Chapter Ten -- Ignatius's Letter to the Romans Translation and Commentary
Chapter Ten -- Ignatius's Letter to the Romans Translation and Commentary
{L428} The Letter to the Romans is the only one of the seven letters not addressed to a church or bishop of Asia Minor. Since Ignatius was en route to Rome to face his martyrdom, he appeals to the Roman Christians not to hinder his opportunity to share in the passion of Christ. His address to the Roman church contains descriptions and praises of the church there which are not found in any of his other six letters. Of this church alone he says that it "presides in love" and "presides in the region of the Romans." Unlike the letters to the Smyrneans or to the Philadelphians, Ignatius does not comment on the eucharistic liturgy but he draws on the same theme to speak of his own desire to be "the wheat of God" (4:1) and to have "the bread of God that is the flesh of Jesus Christ" (7:2). For Ignatius, Eucharist and martyrdom lead to the same reality of possessing Jesus Christ.
Salutation
{L429} Ignatius, called Theophorus, to the church that receives mercy in the majesty of the Father Most High and of Jesus Christ his only Son. This church has been loved and enlightened in the will of him who willed all things that exist in accord with the faith and love of Jesus Christ, our God. Your church presides in the region of the Romans; [1] it is worthy of God, worthy of propriety, worthy of blessing, worthy of praise, worthy of success, worthy of purity, and presiding in love, named by Christ, named by the Father. [2] I greet your church in the name of Jesus Christ, the Father's Son. To you who are united in flesh and spirit to his every command, filled with God's grace without distinction, and strained off from every foreign color, especially in Jesus Christ, our God, I give greetings blamelessly.
{L430} 1 hetis kai prokathetai in topo choriou Romaion ("your church presides in the region of the Romans") has been taken in two ways, one of which supports the claim to papal primacy. Camelot notes that the text says "in the region of the Romans," not "over the region of the Romans." What is implied is that in the region where it is established, the church of Rome presides. But presides over what? The other interpretation simply notes that we have here one more expression of praise along with the other attributes mentioned by Ignatius and does not necessarily ascribe any special power to the church of Rome. For a fuller discussion, see chapter 4.
{L431} 2 The nine attributes of the Roman church listed here are unique among the letters even though other letters do contain praises for the churches. The greater extent of praise for the church in Rome fits well with the statement that this church presides over other churches.
Chapter 1
{L432} (1) Since I asked God in prayer I obtained the privilege of seeing your God-worthy faces as I sought to receive them even more. In being bound as a prisoner in Christ Jesus, I hope to greet you if in fact it may be his will for us to be counted worthy to arrive at this end. (2) Indeed, the beginning is well-established if in fact I attain the grace for me to receive my share unimpeded. I am somewhat afraid of your love lest it do me wrong. For you it is easy to do whatever you want. It is hard for me to reach God unless you spare me. [3]
{L433} 3 Ignatius is afraid that their love for him will prevent his martyrdom in Rome. He urges them not to allow their noble intentions to get in the way of his obtaining his share in glory.
Chapter 2
{L434} (1) I do not want you to please people but God, as you are pleasing God. As for me, I will not have such a singular opportunity [4] to reach God. And you, unless you remain silent, will not be able to be inscribed in a better work. [5] For if you remain silent about me, I will become God's but if you love my flesh, I will be running again. [6] (2) Do not prevent me from being poured out to God as a libation when there is still an altar that you may be a chorus in love, singing to the Father in Christ Jesus since God counted the bishop of Syria to be found worthy of being sent from east to west. It is good that I should be like the sun setting from this world so that I may rise to God.
{L435} 4 kairos ("singular opportunity"): a moment of time that often connotes opportunity.
{L436} 5 Ignatius sees the Roman Christians' cooperation in his martyrdom as contributing to their salvation. The reference to their being inscribed probably alludes to the "book of life" mentioned in Rev 13:8.
{L437} 6 Some MSS have phone ("sound") instead of trechon ("running"). Thus Ehrman translates "I will once again be a mere noise."
Chapter 3
{L438} (1) You never deceived anyone; you have taught others. I want those things to be firm which, once learned, you taught. (2) Only ask that I may have the power, not only to speak outwardly, but to desire inwardly to be called a Christian and [in fact] be found to be one. If I am truly found one, I will be able to be called one and then be faithful when I no longer make my appearance in this world. (3) Nothing that simply appears is good. Our God, Jesus Christ, rather was manifested as being truly in the Father. The matter is not a matter of persuasion but Christianity partakes of greatness when it is hated by the world. [7]
{L439} 7 Chapter 3 signals an important part of Ignatius's teaching. The Docetists constantly used the word "appear" in their speech. To this Ignatius contrasts the reality of Christ being in the Father. In the same way, the true disciple is not interested in appearances; he is concerned about being a true follower of Christ. Only then will the Christian truly appear to be what he is, Jesus's disciple.
