Ignatius's letter to the Ephesians part four and wrap up.

We are now at chapter 20 of Ignatius's letter to the Ephesians. Ignatius tells them that he will write again telling them a story about the "new man Jesus" if they are good little girls and boys and obey their bishop. I suspect that "new man" is a reference to a symbolic new Adam, rebooting creation so that humanity no longer has to die because of Adam's sin. It just *looks* like they are still dying, but really they aren't. Ignatius is going to tell the Ephesians about Jesus's dispensation, his faith, love, suffering and resurrection. Unfortunately, he doesn't say much of anything about those things in this letter.

How do the Ephesians  get immortality? Besides obeying the church leadership with unity of mind, they must together take the medicine of immortality, the bread. This bread is most likely referring to the communion bread, but it could also be a metaphor for Jesus who supposedly called himself the bread of life. Ignatius calls this bread  the "antidote to death."

The letter ends with Ignatius saying that he is writing from Smyrna and is bound for Rome. He is from the church in Syria. He says he is "the last of the faithful there." It is unclear to me whether "there" is Syria or Rome.  Ignatius is grateful for the people the Ephesians sent to him, and he loves Polycarp, who was the bishop of Smyrna.

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Now, what did we find out about Ignatius's letter to the Ephesians? In common with many of the New Testament epistles, Ignatius stressed faith, unity, and obedience to church authority, specifically bishops. Bishops are Jesus's representatives on earth. Ignatius himself was bishop of Antioch (before 155 CE) on his way to Rome to be imprisoned for some unspecified crime. While in Smyrna, on his way to Rome, the leaders of the Ephesian church visited him and he sings their praises. Ignatius appears to be familiar with a few of Paul's letters, using similar language multiple times, but not referring to the source.

In this letter, the Jews and the Jewish scriptures are not mentioned at all, except for saying that Jesus was of the "seed of David according to the flesh." This appears to me to be a reference to his ethnicity/nationality, not a claim to Judaic kingship. The new testament places mentioned are Antioch, Syria, Smyrna, Ephesus, and Rome. He mentions Satan but not angels, demons or a judgement day. Purveyors and listeners of false doctrine  are going to be thrown into a lake of fire instead of recieving eternal life. There is no mention of where they will go or what they will be doing for eternity.

The only New Testament person mentioned, besides Jesus, is Mary as Jesus's virgin mother. Ignatius's Jesus is literally god in  human form, born of a virgin, by the holy spirit. His presence in the world and his death were two of the three mysteries "wrought in silence" by god, to hide them from "the prince of this world." His mother's virginity was the first mystery. The  sign of Jesus's "manifestation" was a super bright stellar event. Jesus was born, baptized, annointed, suffered, was crucified, died, and was resurrected. There is no mention of his childhood, teachings, travels, miracles, or trial. There are no statements that anchor Jesus in time.

Ignatius tells the Ephesians that in order to thwart Satan, they must meet together frequently in the same location. They must be of one mind with their bishop, and they must eat the bread that is the "medicine of immortality" and the "antidote to death." There are no commands to preach or teach the gospel, or to be baptised.

Ignatius's letter to the Ephesians

I thought we would take a quick break from the bible and look at something written by Ignatius of Antioch, one of the so called "apostolic church fathers." I've done this before with the letter of 1 Clement to the Corinthians. Today we will look at Ignatius's letter to the Ephesians. I'm not going to give you a complete blow by blow break down of the letter, but a quicker overview and opinion instead. You can read the letter for your self at the link provided above. It's not very long.

Where there is a scripture cross reference in blue, that was not in the original letter, that is where it is assumed scripture supports or influenced what Ignatius wrote. It by no means proves that Ignatius had access to the scriptures he is not directly quoting. Just as today, religions tend to create their own traditional language that gets perpetuated by repetition, often without conscious thought, or even without concrete knowledge of where the ideas and words originated from. Today it would be called Christianese. I will try to take notice of when there appears to be a legitimate quote, not a loose paraphrase that might imply a quote.

Ignatius lived some time between 50 and 140 CE. Seven of his letters are usually considered authentic. Protestants aren't too thrilled with them because they show an early system of single bishops being in charge of individual churches, which is very similar to Catholicism. This particular letter seems to me to be saying Ignatius has never been to Ephesus. However, He has met Onesimus, their Bishop; Burrhus, their deacon; plus Crocus, Euplus, and Fronto, all upstanding members of the Ephesian congregation, possibly also deacons. These apparently provided Ignatius with some kind of help on behalf of the Ephesians, during his imprisonment. He was bound in Syria and transported to Rome, where he claims he hopes to be martyred. To me this sounds like an echo of Paul.

Ignatius abundantly praises the leadership of the Ephesians' church and expresses his wish for the members to be unanimously obedient to their authorities. He's not Ordering them to obey, like he has any influence over them. He's  just Exhorting them do do the will of God. After all, Bishops exist by the will of Jesus. According to Ignatius, the leadership of the Ephesians works especially well together, like the strings of a harp or a harmonious choir. The Ephesians need to be in unison with the leaders, one of mind, judgment, and speech. Ignatius himself has come to adore their bishop in a short period of time and thinks the Ephesians should always be careful never to set themselves in opposition to him.

In chapter 6, things get very cult-y. The bishop is to be esteemed as though he were Jesus himself. He just wants the Ephesians to live according to the truth, exactly like Jesus. They don't need to listen to anyone else. Some people, says Ignatius, use the name of Jesus but don't practice the truth. The Ephesians need to keep away from them. They are like rabid dogs that can't be cured.  However, "There is one Physician who is possessed both of flesh and spirit; both made and not made; God existing in flesh; true life in death; both of Mary and of God; first passible and then impassible — even Jesus Christ our Lord." The part in quotes must have been some kind of early doctrinal staement. It seems to point obliquely to the type of heresy the Ephesians are to avoid, one that would deny either the humanity or godhood of Jesus. (Passible means capable of suffering).

More next time.