Resurrection in Ignatius
(avg. read time: 22–43 mins.)
As we continue our series through the Apostolic Fathers, we now come to the central author of the corpus who contributes seven letters thereto: Ignatius of Antioch. Ignatius was a bishop serving in one of the largest population centers of the Roman Empire in the late first century and the early years of the second century. He was martyred during the later years of the reign of Trajan (usually said to be between 107 and 110). Like Polycarp, his brother in Christ, he is traditionally identified as a disciple of John.
While many letters have been attributed to him, seven have typically been regarded as authentic, being his letters to Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, Smyrna, and Polycarp. These letters are also extant in multiple recensions, one of which is authentic, with the other two being an abridgement of one tradition or an expansion. The seven authentic letters not only give us insight into Ignatius specifically and early second-century Christianity more generally; they also have much to say about our subject of resurrection.
Explicit References
Ephesians
As we have seen in the NT, Ignatius speaks of his present time as “the last times” (Eph. 11:1; cf. Acts 2:17; 1 Cor 10:11; Eph 3:9–12; 2 Tim 3:1; Titus 1:2–3; Heb 1:2; Jas 5:3; 1 Pet 1:20; 2 Pet 3:3; 1 John 2:18; Jude 18). As with 2 Pet 3, this is combined with an awareness of God’s longsuffering, allowing people super-ample opportunity to repent (cf. 2 Pet 3:14–15), so that they can avoid the wrath that is coming (cf. Matt 3:7 // Luke 3:7). At the same time, he writes in this same text of the grace that now is, only provided that we are to be found in Christ Jesus to truly live. It is also in him that Ignatius says that he carries around his chains, also described as “spiritual pearls” (or “pearls belonging to the Spirit,” [τοὺς πνευματικοὺς μαργαρίτας; for more on the adjective, see here] (Eph. 11:2). Through them, he says, “may it be for me to rise [ἀναστῆναι] by your prayer” (Eph. 11:2).1 Furthermore, he expresses his desire here to be found with other Ephesian Christians who were of one mind with the apostles in the power of Jesus Christ.
Ignatius’s thinking here is reminiscent of Paul in Phil 3:10–14, as I have commented on elsewhere (also see here). He aims to be conformed to Christ in his suffering faithfulness unto death so that he may also be conformed to his resurrection. This fits with his immediately preceding instruction on being imitators of the Lord (Eph. 10:3). His desire for the prayers of the Ephesians is that he may be strengthened thereby to persevere as his forebears did in the power of Jesus Christ. His language is also prayerful in the very phrasing of “may it be” (γένοιτο), which is how the LXX often translated the Hebrew אָמֵן, whence is derived “Amen.” He is submitting himself to God’s will in prayerful posture, that he may die in faithfulness to God in order to rise by God’s life-giving power, as Paul also hoped in the text from Philippians.
Moreover, one can see how the hope for resurrection has shaped his eschatological framework. He frames his time as the “last times” like the NT writers did. He speaks of the coming wrath, which is the eschatological judgment that will also involve resurrection. And he speaks of the grace that has already come. All of this is the result of the eschatological events that have already transpired in the gospel. The expectation of resurrection now has a Christomorphic character, wherein Christ’s eschatological resurrection has already happened and the resurrection of the righteous to everlasting life (as well as the end goal of what it means to truly live) is conformed to the resurrection of Christ. Those who are to rise to everlasting life are those who are conformed to him by the union of faith. This is what Ignatius hopes for and what he wishes to persevere to receive.
The other explicit reference in the Letter to the Ephesians comes in 20:1. Ignatius expresses his wish, if Jesus Christ allows him, to write a second letter to explain more about God’s plan. He has only begun to speak of the plan (or “economy”) for “the New Man Jesus Christ, which consists in faith towards him and in love towards him, in his suffering and resurrection [ἀναστάσει]” (20:1). To this point in the letter, Ignatius has summarized the gospel, which appropriately includes Jesus’s resurrection. Faith and love directed to Christ lead to conformity to him, which includes conformity to his death, as Ignatius will experience, and conformity to his resurrection. This was part of God’s order, his plan, his economy of salvation to bring about a new humanity through the New Man. This is another way of expressing the theology of the inauguration of the new creation that Paul had expressed by referring to Jesus as the Last Adam (on which, see here and here).