Chapter Four -- The Church in the Ignatian Letters
Chapter Four -- The Church in the Ignatian Letters
The Apostolicity of the Church
{L102} The church in the Ignatian epistles is a multi-faceted entity which must be viewed from several different vantage points to be fully understood. It is clear that Ignatius's greatest concern is the unity of Christ's body as an essential mark (character) of the church. Out of this unity with Christ and with one another, the members of the church grow toward God. The very nature of the church yields its structure. The church is both an organism and an organization. These two aspects influence and reinforce one another in Ignatius's thought.
{L103} In the language of Ignatius, how do we know what refers to the nature (essence) of the church and what refers to its structure? His copious use of the terms bishop (episkopos), presbyter (presbuteros), and deacon (diakonos) obviously has to do with the structure of the church. His many exhortations to obedience and submission to the bishop and presbytery (e.g. Eph 2:2; 5:3; Trall 2:1,2; 13:2; Polyc 6:1) reinforce his ideal of a church unified in belief and practice around the central figure of the bishop. The appearance of this strong language of hierarchical episcopacy at such an early date in the history of Christianity has surprised readers for centuries. Many scholars (e.g. Walter Bauer) have seen this emphasis on the monepiscopacy in Ignatius as a departure from the collaborative structure of the church which they see in the NT. As Ehrman put it, "in the early modern period it was precisely this witness to the monepiscopacy at such an early date that drove scholars to determine whether Ignatius of Antioch had in fact penned all, or some, or any of the letters that appear under his name." [1] Those who questioned Ignatian authorship were motivated by their prior conception of the church as a more democratic organization in its earliest stages of development. Naturally, those who believed that the NT authorized the episcopacy had no reason to doubt the authenticity of the claims of Ignatian authorship found in the letters.
{L104} 1 Bart D. Ehrman (editor and translator) The Apostolic Fathers (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003) vol. 1, p. 203.
{L105} The question then facing the reader of these letters has to do with how this monepiscopal structure of the church in Ignatius relates to other aspects of his ecclesiology. It is precisely here that the interpreter's presuppositions can influence how he assembles and interprets the evidence. I would suggest that the key to understanding Ignatius's view of the church lies in his broader concept of unity: the unity of God, the unity of Christ, unity with God, with Christ, with the bishop, presbyters, and deacons. This unity is first and foremost a mystical one. It is not a unity within one locale or bishopric; it is an organic unity which flows from God himself and which is communicated through the sacrament of the Eucharist. The structure of the church flows out of that unity. The four marks of the church later codified in the Nicene Creed (one, holy, catholic, and apostolic) are all present in Ignatius's letters and provide us with a convenient organizing principle to understand his theology of the church.
The Unity of the Church
{L106} Ignatius thinks of the church as a divine organism and organization. Unity is essential to the welfare of the church, a unity which is expressed in obedience to the lawful bishop of a particular church. Being in submission to the bishop implies being in union with the presbyters and deacons under his leadership. At the same time unity is not a matter of outward and formalistic subjection; it is rather a living reality that is connected to the proper celebration of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. A eucharistic celebration is valid precisely because it is under a legitimate bishop of the church (Smyrn 8). The Eucharist does not, however, derive its efficacy from the bishop. It is because the Eucharist is the flesh of Jesus Christ (Smyrn 7:1) that faith, hope, and love are obtainable virtues for the faithful. The bishop is the guarantor of a valid sacrament but the sacrament itself provides the true supernatural unity for the church.
{L107} The Letter to the Philadelphians provides us with an appropriate window on the Ignatian view of unity. Ignatius's main word for unity (henosis) occurs eight times in the entire corpus, three of which occur in this letter. Philad 7:2 has the Christian obligation simply to "love unity" and "to flee divisions." Being "an imitator of Christ, as he was of his Father" is the ultimate ground for seeking unity and eschewing divisions within the church. In the following chapter (8:1) Ignatius characterizes himself as a man "set on unity" (eis henosin katertismenos). This unity is so serious that repentance entails coming back to the same unity abandoned by those who have left the church. Ignatius's phrase, "to the unity of God" (eis henoteta theou) in Philad 8:1 likely means the unity which God gives to the church. It is linked immediately with "the council of the bishop" because the bishop is the representative of the Father (cf. Mag 6:1 "the bishop presides in the place of God").
