First Christian Voices: Practices of the Apostolic Fathers

Chapter 1: The Study of Scripture

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sweet wine which the ignorant insatiably drink with a fatal pleasure leading to his own death. I gnatius to the S myrnaeans 4–6: I give you these instructions, dear ones, assured that you also hold the same. But I am protecting you ahead of time from those beasts in human form. You must not welcome them nor, if at all possible, even meet with them. Instead, you must pray to God for them, if by any means they may be brought to repentance which will be very difficult no doubt. Yet Jesus Christ, who is our true life, has the power to do this. However, if these things only seemed to be done by our Lord, then I am also only seeming to be in chains. And why have I also surrendered myself to death, to fire, to the sword, to the wild beasts? But, he who is near to the sword is near to God. He that is among the wild beasts is in the company of God provided that he be so in the name of Jesus Christ. I endure all these things so that I may suffer together with Him who became a perfect human and inwardly strengthens me. There are some who ignorantly deny Him, or rather have been denied by Him. They are the advocates for death rather than for truth. These persons have not been persuaded by the prophets nor by the law of Moses, neither by the gospel even to this day. They are not persuaded by the sufferings we have individually endured. For they think also the same thing regarding us. For what good does it do for me if he praises me but blasphemes my Lord by not confessing that He came in the flesh? But he who does not acknowledge this has in fact altogether denied Him and is clothed in death. However, I did not