Bishop's Epistle: Ignatius’ Theology of Martyrdom (The Substitute Soul)

A Sacrificial Offering

Ignatius’ Epistle to the Ephesians

1:2 “[I] was hoping through your prayers to succeed in fighting with wild beasts in Rome, that by so succeeding I might have power to be a disciple, ... :”

Ignatius’ Epistle to the Romans
4:1 “I write to all the churches, and I bid all men know, that of my own free will I die for God, unless ye should hinder me. I exhort you, be ye not an unseasonable kindness to me. Let me be given to the wild beasts, for through them I can attain unto God. I am God's wheat, and I am ground by the teeth of wild beasts that I may be found pure bread [of Christ]. 4:2 Rather entice the wild beasts, that they may become my sepulchre and may leave no part of my body behind, so that I may not, when I am fallen asleep, be burdensome to any one. Then shall I be truly a disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world shall not so much as see my body. Supplicate the Lord for me, that through these instruments I may be found a sacrifice to God. 4:3 I do not enjoin you, as Peter and Paul did. They were Apostles, I am a convict; they were free, but I am a slave to this very hour. Yet if I shall suffer, then am I a freed-man of Jesus Christ, and I shall rise free in Him. Now I am learning in my bonds to put away every desire.

In his letter to the Romans we see his concern that they might intercede to the authorities in his behalf and interfere with his mission.

Bishop Ignatius has come under attack from modern readers for his “desire” to die for Christ. Some have seen this as a bit vainglorious. Permit me to suggest that we must look deeper into the bishop’s theology; plus, we need to understand his heart as truly being that of the shepherd of his flock. I think that John Chrysostom understood Ignatius when he said of him: “For having heard Christ saying, ‘the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep,’ with all courage he did lay it down for the sheep.” When one studies closely the writings of Ignatius one detects an apostolic doctrine concerning suffering that the modern church either overlooks or does not want to see. To understand Ignatius in relation to his willing martyrdom one must look to the apostle Paul’s statement found in Colossians 1:24 “Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.”

Yes, there is a covenant of suffering that the disciples of Christ enter into with Christ Himself. Christ is the head of the body, but all Christians are members of His body. Therefore, the suffering and sacrifice of Christ is continually experienced though the suffering and sacrifice being made by His body throughout time and space. The suffering of the Church is the suffering of Christ and is meritorious for the salvation of the world. Important to this apostolic doctrine are the passages of holy Scripture that support this apostolic teaching:

Romans 8:17

Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

1 Corinthians 12:27

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

2 Corinthians 1:5

For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

2 Corinthians 6:10

As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

2 Corinthians 12:15

So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less?

Ephesians 1:23

Which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Philippians 2:17

But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.

Colossians 1:18

And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

2 Timothy 1:8

So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.

2 Timothy 2:10

Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

Concerning Colossians 1:24 we deem it good to consult Christian scholars from the past so that the reader will be protected from thinking that this writer is teaching some new doctrine.

Matthew Henry

Colossians 1:24-29 Both the sufferings of the Head and of the members are called the sufferings of Christ, and make up, as it were, one body of sufferings.

John Gill

“Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you,.... The apostle, as soon as he had made mention of his being a minister of the Gospel, thinks and speaks of his "sufferings"; for those are what always more or less attend persons in such an office; they are appointed to them by God; Christ has foretold them of them; they are necessary for them; they must expect them, and patiently endure them: the apostle was under them now at this present time, for he wrote this epistle in his bonds when a prisoner at Rome, not for any immorality, any crime he had committed, but for Christ's sake, for his Gospel's sake, for the sake of the churches of Christ to whom he preached, for the confirmation of them, and so of these Colossians; and therefore he says, "for you"; ... nor was he distressed and discouraged at his afflictions, he "rejoiced" in them, because he had the presence of God in them, the Spirit of God and of glory rested on him, and God was glorified by them; he esteemed it an honour done him that grace was given, and he counted worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ; and as well knowing that he should live and reign with him, since he suffered with him and for him: and what greatly caused and increased his joy was what follows, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh; ... of such which he filled up in "his" own "flesh"; and design the afflictions of Christ in his members, which are called "his", because of that near union there is between Christ and them; so that what befalls them may be predicated of him; when anyone of them suffers, he suffers with him, as the sufferings of a part of the body are ascribed to the whole person; and because of that sympathy there is between them, he has a fellow feeling with his people in all their infirmities; in all their afflictions he is afflicted: ... ; add to this, that the afflictions of the saints are endured for Christ's sake, for the sake of his Gospel, and the profession of his name, and therefore called his, and the more cheerfully bore by them: now of these there were some remains to be filled up by the apostle; not that all the afflictions of the whole body of Christ were to be, or have been filled up by him; there was a great deal left behind by him to be filled up by others, and which has been filling up ever since, and still is, and yet all is not fulfilled to this day, nor will be till the end of time; ...”

Jamieson-Fausset- Brown

“Colossians 1: 24. ... To enhance the glory of Christ as paramount to all, he mentions his own sufferings for the Church of Christ. ... "I was made," in the past time (Col 1:23).

“for you—"on your behalf," that ye may be confirmed in resting solely on Christ (to the exclusion of angel-worship) by the glorification of Christ in my sufferings (Eph 3:1).