{L108} Such exhortations to unity are not divorced from what he says earlier in Philadelphians when he commands, "Be diligent to use only one Eucharist. For there is only one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ and one cup for unity in his blood" (4:1). The fourth chapter asserts in no uncertain terms that sacramental and governmental unity imply one another. Acting in accord with God's will (kata theon) means being in attendance at the "one altar" established by the bishop. The Eucharist is the tangible source of unity for the church in this world for one cannot be certain that there is a valid Eucharist apart from the legitimate authority of the bishop. The ultimate source of the church's unity is God himself, or as Ignatius puts it in Trall 11:2, "the head cannot be born without the members because God promises that unity which is himself."
{L109} Ignatius's longest letter addressed to the church of Ephesus also has much on unity though here the Bishop of Antioch uses a synonym of the word he used in Philadelphians (henotes). The entire fourth chapter focuses on the unity and harmony of fraternal charity in the church:
{L110} (1) Therefore, it is fitting that you agree with the opinion of the bishop as you are doing. Your rightly famous presbytery is worthy of God. It is in harmony with the bishop like strings tuned to a harp. For this reason, Jesus Christ is praised in your harmony and in your united love. (2) Now, all of you, become a chorus together that by a united voice in harmony as you take up the tune of God in unity, you may sing in one voice through Jesus Christ to the Father. This is so that the Father may hear and recognize you by the good things you do, you who are members of his Son. So, it is useful for you to be in blameless unity that you may always partake of God (Eph 4).
{L111} The musical language used here may allude to the liturgy of the church as Ignatius knew it, since he speaks about Jesus Christ being praised in harmony (homonoia = united mind) and symphonic love (sunphono agape). Clearly, as in his other epistles, Ignatius in Ephesians sees harmony, love, and union with the bishop as intimately intertwined with a proper liturgical and sacramental life. All this emphasis on unity has the goal (telos) of "partaking always in God" (theou pantote metechete).
{L112} Ephesians employs other terms to express this unity with God and the bishop. In chapter five we hear Ignatius offering his blessing (makarizo) [2] to the Ephesians because the faithful there are mingled with (egkerannumi) the bishop as Christ is with the Father (5:1). The comparison between earth and heaven is reminiscent of the Johannine prayer of Jesus "that they may be one just as we are one" (Jn 17:21). The unity of the faithful with their shepherds is based on a divine relation of Jesus Christ to the Father in the Trinity. We gain a further insight into the origin of unity in God from 14:1, "you have faith and love which is the beginning and end of life. The beginning is faith; the end is love. Once the two are in unity it is God." Ignatius's exhortation to embrace both faith and love arises from his belief that faith and love are already one in God himself. Living in faith and love is possible if God dwells in the believer (see Eph 15:3) and if the faithful act in love toward one another (21:1).
{L113} 2 See the discussion below on makarizo and my commentary on Eph 5:1.
The Holiness of the Church
{L114} The unity of the church also implies its holiness. Holiness comes to expression in Ignatius's letters as it might in any occasional writing that is primarily addressing other topics. In the salutations of each letter Ignatius uses terms designating holiness in one way or another. When Ignatius speaks of the Ephesian church as "unified and chosen in true suffering" and greets it "in blameless joy" he is drawing on the Pauline terms "chosen" and "blameless" as ways of speaking of holiness (Eph Sal). [3] The Magnesian church he designates as "blessed in the grace of God in Christ Jesus our Savior" (Mag Sal). And members of the church at Philadelphia are described by Ignatius as those whom God "established according to his own will in confirmation by the Holy Spirit" (Philad Sal). Sometimes the word "holy" occurs as the church is called "holy ... chosen ... worthy of God" (Trall Sal). Even more explicitly we hear Ignatius greeting the church in Smyrna as one "most worthy of God and bearing holiness (hagiophoro)" (Smyrn Sal).
