From the letter to the Smyrnaeans (I.):-
"Having a full conviction with respect to our Lord as being truly descended from David according to the flesh, son of God according to Godhead and power, born really of a virgin, baptized by John that all righteousness might be fulfilled by Him, really in the time of Pontius Pilate and of Herod the tetrarch crucified for our sake in the flesh."
Of the same in the same epistle: -
"For what advantageth it me if a man praises me but blasphemes my Lord, in not confessing him to be a bearer of flesh? but he who does not make this confession really denies Him and is himself bearer of a corpse."
Of the saint from the same epistle: -
"For if these things were done by our Lord in appearance only, then it is in appearance only that I am a prisoner in chains; and why have I delivered myself to death, to fire, to sword, to the beasts? But he who is near to the sword is near to God. Only in the name of Jesus Christ that I may share his sufferings I endure all things while He, Perfect Man whom some in their ignorance deny, gives me strength."
From the same in the letter to the Ephesians: -
"For our God Jesus Christ was born in Mary's womb by dispensation of God of the seed of David and of the Holy Ghost who was born and was baptized that our mortality might be purified."
From the same epistle: -
"If ye all individually come together by grace name by name in one faith, and in one Jesus Christ according to the flesh of David's race Son of God and Son of man.
Of the same from the same epistle: -
"There is one Physician of flesh and of spirit generate and ingenerate, God in man, true life in death, Son of Mary and of God, first passible and then impassible, Jesus Christ our Lord."
Lastly of the same in his epistle to the Trallians: -
"Be ye made deaf therefore when any man speaks to you apart from Jesus Christ, who was of David's race and of Mary, who was really born and really ate and drank and was persecuted in the time of Pontius Pilate, was crucified and died, while beings on earth and beings in heaven and beings under the earth were looking on."
Testimony of Irenaeus bishop of Lyons, from his third book Against the heresies: -
"Why then did they add the words 'In the city of David, save to proclaim the good news that the promise made by God to David, that of the fruit of his loins should come an everlasting king, was fulfilled; a promise which indeed the Creator of the world had made."
Of the same from the same book: -
"And when he says `Hear ye now, Oh House of David' he means that the everlasting King whom God promised to David that he would raise up from his body is He who was born of David's Virgin."
Of the same from the same book: -
"If then the first Adam had had a human father and had been begotten of seed, it would have been reasonable to say that the second Adam had been begotten of Joseph. But if the former was taken from earth, and his creator was God, it was necessary also that He who renews in himself the man created by God should have the same likeness of generation with that former. Why then did not God again take dust? Why did he on the other hand ordain that the formation should be made of Mary? That there might be no other creation; that that which was being saved might be no other thing; but that the former might himself be renewed without loss of the likeness. For then do they too fall away who allege that He took nothing from the Virgin, that they may repudiate the inheritance of the flesh and cast off the likeness."
Of the same from the same book: -
"Since his going down into Mary is useless; for why went He down into her if He was designed to take nothing from her? And further, if He had taken nothing from Mary He would not have accepted the food taken from earth whereby is nourished the body taken from earth, nor would He like Moses and Elias, after fasting forty days, have hungered, on account of His body demanding its own food, nor yet would John his disciple when writing about him have said-`Jesus being wearied from his journey sat,' nor would David have uttered the prediction about him `And they added to the pain of my wounds,' nor would he have wept over Lazarus, nor would He have sweated drops of blood, nor would He have said, `my soul is exceedingly sorrowful,' nor yet when He was pierced would blood and water have issued from His side. For all these things are proofs of the flesh taken from earth, which He had renewed in Himself in the salvation of his own creature."
Of the same from the same book: -
"For as by the disobedience of the one man who was first formed from rude earth the many were made sinners and lost their life, so also was it fitting that through obedience of one man, the firstborn of a virgin, many should be made righteous and receive their salvation."
Of the same from the same work: -