Church Fathers, Part 4
“Ignatius to Ephesus”

September, 2008

by: Edward Wilde

In our last installment, we left Ignatius, the Bishop of Antioch on his way to Rome to be fed to lions. The year is sometime around 110 A.D., give or take a few years (some date it as late as the 130's). On his way to Rome, he wrote various letters to the individual churches.

We will first look at his letter to the church at Ephesus. One striking thing about the letter is the “high Christology” of the letter. The Da Vinci Code book/movie popularized an old wives tale that no one really thought about Jesus as “God” until after the Council of Nicea. Ignatius would have been surprised by such a claim. For example, in the opening to the letter he writes of “the will of the Father and of Jesus Christ our God”.

In another place in this letter he writes of “our God, Jesus the Christ, conceived by Mary according to God’s plan both from the seed of David and of the Holy Spirit”.

In a passage which sounds very much like Paul’s address to the Ephesian elders (Acts 20:28), Ignatius writes that his fellow believers “took on new life through the blood of God”. (Compare the translation of Acts 20:28 offered by the RSV and NRSV, “the church of God which he obtained with the blood of His own Son” and the translation of NASB/ESV/NKJV/etc., “His [God’s] own blood”.)

Ignatius also had a firm understanding that Jesus Christ was both God and Man (even though the final statement of the doctrine was not arrived at until Chalcedon in 451 A.D.), “There is only one physician who is both flesh and spirit, born and unborn, God in man, true life in death, both from Mary and from God, first subject to suffering and then beyond it, Jesus Christ our Lord.” In another place he writes of “when God appeared in human form”.

Ignatius also has a firm understanding of the sovereignty and providence of God. In language which echoes Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Ignatius writes: “the church at Ephesus in Asia, blessed with greatness through the fullness of God the Father, predestined before the ages for lasting and unchangeable glory forever, united and elect through genuine suffering by the will of the Father and Jesus Christ our God…” Note that Ignatius ascribes sovereignty over salvation to the predestination of God the father.

He also commends the church and encourages them in various matters. He commends the Church as to how they refused to accept those who taught false doctrines. This commendation sounds very similar to the commendation of the Church by Christ as found in Revelation 2:2.

Ignatius also encourages them to pray for the repentance of the rest of mankind “for there is in them hope for repentance.” This encouragement sounds like Paul’s direction to a former Ephesian pastor, Timothy to pray for the salvation of all men. 1 Tim. 2:1-2.

Before we go on, you should note that Ignatius’ letter to the Ephesians contains matter which sounds like Paul’s sermon to the Ephesian elders, Paul’s direction to an Ephesian pastor, Paul’s letter to the Ephesian Church, and John’s (Revelation) letter of Christ’s words to the Ephesian Church. While this does not prove that Ignatius had access to Acts, Ephesians and Revelation, it does show that he at some level may have heard these things respecting the church.

Ignatius also displays an apparent knowledge of other elements of what will become the New Testament. For example, he quotes Matthew 12:33, “The tree is known by its fruit”; thus those who profess to be Christ’s will be recognized by their actions. In another place he quotes 1 Corinthians 1:20.

All of this so far should sound very comfortable and understandable to you; Ignatius is speaking a great deal of doctrine which we often hear and teach. However, there are some aspects of his letter which are a bit strange. In one place, Ignatius contains this strange sentence, “He [Jesus] was born and was baptized in order that by his suffering he might cleanse the water.” The precise meaning of this sentence is not clear, although it appears to have to do with the idea of “baptism” as suffering (see, Mark 10:38-39).

There is another paragraph (19), Ignatius engages in a poetic fancy that is plain strange: “How then was he [Jesus] made manifest in the ages? A star shone forth in heaven brighter than all the stars, and its light was ineffable and is novelty produced astonishment; all the other stars with the sun and moon, gathered in chorus about this star, and it outshone them all. There was perplexity as to the origin of this novelty, so unlike the others. . . .” Just remember that Ignatius had a tendency toward extremes in his writings.

Next month we will examine Ignatius’s teaching on Church unity and the bishop.