{L115} 3 Later, too, in Eph 9:2 Ignatius says, "you are fellow travelers, bearing God and bearing a temple, Christ-bearers, bearers of holiness (hagiophoroi), etc."
{L116} The mark of holiness is drawn out further by Ignatius in his notion of sharing graces in the body of Christ. This was implied in his self-designation as servant and slave of Christ. It was contained in his profession of being a disciple while seeking even more to follow Christ to martyrdom. However, there are even clearer indications of the sharing of holiness present in his use of the unusual words antipsuchon (four times) and peripsema (twice). Earlier I translated antipsuchon as "substitute soul" but now we must carefully examine it in the context of its occurrences. Ignatius uses it twice in his Letter to Polycarp. In 2:3 he says, "I and my bonds that you love are your substitute soul in every way. "In this context Ignatius exhorts Polycarp to be a wise and faithful shepherd who will weather the storms of opposition. To show his solidarity with Polycarp, Ignatius reminds the Smyrnean bishop that he is united with him in every respect (kata panta), so much so in fact, that Ignatius and his chains are a means of his sharing in Polycarp's ministry while Polycarp also shares in the martyrdom that Ignatius will face. Their being an antipsuchon for each other represents the highest form of Christian love. Of course, the emphasis of the text lies on Ignatius being an antipsuchon for Polycarp but in Polyc 6:1 Ignatius changes the alignment slightly so that he is the antipsuchon for those who are subject to bishop Polycarp. [4] And in his letter to the same congregation he offers a similar expression, "my spirit and my bonds are your substitute soul" (Smyrn 10:2). There is no doubt that for Ignatius holiness implies obedience to the rightful bishop. Ignatius is offering his imprisonment and chains as a substitute for the members of the church. His submissive spirit in obedience to God through his imprisonment will engender holiness in the members of the Smyrnean church as they too learn submission. The last occurrence is found in Eph 21:1, "I am your substitute soul and also for those whom you sent to Smyrna for the honor of God." Occurring in a small chapter of farewell wishes, such a heavy theological term seems out of place. However, in the sentences just preceding, Ignatius speaks of the "breaking of one bread" as "the medicine of immortality, the antidote against death" (Eph 20:2). As these words evoke the liturgy in the minds of his readers, Ignatius could naturally think of himself as a substitute soul for his recipients because Christ in the liturgy acts as a substitute victim for others. [5] The underlying theme in all these instances of "substitute soul" (antipsuchon) is that of the giving and receiving of holiness among the members of the church.
{L117} 4 In chapter 6, Ignatius changes the form of his exhortations from singular to plural, a fact that may puzzle some in a personal letter to one bishop. However, even letters addressed to individuals in ancient Christianity also served as instruction for a wider audience.
{L118} 5 For Camelot's explanation of antipsuchon at Eph 21:1 see Camelot p. 79.
{L119} The notion of substitution is even more evident in the two instances of peripsema, both of which occur in the Letter to the Ephesians. In 18:1 Ignatius says, "my spirit is a peripsema of the cross." My translation at 18:1 uses "sacrificial service" whereas I use the colloquialism "scum of the earth" at 8:1. The word peripsema is difficult to translate but it seems to carry the connotations of something vile. In Eph 18:1 the meaning is explained further by the cross in that Ignatius's spirit experiences the vileness of the cross which is a scandal to unbelievers. In Eph 8:1 this vileness of the cross is conjoined with Ignatius's desire to share holiness with the Ephesians by his own sanctification, "As scum of the earth I sanctify myself for you Ephesians, for the church famous for ages." Together, antipsuchon ("substitute soul") and peripsema ("sacrificial substitute") suggest a man who has devoted himself to the spiritual welfare of others and who shares his holiness for the benefit of the church.
