in his translation of Ignatius, To the Ephesians 19:1, Schoedel rendered the text as:
The virginity of Mary and
her giving birth eluded the ruler of this age, likewise also the death of the
Lord—three mysteries of a cry which were done in the stillness of God.
Commenting on this text, he wrote that:
We may assume that
fundamental to the theme of the hiddenness of the events of salvation (19.1)
was a sense of awe at the noiseless entrance of divinity into the world (cf.
Cyril Jer. Catech. 12.9) and a
feeling of wonder that the pride of power unexpectedly met its match in
apparent weakness and defeat. Ignatius’ emphasis on the reality of Christ’s
suffering may be taken as an extension of that attitude. Complications arise
when the role of the evil one in such transactions becomes a matter for
speculation. A passage in Paul already seems to refer to demonic powers who
unwittingly work their own defeat by crucifying the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:6–8).
They knew something but not enough. Why?
Two answers recommended
themselves in the early period. (a) The evil one knew from OT prophecy that the
Christ was coming but was uncertain whether Jesus was the one. (b) The powers
did not know with whom they were dealing when they persecuted Jesus since he
eluded detection when he descended through the heavens. Ignatius’ language
about the “economy” (Eph. 18.2; 20.1)
and the “mysteries” (19.1) suggests a possible reference to the hidden purposes
of God in the OT period. But reminiscences of the language of hidden descent
seem to be stronger. Thus Ignatius’ reflections on the star (19.2–3) emphasize
the cosmic dimensions of the event. And the treatment of the birth of Christ as
miraculous and mysterious fits such a context. A noteworthy example is an
interpolation of the Ascension of Isaiah
(11.2–22): we are told just after the description of Christ’s painless (and
almost non-physical) birth (11.2–15) that “this was hidden from all the heavens
and all the princes and every god of this world” (11.16). Yet Ignatius does not
actually describe the descent, and it is possible (c) that we are dealing with
a more modest form of the theme in which the emphasis is on the events of
salvation that take place here on earth and are hidden from the powers of darkness
until the resurrection or ascension (cf. Justin Dial. 36.6). Apart from its present context the interpolation in
the Ascension of Isaiah hardly says
more. The text stresses the fact that Joseph continued as Mary’s husband
externally, telling no one of the virgin birth, and that the birth itself took
place while he and Mary were alone. Similarly, in an interpretation of
Ignatius’ words, Origen (Hom. in Luc.
6) says that thanks to Joseph, Mary passed as a married woman and so escaped
the notice of Satan. Jerome (Comm. in
Matt. 1.18) repeats the point. Along the same lines, Hippolytus says that
Jesus appeared in lowly human guise at his baptism ἵνα λάθῃ τοῦ δράκοντος τὸ πανούργημα “so that he might elude the
wickedness of the dragon” (Theoph.
4). And in speaking of Jesus’ trial, the Sibylline
Oracles (8.292–93) predict that Jesus “will remain silent” (σιγήσει) to prevent any from knowing who he is
so that he might speak to the dead.
The three mysteries—Mary’s
virginity and her child-bearing “likewise also” (ὁμοίως καί) the Lord’s death—clearly break down into
two groups and as such correspond to the birth and the baptism-as-death at the
end of the previous section (18.2). Thus there can be no emphasis on the number
three. Elsewhere the expression ὁμοίως
καί (Eph.
16.2; Pol. 5.1) emphatically affirms
the relevance of what has just been said to another item. Thus Ignatius is not
simply listing the events of Jesus’ life in chronological order; and if it
seems best, we are free to think that he goes on in 19.2–3 to comment on the
birth of Christ in particular. Three things favor this solution: (a) According
to Eph. 20.1 Ignatius regards himself
as just “getting into” (ἠρξάμην)
his exposition of the divine “plan”; and it is likely that he began at the
beginning with the incarnation, especially since he links the birth of Christ
and the divine “plan” so closely in Eph.
18.2. (b) The expression “God being revealed as human” in Eph. 19.3 may have in view the earthly epiphany of Christ as a
whole, but surely refers to the incarnation in particular (cf. Mag. 8.2); in any event, the present
tense of the participle indicates that Christ’s manifestation in human form is
thought of as contemporaneous with the shattering of the powers of evil; and
such a statement seems out of place if Christ has just been described as having
ascended and left this world behind. (c) The tradition about the star is more
securely tied (as we shall see) with the Christmas story. Yet the birth and the
passion were clearly linked in Ignatius’ mind, and here the older part of the Ascension of Isaiah may help us fill out
the picture that Ignatius has left incomplete; for after the future descent of
the Son is announced in heaven (9.12–13), the angel says, “and the god of that
world will stretch forth his hand against the Son and they will lay hands on
him and crucify him on a tree without knowing who he is; so his descent, as
thou wilt see, is hidden from the heavens so that it remains unperceived who he
is” (9.14–15). (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], 89–90)
To Support this Blog:
Email for Amazon Gift card: ScripturalMormonism@gmail.com
Email for Logos.com Gift Card: IrishLDS87@gmail.com