Chapter 4
{L440} (1) I write and command all the churches that I willingly die for God, if in fact you do not prevent me. I appeal to you not to be inopportune even with a noble purpose. Permit me to be food for the beasts; through them I will reach God. I am the wheat of God [8] and I compete through the beasts' teeth to be found the pure bread of Christ. [9] (2) Rather flatter [10] the beasts to become my tomb and to leave nothing of my body that by dying I may not be a burden to you. Then I will be truly a disciple of Jesus Christ when the world will not even see my body. Beg Christ in my behalf that I may be found a sacrifice to God through these instruments. (3) I do not command you as Peter and Paul did. [11] They were apostles; I am a criminal. They were free but I am a slave even now. Rather, if I suffer I will be liberated for Jesus Christ and I will rise again free in him. For now I am learning as a prisoner to desire nothing else.
{L441} 8 See also Rom 7:2.
{L442} 9 Eucharist and martyrdom are intimately related. Through receiving Christ in the Eucharist a person becomes more and more a disciple of Christ. The love that grows in the heart through sacramental communion makes a disciple desire to be with Christ, a reality afforded by martyrdom. The martyr's heart then finds its fulfillment in full union with Jesus Christ in which he becomes the same reality he receives in the Eucharist and so can be called the bread of God.
{L443} 10 kolakeuo ("flatter") can mean "entice" or "charm." Ignatius imagines the Roman Christians to be much like a bullfighter who entices a bull to charge.
{L444} 11 This text has sometimes been interpreted as Ignatius's denial of his own apostolic authority (so Bauer), but the contrast here is not between two different types of authority, one apostolic and the other sub-apostolic. Ignatius is contrasting the apostles with his own criminal condition. For a fuller explanation, see chapter 4.
Chapter 5
{L445} (1) I do battle with beasts from Syria to Rome, by land and by sea, night and day, having been bound to ten leopards, that is, to the military detachment. [12] In fact, those who are receiving kindness become worse. In their injustices, I am becoming more of a disciple, "but I am not justified because of this." [13] (2) May I profit from the beasts prepared for me and I ask that the time be shortened. The beasts I entice I hope will devour me quickly and not, as in some cases, when they are too cowardly to touch [their victims]. If they are unwilling to touch me, I will force them. Grant me this; I myself know what is good for me. (3) Just now I am beginning to be a disciple so that I am zealous for nothing visible or invisible [14] that I may reach Jesus Christ. Let it all come upon me: fire and cross, fierceness of beasts, being cut up, torn apart, breaking of bones, beating of members, grinding of the whole body, torments of the devil. Only this remains: I desire to reach Jesus Christ.
{L446} 12 "detachment" is lit. "order" (tagma).
{L447} 13 See 1 Cor 4:4.
{L448} 14 "so that I am zealous for nothing visible or invisible." Camelot, Ehrman, and Holmes take this phrase as a wish, whereas I have translated it as a result clause following from Ignatius's statement of being a disciple. The more he becomes a disciple of Christ, the less the world attracts Ignatius.
Chapter 6
{L449} (1) Neither the pleasures of this world nor the kingdoms of this age will profit me. It is good for me to die for Jesus Christ, [15] or to reign over the ends of the earth. [16] I seek him who died for us. I want him who rose for our sake. My birth lies before me. [17] (2) Brothers, agree with me. Do not bind me to this life. Do not wish me to die. [18] Do not give the world one who wants God [19] nor try to deceive me with material things. Permit me to receive a pure light. By arriving there I will be truly human. [20] (3) Permit me to be an imitator of the sufferings of my God. If anyone possesses him in himself, let him consider what I want and let him suffer with me because he understands the things that compel me. [21]
{L450} 15 Or "that my death leads to Jesus Christ." Ignatius uses an aorist infinitive for "to die" which connotes a finality to the death he is imagining.
{L451} 16 Dying for Jesus Christ will make Ignatius reign with him in heaven.
{L452} 17 Ignatius initiates the practice of ancient Christians who spoke of the day of their death as their birthday to eternal life. The church chooses the day of a Saint's death as the preferred day of his or her feast.
