ds of Ignatius refute later Trinitarian eisegesis out of Philippians chapter two which falsely alleges that the divinity of Jesus could be visibly seen in a “form of God” prior to his birth as a distinct divine person from the Invisible Father. Since Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15), he must be the image of the invisible Father’s Person who came to save us as a true human person (Heb. 1:3; Heb. 2:14, 17).
Kelly clearly described Ignatius’ theology as Modalistic rather than Trinitarian when he wrote,
“… the Father was not limited to His earthly sojourn, such as the formulae of greeting and farewell affixed to the letters, and Ignatius' requests to his correspondents to address their prayers to Jesus Christ. But the only hint he gives of the nature of this distinction within the unity of the divine spirit is that Christ is the Father's 'thought'.” (JND Kelly Early Christian Doctrines, p.93)
How could a coequal God the Son be “the Father’s thought” while still being coequal? There can be no doubt that Ignatius held a Oneness Modalistic Monarchian conception of God which even some Trinitarian historians and theologians have pointed out.
Trinitarian theologian Virginia Corwin (Ph.D.) stated that Ignatius of Antioch was a “Monarchian” rather than a Trinitarian,
“If one term must be chosen to indicate the tendency of his thought, Ignatius must be said to be Monarchian” (“St Ignatius and Christianity in Antioch” New Haven: Yale University Press, 1960, page 126.).
Church historians Kelly and Loofs concur in their description of the simple theology of Ignatius, and of the early second century Christians of Asia Minor (about 107-110 AD) who esteemed Ignatius as one of their greatest leaders. The apostle John had died only about a decade before Ignatius wrote his seven epistles. Therefore, it is most probable that Ignatius was repeating the simple theological teachings that he had received from the first century apostles themselves. Hence, the earliest Christian witness indicates that the first century Christians believed that God exists “as an undifferentiated monad” in that “the Son and the Spirit” are merely “modes of the Father’s self-revelation (JND Kelly Early Christian Doctrines, p.93).”
THE WRITINGS OF IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH PROVE HE WAS A MONARCHIAN MODALIST
Trinitarians often cite Ignatius to the Magnesians 6 to show that Jesus “was with the Father before all ages.” However, Ignatius had taught that Jesus was with the Father as the word (logos = “expressed thought”) of the Father (Magnesians 8:2; Ephesians 3:2), so Jesus could have been with the Father before all ages in God’s “expressed thought” (in His mind and plan which is the meaning of the Greek word “logos”).
Archbishop Wake translated Vossius' 1646 Greek text of Magnesians 6 identifying Jesus “the Father before all ages” who “appeared in the end for us.”
“Jesus Christ, who was the Father before all ages, and appeared in the end to us.”(The Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden, 173)
Wake’s translation appears to be from a variant text of Magnesians 6 which likely would not have been utilized by most Trinitarian Translators. The fact that a Trinitarian translator would utilize a variant text stating that “Jesus Christ, who was the Father before all ages” gives credence to their being a viable alternate reading of Magnesians chapter six.
If “with the Father before all ages” is correct, Jesus can be said to be with the Father within the eternal Logos or Mind of the Father. In John 17:5 “with” translated from Greek is “PARA” in the dative case. Thayer says that this “indicates that something is or is done either in the immediate vicinity of someone, or (metaph) in his mind.” (Joseph Henry Thayer, author of the Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 477)
Ignatius wrote to the Ephesians 1:3 “Jesus Christ our inseparable life, is the mind of the Father.” How could a person’s MIND be ANOTHER PERSON beside Him? If Jesus is the Mind of the Father, He must be that Father. For how could the Father exist without His own mind? Ignatius pe