The Epistle of Ignatius to the Tarsians
Chapter I.—His own sufferings: exhortation to stedfastness.
Chapter II.—Cautions against false doctrine.
Chapter III.—The true doctrine respecting Christ.
Chapter V.—Refutation of the previously mentioned errors.
Chapter VIII.—Exhortations to holiness and good order.
Chapter IX.—Exhortations to the discharge of relative duties.
Nor is He a mere man, by whom and in whom all things were made; for “all things were made by Him.”20 John i. 3. “When He made the heaven, I was present with Him; and I was there with Him, forming [the world along with Him], and He rejoiced in me daily.”21 Prov. viii. 27, 30. And how could a mere man be addressed in such words as these: “Sit Thou at My right hand?”22 Ps. cx. 1. And how, again, could such an one declare: “Before Abraham was, I am?”23 John viii. 58. And, “Glorify Me with Thy glory which I had before the world was?”24 John xvii. 5. What man could ever say, “I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me?”25 John vi. 38. And of what man could it be said, “He was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world: He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not?”26 John i. 9, 10, 11. How could such a one be a mere man, receiving the beginning of His existence from Mary, and not rather God the Word, and the only-begotten Son? For “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,27 John i. 1. and the Word was God.”28 Some insert here John i. 3. And in another place, “The Lord created Me, the beginning of His ways, for His ways, for His works. Before the world did He found Me, and before all the hills did He beget Me.”29 Prov. viii. 22, 23, 25.