The Catholicity of the Church
{L120} Ignatius is the first Christian writer we know of to use the term "catholic church" (Smyrn 8:2). In the context of the Letter to the Smyrneans, Ignatius urges his readers to live in obedience to their bishop Polycarp. Attempting to underscore the divine authority of the episcopal office, Ignatius says:
{L121} (1) You all should follow the bishop as Jesus Christ does the Father. Follow too the presbytery as the apostles, and honor the deacons as the command of God. Let no one do anything that is proper for the church without the bishop. Let that Eucharist be considered valid that is under the bishop or performed by one to whom he entrusts it. (2) Wherever the bishop appears, let the fullness [of the church] be as wherever Christ Jesus appears, there is the catholic church. It is not lawful to baptize or to hold an agape feast without the bishop. On the other hand, what he approves is pleasing to God so that everything that is practiced may be certain and valid (Smyrn 8:1,2).
{L122} The phrase katholike ecclesia, of course, means "universal church" but explicating its deeper theological meaning reveals how different theologies of the church approach the task of explaining this phrase. There can be no doubt that this instance of the word katholikos being applied to the church leads to its later usage in the Nicene creed ("I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church"). From Ignatius in the early second century to Nicea in the early fourth, the usage of the word grows through time. The word occurs later in the second century in the Martyrdom of Polycarp (about forty years later). In the salutation of that document the phrase is expanded by the writer "to all those sojourners of the holy and catholic church in every place." Similarly, the author speaks of "the whole catholic church throughout the known world" (Mart Polyc 8:1) and of Polycarp as the bishop of the "catholic church in Smyrna" (Mart Polyc 16:2). Historically, most Protestant scholars read this phrase with a non-organizational meaning. In their minds, it is simply the universal church and carries no connotation of the Catholic Church centered in the See of Rome. Catholic scholars have historically seen the phrase as simply the beginnings of the sense of catholicity which comes to fuller expression in, say, Cyprian of Carthage in the mid-third century. [6]
{L123} 6 Cyprian wrote On the Unity of the Catholic Church (De unitate ecclesiae catholicae) in the mid-third century. This is evidence that the term "catholic" had become a standard appellation by that time. While Latin Christians were aware of the word being an adjective borrowed from Greek, its use as a title of the church shows it had acquired a kind of proper-name status as opposed to simply meaning "universal."
{L124} To navigate between these interpretative tendencies one must avoid two extremes. One is anachronism, that is, the attribution of later meanings back into earlier texts; the other is failing to trace the development of the term katholikos from Ignatius to its later usage in the third and fourth centuries. Protestant scholars tend to accuse Catholic historians of the former mistake while Catholic scholars tend to accuse Protestants of the latter. And this is no idle debate. The truly Christian concept of the church is at stake and the differences account for why Protestants and Catholics have such varying doctrines of the church. Clearly, we must pay close attention to the text of Ignatius's Letter to the Smyrneans where the phrase katholike ecclesia occurs for the first time. The two correlative clauses of Smyrn 8:2 give some indication of its intended meaning, "Wherever the bishop appears, let there be the fullness [of the church] as wherever Christ Jesus appears, there is the catholic church." The parallel between the bishop and Christ Jesus, so frequent and familiar in other Ignatian texts, shows that for Ignatius the church and its fullness has little to do with numbers or geography. [7] The comparison turns on locality versus universality: the bishop is the fullness of the local church (diocese) while Christ Jesus is the fullness of the whole church. The command to obey the bishop in liturgical matters immediately following ("It is not lawful to baptize or to hold an agape feast without the bishop") shows that this is also more than a simple analogy. For Ignatius, the bishop embodies Christ Jesus on a local level. The bishop is the human and physical representative of Christ to a particular church. The choice of "catholic" to describe the church is inspired by the universality of Christ's salvation in the NT. Christ intended the church to be for people of every nation, language, and ethnic group (cf. Mt 28:19; Mk 16:15; Rev 5:9,10). The church being catholic, therefore, is not only an occasional description but is an essential feature of the church Christ founded.
