Chapter Eight -- Ignatius's Letter to the Magnesians Translation and Commentary
Chapter Eight -- Ignatius's Letter to the Magnesians Translation and Commentary
{L324} The Letter to the Magnesians emphasizes the theme of obedience to the rightful bishop. Damas (see 2:1) was probably a younger man (see 3:1,2) who was fighting the docetic heresy troubling the churches of Asia Minor. Ancient Magnesia lay on the Maiander river but was not an especially important city. We do not know how Christianity first arrived there. The contents of the letter clearly presuppose an alternative church, or at least liturgy (see 4:1), as seems to be the case in other cities. This opposing assembly must have had some Jews who were claiming that being a disciple of Jesus did not preclude -- or possibly required -- following Jewish laws and customs, a problem evident in the NT itself (cf. Acts 15; Galatians). As in the other letters, Ignatius here emphasizes the unity of the church in both outward and inward aspects.
Salutation
{L325} Ignatius, called Theophorus, to the [church] blessed in the grace of God the Father in Christ Jesus our Savior. In him I greet the church that is in Magnesia on the Maiander and I ask for great greetings in God the Father and in Jesus Christ.
Chapter 1
{L326} (1) Since I recognized with joy the well-ordered nature of your love in God, I chose ahead of time to speak to you in the faith of Jesus Christ. (2) By being made worthy of the God-fitting name, as I carry these bonds, I sing the praises of the churches in which I beg for the unity of the flesh and the spirit of Jesus Christ, [1] our constant life; and I beg for the unity of faith and love. Nothing is to be preferred to this. Even more important is that union of Jesus and the Father. [2] If in him we endure every insult of the ruler of this age and take refuge in God, we shall obtain it. [3]
{L327} 1 "unity of the flesh and spirit of Jesus Christ" may refer to the human and divine natures of Christ or to his humanity (flesh) and the Holy Spirit who filled Jesus in his earthly ministry. In this context, Ignatius asks that the same unity which characterized Jesus's own union of the divine and human within himself would fill members of the church.
{L328} 2 "that union of Jesus and the Father" could also be translated "that union with Jesus and the Father." Both meanings have important implications for Ignatius's theology. He teaches that Jesus is perfectly united to the Father and that this same union should be manifested in the church.
{L329} 3 It is not clear what Ignatius is saying we will obtain. The context suggests that the union of flesh and spirit, as well as of faith and love, will come through enduring all the insults and sufferings that the Devil can throw at the church. The Enemy of the church intends to tear it apart but endurance in these trials means remaining as one.
Chapter 2
{L330} (1) Since I was counted worthy to see you through Damas your God-worthy bishop and your worthy presbyters Bassus, and Apollonius, as well as through my fellow servant, the deacon Zotion, I have benefited from him because he is subject to the bishop as to the grace of God and to the presbytery as to the law of Jesus Christ.
Chapter 3
{L331} (1) And it is fitting for you not to abuse [4] the age of your bishop, but that you show all respect according to the power of God the Father, as I also knew the holy presbyters have not abused the present order which appears to be more youthful, [5] but as those who are wisely docile to him in God. Yet they are docile not to him, but to the Father of Jesus Christ, the bishop of all. (2) So it is fitting to obey without any hypocrisy for the honor of that One who willed this since [in disobedience] a person is deceiving not the bishop who can be seen, but is attempting to defraud the Invisible Bishop. [6] The matter is not just a human affair, but has to do with God who knows the hidden things. [7]
{L332} 4 sugchrasthai ("abuse") is translated by Holmes and Ehrman as "take advantage of." The word is used in both positive and negative senses. Ignatius here commands that no one use the bishop's age as an excuse for irreverence or disobedience.
{L333} 5 "the present order which appears to be more youthful." This is a fairly literal translation but it seems to mean that the present bishop is being respected by the presbyters in spite of his youthful appearance.
{L334} 6 Ignatius calls God a bishop because he knows that episkopos means "overseer" and that the cognate verb episkopeo means "oversee."
