THE LONG ROAD TO MARTYRDOM - A LOOK AT IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH

 

Ignatius of Antioch

I believe it was last year that I saw a meme which said, "If I get killed by a mountain lion, know that my last words were 'Here, kitty, kitty.'" Is it possible that those were the last words of a church father?

 

There are a pair of Saint Ignatiuses. My guess is the better known one is Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), founder of the Jesuit movement. Fourteen hundred years earlier was the Saint he was probably named after, Ignatius of Antioch. Note of interest: Before moving to Indy, Becky and I lived in the part of Nashville, TN known as Antioch, and we were about a mile from St. Ignatius of Antioch Catholic Church.

Ignatius (from here on in this blog, "Ignatius" refers to the one from Antioch) was the first Church Father dealt with in Getting to Know the Church Fathers: An Evangelical Introduction by Bryan Litfin. We know very few details about his life; the year his death was set approximately at 115, at that death was assumed to be via a lion or the like in the Roman Colesium. How long he lived, why was he arrested and sent to Rome for execution, and what the name of Budd Abbott's famous third baseman was all have the same answer: "I don't know."

Here are the few facts we know of Ignatius:

• He was a bishop from Antioch of Syria, the city where followers of Jesus were first called Christians, from where Paul started his three missionary journeys. It is possible that Ignatius may have known of Paul, though it might have been as a child.
• He was arrested and traveled to Rome, writing seven letters during the journey. During a holdover in Smyrna, Asia Minor. he was visited there by Smyrna's bishop Polycarp -if you're not familiar with him, look up his inspiring martyrdom defense at age 86 - and bishops from other neighboring cities including one name Onesimus (Philemon's former slave?), who came to encourage their captive brother. Five of his letters were to churches that sent representatives to him along the journey, with the other two being a personal note to Polycarp and a letter to the Church in Rome asking them not to interfere in any way with his martyrdom.
  

We often think of the church of the first three centuries as being persecuted from without but faithful to Christ. That picture is not true. In his ministry in Antioch, he faced two different forms of false teaching that despite their differences shared a dangerous similarity: Both minimized the value and necessity of Jesus' death and resurrection.

On one hand are the Judaizers. You may remember that the important Council in Jerusalem was convened due to Paul and Barnabas being confronted in Antioch following the first missionary journey by believing Pharisees who stated the Gentile converts needed to be circumcised. Antioch was also the location where Paul publicly rebuked Peter for giving mixed messages about the Gospel by changing his eating partners when they had Jewish visitors sent by James. If you think the verdict of the Jerusalem Council and Paul's letter to the Galatians ended the conflict, guess again. I've seen groups today 2000 years later still Judaizing believers, as well as other forms of legalistic teaching. 

How does this teaching weaken the Christian faith? Simple. Christ's death was not enough for salvation. God's grace is not sufficient. Rather, we need to help God save us by obeying Him.

On the other hand were early Gnostics. The emphasis of Gnostics is knowledge, and they believed Jesus came to be a spiritual teacher, a guru if you will. They held to a belief called Docetism, which had little problem of Christ being deity but a big problem with His humanity. For them, it was not necessary for Him to be born, and much less for Him to die a tortuous death. Instead, we are saved by knowledge, by mystical teachings of Jesus (as well as other Gnostic leaders).

What is the solution? Ignatius proposed the concept of a single bishop in each city. The purpose was not to give authority to that bishop but for the sake of unity. The church needs to be unified by both truth and love. Too many focus so intently on one or the other that they don't focus enough on the other.

As I hinted in describing his letter to Rome, Ignatius did not consider a painful criminal's death as a mark of failure. Rather, he viewed it as the cry of a victor, that his demise validated his stands against the Judaizers and the Docetists. Ignatius asked the Romans not to interfere with his martyrdom, and added that some of the wild beasts were on the timid side, so he planned to coax them to eat him. Is it possible that Ignatius' final words were the Greek equivalent of "Here, kitty kitty?"

Are you willing to die an unpleasant death for the sake of Christ? Do you deal with either legalists (including but not limited to Judaizers) or with those who relegate Jesus to being a wise teacher rather than a Sacrifice and Savior? What are you doing to encourage (or discourage) unity in your local church? Do you support, encourage, and even submit to your church leader(s) for the sake of unity and the Gospel?