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Ignatius writes too to warn the churches of the error of Docetism. This was one of
the earliest of Satanic heresies, already combated by the Apostle John in his first epistle
(4: 2, 3). It was the theory that Christ, during His earthly life, had not a real body but
only an apparent or phantom one. It sprang from the idea of the impurity of matter and
the impossibility therefore of God having direct contact with it, whether in a body, or in
any other way. This was the basis, not only of Docetism but of Gnosticism, and if the
Docetic idea was true, then it is evident that the Lord Jesus could not have really died on
the Cross or rose again from the dead, with consequence that the foundations of
Christianity are destroyed. Ignatius takes care to expose this great error:
"For He suffered all these things for our sakes, in order that we might be saved. And
He suffered really, just as He also really raised Himself; it is not as some unbelievers say
that He suffered seemingly . . . . ." (Smyrna1:2).
". . . . . he who . . . . . reviles my Lord by not admitting that He wore flesh and blood.
Whoever does not say this has completely denied Him . . . . ." (Smyrna5:2).
However, when we come to the presentation of the Gospel, the doctrines of grace,
eternal life, and the role that the church plays in the purpose of God, we find a veering
away from the N.T. He exalts the local church to a position it never had in the Apostle
Paul's epistles. In fact Ignatius conceives the church practically always in terms of the
local assembly headed by the bishop, apart from which truth and salvation cannot exist,
according to him. We give some examples:
"It is proper for you to run your race in harmony with the mind of the bishop . . . . ."
(Eph. 1:4).
"So it is clear we must look upon the bishop as the Lord Himself . . . . ." (Eph.4:1).
"I exhort you, be zealous to do everything in godly harmony, with the bishop
presiding in the place of God" (Eph.6:1).
"You must do nothing without the bishop and the elders" (Eph.7:1).
"When you subordinate yourselves to the bishop as to Jesus Christ, you appear to me
to be living not in the human way, but after the manner of Jesus Christ . . . . ." (Trall.2:1).
"In the same way all must respect the deacons as Jesus Christ, as they do the bishop,
for he symbolizes the Father and the elders as a council of God and a band of Apostles.
Without these no body can be called a church" (Trall.3:1).
"You must all follow the bishop, as Jesus Christ followed the Father . . . . . let that be
considered a valid thanksgiving which is held under the bishop or someone authorized by
him . . . . . It is not permissible to baptize or hold a religious meal without the bishop . . .
It is well to recognize God and the bishop. Whoever honours the bishop is honoured by
God. Whoever does anything without the bishop's knowledge is serving the devil . . . . ."
"It is right for men and women who are marrying to form their union with the
approval of the bishop, in order that their marriage may be in accordance with the Lord's
will and not to gratify desire" (Poly.5:2).
No less than thirty times in his epistles Ignatius expresses similar sentiments, so that it
would appear almost an obsession with him. As far as he was concerned, practically all
truth was expressed, at least symbolically, in the local church with its presiding bishop. It
is noteworthy too that he always uses `bishop' in the singular, whereas the N.T. speaks of
"bishops and deacons" (Phil. 1: 1). Little did Ignatius realize that he was sowing the
seeds of priestcraft and bondage to be expressed in Roman Catholicism later on. In his
defence, it may be stated that he was living close to N.T. times, and the Apostle Paul had
already given instruction concerning the character and position of bishops in his first