{L125} 7 Ehrman translates the relevant phrase, "Let the congregation be wherever the bishop is; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there also is the universal church." The Apostolic Fathers vol. 1 p. 305. It has been traditional to translate "fullness" (plethos) as "congregation" or "community" and there is no doubt justification for this translation. In Smyrn 8:2, however, the original sense of plethos ("fullness") can be retained, meaning both the fullness of the local church and fullness in a deeper sense of the mystical body.
{L126} The development of the sense of catholicity continues in the Martyrdom of Polycarp. When the author speaks of "the whole catholic church throughout the known world" in Mart Polyc 8:1, the addition of "whole" or "all" (pases) suggests that for him there is a need to specify the universality of the church that is not completely expressed in the term "catholic." The adjective "catholic" has now become more like a proper noun describing something inherent to the nature of the church. Here the term anticipates later developments that lead to the confession of the church as holy and catholic, a truth already evident in the Salutation of the Martyrdom of Polycarp, "to all those sojourners of the holy and catholic church in every place." (Mart Polyc Sal). So "catholic" describes not just the quality of universality but is a proper designation of the church. Thus the Martyrdom of Polycarp also speaks of Polycarp as a bishop of the "catholic church in Smyrna," perhaps to distinguish it from other competing bodies within Smyrna which claim to have the true apostolic teaching.
{L127} Is it possible that this distinction is present in Ignatius's Letter to the Smyrneans in 8:2 when he says, "wherever Christ Jesus is, there is the catholic church?" Was Ignatius using the term "catholic" to distinguish the church under Polycarp from heretical groups in Smyrna claiming apostolic authority? It is in fact highly likely that he had this meaning in mind. Chapter 7 of the Letter to the Smyrneans is about such a group. Ignatius says that they will not submit to Polycarp's leadership by joining with the church in its eucharistic celebration and prayers (Smyrn 7:1). The faithful must abstain from this group as the dissidents abstain from the church. To be unified one must avoid divisions (Smyrn 7:2). Then, in Smyrn 8:1, Ignatius reinforces structural unity by emphasizing obedience and liturgical validity. So, in Smyrn 8:2, when Ignatius uses the phrase "catholic church," he probably has a meaning in mind which distinguishes the church from the dissident group(s) in Smyrna. Thus, already in the beginning of the second century the phrase katholike ecclesia probably means more than simply "the whole church" or "the universal church." It denotes the church which has valid bishops appointed by or in the true line of succession from the apostles. This church was intended by Christ to be "catholic" (i.e. for the whole world) because Christ himself was intended for the whole of humanity.
The Apostolicity of the Church
{L128} Among modern scholars of early Christianity we find the most disparate perspectives in their consideration of apostolicity in early witnesses such as Ignatius, Clement of Rome, and the author of the Didache. I suggested earlier that unity is the hallmark of Ignatius's view of the church because he grounds the other marks of the church in its being a unified body established by Christ. The church must be holy, catholic, and apostolic because it is the one body on earth which arose out of a divine commission given by Christ and because it alone carries on the salvific mission of Christ into the whole world.
{L129} Thus far I have argued that Ignatius's view of unity is rooted in the other unities he affirms or assumes. The unity of the triune God is to be reflected in the church; the unity of Christ in his human and divine natures forms the structure of the church in its outward ("fleshly") and inward ("spiritual") dimensions. The orders of ministry such as episcopate, presbyterate, and diaconate are the structured forms through which Christ shepherds the church.
{L130} The answer to the question of why Ignatius sees the structure of the church as he does and of what importance that episcopal structure holds for modern views of the church remains of vital practical importance. The unities mentioned above, of course, provide the beginnings of an answer but not all early church scholars see Ignatius in the same light. One of the most telling differences exists between those who see Ignatius's witness to the episcopacy as an inherent feature of the early church and those who see his views as one among many that may or may not have been shared by others. For example, the well-respected patristic scholar Boniface Ramsey once wrote, "Just because Ignatius of Antioch, to take one famous example, emphasizes the role of bishop in the early second-century churches of Antioch and Asia Minor does not mean that anyone else felt the same way about the bishop at that time, or even that bishops existed in other churches at such an early period." [8] Ramsey here expresses a view common among modern scholars of the early church, a view that has roots in the nineteenth-century liberalism epitomized in the theology of Adolf Harnack.
