Ignatius (A.D. 30-107; disciple of the St. John; Bishop of Antioch) On Bishops and Church Unity
I have therefore taken upon me first to exhort you that ye would all run together in accordance with the will of God. For even Jesus Christ, our inseparable life, is the [manifested] will of the Father; as also bishops, settled everywhere to the utmost bounds [of the earth], are so by the will of Jesus Christ.Part of me wants to give some commentary. Yet, part of me thinks that there is no commentary needed, at least from an Orthodox perspective. Posted by jeremy stock at December 8, 2002 09:45 PMWherefore it is fitting that ye should run together in accordance with the will of your bishop, which thing also ye do. For your justly renowned presbytery, worthy of God, is fitted as exactly to the bishop as the strings are to the harp. Therefore in your concord and harmonious love, Jesus Christ is sung. And do ye, man by man, become a choir, that being harmonious in love, and taking up the song of God in unison, ye may with one voice sing to the Father through Jesus Christ, so that He may both hear you, and perceive by your works that ye are indeed the members of His Son. It is profitable, therefore, that you should live in an unblameable unity, that thus ye may always enjoy communion with God.
For if I in this brief space of time, have enjoyed such fellowship with your bishop-I mean not of a mere human, but of a spiritual nature-how much more do I reckon you happy who are so joined to him as the Church is to Jesus Christ, and as Jesus Christ is to the Father, that so all things may agree in unity! Let no man deceive himself: if any one be not within the altar, he is deprived of the bread of God. For if the prayer of one or two possesses such power, how much more that of the bishop and the whole Church! He, therefore, that does not assemble with the Church, has even by this manifested his pride, and condemned himself. For it is written, "God resisteth the proud." Let us be careful, then, not to set ourselves in opposition to the bishop, in order that we may be subject to God.
Now the more any one sees the bishop keeping silence, the more ought he to revere him. For we ought to receive every one whom the Master of the house sends to be over His household, as we would do Him that sent him. It is manifest, therefore, that we should look upon the bishop even as we would upon the Lord Himself. And indeed Onesimus himself greatly commends your good order in God, that ye all live according to the truth, and that no sect has any dwelling-place among you. Nor, indeed, do ye hearken to any one rather than to Jesus Christ speaking in truth.
~~~ Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians (shorter version)
Therefore in your concord and harmonious love, Jesus Christ is sung.I love the way this guys spoke! This is so cool.
how much more do I reckon you happy who are so joined to him as the Church is to Jesus Christ, and as Jesus Christ is to the Father, that so all things may agree in unity!These are deep waters. There is more meaning here than I think we realize. There is a unity that transcends doctrinal differences and extends beyond ecclesiastical boundries. We are in Christ in a way I don't think we'll understand this side of His return.
Our Pastor is preaching through John and we've just finished chapter 17. My wife and I pray with him on Friday for the sermon on Sunday and it is a wonderful time. Looking at John 17, I can see what Ignatius had in mind. I pray that Christ's Church might find that unity. She never seems to have enjoyed it the way it was intended. I think of the disciples arguing about who was the greatest, Paul and the Judizers, the East-West split, and the Reformation and I wonder if we'll ever be one.
Still, we're praying for and with other evangelical churches in our area. It is my hope that evangelicalism can get its act together and then reach out to the rest of the Body. Sadly, I don't think that is going to happen. Openess Theology is about to split evangelicalism yet again.
Posted by: Tim at December 9, 2002 03:43 PM"evangelicalism can get its act together and then reach out to the rest of the Body."
I find that very amusing, Tim.
"Evangelicals of the world, Unite and take over."
:)
What is "evangelicalism," and how is it not split?
PS I don't think Ignatius is saying nearly as much as he is usually read as saying...
Posted by: Josh S at December 10, 2002 03:55 PM~~~These are deep waters. There is more meaning here than I think we realize. There is a unity that transcends doctrinal differences and extends beyond ecclesiastical boundries. We are in Christ in a way I don't think we'll understand this side of His return.~~~
Yes, indeed there is "meaning" here that we do not realize: we're speaking of God's word to His finite people, there will always be a part we just don't get. However, saying that this "unity" transcends doctrinal differences is interesting. Certainly you're not want to say that the unity spoken of transcends such doctrines as "Satan is Lord," and "There is no God other than me (Joe King)"? In other words, there are some doctrinal differences that divide the wheat from the chaff; the question is: which doctrines are those? Concerning the unity transcending "ecclesiastical boundaries" I have to agree only in so far as it being a fact that God's mercy may transcend ecclesiastical boundaries (read: is able to, and often does), yet it seems Ignatius is clear-- the Sacraments do not transcend outside the ecclesiastical boundaries.
Let no man deceive himself: if any one be not within the altar, he is deprived of the bread of God.~~~She never seems to have enjoyed it the way it was intended.~~~
She may not have enjoyed it perfectly, since man's sin always gets in the way, but the Church did have unity in the intended apostolic way: sacramental unity under the oversight of those hand-picked ministers. ("hand-picked" is misleading. Scripture is clear that the role of ordaining a Bishop is the role of the Holy Spirit.)
~~~the East-West split, and the Reformation and I wonder if we'll ever be one.~~~
When the West split they set a precedent to be exploited in the Reformation. For Protestants to give up their autonomy now would take a miracle. For Rome to give up some of its pride would take a miracle. Indeed, for many Orthodox to give up some of their pride will also take a miracle. But our God is a God of miracles.
~~~Still, we're praying for and with other evangelical churches in our area. It is my hope that evangelicalism can get its act together and then reach out to the rest of the Body. Sadly, I don't think that is going to happen. Openess Theology is about to split evangelicalism yet again.~~~
Your prayers are admirable. On the issue of reunification, however, I cannot agree that Christians ought to unify around Evangelicalism. Instead of the myriad Evangelical churches, who themselves suffer from so much partisanship it would be difficult for one to even agree on the definition of the term "Evangelical," how about starting with the Church that's been unified from the beginning?
Josh,
I'm not exactly sure what you mean, but I'd say that he is saying more than most Protestants are willing to concede. It seems to me he is clearly making a connection between Church unity and the role of the Bishop-- a factor all but totally omitted from Protestantism.
Good to hear from you.
Posted by: jeremy at December 10, 2002 09:17 PMThe responses are telling. Rather what I expected and if I believed that unity were merely a human enterprise, I'd be discouraged. Fortunately, as Jeremy pointed out, it is a work of the Spirit of God.
Jer, you know that I did not mean such doctrinal differences. Our unity is in Christ and exists amongst those who are His. We just need to work it out.
Also, I'm not proposing unity around evangelicalism. It is just that I am an evangelical and so I am asking for God's work to begin with me. Second, since, as is often pointed out, evangelicalism is greatly in need of unity within its ranks first. We're the most disorganized in the body so it seems to me that unity must begin in this camp before it can extend to the Body as a whole.
Posted by: Tim at December 11, 2002 11:34 AMTim,
I found your response to be quite humble. I appreciate that.
In the end, our prayer must be: Lord have mercy on us all.
Posted by: jeremy at December 12, 2002 09:45 PM