Ignatius to Polycarp

In his epistle to Polycarp, Ignatius provides a lengthy list of exhortations to Polycarp concerning Christian leadership. Great emphasis is placed upon the need for the bishop preserving unity, especially by showing love and patience towards the more awkward disciples.

Once again we see in Ignatius a tension concerning how false teachers are to be dealt with. Whilst their heresy is not to be tolerated, they are to be resisted in a loving way, as the bishop himself becomes the one who is wounded and hurt for Christ's sake.

Ignatius' Epistle to the Smyrnaeans

As one reads through these epistles by Ignatius, common themes start to emerge. Once again in this letter we have emphasis on the authority of the bishop and the need for submission to him. In fact, it is considered wrong to celebrate the Eucharist without the bishop, or at least someone authorised by him.

However, in this letter the authority of the bishop is set in the context of conflict over the docetic heresy. As I have suggested earlier, prior to a NT canon it is the authority of the bishop which guarantees continuity within the apostolic tradition, hence the need to avoid heretic celebrations of the Eucharist.

Ignatius: Epistle to the Phiadelphians

In this epistle we once more have the common theme in Ignatius of church unity and the authority of the bishop. For Ignatius, "If any man follows him that makes a schism of the Church, he shall not inherit the kingdom of God"

Whilst Ignatius does not expect any schismatics to be reading this epistle, there apparently was enough of a problem in the Philadelphian church for some to suspect that his plea for unity and submission to the bishop had come at the latter's request. Hence, he is at great pains to emphasise that it came from the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Ignatius and humility

I have been known to say that the worse thing that can happen to a Christian leader is to believe that they are who people say they are. Well, in chapter 4 Ignatius says the same thing but in a much better way, emphasising that it is through meekness that one can bring the devil to nothing.

Chapter 5, Ignatius points out, maybe to demonstrate that he is not an apostle like Paul, that he will not teach his readers profound mysteries because he is not able to understand heavenly things, being in these subjects a "learner."

Ignatius: Epistle to the Trallians

Moving further along with my reading of Ignatius. This epistle begins with the now well known theme of submission to the bishop of the church, now extended to include the presbyters and the deacons. What is significant is Ignatius' claim that without such order there can be no church.

Spirituality and church order for Ignatius

In chapter 5 Ignatius outlines the traditional biblical theme of a way of death and a way of life. What is significant is the spirituality of the way of life. It is having the character of the Father impressed on us by the Son, as we learn to die in the Son's passion.

Chapters 6 and 7 continue with the issue of church order and the authority of the bishop. What is significant is the way that the unity of the church under a bishop is grounded in the relationship of Christ with the Father. Just as the Son did not do anything without the Father, so those in the church should not do anything without the bishop.

The youthful bishop

In chapters 3 and 4 church leaders are urged to show respect towards their bishop, despite his young age. Submission to the bishop is equivalent to submission to Christ.

This statement is interesting in the light of the contrast between emerging and pentecostal churches. Whilst emerging churches stress a decentralization of leadership, "successful" pentecostal churches are often based around one leader who exercises a strong authority.

Unity under a bishop

In chapters 3-6 we see Ignatius stressing the unity of the church. What is significant is that he links the unity of the church under the leadership of its bishop to the union of the church with Jesus and the union of Jesus with the Father. Thus to break the unity of the church becomes a serious offence, for one is in essence breaking oneself away from the unity that the church has with Jesus.

Ignatius: Epistle to the Ephesians

In the first letter I am reading, Ignatius begins by praising the Ephesians for their sympathy towards Ignatius as he faces martyrdom. Special praise is reserved for the bishop, Onesimus, and for a deacon, Burrhus.

What is interesting is the way in which Ig. sees his imminent death as in someway being linked to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

Polycarp on Leadership

Chapter 6 is interesting in the way it describes Polycarp's expectations concerning church leaders (presbyters). These involve:

• compassion, mercy and forgiveness
• care for those who have wandered astray, the sick, the poor, the widow and the orphan
• rejection of coveoutness
• respect for other people, avoiding anger or severe judgement
• separation from false teachers.
  

The problem in Corinth

Clement's gloves come off in chapters 45-48. For those who in their zeal would remove church leaders he states that the persecution of the Old Testament saints was always at the hands of the wicked. The schismatics are blamed for tearing apart the body of Christ. According to Clement "Your schism has subverted [the faith of] many, has discouraged many, has given rise to doubt in many, and has caused grief to us all. And still your sedition continueth." He accuses them of not having learnt the same lesson when they committed similar mistakes and were rebuked by the Apostle Paul. Thus, he urges his readers into immediate repentence.

However, one responds to Clement's position, the following advice offered in Chapter 48 seems suitable for all Christians, but especially leaders:

"Let a man be faithful: let him be powerful in the utterance of knowledge; let him be wise in judging of words; let him be pure in all his deeds; yet the more he seems to be superior to others [in these respects], the more humble-minded ought he to be, and to seek the common good of all, and not merely his own advantage."

Reading these chapters made me wonder how effective Clement's argument would have been. He seems to suppose that the leaders were blameless and in the right, yet this is precisely what his opponents would have disputed. I wonder whether they might have also appealed to the OT, seeing themselves as prophets rebuking flawed leaders.

Clement's approach to scripture comes across in these chapters. They are "the true utterances of the Holy Spirit...nothing of an unjust or counterfeit character is written in them". What is also significant is that Paul's epistles already have a similar status. Therefore, Clement claims that "Truly, under the inspiration of the Spirit, he wrote to you"

Self-conceit and the order of the Church

In chapter 39 Clement draws heavily upon the book of Job to indicate the foolishness of all human conceit.

God is presented as having established and order for worship, both concerning when, by who, and where offerings were to be presented. There is an enigmatic reference to offerings in the Jerusalem temple, which must every now and then allow a maverick scholar to suggest an earlier date for the epistle, but which more significantly raises the question of what Clement thought about the sacrifices in the Jerusalem temple.

Based on this, Chapter 42 presents Clement's understanding of the order of the Church. First are the apostles, commissioned by Christ, witnesses of the resurrection and empowered by the Holy Spirit. They then appointed and entrusted bishops and deacons from those who first converted. There is a curious hermeneutical use of the Old Testament in the way that Clement adapts Isaiah 60:17 "I will give thy rulers in peace, and thy overseers in righteousness.” (LXX) to say "I will appoint their bishops in righteousness, and their deacons in faith.”

Chapters 43 and 44 develop this further. What the apostles have done is analogous to what Moses did in the OT when he set up the priesthood. The problem in Corinth is that this order has been broken, those whom the apostles [or other eminent men] have appointed have been displaced without reason and the church is rebuked for having " removed some men of excellent behaviour from the ministry, which they fulfilled blamelessly and with honour."