Did the church fathers describe Jesus as “God?”

Overview

According to English translations of the church fathers of the first three centuries, they described Jesus as “God,” meaning He is the God Almighty, for that is what the title “God” means.

However, they regarded the Son as subordinate to the Father, implying the Son is not “God.” The translations cause this contradiction:

The Greek word theos has a wide range of meanings and can be translated as “God” or “god.” The basic meaning is an immortal being with supernatural powers, such as the ancient Greek gods.

Since Ancient Greek did not have a word that is exactly equivalent to the modern term “God,” the New Testament uses theos for God, but also for many other beings, such as certain people and even for Satan.

Translating theos, when referring to the Son in the writings of the ancient fathers, as “God” is an application of the Trinity doctrine, which teaches that Jesus is God Almighty. Such translations should not be taken as proof that the ancient Fathers believed Jesus is God.

The Contradiction

According to English translations of ancient writings, the pre-Nicene church fathers (first three centuries) described Jesus as “our God.” The word “God” implies that He is the God Almighty: While English uses the term “god” for a range of different beings, dictionaries define the term “God” as a proper name for one specific Being, namely the Almighty; the Ultimate Reality. Therefore, “God” refers to the One who exists without a cause and is the cause of everything. So, if the Son is “God,” then He is the Almighty; the Ultimate Reality. [Show More]

So, if the Father is the only true God, then the Son cannot also be “God.” [Show More]

The pre-Nicene fathers did not regard the Son of God as the Almighty, the Ultimate Reality. Although they had a very high view of the Son, they regarded Him as subordinate to the Father. [Show More]

This contradiction is caused by the translations:

The Meaning of Theos

The Greek word theos, which can be translated as “God” or as “god,” has a wide range of meanings. Combining Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, it has the following possible meanings:

1. 1. 1. The gods in general
      2. The true God;
      3. A person granted authority by God to represent Him (e.g., John 10:34-35; Exo 7:1);
      4. An immortal being with supernatural powers, such as the ancient Greek gods;
      5. An idol or image that symbolizes a god (e.g., Acts 7:43);
      6. A thing that opposes God, for example, “the god of this age” (2 Cor 4:4); and
      7. Qualitatively, a being who is ‘godlike.’

Most of these seven meanings are ways in which the Bible uses the term. If we eliminate the Biblical uses to determine what the term meant for the Greeks before the Bible was written, then we are left with one meaning: “An immortal being with supernatural powers, such as the ancient Greek gods,” such as Zeus, Apollo, Hermes, and Hades.  [Show More]

Since Ancient Greek did not have a word that is precisely equivalent to the modern term “God,” the Bible uses this same Greek word theos for God, the Ultimate Reality, but also for false gods (1 Cor 8:5) and many other beings, such as specific people and even for Satan. For example:

• • • Moses (Exodus 7:1),
    • Angels (Psalm 8:5; cf. Hebrews 2:7),
    • The divine council (Psalm 82:1, 6),
    • Israel’s judges (Exo 21:6, 22:8),
    • The Davidic king (Psalm 45:6),
    • Appetite (Phil 3:19),
    • Those who receive the word of God (John 10:34-35) (see here), and
    • Satan (2 Cor 4.4).

Therefore, since the modern term “God” refers to the Ultimate Reality alone, when the pre-Nicene fathers refer to the Son as theos, it should not be translated as “God.” Only when they refer to the Father as theos should theos be translated as “God.”

Ancient Greek writers did not have a Greek word specifically for the one true God. They did not use the Old Testament Hebrew name of God. Therefore, unless the context makes that clear, the writers of the New Testament and the pre-Nicene fathers used other techniques to identify the Father as the one true theos. Frequently, they added the definite article (the) to indicate that the only true theos is intended. Or they described the Father as the:

• • • • • “Only true theos” (John 17:3);
        • “One and only theos” (John 5:44) or as the
        • “One theos” (1 Cor 8:6).

Since the ancient word theos (god) basically means an immortal being with supernatural powers, it was quite natural and appropriate for the Bible writers and the first Christian apologists to refer to the Son as theos. Nevertheless, for them, the Father remained the only true theos.

Translations

The reason many translations of the writings of the ancient fathers translate theos as “God” when referring to the Son is that the translators accept the Trinity doctrine, which describes Jesus as co-equal with the Almighty Father; the Unconditional Cause of all things. Such translations, therefore, are apply the Trinity doctrine but do not reflect the literal meaning of the text, and they should not be used as proof that the church fathers believed in the Trinity doctrine.

So, the original text is clear. All we have in the Greek Bible and in the church fathers is the word theos, which has a broad range of meanings. However, it is not so easy to determine how it should be translated. It is not only a translation from one language to another; it is also a translation from one mindset to another:

The ancient Greeks believed in a multitude of gods. If you asked an ancient Greek whether he believed in God, he would have responded: ‘Which God’?

Today, if you ask the same question, the person would probably think you refer to the one Ultimate Reality and give a different answer.

It is not easy to reflect the ancient meaning of the term theos in modern languages:

Even though they regarded the Son as subordinate to the Father, theos, when referring to the Son, should probably not be translated as “god” because that term, in modern English, has the connotation of a false god.

To translate the phrase “the only true theos” as “the only true God” is illogical because the word “God” is not a category name; it identifies one specific Being: Only one God exists. It would have been more logical to simply translate the entire phrase “the only true theos” as “God.”

One option is to translate Ignatius as saying that the Father is “the only true god” and the Son is “our god,” without capitalization. That may perhaps reflect the ancient meaning of the term theos better.

For a further discussion, see The Meanings of the Word THEOS.

Other Articles

Jesus is called God.

This article focuses specifically on the early church fathers. However, various other articles are available on this site that discuss the references to Jesus as God in the New Testament, including:

Overview of these articles – Read [Show More]

John 1:1 – Possible Translations – Read [Show More]

John 1:1 – The Word was a god. – Read [Show More]

John 1:1 – Theos is a count noun. – Read [Show More]

John 1:1 – The Word was God. – Read [Show More]

The Greek word theos – Read [Show More]

John 1:18 – The Only Begotten God – Read [Show More]

John 20:28 – My Lord and my God! – Read [Show More]

Romans 9:5 – Read [Show More]

Hebrews 1:8-9 – Read [Show More]

Other Articles

• • • All articles on this website
    • The Book of Daniel
    • The Book of Revelation
    • Origin of the Trinity Doctrine
    • Is Jesus the Most High God?
    • Trinity Doctrine – General
    • The Origin of Evil
    • Death, Eternal Life, and Eternal Torment

FOOTNOTES

• 1
  Badcock, Gary D. (1997), Light of Truth and Fire of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit, p. 43.
• 2
  La Due, William J. (2003), Trinity Guide to the Trinity, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, p. 38) (Olson, Roger E.; Hall, Christopher A. (2002), The Trinity, p. 25.
• 3
  Bishop RPC Hanson, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God – The Arian Controversy 318-381, 1987
• 4
  Henry Bettenson, The Early Christian Fathers p. 239.
• 5
  Rowan Williams – Arius: Heresy and Tradition, 2002/1987 (Archbishop)