{L335} 7 Ignatius stresses that the church hierarchy is divinely sanctioned and therefore obedience to the bishop is not a matter of outward show but of inward assent. He implies that judgment will come on the person who lives only in superficial obedience to the bishop without a heartfelt consent. The last sentence about God knowing the hidden things reiterates a common scriptural theme found in Col 3:22, "Slaves, obey your human masters in every way, not in outward service but in simplicity of heart with reverence for the Lord." On God judging the hidden things, see Paul Rom 2:16 and 1 Cor 4:5.
Chapter 4
{L336} (1) It is appropriate not only to be called a Christian but in fact to be one. This would be like those who use the title "bishop" but do everything apart from him. Such ones do not appear to me to have a good conscience because they certainly do not hold their assemblies in accord with the commandment. [8]
{L337} 8 kata entolen ("in accord with the commandment") means presumably the command of the bishop or the Christian rule of doing everything under the guidance of the bishop.
Chapter 5
{L338} (1) These matters have a purpose [9] and two things lie before us together. [10] One is death and the other is life. Each one will end up in its own place. (2) As there are two types of coins, [11] one of God and the other of the world and each of them has a distinctive stamp [12] on them, [so] unbelievers have that of the world, and believers have the stamp of God the Father in love through Jesus Christ. If we do not willingly embrace dying for his passion, neither is his life in us. [13]
{L339} 9 "purpose" is telos = goal, aim. The reason for the authority of bishops, presbyters, and deacons in the church is to lead the faithful to life. This chapter reflects the contrast between the two ways described in the Didache, chapters 1,2. See also Mt 7:13,14.
{L340} 10 See the Holmes and Ehrman translations.
{L341} 11 nomismata ("coins") literally means "currencies." A coin bears an imprint in the same way that the Christian bears the imprint of God. This is part of the foundation for the idea that baptism places an indelible mark on the soul. See chapter four in the introductory essays for a discussion of character.
{L342} 12 Our word "character" is a transliteration of the word used here meaning a "stamp" or an "imprint." The word is used of Jesus as the exact imprint of the essence of the Father in Heb 1:3.
{L343} 13 Here Ignatius draws on the Pauline theme of dying and rising with Christ as expressed in Rom 6:1ff and Phil 3:8-12.
Chapter 6
{L344} (1) So, since I have seen the entire congregation in the aforementioned persons, I exhort you to be diligent to practice everything in harmony with God, as the bishop leads in the place of God and the presbyters in the place of the council of the apostles and of the deacons -- those sweetest to me -- who have been entrusted with the service [14] of Jesus Christ who was with the Father before all ages and has appeared at the end [of the world]. [15] (2) By receiving a character like God's, honor one another and let no one view his neighbor according to human standards. [16] Rather, love one another in Jesus Christ always. Let there be nothing among you that can divide you but be united to the bishop and to those presiding for the imprint and teaching of incorruptibility. [17]
{L345} 14 diakonia generally means "service" but came to designate the work of deacons as tending to the physical and material needs of others. It is used in the NT in both senses.
{L346} 15 Christ appeared at the end of the ages. See Rom 16:25,26. In Gal 4:4, Paul says "when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his son ..."
{L347} 16 "according to human standards," kata sarka means literally "according to the flesh." Ignatius seems to mean the phrase in the sense that Paul uses it in 2 Cor 5:16, "If we have known Christ kata sarka, we know him this way no longer."
{L348} 17 Camelot has an insightful comment: "For Ignatius, as for the New Testament and the Greek fathers of the church, this incorruptibility is immortality, eternal life, an essentially divine attribute in which man cannot participate except through the gift of God," p. 99.
Chapter 7
{L349} (1) As the Lord [Jesus] did nothing without the Father because he was united to him -- whether he did it by himself or through the apostles -- neither should you practice anything without the bishop or the presbyters. Neither should you try anything that appears to be fine on your own but you should always do the same thing: one prayer, one petition, one mind, one hope in love, in a spotless joy -- this is Jesus Christ than whom nothing is better. (2) All of you should come together to one temple of God, as on one altar, to one Jesus Christ who came forth from the one Father, was one being, and will return.
