Did Early Christians Reject Adoptionism?

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Direct teaching

...or the Gospel of God, which He promised through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born from the lineage of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power through the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ." And again, writing to the Romans about Israel, he states: "Whose are the fathers, and from whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all, blessed forever." In his letter to the Galatians, he says: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption;" clearly indicating one God, who through the prophets promised the Son, and one Jesus Christ our Lord, who was of the lineage of David according to His birth from Mary; and that Jesus Christ was appointed the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, as the firstborn of all creation; the Son of God becoming the Son of man, so that through Him we may receive adoption—humanity supporting, receiving, and embracing the Son of God. Therefore, Mark also sa

Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Direct teaching

...y that nothing can be preferred, but that nothing can be compared. From Him, when He willed it, the Son, the Word, was born. He is not received in the sound of struck air, or in the tone of a voice forced from the lungs, but is acknowledged in the substance of the power put forth by God. The mysteries of His sacred and divine nativity no apostle has learned, no prophet has discovered, no angel has known, and no creature has grasped. They are known to the Son alone, who has known the secrets of the Father. Then, since He was begotten of the Father, He is always in the Father. And I say always in this way, so that I may show that He is not unborn, but born. But He who is before all time must be said to have always been in the Father, for no time can be assigned to Him who is before all time. And He is always in the Father, unless the Father has not always been Father. Only, in a certain sense, the Father also goes before Him, since it is necessary, in some degree, that He should be before He is Father. Because it is essential that He who knows no beginning should go before him who has a beginning. In this way, He is less, since He knows that He is in Him, having an origin because

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Direct teaching

...ly and absolutely, as God, unless he was truly God; nor would they have called anyone in his own person Lord, except for God the Father who rules over all, and His Son, who has received dominion from His Father over all creation, as this passage says: “The said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” Here the Scripture presents to us the Father addressing the Son; He who gave Him the inheritance of the heathen, and subjected all His enemies to Him. Since the Father is truly Lord, and the Son is truly Lord, the Holy Spirit appropriately designated them with the title of Lord. And again, referring to the destruction of the Sodomites, Scripture says, “Then the rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah fire and brimstone from the out of heaven.” For it points out here that the Son, who had also been speaking with Abraham, had received the power to judge the Sodomites for their wickedness. And this following text declares the same truth: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; the scepter of Your kingdom is a right scepter. You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity: therefore God, Your God, has anointed You.” For the Spirit designates both by th

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Twelve Topics on the Faith Direct teaching

If any one affirms that Christ, just like one of the prophets, assumed the perfect man, and refuses to acknowledge that, being begotten in the flesh of the Virgin, He became man and was born in Bethlehem, and was brought up in Nazareth, and advanced in age, and on completing the set number of years (appeared in public and) was baptized in the Jordan, and received this testimony from the Father, This is my beloved Son, Matthew 3:17 even as it is written, let him be anathema.

Luke 3:22 Background

and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Matthew 3:16 Background

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.

Mark 1:11 Background

And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Matthew 3:17 Background

and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Hippolytus, Discourse on the Holy Theophany Background

...creature? Baptize me, the Baptist, that Your pre-eminence may be known. I, O Lord, baptize with the baptism of repentance, and I cannot baptize those who come to me unless they first confess fully their sins. Be it so then that I baptize You. What have You to confess? You are the Remover of sins, and will You be baptized with the baptism of repentance? Though I should venture to baptize You, the Jordan dares not come near You. I have need to be baptized by You, and You come to me?"

Tertullian, On Baptism Direct teaching

..., we say, "The emperor set forth an edict," or, "The prefect cudgelled him." Does the emperor in person set it forth, or the prefect in person cudgel? One whose ministers do a thing is always said to do it. So, "He will baptize you," must be understood as meaning, "Through Him," or, "Into Him, you will be baptized." But let not the fact that He Himself did not baptize trouble anyone. For into whom should He baptize? Into repentance? Then what use do you make of His forerunner? Into remission of sins, which He used to give by a word? Into Himself, whom by humility He was concealing? Into the Holy Spirit, who had not yet descended from the Father? Into the Church, which His apostles had not yet founded? And so, with that same baptism of John, His disciples used to baptize as ministers, with which John had baptized before as forerunner. Let no one think it was with some other baptism, because no other exists, except that of Christ afterward. Which, at that time, of course, could not be given by His disciples, since the glory of the Lord had not yet been fully attained, nor the efficacy of the font established through the passion and the resurrection. Because neither can our death s

Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness

... gradual increase of its rays. In the same way, then, Christ also—that is, the image of God and the Son of God—is looked upon by men, since He could be seen. And so the weakness and imperfection of the human condition is nourished, led upward, and taught by Him, so that, being accustomed to look upon the Son, it may one day be able to see God the Father Himself also as He is. Then it will not be struck down by His sudden and unbearable brightness and be kept from seeing God the Father, whom it has always desired. Therefore it is the Son who is seen. But the Son of God is the Word of God, and the Word of God was made flesh and dwelt among us, and this is Christ. What reason in the world is there for us to hesitate to call Him God, when in so many ways He is shown to be God? And further, the angel meets Hagar, Sarah's maid, after she has been driven from home and cast out, near the spring of water on the way to Shur. He asks and learns the reason for her flight. After that, He advises her to humble herself. He also gives her the hope of becoming a mother, and He pledges and promises that from her womb there would come a numerous seed, and that Ishmael would be born from her. With

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Direct teaching

...y to the Beloved: "You are My beloved Son, today have I begotten You." Let us then ask the wise, Is Christ, begotten today, already perfect, or, what would be most monstrous, imperfect? If the latter, then there is still something He needs to add. But for Him to add anything to His knowledge is absurd, since He is God. For no one can be superior to the Word, or the teacher of the only Teacher. Will they not then admit, though unwilling, that the perfect Word, born of the perfect Father, was begotten in perfection, according to divine arrangement fore-ordination? And if He was perfect, why was He, the perfect one, baptized? It was necessary, they say, to fulfill the profession that pertained to humanity. Excellent. Well then, I say, does He become perfect at the same time as His baptism by John? Clearly. Then He did not learn anything more from him? Certainly not. But is He perfected by the washing of baptism alone, and sanctified by the descent of the Spirit? So it is. The same also takes place in our case, and Christ became our example. Being baptized, we are illuminated. Being illuminated, we become sons. Being made sons, we are made perfect. Being made perfect, we are made im

Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Direct teaching

...I am not of this world"? But if every man is of this world, and Christ is in this world for that reason, is He only man? God forbid! But consider what He says: "I am not of this world." Does He then speak falsely when He says He is not of this world, if He is only man? Or if He does not speak falsely, then He is not of this world. Therefore He is not man only, because He is not of this world. But so that it should not be hidden who He was, He declared where He was from. "I am from above," He said, that is, from heaven, where man cannot come from, for man was not made in heaven. Therefore He is God who is from above, and therefore He is not of this world; although, in a certain way, He is also of this world. Therefore Christ is not God only, but man also. For just as He is not of this world according to the divinity of the Word, so He is of this world according to the frailty of the body that He has taken upon Himself. For man is joined with God, and God is linked with man. But for that reason Christ here laid more stress on the one aspect of His divinity, because the blindness of the Jews saw in Christ only the aspect of the flesh. So in this passage He passed over in silence th

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Direct teaching

3. And then, [speaking of His] baptism, Matthew says, “The heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God, as a dove, coming upon Him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” For Christ did not at that time descend upon Jesus, neither was Christ one and Jesus another: but the Word of God—who is the Saviour of all, and the ruler of heaven and earth, who is Jesus, as I have already pointed out, who did also take upon Him flesh, and was anointed by the Spirit from the Father—was made Jesus Christ, as Esaias also says, “There shall come forth a rod from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise from his root;

Anonymous, Treatise on Re-Baptism Supporting witness

because when He was baptized He had been glorified, as had happened to none others, by the descent of the Holy Spirit from the opened heavens, and by its abode upon Him;

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Supporting witness

but then the Holy Ghost, and for man’s sake, as I formerly stated, lighted on Him in the form of a dove, and there came at the same instant from the heavens a voice, which was uttered also by David when he spoke, personating Christ, what the Father would say to Him: ‘Thou art My Son: this day have I begotten Thee;’ [the Father] saying that His generation would take place for men, at the time when they would become acquainted with Him: ‘Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten thee.’ ”

Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Direct teaching

...t heretical error has arisen, as I judge, from this: they think there is no distinction between the Son of God and the Son of man. For if a distinction were made, Jesus Christ would easily be proved to be both man and God. For they insist that the very same one who is man, the Son of man, also appears as the Son of God. So they say that man and flesh, and that same frail substance, may also be called the Son of God Himself. Therefore, since no distinction is seen between the Son of man and the Son of God, but the Son of man himself is claimed to be the Son of God, the same Christ and the Son of God is claimed to be man only. By this they try to exclude, “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,” and, “You shall call His name Emmanuel,” which is interpreted, “God with us.” For they bring forward what is told in the Gospel of Luke. From it they try to maintain, not what is true, but only what they want it to be: “The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you; therefore also the Holy Thing which is born of you shall be called the Son of God.” If, then, they say, the angel of God says to Mary, “that Holy Thing which is born of you,” then

Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Direct teaching

...t heretical error has arisen, as I judge, from this: they think there is no distinction between the Son of God and the Son of man. For if a distinction were made, Jesus Christ would easily be proved to be both man and God. For they insist that the very same one who is man, the Son of man, also appears as the Son of God. So they say that man and flesh, that same weak substance, may also be called the Son of God Himself. Since no distinction is seen between the Son of man and the Son of God, and since the Son of man himself is claimed to be the Son of God, they then claim that the same Christ, and the Son of God, is man only. By this they try to exclude, "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," and, "You shall call His name Emmanuel," which is interpreted, "God with us." For they bring forward what is told in the Gospel of Luke. From it they try to maintain, not what is true, but only what they want to be true: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you; therefore also the Holy Thing which is born of you shall be called the Son of God." If then, they say, the angel of God says to Mary, "That Holy Thing which is born of you," then

Gregory Thaumaturgus, A Sectional Confession of Faith Direct teaching

There is one Son, both before the incarnation and after the incarnation. The same Son is both man and God, both together as one. The God the Word is not one person, and the man Jesus another person. Rather, the same one who existed as Son before was made one with flesh through Mary. In this way, He made Himself a perfect, holy, and sinless man, and used that divine arrangement for the renewal of mankind and the salvation of the whole world. God the Father, being Himself the perfect Person, thus has the perfect Word truly begotten from Him. He is not like a spoken word, nor like a son by adoption, in the sense in which angels and men are called sons of God, but as a Son who is by nature God. And there is also the perfect Holy Spirit, given by God through the Son to the sons of adoption, living and life-giving, holy and giving holiness to those who share in Him. He is not like an unsubstantial breath breathed into them by man, but is the living Breath proceeding from God. Therefore the Trinity is to be adored, glorified, honored, and reverenced. The Father is understood in the Son, just as the Son is of Him. And the Son is glorified in the Father, since He is of the Father, and is ma

Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Direct teaching

... by the gentle increase of its rays. In the same way, Christ also—that is, the image of God and the Son of God—is looked upon by men, since He could be seen. And so the weakness and imperfection of human destiny is nourished, led up, and taught by Him. Thus, being accustomed to look upon the Son, it may one day be able to see God the Father Himself also as He is. Then it will not be struck by His sudden and unbearable brightness, and hindered from being able to see God the Father, whom it has always desired. Therefore it is the Son who is seen. But the Son of God is the Word of God. And the Word of God was made flesh and dwelt among us. And this is Christ. What in the world is the reason that we should hesitate to call Him God, when in so many ways He is acknowledged to be proved God? And further, the angel meets Hagar, Sarah's maid, driven from her home as well as turned away, near the fountain of water on the way to Shur. He asks and learns the reason for her flight. After that, he offers her advice that she should humble herself. Moreover, he gives her the hope of the name of mother, and pledges and promises that from her womb there should be a numerous seed, and that Ishmael

Tertullian, Against Praxeas Direct teaching

...was: one, the Word of God; the other, God. Although the Word is also God, He is God regarded as the Son of God, not as the Father. There is One through whom all things were made, and Another by whom all things were made. But in what sense we call Him Another, we have already often explained. In calling Him Another, we must mean that He is not identical. He is not identical, yet not as if separate. He is Other by divine arrangement, not by division. Therefore, He who became flesh was not the very same as He from whom the Word came. "His glory was seen, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father." John 1:14 Notice: not "as of the Father." He alone declared what was in the bosom of the Father. The Father did not reveal the secrets of His own bosom. For this is preceded by another statement: "No man has seen God at any time." Then again, when John the Baptist designates Him as "the Lamb of God," John 1:29 he is not described as being Himself the same as Him whose beloved Son He is. He is certainly always the Son of God, yet not Himself the one of whom He is the Son. Nathanael at once recognized this in Him, John 1:49 just as Peter did on another occasion: "You are the Son of Go

