A Christian Response to The Da Vinci Code
Did the early Christians think Jesus was only a man?
One
of the fundamental claims of both the novel and the film is that for the
first 300 years of its existence, the Christian Church did not believe
in the deity of Christ, and saw Him simply as a great human prophet.
Will this
claim withstand scrutiny? No - not for a moment! We possess an abundance
of Christian literature from those first 300 years, usually known as the
writings of the 'early church fathers.' And we find that these 'fathers'
uniformly and overwhelmingly believed in the deity of Jesus Christ.
Let me give
you some examples, beginning in the period immediately after the death
of the apostles 1.
Ignatius of Antioch (died c. 110 A.D. - roughly the same time as the apostle John). In his letters Ignatius clearly testifies to his belief in the deity of Christ.
'I give glory to Jesus Christ the God who bestowed such wisdom upon you' (Letter to Smyrna 6)
'For our God, Jesus the Christ, was conceived by Mary according to a dispensation of God, of the seed of David, yes, but of the Holy Spirit as well.' (Letter to the Ephesians 18)
And in his letter to Polycarp, Ignatius describes Christ like this:
'Await the One who is above every age, the Eternal, the Invisible, the One who for our sake became visible, the One who cannot be touched, Who cannot suffer, who for our sake suffered, who endured in every way for our sake' (Letter to Polycarp 3).
Notice that Christ is 'the eternal one, the invisible one, who cannot
be touched or suffer, yet who for our sake became visible and suffered.'
Is that a description of a mere mortal man?
Polycarp of Smyrna (a famous martyr of the 2nd century, put to death around the year 155).
'Now may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the eternal High-priest Himself the Son of God Jesus Christ, build you up in faith and truth … and may He grant unto you a lot and portion among His saints, and to us with you, and to all that are under heaven, who shall believe in our Lord and God Jesus Christ and in His Father that raised him from the dead.' (The Letter of Polycarp to the Philippians 12:2)
For Polycarp, Jesus Christ is 'our Lord and God'.
Justin Martyr (one of the most important theologians of the 2nd century, martyred in Rome in 165 A.D.
'Because he is thy Lord, and thou shalt worship Him (Ps.45:11). Therefore these words testify explicitly that He is witnessed to by Him who established these things, as deserving to be worshipped, as God and as Christ.' (Dialogue with Trypho 63)
Jesus deserves to be worshiped 'as God and as Christ.' Again he says,'Christ is called both God and Lord of hosts.' (Trypho 36)
Melito of Sardis (died c.180 AD. Melito's writings survive only in fragments. But in these fragments we find Melito saying beautifully of Christ's crucifixion:
'He who hung the earth in place is hanged.
He who fixed the heavens in place is fixed in place.
He who made all things fast is made fast on a tree.
The Sovereign is insulted. God is murdered.'
Less poetically he writes,
'Being God and likewise perfect man, He gave positive indications of His two natures: of His Deity, by the miracles during the three years following after His Baptism; of His humanity, in the thirty years which came before His Baptism, during which, by reason of His condition according to the flesh, he concealed the signs of His Deity, although He was the true God existing before the ages.'Irenaeus of Lyons (perhaps the greatest second-century theologian). In his magnum opus, Against Heresies, written around 180 A.D., he says of Christ:
'Nevertheless, what cannot be said of anyone else who ever lived, that He is Himself in His own right God and Lord and Eternal King and Only-begotten and Incarnate Word, proclaimed as such by all the Prophets and by the Apostles and by the Spirit Himself, may be seen by all who have attained to even a small portion of the truth. The Scriptures would not have borne witness to these things concerning Him, if, like everyone else, He were mere man.' (Against Heresies 3:19:2)
Clement of Alexandria (died 215 A.D.)
'The Word, then, the Christ, is the cause both of our being at first, for he was in God, and of our well-being. And now this same Word has appeared as man. He alone is both God and man, and the source of all our blessings, by whom - being taught to live well - we are sent on our way to life everlasting.' (Exhortation to the Greeks 1).
Tertullian (the first great theologian of North Africa, died c. 220 A.D.)
'God alone is without sin. The only man who is without sin is Christ; for Christ is also God' (On the Soul 41)
'Now although Christ is God, yet, being also man, 'He died according to the Scriptures,' and 'according to the same Scriptures was buried.'' (On the Soul 55)
Innumerable
other such quotations could be given. The simple historical fact is that
the Christians of the first 300 years believed passionately and overwhelmingly
in the deity of Christ.
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Was
the deity of Christ invented by Constantine?