Section CLXX

When these things are compared with one another, there is more than one thing which we clearly attain. For at the outset a) we attain that the benefits which accompany our reparation proceeding from love are extraordinary. For the death of Christ was not in vain, but overthrew the devil with his army, saved us from the power of darkness, absolved us from the servitude of sin, and called us, rescued from the darkness of death, back into the light of life.

Then b) we attain that the reparation procured by the merits of Christ is affirmed to be universal by a twofold kind of propositions: and 1) is affirmed to be universal by express propositions by which the blood of Christ is declared to have been poured out for all and for the world; but then 2) is affirmed to be universal by propositions equivalent in force, by which it is taught that Christ died for the dead, that he might impart immortality to them; that, beneficent, he underwent insults for the impious; that he expired upon the cross for sinners; that he restored our terrestrial nature; and that he was the author by whom our enmity with the Father was reconciled.

Finally, c) we attain that the formulas by which Christ is said to have been crucified for us or for all and for the salvation of the world differ indeed in words but agree in power of signification. For James uses these formulas indiscriminately and shows that he uses the pronoun us to indicate the common nature by which we are all men, not a peculiar assembly of the faithful.

And this manner of speaking, which could easily be noticed in other testimonies of the Fathers as well, is not infrequent in Ignatius, the disciple of John¹, the fellow disciple of Polycarp, and among the apostolic men second to none in sanctity and splendor of glory. For before all else he establishes that there is one physician of men, and what kind he is he declares in these words—

—²:

Εἷς ἰατρός ἐστιν, σαρκικός τε καὶ πνευματικός, γενητὸς καὶ ἀγένητος, ἐν σαρκὶ γενόμενος Θεός, ἐν θανάτῳ ζωὴ ἀληθινή, καὶ ἐκ Μαρίας καὶ ἐκ Θεοῦ, πρῶτον παθητὸς καὶ τότε ἀπαθής, Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν. But there is one Physician, both carnal and spiritual, made³ and not made, God existing in man, true life in death, both from Mary and from God, first passible and then⁴ impassible, Jesus Christ our Lord.

With these agree the following⁵:

Τὸν ὑπὲρ καιρὸν προσδόκα, τὸν ἄχρονον, τὸν ἀόρατον, τὸν δι’ ἡμᾶς ὁρατόν, τὸν ἀψηλάφητον, τὸν ἀπαθῆ, τὸν δι’ ἡμᾶς παθητόν, τὸν κατὰ πάντα τρόπον δι’ ἡμᾶς ὑπομείναντα. Await him who is beyond time, the intemporal, the invisible who for us became visible, the impalpable, the impassible who for us became passible, who in every manner endured for us.

Having established the unity of the Physician and declared the infinite nobility of the Repairer, when treating of the price paid for reparation he calls it the passion of God, the blood of God, and the divinely blessed passion. He uses the first designation when, addressing the Romans⁶, he says: Ἐπιτρέψατέ μοι μιμητὴν εἶναι τοῦ πάθους τοῦ Θεοῦ μου. “Permit me to be an imitator of the passion of my God.” To the second pertain these things with which he commends the Ephesians⁷: Μιμηταὶ ὄντες Θεοῦ, ἀναζωπυρήσαντες ἐν αἵματι Θεοῦ, τὸ συγγενικὸν ἔργον τελείως ἀπηρτίσατε. “Since you are imitators of God, recalled to life⁸ through the blood of God, you have perfectly completed the work of brotherhood.” But concerning the last designation nothing is clearer—

—than these words by which he extols the benefits of the cross⁹:

Ἀφ’ οὗ καρποῦ ἡμεῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ θεομακαρίστου αὐτοῦ πάθους, ἵνα ἄρῃ σύσσημον εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας διὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους καὶ πιστοὺς αὐτοῦ, εἴτε ἐν Ἰουδαίοις, εἴτε ἐν ἔθνεσιν, ἐν ἑνὶ σώματι τῆς ἐκκλησίας αὐτοῦ. From this fruit¹⁰ we are through his divinely blessed passion, so that¹¹ through his resurrection he might raise a standard unto the ages for his saints and faithful, whether among the Jews or among the Gentiles, in the one body of his Church.

