Chapter Three -- Christ and Redemption in the Theology of Ignatius

{L78} The centrality of Christ in the theology of Ignatius implied in chapter two becomes all the clearer when the designations of Christ are examined more carefully. Jesus Christ is called "the beloved of the Father" (Smyrn Sal); he is the "shared hope" of Christians (Philad 11:2), and for those same believers he is "our true life" (Smyrn 4:1) and "the perfect hope" (Smyrn 10:2). [1] In light of the docetic tendencies threatening the churches of Asia Minor, Ignatius repeatedly emphasizes the union of the timeless and eternal Christ with the historical and physical reality of Jesus (see Eph 7; Polyc 3:2). In short, Jesus Christ is the center of the gospel and the criterion to distinguish truth from falsehood (Philad 6:1; 8:2). Yet none of Ignatius's specific designations for Jesus Christ gets to the heart of Ignatius's christology like his emphasis on the union of the Word with the Father.

{L79} 1 Some MSS of Smyrn 10:2 have "perfect faith."

Jesus Christ as True God and True Man

{L80} Nothing speaks of Ignatius's view of the relation of Jesus to the Father more eloquently than when he says in Mag 1:2 "the most important union is ... that of Jesus and the Father." This union with the Father is the basis of Ignatius's explicit language about Jesus Christ as God. In several texts Ignatius glosses Jesus Christ with the addition "God" or "our God" (Eph Sal; 18:2; Trall 7:1; Rom Sal; 3:3; Polyc 8:3). In the first chapter of the Letter to the Smyrneans Ignatius explicitly says, "I glorify Jesus Christ, the God who made you" (Smyrn 1:1).

{L81} Even more important for Ignatius is the true humanity of Christ in light of the Docetism which he and other church leaders faced. Docetism denied the true humanity of Christ and so Ignatius defines the gospel as a proclamation of the flesh of Jesus Christ (Philad 5:1, "while I flee for refuge in the gospel as to the flesh of Jesus") since in that flesh he suffered (Smyrn 1:2, "Truly he was nailed [to the cross] in the flesh for us") and rose again from the dead (Smyrn 3:1, "I know and believe that he was in the flesh after the resurrection"). Especially striking is the credal-like first chapter of the Letter to the Smyrneans wherein Ignatius recounts the plan of salvation manifested in Jesus Christ. The gospel consists not only in the historical events of Christ's life that Ignatius recounts but also in the union of the faithful with those events:

{L82} I know that you have been prepared in an unshakeable faith, as you were nailed to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ in flesh and spirit and established in love in the blood of Christ, having been fulfilled for our Lord (Smyrn 1:1).

{L83} Then, as if to reassure the faithful at Smyrna that their participation in the Paschal Mystery is not an illusion, he reminds them that Jesus Christ was "truly born of a virgin," that he was "baptized by John to fulfill all righteousness," that "he was truly nailed [to the cross] in the flesh for us under Pontius Pilate and Herod the tetrarch," that "he might carry a standard for the ages through the resurrection for his holy and faithful ones" and finally that he was to reconcile Jew and Gentile "in the one body of his church" (Smyrn 1). This emphasis on the historical reality of Christ's life grounds not only the participation of the faithful but also the inseparable connection between Christ and the church. [2]

{L84} 2 Trall 9:1 also emphasizes the historical veracity of Jesus's life.

{L85} Throughout the seven letters Ignatius returns repeatedly to the historical truth of the Incarnation of the Son of God. The Incarnation plays a variety of roles in different contexts. As in the case of the Smyrneans, Ignatius stresses that the Magnesians ought to be fully convinced of the historical truthfulness of Jesus's life (Mag 11:1). But in Mag 13:2 the earthly life of Jesus Christ becomes a model of submission: "be subject to your bishop and to one another, as Jesus Christ in the flesh is to the Father." The same emphasis with a liturgical dimension appears in Eph 20:2 where Ignatius specifically ties the earthly life of Jesus to the healing purpose of the Eucharist as the "medicine of immortality." In the previous chapter Ignatius places the virgin birth in a cosmic context in which Jesus's earthly existence is a manifestation of the "silence of God" (Eph 19: 1, 2). Finally, the main purpose of Jesus's Incarnation shows up in Eph 7:2 where as the "one physician" he is said to be:

{L86} fleshly and spiritual

born and unborn

God coming in the flesh

in death, true life

from Mary and from God

first suffering and then beyond suffering.

