Explore the doctrine of the Trinity from an early Christian perspective. Discover how the first believers understood and expressed the nature of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

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Did Early Christians Believe Jesus Was the Son of Jehovah or Jehovah in the Flesh?
How Can the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit All Be One God If Scripture Calls Only the Father ‘the True God’?
Free Course Guide

What This Free Course Covers

This free course looks at how early Christians understood the relationship between the Father and Jesus Christ, especially when Scripture speaks of God, Lord, the Son of God, and the God worshiped in the Old Testament. The first lesson answers whether early Christians believed Jesus was the Son of Jehovah or Jehovah come in the flesh, drawing attention to the Septuagint, the New Testament’s usual way of speaking about God as the Father, and examples from Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian.

The second lesson gives a longer explanation of what Christians before the Council of Nicaea believed about the Father and the Son, why their nearness to the apostles matters, and how terms such as begotten, eternal, substance, nature, and essence were used. It also contrasts earlier Christian teaching with later Western formulations, including discussion of Augustine, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.

Father and Son Jesus as Son of God Divine nature Old Testament God Septuagint language Pre-Nicene Christianity Begotten and eternal Nature and essence Nicene Creed Western doctrinal development

What You Will Study

  • How early Christians related Jesus Christ to the God worshiped in the Old Testament
  • Why the terms Jehovah, Yahweh, God, and Lord require careful handling in early Christian sources
  • How Jesus can be spoken of as divine while also being the Son sent by the Father
  • Why pre-Nicene Christian writers are used as witnesses to early Christian belief
  • How the early Christians explained the Son as begotten of the Father
  • What substance, nature, and essence mean in discussions of the Father and the Son
  • How the Nicene Creed is distinguished from the later Athanasian Creed in the lesson
  • How later Western teaching is said to have changed the way many Christians understand the Father and the Son

Questions This Course Helps Answer

  • Did early Christians believe Jesus was the Son of the Old Testament God or Jehovah in the flesh?
  • Why do the New Testament and early Christian writers usually speak of God as the Father?
  • How did Jesus identify the God whom the Jewish leaders said they worshiped?
  • Why does the Septuagint matter for the words Jehovah, Yahweh, God, and Lord?
  • How can Jesus be divine without being confused with the Father?
  • What did Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian say about the Father and the Son?
  • Why does the teacher give special weight to Christians who lived before Nicaea?
  • How can the Son be begotten and yet eternal?
  • What is meant when early Christian writings say the Father and the Son have the same substance?
  • Why might nature or essence be clearer English words than substance?
  • How does the lesson distinguish the Nicene Creed from the Athanasian Creed?
  • What role does the lesson assign to Augustine in later Western confusion about the Father and the Son?

Lesson-by-Lesson Guide

Did Early Christians Believe Jesus Was the Son of Jehovah or Jehovah in the Flesh?

This lesson answers whether early Christians viewed Jesus as the Son of the Old Testament God or as Jehovah come in the flesh. It explains why early Christian sources usually use God, Lord, or Father rather than Jehovah, and it appeals to John 8 and early writers such as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian.

  • Did early Christians call Jesus Jehovah in the flesh?
  • How did Jesus speak about the God whom the Jews said they worshiped?
  • Why does the Septuagint affect how early Christians referred to God?
  • How can Christians say Jesus is God while still distinguishing Him from the Father?

How Can the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit All Be One God If Scripture Calls Only the Father ‘the True God’?

This longer lesson focuses on what Christians before Nicaea believed about the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. It explains why early Christian testimony matters, how the Son was understood as begotten yet eternal, how nature or essence language works, and how the teacher contrasts the Nicene Creed with the later Athanasian Creed.

  • Why look to Christians who lived before the Council of Nicaea?
  • How can the Son be begotten and still be eternal?
  • What does substance mean in early Christian discussions of the Father and Son?
  • How does the Nicene Creed differ from the Athanasian Creed in this lesson?

First student reviews

1 review so far
Daniel Segura May 12, 2026
★★★★★
Excellent. It is very rare to hear clear teaching on this topic, and I am glad David Bercot is tackling this very important theological doctrine. My only recommendation would be to add a more in-depth follow up that would seek to further differentiate this consensus ante-Nicene view with the Nicene view(s) of Athenasius, the Cappadocians, etc., and even further from the fully Westernized versions found in Augustine and the Pseudo Athanasian Creed.
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