But who are those for whom the heavenly Physician and divine Repairer offered so great and so signal a price? Ignatius hands this down when he prays for himself¹² “that through martyrdom he may be able to become μαθητὴς εἶναι τοῦ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἑαυτὸν ἀνενεγκότος Θεῷ προσφορὰν καὶ θυσίαν, a disciple of him who offered himself to God for us as an oblation and sacrifice.” And he hands it down again when he presents Christ¹³ as ἀληθῶς ἐπὶ Ποντίου Πιλάτου καὶ Ἡρώδου τετράρχου καθηλωμένον ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐν σαρκί, “truly fixed with nails for us in the flesh under Pontius Pilate and Herod the tetrarch.”

Therefore, it is we whom Christ repaired, and ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, for us, he underwent divine death and the divine passion. But it can be doubted how far the signification of the pronoun we extends and whether absolutely all men, or only some of them, are designated by it. But Ignatius cuts off the doubt in more than one way. For a) he cuts it off when he calls Christ, together with the Gospel, the common hope. “But let us also love the prophets,” he says¹⁴, “because they too announced the Gospel, hoped in Christ, and awaited him; through whom also, believing, they attained salvation, united to Jesus Christ; since they were holy, worthy of love and admiration, having received testimony from Jesus Christ—”

“—καὶ συνηριθμημένοι ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ τῆς κοινῆς ἐλπίδος, and numbered together in the Gospel of the common hope.”

Hence, concluding both the epistle to the Philadelphians and the letter to the Ephesians with an altogether similar form of speech, in the former he has thus¹⁵: ἐρρῶσθε ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, τῇ κοινῇ ἐλπίδι ἡμῶν, “Farewell in Christ Jesus, our common hope”; but in the latter he writes¹⁶: ἐρρῶσθε ἐν Θεῷ Πατρὶ καὶ ἐν Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ, τῇ κοινῇ ἐλπίδι ἡμῶν, “Farewell in God the Father and in Jesus Christ, our common hope.”

Again, b) he cuts off the doubt when he testifies that all things were restored through Christ¹⁷, writing:

Ὅθεν ἐλύετο πᾶσα μαγεία, καὶ πᾶς δεσμὸς ἠφανίζετο κακίας· ἄγνοια καθῃρεῖτο, παλαιὰ βασιλεία διεφθείρετο, Θεοῦ ἀνθρωπίνως φανερουμένου εἰς καινότητα ἀϊδίου ζωῆς. ἀρχὴν δὲ ἐλάμβανεν τὸ παρὰ Θεῷ ἀπηρτισμένον. ἔνθεν τὰ πάντα συνεκινεῖτο, διὰ τὸ μελετᾶσθαι θανάτου κατάλυσιν. Hence all magic was dissolved, every bond of wickedness was abolished, ignorance was destroyed, the ancient kingdom was overthrown, God being manifested in human wise unto newness of eternal life. But that which had been prepared with God from the beginning¹⁸ now took its beginning. Hence¹⁹ all things were moved, because he was preparing the abolition of death.

To cut off the same doubt, c) there contributes the fact that he writes that prayer ought therefore to be made for all men, because the hope of salvation shines upon all. Behold the very words of Ignatius²⁰: Καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἄλλων δὲ ἀνθρώπων ἀδιαλείπτως προσεύχεσθε. ἔστιν γὰρ ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐλπὶς μετανοίας, ἵνα Θεοῦ τύχωσιν. “But pray unceasingly also for other men. For in them there is hope of penance, that they may attain God.”

Nor d) does he cut it off less by numbering even heretics and those who deny the truth of Christ among those for whom prayers ought to be poured forth to God.—

“I forewarn you,” he thus says to the Smyrnaeans²¹, “against beasts clothed with human appearance, whom you ought not only not to receive, but, if it is possible, not even to meet; μόνον δὲ προσεύχεσθαι ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν, ἐὰν πως μετανοήσωσιν, ὅπερ δύσκολον. τούτου δὲ ἔχει ἐξουσίαν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, τὸ ἀληθινὸν ἡμῶν ζῆν, but only to pray for them, whether somehow they may do penance, which is exceedingly difficult. But Jesus Christ, who is our true life, has the power of this.” And concerning the same persons he adds a little below²²:

Τὰ δὲ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν, ὄντα ἄπιστα, οὐκ ἔδοξέ μοι ἐγγράψαι. ἀλλὰ μηδὲ γένοιτό μοι αὐτῶν μνημονεύειν, μέχρις οὗ μετανοήσωσιν εἰς τὸ πάθος, ὅ ἐστιν ἡμῶν ἀνάστασις. But their names, since they are unbelieving, it did not seem good to me to write. And far be it from me to make mention of them until²³ they return to the passion of Christ, which is our resurrection.