Ignatius and Jewish ChristianityAs we have seen earlier, the epistle of James gave us the views of Jewish Christians around the end of the first century CE. The epistles of Ignatius give us a glimpse the views on the opposite side of the Jewish-Gentile divide around the same time.
Ignatius, Bishop of AntiochThis is what the Church historian, Eusebius (c260-c340) told us about Ignatius (d c110):
Thus we are told that during the reign of Trajan, Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, was arrested and escorted to Rome where he was martyred. Along the way he wrote seven epistles. The seven epistles were written to the churches in Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, Smyrna and a personal letter to Polycarp (c69-c155 CE). The first four were written while he was in Smyrna and the last three were written while he was at Troas. Most historians date these letters to around 110 CE. Nothing is known about Ignatius prior to these seven letters, and nothing further is known about him (except the obvious extrapolation that he was martyred in Rome) after he had written them. [1]
Probable Travel Route of Ignatius from Antioch to Rome [Based on Staniforth & Louth, Early Christian Writings, p54] Ignatius was a Pauline Christian. In his epistle to the Ephesians, this is what he wrote: [2]
Our interest here is in knowing how an early second century Pauline Christian viewed Jewish Christianity. This we shall see below. Back to the top
The Epistle to the MagnesiansIgnatius did not pass through Magnesia on his travel through Asia Minor. While at Smyrna, he was visited by the Magnesian bishop, Damas. (Magnesians 2) The letter to the Magnesians was written in acknowledgement of the bishop's visit. [3] One of the problems the church in Magnesia had was with Jewish Christians. He spoke about the Jewish Christians in Magnesians 8-10.For Ignatius Jewish laws had no place in Christianity:
From the passages above it is clear that the problems were not with Jews but Jewish-Christians; for Ignatius wrote about people who were "professing Jesus" while continuing to "follow Jewish customs" (Magnesians 10). The epistle also tells us that Jewish Christians observed the Sabbath but some had converted to Pauline Christianity:
This tells us that Christian churches allied with Ignatius no longer observed the Sabbath but had switched to using Sunday as a day to "order their lives". The obvious corollary is that Jewish Christians who had not converted to Ignatius' brand of Christianity continued to observe the Sabbath. When this information is coupled with Magnesian 8 & 9, we can surmise that the Jewish Christians continued to "practice Judaism" (Magnesian 8) and "follow Jewish customs". [4] He also hinted the Jewish Christians did not identify themselves as Christians: [5]
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The Epistle to the PhiladelphiansThis epistle was written while Ignatius was in Troas. He had passed through Philadelphia on his way there and obviously wrote the letter based on what he had personally witnessed while he was there. One of the problems here, as it was in Magnesia, was with Jewish Christians. We will look at the relevant passages below. [6]
From this we can surmise that at least some of those who adhered to Jewish Christianity remained Gentiles, they were uncircumcised but were still "preaching Judaism." [7] This brings to mind the so-called Apostolic Decree (Acts 15:20) (the prohibitions which were rejected by Paul-see I Corinthians 8:7-8 and 10:19-29) where Gentiles were allowed to be followers of the teachings of the Jerusalem Church if they follow the Noachide Commandments (Genesis 9:1-11). Ignatius' admonition to "shun such kvanish wiles" can be interpreted in a couple of ways. The first interpretation would be he was simply calling for a stop on "preaching Judaism". However the readers of his epistle are more likely the ones on the receiving end of such preaching ("If anyone...propound Judaism to you"). Thus the second interpretation, that Ignatius was telling his audience to avoid, or to ostracize, those who continued to "preach Judaism", is more likely. [b]
The passage above shows us a couple of things. Firstly, the possessive "our ancient records" shows us that the "certain people" Ignatius was writing about were ethnic Jews. Since Ignatius was writing to the Christian congregation(s) in Philadelphia these Jews must have been part of that group-hence they were Jewish Christians. Coupled with the other passage we quoted earlier we can conclude that the Jewish Christian faction in Philadelphia consisted of uncircumcised Gentiles (who observed the Apostolic Decree) and circumcised Jews. Secondly, the fact that these Jewish Christians refused to believe anything in "the Gospel" that was not grounded in the Old Testament, tells us that there are some disagreements over doctrine between the Pauline Christians and the Jewish Christians. [8] It should be remembered, of course, that "the Gospel" did not mean a written gospel like Matthew or Mark but the preaching about Jesus. We can surmise from here that it would have been very difficult for Ignatius to preach his Pauline "law-free" gospel by depending on the Old Testament alone!
Here we are told that the "schismatic" do not observe a common Eucharist with the main congregation (which obviously consisted of Pauline Christians). Since the main "schismatic" touched on in the letter were the Jewish Christians, we can extrapolate that the reason why they did not share a common Eucharist was probably due to their restrictive food laws. [9] Again this is reminiscent of the incident at Antioch (Galatians 2:11-14) where Paul had a falling out with Peter due to the problem with Gentile food. Back to the top
Discussion and ConclusionsAs we can see from the map above, Ignatius passed through Philadelphia, but not Magnesia, on his way to Rome. His information about Magnesia came to him "second hand", through Damas, the Magnesian bishop. Thus it is highly likely that in his advice to the Magnesians, he was supplementing his knowledge about the Jewish Christians using what he had personally witnessed in Philadelphia. We are therefore justified in combining what we can derive from these two epistles for our knowledge about Jewish Christians around that region during the early years of the second century CE. [10]We can deduce a few things about Jewish Christians in Asia Minor from these two epistles of Ignatius:
We can also deduce that the developing Pauline, Gentile "proto-orthodox" were applying pressure on the Jewish Christians to give up their Jewish practices:
In conclusion we can say that although there still were Jewish Christians in Asia Minor at the beginning of the second century CE, they were probably in the minority and were being pressured by the more numerous Gentile Christians to abandon their adherence to the Mosaic Laws. Back to the top
Notes
References
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