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IGNATIUS AND HIS EPISTLES*
Bishop of Antioch in Syria in the late first century, whose writings were very close to the thought of the NT writers. He wrote seven letters while en route under armed guard to Rome to suffer martyrdom (probably AD 107). The letters were to churches in cities through which he passed, Philadelphia and Smyrna, and to churches that sent delegations to visit him during this final journey—namely, Ephesus, Tralles, and Magnesia. He sent a letter ahead to the church in Rome to prevent their intervention with the Roman authorities in delivering him into martyrdom. He also wrote a letter to Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna. Similar to the NT epistles, these writings reveal a strong commitment to Christ and to the physical facts of his birth, death, and resurrection. The Epistles of Ignatius parallel the Gospels in several places and appropriate language from a number of the Pauline letters.
The letters of Ignatius are evidence for the rapid development of the episcopal structure in the early church of Asia Minor and Syria. In the NT, the local church was governed by a body of equal officers called elders or bishops, but in these letters there is reference to a single ruling bishop in each city except Rome. Ignatius is the first writer to use the term “catholic” (universal) to describe the church. His use of the term implied a connectional church with a unity in faith toward Christ and with delegations to express concerns between the churches.
He opposed the Ebionite heresy, which demanded the keeping of the Jewish regulations as the way of salvation. According to Ignatius, in order to affirm Christ the believer must reject Jewish practices. The Christian must worship on the Lord’s Day, the day of his resurrection, rather than observe the Jewish sabbaths. Yet he did view the church as the continuation of the OT people of God and the prophets as disciples who looked forward to Christ.
Ignatius also attacked Docetism, which held that Christ only appeared to have real birth, death, and resurrection. In reciting the facts of Christ’s life, Igantius was the first one outside the NT writers to speak of the virgin birth of Jesus. Ignatius also emphasized the fact that the apostles touched the body of their risen Lord. Ignatius said it was the real suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross and his physical resurrection that made it possible for him to face martyrdom.