Justin Martyr, The First Apology Direct teaching

...o not understand." Jesus the Christ, because the Jews did not know what the Father was, or what the Son was, similarly accused them; and He said, "No one knows the Father except the Son; nor the Son except the Father, and those to whom the Son reveals Him." The Word of God is His Son, as we mentioned earlier. He is called Angel and Apostle because He declares what we ought to know and is sent to reveal whatever is declared, as our Lord Himself says, "He who hears Me, hears Him who sent Me." This is also evident from the writings of Moses, for it is written in them, "And the Angel of God spoke to Moses from a flame of fire in the bush, saying, I am that I am, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of your fathers; go down into Egypt and bring forth My people." If you wish to learn what follows, you can refer to the same writings, as it is impossible to relate everything here. But this much is written to prove that Jesus the Christ is the Son of God and His Apostle, previously the Word, and appearing sometimes as fire, sometimes like angels. Now, by God’s will, He has become man for the human race, enduring all the sufferings which the devils incited the s

Galatians 4:5 Supporting witness

to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

1 John 3:1 Supporting witness

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

Ephesians 1:5 Supporting witness

he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

John 1:12 Supporting witness

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Galatians 4:6 Supporting witness

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Direct teaching

For it was for this end that the Word of God was made man, and He who was the Son of God became the Son of man, that man, having been taken into the Word, and receiving the adoption, might become the son of God.

Alexander of Alexandria, Epistles on the Arian Heresy Supporting witness

But these, laying aside the spirit of bondage, when by brave deeds and by progress they have received the spirit of adoption, being blessed by Him who is the Son by nature, are made sons by adoption.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book II Supporting witness

and that He teaches that that adoption of sons pertaining to the Father, which is eternal life, takes place through Himself, conferring it [as He does] on all the righteous.

Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Supporting witness

As now by participation in the Son of God one is adopted as a son, and by participating in that wisdom which is in God is rendered wise, so also by participation in the Holy Spirit is a man rendered holy and spiritual.

Hippolytus, Discourse on the Holy Theophany Supporting witness

who puts off the bondage, and puts on the adoption, — he comes up from the baptism brilliant as the sun, flashing forth the beams of righteousness, and, which is indeed the chief thing, he returns a son of God and joint-heir with Christ.

Archelaus, Disputation with Manes Supporting witness

...in this way: "No one, truly, will ever be able to prove himself mightier than the voice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nor is any name found equal to His, as it is written: 'Therefore God has exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name.' Nor, again, can anyone ever be equal to Him in the matter of testimony. And so I will simply bring forward the testimonies of His own voice in answer to you. "First of all, I do this in order to solve those difficulties you have stated, so that you may not say, as you are used to doing, that these are matters not in harmony with the Person Himself. Now, you maintain that the man who brought the word to Jesus about His mother and His brothers was rebuked by Him, as if he were in error, just as the writer was in error. Well, I affirm that neither was this man rebuked, who brought Him the message about His mother and His brothers, nor was Peter only named blessed above him. Rather, each of these two parties received from Him the answer properly called forth by their several words, as the discussion that follows will show. "When one is a child, he thinks as a child, and speaks as a child. But when he becomes a mature man, those things pro

Archelaus, Disputation with Manes Supporting witness

...u to understand, and if you do not agree with these statements, I can at least try to prove them by using illustrations. Think of man as a kind of temple, according to the likeness of Scripture. Then the spirit that is in man may be compared to the image that dwells in the temple. Now, a temple cannot be established unless an occupant for the temple is first recognized. On the other hand, an occupant cannot be settled in the temple unless the structure has first been built. Since these two things, the occupant and the structure, are both consecrated together, how can any opposition or conflict be found between them? Should it not instead appear that both have come from sources that are friendly and of one mind? And so that you may know this is the case, and that these sources are truly one both in fellowship and in lineage, He who knows and hears all made this reply: "Let us make man," and so on. For the one who builds the temple questions the one who fashions the image. He carefully asks about the measurements of magnitude, breadth, and bulk, so that he may mark out the space for the foundations according to those dimensions. No one begins the useless task of building a temple