Ignatius to the Ephesians 12:1:
I
know who I am and to whom I write: I am condemned, you have been shown mercy; I
am in danger, you have been strengthened. (Schoedel)
Οἶδα,
τίς εἰμι καὶ τίσιν γράφω. ἐγὼ κατάκριτος, ὑμεῖς ἠλεημένοι· ἐγὼ ὑπὸ κίνδυνον, ὑμεῖς
ἐστηριγμένοι
.
. . his state as a condemned man also symbolizes his role as their
"slave" (see on Mag. 12): he is not free, he does not speak with the
authority of the apostles (with whom the Ephesians are in agreement), he lacks
their strength, and has not been "shown mercy" as they have (which,
as in 1 Cor 7:25; 2 Cor 4: 1; and Rom 11:30-31, seems to mean that they have
been given special status). All of these statements must be treated as roughly equivalent.
(William R. Schoedel, Ignatius of Antioch: A Commentary on the Letters of
Ignatius of Antioch [Hermeneia-A Critical and Historical Commentary on the
Bible; Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985], 72)
Ignatius to the Magnesians 6:1
Since,
then, in the persons already mentioned I have seen your whole community in
faith and have loved it, I exhort you: be eager to do all things in godly
concord, with the bishop set over you in the place of God, and the presbyters
in the place of the council of the apostles, and the deacons, most sweet to me,
entrusted with the service of Jesus Christ, who before the ages was with the
Father and appeared at the end. (Schoedel)
Ἐπεὶ
οὖν ἐν τοῖς προγεγραμμένοις προσώποις τὸ πᾶν πλῆθος ἐθεώρησα ἐν πίστει καὶ ἠγάπησα,
παραινῶ, ἐν ὁμονοίᾳ θεοῦ σπουδάζετε πάντα πράσσειν, προκαθημένου τοῦ ἐπισκόπου
εἰς τόπον θεοῦ καὶ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων εἰς τόπον συνεδρίου τῶν ἀποστόλων, καὶ τῶν
διακόνων τῶν ἐμοὶ γλυκυτάτων πεπιστευμένων διακονίαν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὃς πρὸ αἰώνων
παρὰ πατρὶ ἦν καὶ ἐν τέλει ἐφάνη
Ignatius to the Trallians 3:3:
Because
I love you I refrain, though I could write more sharply about this. <I was
not empowered> for this that I, a condemned man, should give you orders as
an apostle. (Schoedel)
Ὁμοίως
πάντες ἐντρεπέσθωσαν τοὺς διακόνους ὡς Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, ὡς καὶ τὸν ἐπίσκοπον ὄντα
τύπον τοῦ πατρός, τοὺς δὲ πρεσβυτέρους ὡς συνέδριον θεοῦ καὶ ὡς σύνδεσμον ἀποστόλων.
χωρὶς τούτων ἐκκλησία οὐ καλεῖται.
.
. .Ignatius adopts the language of 2 Cor 12:6, where Paul also couples a
statement about his restraint ("I refrain") with a claim to possess
the secrets of the other world (cf. 1 Cor 2:6-7; 13:2). Ignatius, however,
feels an even greater sense of restraint since he, a condemned man, cannot
command like an apostle (see on Eph. 12.1). He regards only apostles as
having universal authority over the churches (cf. Mag. 6.1). (William R.
Schoedel, Ignatius of Antioch: A Commentary on the Letters of Ignatius of
Antioch [Hermeneia-A Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible;
Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985], 143-44)
.
. . the reference to "the precepts of the Lord and the apostles" in Mag.
13.1 suggests that when lgnatius links divine and apostolic authority, he has
in view the historical events of the primitive period. He himself, we recall,
cannot give commands as the apostles did (Tr. 3.3; Rom. 4.3; cf. Eph.3.1),
and presumably neither can the presbyters in spite of the comparison. lt is
primarily the universal and local, then, which is being compared by Ignatius rather
than the heavenly and earthly. And the universal is rooted (at least in part)
in an idealized past. (William R. Schoedel, Ignatius of Antioch: A
Commentary on the Letters of Ignatius of Antioch [Hermeneia-A Critical and
Historical Commentary on the Bible; Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985], 113)
Ignatius to the Romans 4:3:
I
do not command you as Peter and Paul: they (were) apostles, I (am) a condemned
man; they (were)free, I (am) still a slave; but if I suffer, I shall become a
freedman of Jesus Christ, and I shall arise free in him; and I am learning, as
one bound, to desire nothing. (Schoedel)
οὐχ
ὡς Πέτρος καὶ Παῦλος διατάσσομαι ὑμῖν. ἐκεῖνοι ἀπόστολοι, ἐγὼ κατάκριτος· ἐκεῖνοι
ἐλεύθεροι, ἐγώ δέ μέχρι νῦν δοῦλος. ἀλλ᾽ ἐὰν πάθω, ἀπελεύθερος γενήσομαι Ἰησοῦ
Χριστοῦ καὶ ἀναστήσομαι ἐν αὐτῷ ἐλεύθερος. νῦν μανθάνω δεδεμένος μηδὲν ἐπιθυμεῖν.
lt
is also too literal a reading of our text, then, to conclude that it was
martyrdom that made the apostles free. Martyrdom frees Ignatius because only so
can be a true disciple. But he evidently thinks of the apostles as having been
on a different footing from the beginning (see on Mag. 6.1). They are not
looked on as exercising authority from on high after their martyrdom but as
having stamped their character on the churches in which they worked (cf. Eph.
11.2-12.2). Thus the selection here of Peter and Paul no doubt reflects
Ignatius' awareness of a tradition about their joint presence and their
martyrdom in Rome which significantly bolstered the prestige of that city's
Christian community. Surely Peter and Paul were thought of by Ignatius as
"free" and capable of commanding obedience even apart from their
martyrdom, and surely that is why the bishop recognizes his inability to speak
to the Romans with the same authority as they (cf. Eph. 3.1; Tr.3.3).
Ignatius differs from the apostles in that only through martyrdom can he become
as they were. He is learning, then, to "desire nothing," that is, to
give up his attachment to this world (cf. Rom. 7.1). (William R.
Schoedel, Ignatius of Antioch: A Commentary on the Letters of Ignatius of
Antioch [Hermeneia-A Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible;
Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985], 176-77)