{L453} 18 This sentence could be translated as a question expecting a negative answer: "You don't wish me to die, do you?" (i.e. don't wish me to die to eternal life by staying here in this world).
19 Or it could be translated, "one who wants to be God's."
{L454} 20 Ignatius here uses the word anthropos which means "man" in a generic sense (i.e. mankind, cf. anthropology). The word aner means man as male. Here Ignatius is expressing the firm Christian idea that to be with God is to be fully human, a concept that Irenaeus of Lyons will later express as "the glory of God is man fully alive." His idea contrasts with the world of Greek mythology which says that to become like the gods, one must become less human and to become more fully human, one must become less divine. Our humanity is at its fullest when we are full of God. The later Greek fathers expressed the same notion by the term theosis or divinization.
{L455} 21 Rom 6:3 draws on Paul's theology of suffering. Entering into the sufferings of Christ is the means by which we come to possess him more completely (cf. Col 1:24; Phil 3:10).
Chapter 7
{L456} (1) The ruler of this world wishes to tear me into pieces and to corrupt my yearning [22] for God. Let none of you who are present help him. Rather be mine, or better, be God's. Do not talk about Jesus Christ and desire the world at the same time. Let no deception dwell among you. (2) And while I am not present, I exhort you. Be persuaded by me, or rather, be persuaded by the things that I write to you. While I am alive, I write to you but I desire death. My desire [for this world] has been crucified and there is no fire in me burning for material things. Water is living and speaking in me, speaking from within. [23] Come to the Father. [24] I have no desire for corruptible food or for the pleasures of this life. I want the bread of God that is the flesh of Jesus Christ, of David's seed, and I want his blood as my drink that is love incorruptible. [25]
{L457} 22 gnome ("yearning" ) has a wide range of meanings. It could also refer more to Ignatius's faith than to his emotion.
{L458} 23 Ignatius is almost certainly alluding to the waters of baptism. The water of baptism douses the fire of passion in the human soul. It also alludes to Jesus's words in Jn 4:10,14; 7:37-39.
{L459} 24 See Jn 14:12ff.
{L460} 25 Chapter 7 draws heavily on Ignatius's sacramental theology which teaches that the possession of love in the Christian heart comes from Christ's fleshly presence in the Eucharist. The heaven Ignatius desires will afford him the true substance of Christ's flesh and blood, namely, to be nourished forever on the humanity and divinity of Christ in the beatific vision. The context also suggests that as love for the Eucharist grows, love for the present world diminishes.
Chapter 8
{L461} (1) I no longer want to live a purely human life. And this will be the case if you desire it. May you desire it that you may be desired! I appeal to you by a few letters. (2) Believe me. Jesus Christ will show you that I speak in truth. He is the mouth without a lie in whom the Father speaks truly. (3) Ask that I may obtain it. I wrote to you not according to human desire [26] but according to God's will. If I suffer, it is because you have desired it. If I am rejected, it is because you hated me.
{L462} 26 Lit. "according to the flesh."
Chapter 9
{L463} (1) Remember the church in Syria in your prayer that uses God as their shepherd instead of me. Jesus Christ alone will watch over it as well as your love. [27] (2) I am ashamed to even speak of them for I am not worthy to do so since I am the least of them and a miscarriage. [28] But I received mercy to be someone if I can reach God. (3) My spirit and the love of the churches who received me in the name of Jesus Christ greet you. They did not receive me as a passer-by. For even those churches which did not fit into my path in my human plans advanced my journey in each city.
{L464} 27 The word "alone" applies only to Jesus Christ but Ignatius adds "your love" because by loving the church of Syria through prayer the Roman Christians participate in Christ's shepherding of the Antiochean church. This language is part of the Pauline idea of how members of the body of Christ share in the ministry of Christ over the church.
{L465} 28 ektroma ("miscarriage") means "abortion" in a medical context. Ignatius uses it here as an expression of humility as does Paul in 1 Cor 15:8 where it is usually translated "born out of time." The Antiochean father may be imitating Paul's humble expression.
Chapter 10
{L466} (1) I write you these things from Smyrna through the Ephesians who are most worthy of blessing. Crocus is here with me along with many others. His name is beloved to me. (2) About those who have preceded me from Syria to Rome, I believe you have recognized them. Tell them that I am close for they are all worthy of God and of you. It is appropriate for you to give them rest in every way. (3) I wrote you these things before the ninth calends of September. Farewell till the end in the patience [29] of Jesus Christ.
{L467} 29 hupomone ("patience)" can mean "endurance;" i.e. the endurance which takes us to the day of Christ's return.