Other ancient texts · Early Christian writings
Ignatius to the Romans
Ignatius to the Romans is a short letter by Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, written while soldiers were taking him to Rome to be killed by wild beasts. He begs the Christians in Rome not to step in and save him. People read it as one of the earliest and most personal Christian writings outside the New Testament, and as an early witness to how Christians thought about martyrdom, the Eucharist, Christ and the church in Rome.
- about AD 110
- Greek
- Protestant Catholic Orthodox Ethiopian
Should it be in the Bible?
The case for
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It is one of the oldest Christian writings outside the New Testament, by a church leader who may have overlapped with the apostles' own generation.
The evidence
Most scholars date it to about 105–135. Polycarp of Smyrna, who wrote at about the same time, collected and sent on Ignatius' letters (Polycarp, Philippians 13). Later writers such as John Chrysostom describe Ignatius as a bishop who had known the apostles.
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Early Christian teachers knew it, quoted it and valued it.
The evidence
Irenaeus (about 180) quotes its line 'I am the wheat of God, ground by the teeth of wild beasts' (Against Heresies 5.28.4). Origen quotes 'my love has been crucified' (7:2), and Eusebius copies out most of chapter 5 in his Church History (3.36).
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Its teaching fits the New Testament closely and is steeped in Paul's letters.
The evidence
It calls Jesus 'our God' (opening greeting) and speaks of the Eucharist as 'the flesh of Jesus Christ' and his blood (7:3; compare John 6). It echoes Paul's words about himself as 'an untimely birth' and the least of the apostles (9:2; 1 Corinthians 15:8–9). It is also an early independent witness that Peter and Paul taught the Roman church (4:3).
The case against
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No church ever treated it as scripture, and the letter itself says it does not carry an apostle's authority.
The evidence
It appears in no canon list: not the Muratorian fragment, not Athanasius in 367, not Hippo or Carthage, not Trent, not the Ethiopian church. It is not in the great Bible codices that do include other early writings, such as Sinaiticus with Barnabas and Hermas. Ignatius writes, 'I do not command you as Peter and Paul did; they were apostles, I am a convict' (4:3).
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The Ignatian letters come down to us in a tangled text, and forgers added to them, so some doubt remains about what is genuine.
The evidence
There are three versions: a short Syriac one with three letters, a 'middle' Greek one with seven, and a 'long' one with thirteen that was expanded in the 4th century. Scholars largely accept the middle version, but a minority argue that even this is a 2nd-century forgery. The Greek of Romans itself survives mainly inside later accounts of his martyrdom, which contain legend.
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Its eagerness for martyrdom goes beyond what the New Testament teaches and what the later church approved.
The evidence
Ignatius tells the Romans to let him be food for the beasts and says he will urge the animals on if they hold back (4:1–2, 5:2). The Martyrdom of Polycarp (chapter 4), written a little later, warns against Christians handing themselves over. Writers such as Clement of Alexandria also discouraged seeking out death.
Both sides are written as strongly as the honest evidence allows, so you can decide for yourself. Researched by claude-opus-5-5.
When, where and by whom
Tradition and most scholars hold that Ignatius wrote it from Smyrna (modern İzmir) under the emperor Trajan, about AD 107–110. The letter dates itself to 24 August (10:3). Most scholars accept the seven-letter collection it belongs to as genuine, though some date it to the 120s–140s, and a minority (e.g. R. Hübner, T. Lechner) argue it is a later forgery written in Ignatius' name.
Jesus, the New Testament and this book
- The line 'What use is it to me to gain the whole world?' (6:1) echoes Jesus' saying in Matthew 16:26 and Mark 8:36. (strong link)
- Calling himself 'the least' and 'an untimely birth' (9:2) borrows Paul's description of himself in 1 Corinthians 15:8–9. (strong link)
- 'I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ… and for drink his blood' (7:3) shares the language of John 6:33, 51–56. (likely link)
- The wish to be 'poured out as a libation' while an altar is ready (2:2) echoes Paul in Philippians 2:17 and 2 Timothy 4:6. (likely link)
- 'I am not thereby justified' (5:1) echoes Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 4:4. (likely link)
- 'Nothing visible is good' (3:3) recalls 2 Corinthians 4:18 on the seen and the unseen. (possible link)
- Mentioning Peter and Paul as having given orders to the Romans (4:3) matches the early tradition that both apostles worked in Rome, and adds early evidence for it outside the New Testament (compare 1 Clement 5). (likely link)
How it came down to us
Unusually, Romans is missing from the main 11th-century Greek manuscript of the seven letters (Codex Mediceus Laurentianus 57.7). Its Greek text survives mainly inside accounts of Ignatius' martyrdom, above all the 'Colbertine' martyrdom in a Paris manuscript from the 10th or 11th century. Eusebius' 4th-century quotation of chapter 5 is an older witness. It was also copied in Syriac (including the short three-letter version, published by Cureton in 1845 from manuscripts found in the Egyptian desert), Armenian, Latin, Coptic and Arabic. Greek-speaking churches kept copying it, as did Syriac, Armenian and Latin ones. In the 1600s and 1800s scholars such as Ussher, Voss, Zahn and Lightfoot sorted the genuine letters from the expanded versions.
- Greek text of Ignatius, Romans (middle recension), in standard Apostolic Fathers editions (Lightfoot; Holmes; Ehrman, Loeb)
- Martyrium Colbertinum and other Greek martyrdom accounts that carry the letter
- Syriac short recension (Cureton 1845) and the Armenian, Latin and Coptic versions
- Polycarp, Letter to the Philippians 13
- Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.28.4
- Origen, Prologue to the Commentary on the Song of Songs
- Eusebius, Church History 3.36 and Chronicle
- Martyrdom of Polycarp 4
- Canon lists: Muratorian fragment, Athanasius' Festal Letter 39 (367), Councils of Hippo and Carthage, Council of Trent
- Modern scholarship on authenticity and dating (J. B. Lightfoot, T. Zahn, W. R. Schoedel; R. Hübner and T. Lechner for the minority late-forgery view; T. D. Barnes on a later date)