orm” – Roberts-Donaldson Translation), and that which had been perfected in the councils of God (“had been prepared by God” Roberts-Donaldson Translation) began to take effect (“took a beginning” Roberts-Donaldson Translation).”
Ignatius first identified Jesus as God who appeared as A MAN (‘in human form’) before he identified the human aspect of his existence as “that which had been perfected in the councils of God” which later “began to take effect.” The Greek text indicates that Jesus as a human child born and Son given was a “that which took a beginning” (1 John 1:1 - “That which was from the beginning”) who was “made” (Rev. 3:14 – Jesus is “the beginning of the creation of God”; Heb. 2:17 – “made fully human in every way” NIV) “in the councils of God (Ephesians 1:11; Proverbs 8:22-26),” while the God who had “manifested” Himself “in human form” has always existed as the One who is “not made.”
Ignatius wrote to the Ephesians, “There is one Physician who is possessed both of flesh and spirit; BOTH MADE [created] and NOT MADE (not created); GOD EXISTING IN FLESH; true life in death; BOTH OF MARY (human) AND OF GOD (divine); first passible and then impassible, even Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Ephesians 7:2, Roberts-Donaldson Translation)
Ignatius clearly believed that the Son of God was “made” [created] as man” but was “not made” [not created] as God. For God as God is “not made,” nor does God as God have “a beginning.” For Ignatius taught that the Son was a “that which had been perfected in the councils of God” before taking on “a beginning” by his begetting (Ignatius to the Ephesians 19:3).
Lightfoot’s Translation sheds more light on the nuances of the Greek text in Ephesians 7:2,
“There is one only Physician, of flesh and of spirit, generate [created] and ingenerate [uncreated], GOD IN MAN, true life in death, Son of Mary and Son of God, first passible [capable of feeling or suffering] and then impassible [incapable of suffering pain], Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Ignatius to the Ephesians 7:2, J.B. Lightfoot Translation)
Ignatius was no Trinitarian, he believed that the Son of God (Messiah) was an impersonal “THAT” which “took a beginning.” He described the Word (logos) as an impersonal “THAT which had been perfected in the councils of God” before it receiving “a beginning” as the child born and son given. The apostle John did the same in 1 John 1:1 when he opened his first epistle by saying, “THAT which was from the beginning” rather than “He who was from the beginning.” Therefore the Son is the man who is new, while the "God’ who “was manifested in the flesh” as a man" has always existed as the great I AM (John 8:58) before being manifested in the flesh as a human son.
Ignatius personally knew Peter, Paul, and John, and was an eyewitness to their teachings. Therefore the testimony of the earliest Christian witness proves that the logos in John 1:1 is not spoken of as a literal pre-incarnate distinct God the Son. For the child born and Son given who was conceived in the mind and thought (logos) of the Father before the foundation of the world, could not have literally existed as a Son before being “foreknown … before creation of the world” (1 Peter 1:20). Ignatius and the earliest Christians clearly taught that the God who became the child born and Son given is the same “Mighty God” and “Everlasting Father” of eternity past (Isaiah 9:6)!
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