In continuing the previous post, Ignatian Christology: Christ Must Be Human, which discussed Ignatius’s theological defense for Christ’s humanity. He argued the necessity of Christ’s humanity in regard to salvific efficacies, but also the need for another element. It is here that we will discuss the other half of his argument, which is the need for the divinity of Christ.

First, it is appropriate to note that those critical to Christian orthodoxy have argued that the divinity of Christ was a development constructed in the latter half of the second century. However, if we accept the validity of Eusebius’s dating and the majority of scholars, Ignatius would be writing around a decade after the end of the first century. Ignatius’s idea that Christ is divine, at such a close time to the living Apostle John and the circulation of his letters would cause suspicion to the church in Asia Minor had this not been consistent with Johannine theology, or the theology of the rest of the apostles for that matter. Larry Hurtado in his extensive work on early Christian devotions concludes, “In the context of all that Ignatius attributes to Jesus, his application of the epithet theos to him surely signals the view that Jesus is genuinely divine.”[1]

However, to admire Ignatius further, he also notes that Jesus Christ is “our God” that is seen and made visible “in the Father” (Ign. Rom. 3.3), which shares some similarities with John 14.9 when Jesus says, “whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” This union of deity in Ignatius’s mind does not just stop with the Father and the Son, but he includes the Spirit as well. Whether Ignatius attempted to formulate the Trinity in his mind, it is unclear, but he does write down a triadic formula which is to be the foundation for believers (Ign. Magn. 13.1).

So then, it is not enough for Ignatius to have a human savior or a man who has been adopted to be the Son of God to save from the wrath of God; no, he must be God himself who becomes a man to be called, “Savior.” Although he notes that new life is assured when “faith and love” are active in the believer (Ign. Eph. 1.1; Magn. 1.2, 6.1; Trall. 8.1; Rom. Salutation; Smyrn. 1.1, 6.1), and when the believer becomes an imitator of God/Christ (Ign. Eph. 1.1, 10.3; Trall. 1.2; Rom. 6.3; Phld 7.2), Ignatius points out that this new life really comes “through the blood of God” (Ign. Eph. 1.1).[2] In a similar comment, in his letter to the Romans, he states he will imitate the “suffering of my God” (Ign. Rom. 6.3), referring to the cross of Christ.[3] This divine salvation to new life, presented in the person and work of Christ, diverts the wrath of God that was once aimed at those now in Christ (Ign. Eph. 11.1; see also Ign. Smyrn. 6.1). For Ignatius, the divine could only save humanity from the divine.

God became human not only to bring his elect to salvation and new life but to undo the corruption of the spiritual kingdom established on earth. To the Ephesian church, he states, “For our God, Jesus Christ, was conceived by Mary according to God’s plan, both from the seed of David and of the Holy Spirit” (Ign. Eph. 18.2; see next post on the incarnation of Christ). This plan for the virgin birth was the divine recipe to “clean the water,” which was by his “suffering” or by what Ignatius calls his baptism (Ign. Eph. 18.2). By the passion of the divine Christ, he has authority to purify the things contaminated in this world.[4] Furthermore, he adds:

“Consequently all magic and every kind of spell were dissolved, the ignorance so characteristic of wickedness vanished, and the ancient kingdom was abolished when God appeared in human form to bring the newness of eternal life; and what had been prepared by God began to take effect. As a result, all things were thrown into ferment, because the abolition of death was being carried out.”

Therefore, God could not rely on a mere man to save his creation/creatures, he had to get the job done himself. So, Ignatius’s Christology can be summed up in the statement: “the Eternal, the Invisible, who for our sake became visible; the Intangible, the Unsuffering, who for our sake suffered, who for our sake endured in every way” (Ign. Pol. 3.2). He certainly makes it clear that Christ has both divine and human nature, which is the reason for Ignatius’s utter devotion to his Lord (Ign. Magn. 9.1-2). Had it not been for both there would be no hope for such rebellious creatures.

Ignatius has contributed greatly to the church’s development of theology and the preservation of orthodoxy. The insights we get from Ignatius’s writings show that particular doctrines in Soteriology and doctrines in Christology, that is, the two natures of Christ, were not a latter unauthentic development. However, Ignatius does not stop there, he writes further on the importance of the incarnation, conserving the tradition of the virgin birth. In the next post, this difficult doctrine will be thoroughly analyzed from the Ignatian corpus.

 

 

 

[1] Larry Hurtado, Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, UK: William B Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003), 638.

[2] The reference to “the blood of God” is connected to the “passion” of Christ. Scholars have pointed out the allusion to the Eucharist here and even throughout Ignatius’s letters. However, there are some that are not so clear or convincing (Schoedel, 42).

[3] Based on the theology of the Ignatian corpus the phrase “suffering of my God” should not be regarded as some early development of modalism.

[4] William R. Schoedel, Saint Ignatius Bishop of Antioch, and Helmut Koester, Ignatius of Antioch: A Commentary on the Letters of Ignatius of Antioch, Hermeneia—a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985), 85.