Other ancient texts · Early Christian writings
Ignatius to the Trallians
A short letter from Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, written while he was being taken under guard to Rome to be executed. It was sent to the church at Tralles in Asia Minor. He urges the Christians there to stay united under their bishop, elders and deacons, and he insists that Jesus was truly born, truly suffered and truly rose. Readers turn to it as one of the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament and as a window on the church just after the apostles.
- about AD 110
- Greek
- Protestant Catholic Orthodox Ethiopian
Should it be in the Bible?
The case for
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It is a very early and widely trusted witness to what the church believed in the generation after the apostles.
The evidence
Polycarp of Smyrna (Philippians 13) speaks of collecting and passing on Ignatius' letters within a few years of his death. Eusebius (Church History 3.36) names the letter to the Trallians among the seven genuine letters.
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Its teaching about Christ matches the New Testament closely.
The evidence
Trallians 9 says Jesus was 'truly born, ate and drank, was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate, was truly crucified and died… was truly raised.' This lines up with 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Timothy 6:13 and 1 John 4:2–3 against people who said Christ only seemed to have a body.
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Most scholars defend the letter's genuineness after careful study.
The evidence
Theodor Zahn (1873) and J. B. Lightfoot (1885) showed that the seven-letter 'middle' form is authentic and older than the expanded and abridged forms. Most specialists since then, including William Schoedel (1985), have agreed.
The case against
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No church has ever placed it in its Bible, and its author did not claim scripture-level authority.
The evidence
It is missing from every known canon list, including the Muratorian fragment, Athanasius (367), Hippo and Carthage, and the Ethiopian canon. In Trallians 3.3 Ignatius himself says he will not give orders 'as if I were an apostle.'
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Its stress on a single bishop goes beyond what the New Testament clearly describes.
The evidence
Trallians 2–3 say the church should obey the bishop as it obeys Jesus Christ, and that 'without these [bishop, elders, deacons] no group can be called a church.' The New Testament often uses 'overseer' and 'elder' for the same office (Titus 1:5–7; Acts 20:17, 28).
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Its text has a tangled history, which calls for caution.
The evidence
In the 4th century an expanded version with additions was made, and more letters falsely attributed to Ignatius were added. This is why Calvin and other Reformers distrusted the Ignatian letters. A minority of modern scholars still dispute the date or authorship of the seven-letter collection.
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, following Eusebius, says Ignatius wrote it from Smyrna during the reign of Trajan, about AD 105–115, after Polybius, bishop of Tralles, visited him. Most scholars accept it as genuine and date it to about 110. A minority (for example Hübner, Lechner and Vinzent) argue that it was written or reshaped later, around 140–170.
Jesus, the New Testament and this book
- Trallians 9–10 opposes the idea that Christ only seemed to suffer, much as 1 John 4:2–3 and 2 John 7 oppose those who deny Christ came in the flesh. (strong link)
- 'Persecuted under Pontius Pilate' (Trallians 9) echoes the wording of 1 Timothy 6:13 and early creeds. (likely link)
- 'The Father will likewise raise us who believe in him' (Trallians 9.2) echoes 2 Corinthians 4:14 and 1 Corinthians 6:14. (likely link)
- 'Lest I be found disqualified' (Trallians 12.3) uses Paul's wording in 1 Corinthians 9:27. (likely link)
- Holding back deep teaching because the readers are 'infants' (Trallians 5.1) echoes 1 Corinthians 3:1–2. (likely link)
- Calling deacons servants of 'the mysteries of Jesus Christ,' not of food and drink (Trallians 2.3), echoes 1 Corinthians 4:1 and Acts 6:2. (possible link)
- False teachers are not 'the Father's planting' (Trallians 11.1), which recalls Jesus' saying in Matthew 15:13. (possible link)
- Beings 'in heaven, on earth and under the earth' (Trallians 9.1) echoes Philippians 2:10. (possible link)
How it came down to us
The original Greek text comes mainly from one 11th-century manuscript, the Codex Mediceus Laurentianus 57.7 in Florence. It is supported by a medieval Latin translation (found by James Ussher in 1644), by Armenian and Arabic versions, and by Syriac fragments. An expanded 4th-century Greek and Latin version, with added passages, was copied much more widely in the Middle Ages. The short Syriac abridgment published by Cureton in 1845 does not include Trallians. Greek and Eastern churches kept copying the letter as a writing of a revered martyr, not as scripture.
- Greek text of the middle recension (Codex Mediceus Laurentianus 57.7) and the ancient Latin, Armenian and Syriac versions
- Polycarp, Letter to the Philippians 13
- Eusebius, Church History 3.36
- Ancient canon lists: Muratorian fragment, Athanasius' Festal Letter 39, Councils of Hippo and Carthage
- J. B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers, Part II: Ignatius and Polycarp (1885); Theodor Zahn, Ignatius von Antiochien (1873)
- William R. Schoedel, Ignatius of Antioch (Hermeneia, 1985); Michael Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers (2007)
- Modern minority-dating studies (R. Hübner, T. Lechner, M. Vinzent)
- Calvin, Institutes 1.13.29 on the expanded Ignatian letters