{L131} 8 Boniface Ramsey Beginning to Read the Fathers (New York: Paulist Press, 1985) p. 10. Ramsey does proceed to outline some common themes among the fathers but these theme are more problems they all addressed than beliefs they shared in common.
{L132} In this view, Ignatius does not stand as a witness to the faith of the early second century church but as one holding to a somewhat idiosyncratic view of the structure of the church. One who articulated this atomistic approach in a fashion that still remains influential today is Walter Bauer. In chapter three of his 1934 book Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity Bauer discusses Ignatius and Polycarp. [9] Bauer assumes without argument that there was no need for a monarchical episcopacy prior to the problems of heresy facing Ignatius. He saw the rise of a hierarchical structure advocated by Ignatius as necessary only when a more collaborative form of church government failed to deal with problems. Bauer tends to see the issue only in terms of the exercise of power.
{L133} 9 A second edition of Bauer's book was issued in German in 1964 and was only recently translated into English. The translated portions I quote are from that of Gerhard Krodel online.
{L134} The most prominent feature of the Ignatian letters which makes Bauer's view of early Christianity problematic is the manner in which Ignatius discusses the episcopate, the presbytery, and the diaconate. First, his exhortations to obedience display a sense of divine obligation arising out of the divine appointment of the clergy. It is not simply that the bishop is the most effective means to handle the problem of heterodoxy or that Ignatius desires to assert the power of the bishop in the face of revolt. The justifications offered by Ignatius do not lie in anything pragmatic or autocratic. The main word for obedience (hupotassomai) occurs eight times in the Ignatian letters along with other expressions which imply that obedience to the clergy is an obligation given by God himself. In Eph 2:2, Ignatius connects obedience to unity and the pursuit of holiness: "that, knit together in a single obedience, you may be holy in every respect by being subject to the bishop and to the presbytery." And later in the same letter Ignatius says, "So let us be diligent not to oppose the bishop that we may be subject to God" (Eph 5:3). In exhorting Polycarp's congregation at Smyrna Ignatius makes this explicit again: "Pay attention to the bishop that God may do the same to you" (Polyc 6:1). For Ignatius, the blessing of God is tied intimately to the bishop and the presbytery. The ease with which Ignatius can speak of obedience to rightful authority and love among members of the church shows how deeply he thinks that obedience arises from divine obligation: "Farewell in Jesus Christ. Be subject to the bishop as you are to the commandment; and likewise to the presbytery. Love each and every one with an undivided heart" (Trall 13:2). Yet the most explicit expression of this theme is to be found earlier in the Letter to the Trallians:
{L135} When you are submissive to the bishop as to Jesus Christ, you seem to me to be living not in accord with human [custom] but in accord with Jesus Christ who died for us. This was so that by believing in his death you may escape dying. As is already your practice, it is necessary to do nothing without [the approval of] the bishop, but to be submissive to the presbytery as to the apostles of Jesus Christ, our hope (Trall 2:1,2).
{L136} Grounding these commands in obedience to God shows very clearly that for Ignatius the structure of the church is not of human origin. To disobey the bishop or the presbyters is to disobey God. If one seeks to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, one must live in submission to the proper authorities established within the church.
