The early Greek fathers made extensive use of reason and philosophy in their attempt to defend Christianity in the cultured world around them. Justin Martyr, influenced by Platonism, emphasized the ineffability, omnipotence and impassibility of God, while Athenagoras and Theophilus focused on God's simplicity, indivisibility and universal providence.
Irenaeus developed his doctrine of God in reaction against the Gnostics, and thus emphasized the self-sufficiency and perfection of the one God. By the time of the Council of Nicea, the chief divine attributes of eternity, immutability, omniscience and omnipotence were undisputed by all Christians.
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