“fill up that which is behind—literally, "the deficiencies"—all that are lacking of the afflictions of Christ ... Christ is "afflicted in all His people's afflictions" (Isa 63:9). "The Church is His body in which He is, dwells, lives, and therefore also suffers" [Vitringa]. Christ was destined to endure certain afflictions in this figurative body, as well as in His literal; these were "that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ," which Paul "filled up." His own meritorious sufferings in expiation for sin were once for all completely filled up on the Cross. But His Church (His second Self) has her whole measure of afflictions fixed. The more Paul, a member, endured, the less remain for the rest of the Church to endure; the communion of saints thus giving them an interest in his sufferings. It is in reference to the Church's afflictions, which are "Christ's afflictions, that Paul here saith, "I fill up the deficiencies," or "what remain behind of the afflictions of Christ." She is afflicted to promote her growth in holiness, and her completeness in Christ. Not one suffering is lost (Ps 56:8). All her members have thus a mutual interest in one another's sufferings (1Co 12:26). ... Believers should regard their sufferings less in relation to themselves as individuals, and more as parts of a grand whole, carrying out God's perfect plan.”

The above Christian teachers, to some degree at least, demonstrate the idea of Christ suffering for the world through the suffering of His body, which we have presented from Colossians 1:24 and the litany of Pauline passage given above to that end. Ignatius understood this very apostolic precept and when the opportunity presented itself he jumped to it with alacrity. In the bishop’s letter to the Romans, he exhorts them thusly, “For I would not have you to be men-pleasers but to please God, as indeed ye do please Him. For neither shall I myself ever find an opportunity such as this to attain unto God, nor can ye, if ye be silent, win the credit of any nobler work” (Romans 2:1). Ignatius is admonishing the Romans not to intervene in his behalf, for he would not “ever find an opportunity such as this to attain unto God”

Ignatius was ever the disciple; and the Christian. Or I should say he was always becoming the disciple and the Christian. He took seriously the instruction of Christ to “take up your cross and follow me.” A disciple was one who “followed” the teacher. The bishop wrote much about “becoming” a disciple. Now that he was chained to ten leopards (the ten soldiers) and traveling toward his destiny with lions, he was “beginning” to be a disciple. This “beginning” would be finished when he followed his Teacher in giving his life for the sheep—only then would he truly be a disciple of the Master. The Shepherd of Antioch had a keen conviction of what it meant to be a Christian. The followers of Christ were first called Christians at Antioch—the honor of the name belonged to that See. In the beginning the mob meant it as a slur, but from that beginning the people of the Way took up the name as a badge of honor. Christian—like Christ. Ignatius wrote of being a Christian in deed, and not in name only. To the bishop of Syria, he would only truly be a Christian when he followed Christ in giving his life for his sheep, as did Christ.

Ignatius is conscious that his own life is but a substitute for the life of the Church. This truth cannot be stated any clearer then in Smyræans 10:2 and Polycarp 2:3. In these two texts Ignatius employs the Greek word antipsuchon (lit. substitute soul) in close connection with desmos (“chains”). Michael W. Holmes translates Smyr 10:2 as: “My spirit is a ransom (antipsuchon) on your behalf, and my chains as well, ...” Holmes renders Polyc 2:3 as: “May I be a ransom (antipsuchon) on your behalf in every respect, and my chains as well, ...” Charles H Hoole translates Smyr 10:2 as: “My spirit is given for yours (antipsuchon), and my bonds, ...” In like manner, KennethW. Howell renders these two passages: Smyr 10:2 “My spirit and my bonds are your substitute soul (antipsuchon), ...” and Polyc 2:3 “I and my bonds that you love are your substitute soul (antipsuchon) in every way.” Especial telling is Ephesians 8:1 and 18:1 in which Ignatius uses the Greek word “peripsēma” to describe his spirit/soul as being a sacrifice for the Church. Joseph Henry Thayer says, concerning this word:

“What is wiped off; dirt rubbed off; offscouring, scrapings: 1 Corinthians 4:13, used in the same sense as perikatharma, q. v. Suidas and other Greek Lexicographers s. v. relate that the Athenians, in order to avert public calamities, yearly throw a criminal into the sea as an offering to Poseidon; hence “argurion ... peripsēma tou paidiou hēmōn genoito” (as if to say) let it become an expiatory offering, A ransom, for our child, the comparison to the saving of our son’s life let it be to us a despicable and worthless thing, ... . It is used of a man who in behalf of religion undergoes dire trials for the salvation of others, Ignt. Eph 8:1; 18:1 ...”

Therefore, Holmes renders Eph 8:1, “I am a humble sacrifice (peripsēma) for you ..” and 18:1 “My spirit is a humble sacrifice (peripsēma) for the cross, which is a stumbling block to unbelievers but salvation and eternal life to us.” It is the presence of Christ’s death within him that allows Ignatius to call himself “the substitute soul” and “the sacrificial offering” because he embraces the cross for the benefit of the members of the body of Christ. His total experience, his chains and his mistreatment, constitutes a sacrificial martyrdom for Christ and for His church. John Chrysostom, earlier introduced in our study, made the observation that the blood shed in the name of idols had polluted the city of Rome, therefore the blood of holy Christians such as Peter, Paul and Ignatius was required to cleans the city. It seems that Christ continues to shed His blood for the redemption of the world—each generation of Christians has their share of sacrifice to make. Are we prepared to be a “peripsēma” (the substitute soul) for our generation?