{L137} Second, there are other indications in Ignatius's letters that this divine authority in the church came through the apostles, and that such apostolic authority continues through the ministry of bishops. In the Salutation of the Letter to the Trallians we find an interesting phrase: "I greet you in the fullness, in apostolic authority, and I wish you the warmest greetings" (Trall Sal). The phrase in question in Greek is en apostoliko characteri. Most translations render this phrase "in an apostolic manner" or some equivalent, as if Ignatius is only following the pattern set by the apostles in the letters of the NT. [10] The question here revolves around whether the term character means "manner." Walter Bauer classified the meaning of this text under "characteristic trait or manner ... distinctive mark" in his famous lexicon of NT Greek and the early fathers although he renders character in Heb 1:3 as "exact representation." [11] The famous early church scholar of the late nineteenth century, J.B. Lightfoot, explained the phrase as following the "precedent set in the apostolic epistles." [12] My translation "in apostolic authority" claims more than simply following a pattern of greeting started by the apostles. It sees Ignatius greeting the Trallians with an apostolic authority.
{L138} 10 Thus, Bauer/Paulsen, Camelot, Ehrman, Holmes, and Lightfoot.
{L139} 11 BAG p. 884.
{L140} 12 J.B. Lightfoot The Apostolic Fathers: Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp vol. 2, pp. 152,153.
{L141} The word character probably means more than "manner" or "fashion." It certainly means more in the other two instances where Ignatius uses the term, both of which are in the Letter to the Magnesians 5:2. Here it undeniably means "stamp" or "impression" since it occurs in a context of coinage:
{L142} As there are two types of coins, one of God and the other of the world and each of them has a stamp on them, [so] unbelievers have that of the world, and believers have the stamp of God the Father in love through Jesus Christ (Mag 5:2).
{L143} Here it bears the strong meaning evident in Heb 1:3 when the biblical author speaks of the Son as "the outshining of glory and the exact representation (stamp) of his being." In none of these other contexts is the term character demoted in meaning to "manner." The main reason that character is translated and interpreted as "manner" in the salutation of the Letter to the Trallians is that Ignatius elsewhere appears to deny his own apostolic authority. Bauer explicitly says that Ignatius is not claiming apostolic authority, which he sees as excluded by Ignatius's own words in Trall 3:3 and Rom 4:3. [13] Lightfoot too, appealing to Theodor Zahn earlier, says that if Ignatius meant apostolic authority here in the salutation, he would be contradicting himself, because in Trall 3:3 Ignatius says, "I did not think that since I am condemned I could command you like an apostle." And the common interpretation seems to garner support from Paul's Letter to the Romans:
{L144} 13 Walter Bauer p. 58.
{L145} I do not command you as Peter and Paul did. 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] (Rom 4:3).
{L146} Yet, it seems to me that these scholars have hastily followed a tradition that misses the main contrast present in these three texts (Trall Sal; 3:3; Rom 4:3). As I pointed out in my discussion of Ignatius's theology of martyrdom, the contrast in these texts is not between the authority of the apostles and that of Ignatius as a sub-apostolic bishop. The contrast is specifically between the apostles and Ignatius as a criminal according to Roman law. It is not a theological statement of two different types of authority but a sociological statement in which Ignatius, viewed from the vantage point of Roman society, carries no authority to command. The contrast is one of condition, not one of principled position. Thus, in the salutation of the Letter to the Trallians Ignatius does not necessarily mean by the phrase en apostoliko characteri "in an apostolic manner." The most natural rendering would be "in an apostolic stamp" or "with an apostolic stamp" (i.e. with an authority derived from the apostles). Such an interpretation accords well with Ignatius's emphasis on the bishops as having divine authorization and with the emphasis on apostolic succession found in 1 Clement 44.
{L147} In light of this, we can now understand Ignatius's conferral of blessing upon the church of Ephesus:
{L148} If in a short amount of time I gained such fellowship with your bishop -- a kind that is not human but spiritual -- how much more do I bless you who are so mingled with him? As the church belongs to Jesus Christ, and as Jesus Christ belongs to the Father, that all may be harmonious in unity (Eph 5:1).
