The Letters of Ignatius · §1.7 · Ignatius of Antioch

False teachers as rabid dogs; the one physician Jesus Christ

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

Ignatius is warning the Ephesian church about false teachers who carry the name of Christ while acting unworthily, and then he confesses the paradoxical identity of Jesus Christ.

Some people, you see, have made a habit of carrying the name around with evil deceit while doing other things unworthy of God. You must shun them as you would wild beasts, for they are mad dogs that bite when you are not looking. Guard yourselves against them, because they are hard to heal.

There is one physician, both flesh and spirit, begotten and unbegotten, God in a human being, true life in death, both from Mary and from God, first subject to suffering and then beyond suffering: Jesus Christ our Lord.

Greek

Εἰώθασιν γάρ τινες δόλῳ πονηρῷ τὸ ὄνομα περιφέρειν, ἄλλα τινὰ πράσσοντες ἀνάξια θεοῦ: οὕς δεῖ ὑμᾶς ὡς θηρία ἐκκλίνειν: εἰσὶν γὰρ κύνες λυσσῶντες, λαθροδῆκται: οὓς δεῖ ὑμᾶς φυλάσσεσθαι ὄντας δυσθεραπεύτους.

εἷς ἰατρός ἐστιν, σαρκικός τε καὶ πνευματικός, γεννητὸς καὶ ἀγέννητος, ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ θεός, ἐν θανάτῳ ζωὴ ἀληθινή, καὶ ἐκ Μαρίας καὶ ἐκ θεοῦ, πρῶτον παθητὸς καὶ τότε ἀπαθής. Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν.

About this text

The seven letters Ignatius of Antioch wrote on his way to martyrdom in Rome, urging each church to stand united with its bishop.

Ignatius of Antioch (d. c. 110) was the bishop of Antioch in Syria. He wrote these letters while being taken under guard from Syria to Rome, where he expected to be executed for his Christian faith during the reign of Emperor Trajan.

The letters were written in great haste, modelled after the biblical epistles of Paul, Peter, and John. Ignatius wrote to the churches in Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, and Rome from Smyrna, and to Philadelphia, Smyrna, and Polycarp the bishop of Smyrna from Troas. In them he urges each church to unite around its bishop, the council of elders, and the deacons as the visible order willed by God. He warns against teachers who deny the real flesh, suffering, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and against any return to Judaism.

A reader will meet bishops such as Onesimus of Ephesus, Damas of Magnesia, Polybius of Tralles, and Polycarp of Smyrna, along with deacons and companions who visited Ignatius. , and he reports words of the Spirit. He presents his own coming death by wild beasts as the completion of his discipleship.

New English from the Greek base text; no published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from Ignatius of Antioch The Apostolic Fathers Kirsopp Lake Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press London William Heinemann 1912 1 Loeb Classical Library (Greek)

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.