First Christian Voices: Practices of the Apostolic Fathers

72

First Christian Voices

was exceedingly greater than them all. And there was a disturbance felt as to where this new spectacle came since it was so unlike anything else. I gnatius to the S myrnaeans 1–3: I glorify God, even Jesus Christ, who has given you such wisdom. For I have observed that you are completed in an immovable faith, as if you were nailed to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, both in the flesh and in the spirit. You are even established in love through the blood of Christ, being fully persuaded about our Lord. He was truly of the seed of David according to the flesh and the Son of God according to the will and power of God. He was truly born of a virgin and was baptized by John in order that all righteousness might be fulfilled by Him. And He was truly, under Pontius Pilate and Herod the Tetrarch, nailed for us in His flesh. By the fruit of His divinely-blessed suffering we exist so that through His resurrection He might set a standard in every age for those who are His holy and faithful people, whether among Jews or Gentiles, in the one body of His church. Now, He suffered all these things for us so that we might be saved. And He suffered truly, even as He also truly raised Himself up. Not that He only seemed to suffer as certain unbelievers maintain—those who themselves only seem to exist. 1 Just as they believe, it will also happen to them when they will be stripped of their bodies and become mere evil spirits. For I know and believe that even after His resurrection He was still in the flesh. When, for instance, He came to those who were with Peter He said to them, “Lay hold,

1 Ignatius here refers to the heresy of Docetism. See Table 2 in the Introduction.