{L149} Like the term character in the salutation of Trallians, Ehrman and Holmes lessen the meaning of makarizo by choosing "congratulate" (Holmes) and "consider you fortunate" (Ehrman). In Christian Greek, makarizo is not simply a wish or congratulations. It connotes a blessing conferred, especially when spoken by a bishop. How could Ignatius confer a blessing on the Ephesians? It is because he saw his episcopal authority as founded on and derived from the apostles. He was not an apostle like Peter and Paul, to be sure, but his authority was apostolic. What is especially striking is that neither Ignatius nor Clement (cf. 1 Clem 44) speak of their views of authority as if they were new or novel. They believed the episcopal structure and authority of the church had been given them by the apostles.
{L150} The final phrase in the Ignatian letters relating to the structure of the church bears on Roman primacy. In the Salutation of the Letter to the Romans Ignatius employs two phrases that have generated much controversy. To understand their meaning, it is useful to quote the entire salutation:
{L151} 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; 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. 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.
{L152} Ignatius's language is striking in that he ascribes to the church of Rome a special status which he does not give to any of the other churches in his letters. In addition to the two italicized phrases above, Ignatius engages in higher praise of this church than of any other. He lists nine attributes which set the Roman church apart from the others. Clearly, Ignatius holds the Roman church in high esteem. The differences of interpretation arise when the phrase "your church presides in the region of the Romans" is considered. This phrase (hetis kai prokathetai in topo choriou Romaiou) has been taken in several different ways, some of which tend to support the heightened status of the Roman church. Most Protestant interpretation has contended that this expression is just one more item of praise along with the other attributes mentioned by Ignatius and does not necessarily ascribe any special power to the church of Rome. They note that the phrase en topo choriou Romaion (lit. "in the place of the region of the Romans") simply means that this church rules in its own region as, for example, the church in Ephesus does in its respective region. [14] This interpretation then also sees the phrase "presiding in love "as Ignatius's way of praise for the generosity and love for the poor on the part of the Roman church rather than a statement of supremacy. Thus, these scholars see Ignatius as praising the church for its life rather than ascribing to it some governmental status over the other churches.
{L153} 14 Some Protestants have even tried to find some meaning of prokathemai other than "preside" but Schoedel seems to recognize this as a tendentious effort. See William R. Schoedel Ignatius of Antioch p. 166, n.4.
{L154} Everyone admits that the phrases used by Ignatius are passing comments which do not yield or presuppose a theology of Roman primacy. However, neither can it be denied that if Roman primacy was acknowledged this early within the church, the phrases used here by Ignatius are also consistent with that primacy. P.Th. Camelot notes that the text says "in the region of the Romans," not "over the region of the Romans." This implies that in the region where it is established, the church of Rome presides. But presides over what? The text does not say, but two possibilities immediately suggest themselves. First, the church of Rome is the presiding church in the Latin-speaking West or at least in the Italian peninsula. Second, the Roman church presides over the whole church. Whatever the answer, Camelot's comments seem justified: "It is difficult not to see in this text an allusion to a certain preeminence of the church of Rome over other regions." [15] Given that elsewhere the bishop is said to preside (prokathemai) in the place of God (e.g. Mag 6:1), it is likely that Ignatius has in mind a governmental connotation to the same verb used here. And it is only a quibble to say that Ignatius speaks of the church and not the bishop of Rome. As he says elsewhere, the church is represented by the bishop and the bishop is manifested through the church. There can be no doubt that the claim to the primacy of the Roman church is consistent with the evidence in Ignatius's Letter to the Romans.
{L155} 15 P.Th. Camelot Ignace diAntioche. Polycarpe de Smyrne. Lettres. Martyre de Polycarpe, p. 106.
{L156} The church stands at the very center of the theology of Ignatius. The nature, structure, and mission of the church are all intimately intertwined. The church in his view is an organism which breathes the life given by God, which is nourished by the Eucharist, and whose structure derives from Christ through the apostles. The governmental structure of the church is not arbitrary, not simply a historical fact but grows out of the unity and harmony which Christ received from the Father and which he bestowed on his followers. That unity and harmony is found in the liturgy of the church and is expressed in the mutual love of its members. For Ignatius, the church stands at the very heart of reality.