The confession of Jesus as the Christ—the incarnate Son of God, crucified and risen—is the cornerstone of Christian faith. First proclaimed by Peter and sealed by the adoration of Thomas, who cried, “My Lord and my God,” this mystery became the beating heart of the Church’s life, worship, and doctrine. From the earliest days of baptismal confession to the soaring doxologies of the liturgy, the Church has proclaimed the divine humanity of the Redeemer as the foundation of salvation. The incarnation, more than a doctrine, was a living presence in the soul of the Church—prayed, sung, suffered for, and adored.
Literature
The literature on the doctrine of the incarnation is vast and rich. Among the most influential works:
- Dionysius Petavius (Denis Petau), Opus de theologicis dogmatibus (Paris, 1644–50; later editions to 1863), laid the foundation for historical theology, especially in his section De Trinitate, where he traces the gradual emergence of Christological dogma from the ante-Nicene to the Nicene era.
- George Bull, Bishop of St. David’s, in Defensio Fidei Nicaenae (1685), powerfully defends the eternal divinity of the Son through the testimony of early Fathers, though he sometimes interprets their writings through the lens of Nicene orthodoxy.
- Rationalist and Catholic contributions include Martini (Geschichte des Dogmas von der Gottheit Christi, 1809), Athanasius der Große by A. Möller (1827), and Edward Burton’s Testimonies of the Ante-Nicene Fathers (1829).
- F. C. Baur and G. A. Meier examined the historical development of Trinitarian and incarnational doctrine with rigorous philosophical critique.
- Isaac A. Dorner’s monumental History of the Development of the Doctrine of the Person of Christ (1839–56) remains a scholarly masterpiece, rich in theological insight and historical depth.
- Anglican and Catholic perspectives are well represented by Robert Wilberforce (The Doctrine of the Incarnation, 1852) and Henry Parry Liddon’s Bampton Lectures (The Divinity of Our Lord, 1866), while Philip Schaff’s own works trace the tension between Trinitarianism and Unitarianism in the ante-Nicene Church.
These studies are complemented by doctrinal histories from Hagenbach, Thomasius, Harnack, and others.
The Christological Center of the Faith
The divinity and messiahship of Jesus Christ, confessed by the apostles and celebrated in the earliest worship, stood at the core of the Church’s identity. Peter’s confession and Thomas’s worship were not isolated moments but the public acclamation of the Church’s foundational truth. Christ’s incarnation, his divine Sonship, and redeeming work were not merely propositions but spiritual realities woven into every sacrament, prayer, and hymn.
From the beginning, the early Church directed not admiration but adoration to Christ—worship given only to God. This is seen in New Testament passages, the use of the sacred name Ichthys (“Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior”), and early liturgical expressions such as the Tersanctus and Gloria in Excelsis. The hymn of Clement of Alexandria praises Christ as Logos; Origen boldly declares, “We sing hymns to the Most High and to His Only Begotten, the Word and God.” Even Pliny the Younger, a pagan Roman official, reported that Christians sang “hymns to Christ as to a god.”
Eusebius, quoting from earlier sources, attests that figures like Justin, Miltiades, Tatian, Clement, Irenaeus, and Melito openly confessed the divinity of Christ. The Church’s psalms and hymns, he wrote, consistently celebrated Christ as divine. Martyrs died with this confession on their lips, choosing death over denying that the crucified Jesus is “Lord and God.”
Worship Precedes Definition
Before theological language could articulate the doctrine of the incarnation, the Church already believed it, lived it, and worshipped its mystery. The divinity of Christ was fixed in the Christian heart long before it was fixed in Nicene dogma. Just as a child prays to Christ in love before comprehending systematic theology, so too did the early Christians worship their Savior without yet defining his essence.
The speculative inconsistencies and doctrinal ambiguities of the ante-Nicene fathers must be understood within this context. The faithful were not responsible for the speculative struggles of theologians; rather, their worship was the spiritual compass that led the Church steadily toward orthodoxy. The divinity of Christ—and with it, the divinity of the Holy Spirit—was always the living center of faith.
The Long Road to Nicene Clarity
While the Church always confessed the God-man, the formal theological expression of this truth developed slowly. The Church had to reconcile its worship of Christ with the monotheism of Israel, leading to the mystery of the Trinity: one essence, three persons.
This dogma was not revealed in its final form at once. The early centuries were filled with doctrinal groping, occasional errors, and conflicting formulations. Yet the Church’s theological pilgrimage moved unwaveringly toward truth.
The Apostolic Fathers, especially Ignatius of Antioch, simply affirmed that “Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.” He frequently referred to Christ unambiguously as “God,” writing of “the blood of God” and praying to imitate “the passion of my God.” Other Apostolic Fathers, like Polycarp and the unknown author of the Epistle to Diognetus, likewise affirmed Christ’s divine sonship and cosmic role.
From Justin to Origen: Theological Articulation Begins
The theological articulation of the incarnation began in earnest with Justin Martyr, who developed the Logos doctrine, presenting Christ as the pre-existent divine Reason manifest in the flesh. This line of development culminated in Origen, whose powerful intellect provided a comprehensive system of Christology—rich, speculative, and controversial.
From Origen’s thought would eventually emerge the two great streams of the fourth-century Christological debate: the Athanasians, who upheld the full divinity and consubstantiality of the Son with the Father; and the Arians, who saw the Son as a created being, exalted but subordinate. These opposing trajectories converged in the doctrinal crisis of the fourth century, resolved at the Council of Nicaea (325) and confirmed at the Council of Constantinople (381).
The Mystery of the Incarnation
The doctrine of the incarnation comprises three essential elements:
- The true divinity of Christ — that he is of one substance (homoousios) with the Father.
- His full humanity — that he assumed a true and complete human nature, body and soul.
- The unity of person — that these two natures were united in one divine person, without confusion, change, division, or separation.
This mystery—unfathomable, majestic, and saving—remains the heart of Christian confession. In the incarnation, the eternal God enters time, the invisible becomes visible, and the immortal embraces death. From the earliest Church to the Nicene Fathers and beyond, Christ was not merely revered as a prophet or sage, but worshipped as the eternal Son, born of the Virgin, crucified, risen, and reigning forever.
The Church lives because Christ lives. Her creeds, her worship, and her martyrs all point to the same Lord: Emmanuel, God with us.
