Christian thought which associated with ‘generation’ ideas inconsistent with the unchangeableness of God. The doctrine of an Eternal Generation was unknown to Ignatius, and any lower conception was felt to be unworthy of the Divine Essence. But to deny to the Eternal Logos a generation such as Ignatius had in view, was not to deny His prehistoric Sonship. The conception of a Divine Sonship was realised by the Church before the conception of a Divine generation, and Ignatius belonged to the earlier