Chapter 8
{L350} (1) Do not be deceived by heterodox teachings or old myths that are unprofitable. If we have lived till now by the law, [18] we confess that we have received grace. (2) The most divine prophets lived in accord with Christ Jesus. For this reason, they were persecuted while being inspired by this grace so that the disobedient might be convinced that there is one God who made himself known through Jesus Christ his Son. He is the Word proceeding from silence and who in every way pleased the one who sent him. [19]
{L351} 18 Some MSS have "Judaism" instead of "law."
{L352} 19 The Word coming forth from silence has provoked much discussion among scholars. There was probably a corruption of the text that entered very early in the transmission process. Most scholars accept the text as literally translated above (logos apo siges proelthon). The "silence" referred to was a major theme of Gnosticism in the later second century but Ignatius's words could reflect an earlier form of the heresy floating around Asia Minor. He is probably thinking here of the Incarnation -- God becoming man -- rather than the eternal generation of the Son within the Trinity.
Chapter 9
{L353} (1) If those who lived in the old ways come to the newness of hope, they no longer keep the Sabbath but live by the Lord's Day. On this day, our life dawned through him and his death, which some deny. Through this mystery we have received faith [20] and for this reason we endure that we may be found to be disciples of Jesus Christ, our only teacher. (2) How can we live without him whom the prophets, since they were his disciples by the Spirit, were expecting as their teacher? For this reason the one for whom they rightly waited raised them from the dead when he arrived. [21]
{L354} 20 to pisteuein ("faith") is an infinitive and so emphasizes the act of believing. For Ignatius, faith is a gift contained in the Paschal Mystery. Every Lord's Day (Sunday) recalls and mystically reenacts Christ's death and resurrection. In the liturgy the gift of faith is available to all who will take hold of it.
{L355} 21 Is this last sentence about being raised from the dead an allusion to Mt 27:52,53?
Chapter 10
{L356} Let us be not unaware of his goodness. If he imitated our practices, we would no longer exist. Therefore, when we become his disciples, let us learn to live according to Christianity. [22] Whoever is called by another name than this one is not of God. (2) Put away the evil leaven, that has grown old and sour, and be changed [23] into new leaven which is Jesus Christ. Be salted in him that no one may be corrupted since you will be repelled [24] by the odor. (3) It is out of place to speak of Jesus Christ and practice Judaism. Christianity was not entrusted [25] to Judaism but Judaism to Christianity. Every tongue that believes this was gathered to God. [26]
{L357} 22 Ignatius is the first writer to use the term "Christianity." No doubt it was modeled on the existing word "Judaism." Here we see the beginnings of the widening gulf between Judaism and Christianity. Perhaps it is not an accident that it should arise from Antioch since it was there that the disciples was first called Christians (Acts 11:26). Ignatius uses the term also in Philad 6:1 and "Christian" in Rom 3:1.
{L358} 23 metabalesthe ("be changed"). There are different ways the verb may be translated. One is "reach for" (Holmes) or "turn to" (Ehrman). Bauer uses zuwenden ("turn to") while Camelot has transformez-vous ("transform yourself"). The Protestant scholars, reading it as middle voice, tend not to see any deeper significance in the word while Camelot, probably reading it as a passive, may have been aware of the use of metaballo in the later fathers where the word is used, among other applications, for the transformation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.
{L359} 24 elegchthesesthe ("repelled"), lit. "be rebuked." Ehrmann translates, "show for what you are" and Camelot, "you will be judged."
{L360} 25 Episteusan ("entrusted"). Most translators use "Christianity did not believe in Judaism, etc." "Believed" is used in the sense that Judaism had its goal and fulfillment in Christianity. Thus "entrusted" means that the economy of salvation in the old covenant finds its fulfillment in the new.
{L361} 26 See Is 66:18.
Chapter 11
{L362} (1) My beloved, [I write] these things not because I knew some of you to be like this but, as one who is more insignificant, I want to protect you that you not fall into the trap [27] of empty glory [28] but that you fully participate [29] in the birth, passion, and resurrection that happened in the time of the governor Pontius Pilate. These things were really and truly done by Jesus Christ, our hope, from which not one of you should turn aside. [30]
{L363} 27 "trap" is literally angiston, "(fish) hook."