{L87} These contrasting pairs summarize the apparent paradoxes of the Incarnation. Nor are these antinomies played down by Ignatius or any of the later fathers of the church because in them resides the mystery of the most unique reality in all human history -- the true and living God taking upon himself a fully human nature. All the elements in Ignatius's doctrines of the church and the Eucharist flow out of the Incarnation.

The Paschal Mystery: Christ's Redemptive Work

{L88} If Christ stands at the center of Ignatius's whole theology, the Paschal Mystery stands at the center of his whole theology of Christ. Without his death and resurrection, the entire life of Jesus Christ holds no significance for the world or for the church. Look again at Smyrn 1:2 where Ignatius says that Jesus Christ suffered his "God-blessed passion (pathos) in order to carry a standard for his holy and faithful ones through the resurrection." Drawing on the imagery of Isaiah 5:26, Ignatius intends to stress that the cross and all its suffering constitutes the signal (or battle standard) of God's kingdom brought to fulfillment in the resurrection. Smyrn 2:1 shows how important the historical reality of Christ's suffering is: "And all these things he suffered for our sake to save us. And truly he suffered just as he also truly raised himself." For Ignatius, any denial or mitigation of the passion is in effect to relinquish the message of the gospel.

{L89} The historical reality of Christ's death is manifested significantly by Ignatius's imagery in Eph 9:1,2:

{L90} As stones of the Father's temple you have been prepared to be God the Father's building, lifted up to the heights through the crane of Jesus Christ, which is the cross, as you use the Holy Spirit for a rope. Your faith is your guide; love is the way that carries you up to God.

{L91} No writer in the New Testament speaks of the passion as a crane (machane) but the signification is clear. The cross serves as the only instrument which can bridge the gap between heaven and earth. Contrary to its appearance, the shameful death of the cross carries one upward into the heights (anapheromenoi eis ta hupse). Here we have the objective and subjective aspects of redemption linked in an intimate way. The cross is the objective work of redemption; the Holy Spirit is the interior but still objective "rope" (schoinion) drawing the faithful up on the cross while the subjective virtues of faith and love carry them up to God. Without the cross and the Spirit, faith and love are illusory because they have no contact with real history. On the other hand, the passion and the Spirit do not fulfill their proper purpose without faith and love in the church. In this way Ignatius sees the Paschal events as true mysteries, i.e. as historical realities embodying the invisible powers of faith and love available to the church.

The Application of Christ's Redemption

{L92} To consider the work of Christ in the accomplishment of redemption through the Paschal Mystery implies another question: what does this work of Christ do for the actual salvation of the human race? For Ignatius, these two questions are intimately bound up with each other. We noted in chapter one that Ignatius views himself and all believers through the primary lens of discipleship. This category is both a present fact and the future goal of the Christian, or in Pauline terms, the "already" and the "not yet" of salvation. This fundamental reality causes him to pose the question, "How can we live without him whom the prophets, since they were his disciples by the Spirit, were expecting as their teacher?" (Mag 9:2). In this rhetorical question, Ignatius ponders the meaning of true life who is Jesus Christ (Mag 9:1). That life from Christ produces hope, or, as Christ is simply called in Mag 11:1 and Trall 2:2, "our hope."

{L93} The application of redemption to the individual in salvation finds its roots in the union of Christ with the church. That is why Ignatius confidently asserts that Jesus Christ is the "new leaven" (Mag 10:2). He has instituted the new Passover (Eucharist) which requires the removal of the old leaven of Judaism. [3] This also explains why for Ignatius obedience to rightful authority in the church (bishop, presbyters, and deacons) is so important. It is by union with the church that one has a valid Eucharist and therefore the saving power of Christ's body (Philad 4:1; Smyrn 8:1, 2).

