on the Lord, the one true God, and consequently on Him whom He has sent, Jesus Christ, who by no means, as we have said, would have linked Himself to the Father had He not wished to be understood to be God also: for
He would have separated Himself from Him had He not wished to be understood to be God.
Alexander, Bishop Of Alexandria. (A.D. 273 - 326.) Oration Concerning Simeon And Anna
We, together with thee,
sing our praises to Christ, who has the power of life and death, saying, Thou art the true Light, proceeding from the true Light; the true God, begotten of the true God; the one Lord, before Thine assumption of the humanity; that One nevertheless, after Thine assumption of it, which is ever to be adored; God of Thine own self and not by grace, but for our sakes also perfect man; in Thine own nature the King absolute and sovereign, but for us and for our salvation existing also in the form of a servant.
The Seven Books Of Arnobius Against The Heathen (Adversus Gentes.) [A.D. 297 303.]
44. And yet it is agreed on that
Christ performed all those miracles which He wrought without any aid from external things, without the observance of any ceremonial, without any definite mode of procedure, but
solely by the inherent might of His authority; and as was the proper duty of the true God, as was consistent with His nature, as was worthy of Him, in the generosity of His bounteous power He bestowed nothing hurtful or injurious, but only that which is helpful, beneficial, and full of blessings good for men.
is deemed too hard by several scholars, since it involves the notion of Jesus acting in the early history of the nation Israel. However, not only does this reading enjoy the strongest support from a variety of early witnesses (e.g., A B 33 81 1241 1739 1881 2344 pc vg co Or1739mg), but the plethora of variants demonstrate that scribes were uncomfortable with it, for they seemed to exchange κύριος (kurios, “Lord”
