What the Early Church Believed: One True God

The teaching of Scripture

Early Christians died horrible martyrs' deaths rather than admit the existence of other gods. Their insistence comes from the Bible. Jesus, addressing his Father, says eternal life is to know him, the only true God (John 17:3). Through Isaiah, God declares that no god was formed before him and none will come after him (Isaiah 43:10).

Some modern groups reject this. Mormons claim an innumerable multitude of gods, some older than the Father, and teach that humans can become gods. That directly contradicts Isaiah 43:10. That God is one is a central tenet of the dogma of the Trinity; other tracts show the Fathers also taught the Trinity's other aspects.

The witness of the early Church

• Pope Clement I (80) speaks of glorifying the name of "the true and only God."
• Ignatius of Antioch (110) says the prophets were persecuted for teaching that there is one God, who manifested himself through his Son.
• Justin Martyr (155) tells Trypho there is no other God than the one who made the universe, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
• Tatian (170) cites God's words that beside him there is no other God (Isaiah 44:6).
• Irenaeus (189) says God alone is omnipotent, the maker of all things, comprehending all and comprehended by none.
• Tertullian (197–216) says the one God brought forth all things from nothing through his Word, and that this one God has a Son.
• The Recognitions of Clement (221) says that although many are called gods, there is but one true God.
• The Clementine Homilies (221) cite Isaiah 44:6, Deuteronomy 6:13 (Matthew 4:10) and Deuteronomy 6:4.
• Origen (225) lists as apostolic teaching that there is one God who created all things and sent Jesus Christ.
• Hippolytus (228) says the one God had nothing co-eternal with him.
• Novatian (235) says we believe in the one true God and in Jesus Christ whom he sent, who is God without taking away that God is one.
• Gregory the Wonderworker (262–265) confesses one true God and anathematizes those who call the Son or the Spirit a creature.
• The Council of Nicaea I (325) professes "one God, the Father Almighty."
• Epiphanius of Salamis (374), Patrick of Ireland (452) and Fulgentius of Ruspe (519) confess the one God; Fulgentius argues that just as there is only one truth, there cannot be two true gods.