First Christian Voices: Practices of the Apostolic Fathers

Chapter 2 The Godhead

Chapter Summary Who is God? The Apostolic Fathers had a clear idea of who He is, although they did not express God in philosophical terms as later writers did. In this chapter, we will learn that the Apostolic Fathers believed God was the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Much like what we read in the New Testament, the idea of the Trinity finds expression in the number of inferences to the deity of the three Persons without suggesting polytheism. For example, God is Creator of all just as the Lord Jesus is Creator of all. 1 Clement 33 quotes Genesis 1:26 to identify the plurality and oneness of God: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Additionally, we see inferences of the Godhead in the fact that God searches our hearts just as the Holy Spirit also searches our hearts (1 Clement 21).

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