{L94} 3 Ignatius's allusion to the new Passover probably draws on Paul's similar expressions in 1 Cor 5:7, 8.

{L95} For Ignatius, as the individual is connected to the church and draws grace from the sacraments (baptism and Eucharist), salvation becomes more a reality in his life. In Eph 1:1 Ignatius alludes to baptism when he speaks of obtaining "the highly loved name [of God] by a just nature in accord with the faith and love in Christ Jesus." That just nature allows the faithful "to be filled with God" (Mag 14:1) by participating in the historical mysteries of Christ's life (Mag 11:1). Baptism obtains the just nature by receiving "the stamp (character) of God the Father in love through Jesus Christ." The indelible mark of baptism distinguishes the faithful from the world (Mag 5:1, 2). As with Paul who teaches in Rom 6:1ff that baptism unites the baptized to the passion and resurrection of Christ, so Ignatius reminds the Magnesians that "if we do not willingly embrace dying for his passion, his life is not in us" (Mag 5:2). Ignatius expresses this union with Christ in the Paschal Mystery as his highest goal in Trall 4:2 when he says, "I love suffering but I don't know if I am worthy."

{L96} The centrality of Christ's passion again plays a dominant role in Ignatius's theology of salvation through his language of reaching or attaining to God. [4] If baptism is the beginning of salvation in Ignatius's thought, attaining to God through martyrdom is the culmination of his journey. Thus he asks the Magnesians to remember him in their prayers that he may attain to God and to the level of holiness resident in the Syrian church (Mag 14:1). He so fervently desires to do battle with the beasts in Rome because he knows that this is his means of attaining to God (Rom 4:1). Attaining to the grace to share Christ's death (see Rom 1:2) leads to attaining Jesus Christ himself (Rom 5:3). Yet Ignatius's ability to reach God is also linked to the prayers he asks of his recipients (Philad 5:1; Smyrn 11:1). And Ignatius returns the grace in answer to their prayers by purifying himself in sacrifice for his hearers, "my spirit makes you pure not only now but also when I attain to God" (Trall 13:3). [5]

{L97} 4 The word epitugchano ("reaching" or "attaining" to God) occurs 19 times in the Ignatian corpus and always in the aorist tense (epitucho) which carries a punctiliar sense of finality.

{L98} 5 This verse can be translated several different ways. See comments at Trall 13:3.

{L99} Since becoming a disciple and obtaining salvation are a work in progress for Ignatius, this work implies the obligation to grow in the virtues which Christ himself displayed in his earthly life. Following the Pauline model, Ignatius finds both negative and positive dimensions to the process. [6] The Christian must reject the evil influences of the world and imitate the positive virtues of Christ. Ignatius praises the Roman church for its purity when he speaks of it as "filled with God's grace without distinction, and strained off from every foreign color" (Rom Sal). And Ignatius offers his own attitude as a model when he later says to the Romans, "For now I am learning as a prisoner to desire nothing" other than Christ (Rom 4:3). On the positive side, Ignatius points the Trallians to the example of their bishop Polybius whose love and "very bearing is a great instruction" and whose "meekness is [his] power" (Trall 3:2).

{L100} 6 Paul in Eph 4:22-24 employs the language of "putting off the old self" and "putting on the new self."

{L101} Christ and his redemption, then, form the ultimate ground of Ignatius's theology. The martyrdom of the bishop of Antioch, the Eucharist, the hierarchical structure of the church, salvation, and the development of Christian virtue all have no meaning without Christ and his Paschal Mystery. Christ is the center around which everything in Ignatius's theology revolves. The church and its unity for which he is so zealous has no existence or purpose without the truth Paul proclaimed, i.e. that Christ is the head and the church his body.

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