{L364} 28 For "empty glory" Ehrman has "worthless ideas" but this flattens the full meaning of kenodoxia. The older English "vainglory" is closer to the Greek.
{L365} 29 peplerophoresthai ("fully participate"). This sometimes means "fully convinced or confident." Ignatius probably means that the Magnesians would find the fullness of their life in the events of Christ's Paschal Mystery. This is consistent with the exhortations of chapter 10.
{L366} 30 The emphasis on the historical reality of Jesus's life has a double importance. It countered the docetic tendencies which said that Jesus only appeared to be a man and it called Christians to internalize the events of Christ's life for their own salvation.
Chapter 12
{L367} (1) May I benefit from you in every way if indeed I am worthy. For since I am bound [in chains] I am not like even one of you who are at liberty. I know that you are not puffed up. You have Jesus Christ in you. Rather, when I praise you, I know you are reverent, [31] as is written because "the righteous is his own accuser." [32]
{L368} 31 entrepesthe ("reverent"). This verb can also mean "be ashamed" and is so translated by Holmes, Bauer, and Camelot. I have chosen "reverent" because Ignatius seems to say something positive about the Magnesians.
{L369} 32 See Prov 18:17.
Chapter 13
{L370} So be diligent to be confirmed in the teachings of the Lord and of the apostles that whatever you do, you be prospered [33] in flesh and spirit, in faith and love, in the Son and the Father and the Spirit, in the beginning and at the end. [34] This all is with your worthy bishop and presbytery that is worthy of the woven crown and the godly deacons. (2) Be subject to your bishop and to one another, as Jesus Christ in the flesh is to the Father and the apostles to Christ, the Father, and the Spirit. The result is that your unity will be both physical and spiritual. [35]
{L371} 33 "whatever you do, you be prospered." This is almost an exact quotation from Ps 1:3 in the LXX. Kateuodothete means more lit. "be led well along the way."
{L372} 34 All these couplets ("in flesh and spirit, in faith and love, in the Son and the Father and the Spirit, in the beginning and at the end") are the ways in which the Christian prospers, not in a worldly sense, but in the work of God. Spiritual well-being is tied up with being confirmed and strengthened in the teachings of the Lord and his apostles.
{L373} 35 Here Ignatius expresses the two sides of the church, the outward and the inward. Unity must be both. It is not enough to profess unity in spirit without a tangible expression of that unity in the visible church. The modern notion of a purely "spiritual" union without the hierarchical structure is something that Ignatius and the whole catholic tradition utterly rejects.
Chapter 14
{L374} Because I know that you are filled with God, I commanded you briefly. Remember me in your prayers that I may attain to God and to the church in Syria from which I am not worthy to be called. [36] I appeal to the unity of your prayer and love in God that the church in Syria may be worthy to be bedewed [37] through your churches.
{L375} 36 Holmes, Camelot, and Bauer insert the word "member," i.e. Ignatius is not worthy to be called a member of the church in Syria. They also take the phrase "the church in Syria" to be the object of "remember" and so Ignatius is asking for remembrance in prayer for himself and for the church in Syria. Ignatius could also be implying that he is not worthy to be the bishop of the church in Syria and also that he wishes to attain to God and to the level of holiness exhibited by the members of the Syrian church. It would not be the last time in history when a priest expressed his conviction that the members of his flock exceeded him in holiness.
{L376} 37 Chapter 14 expresses the idea of participatory sharing among the members of the church. The prayers of the church in Magnesia will result in an outpouring of the Holy Spirit implied in the words "be bedewed." Prayer united to God in love will cause God's grace to be poured out upon other members of the body of Christ.
Chapter 15
{L377} The Ephesians greet you from Smyrna [38] from where I write as they are ready for the glory of God just as you are. They have refreshed me in every way together with Polycarp, the bishop of the Smyrneans. And the rest of the churches greet you in the honor of Jesus Christ.
{L378} 38 Here is an indication that Ignatius had already been in Ephesus and is writing from Smyrna.