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Course 11 · Lesson 2.2

The bishop in the early church: Clement, Ignatius and Irenaeus

12 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 11 outline

Module 1: What the Church Is

  1. Biblical images of the church: body, people, temple and bride
  2. One, holy, catholic and apostolic: the four marks
  3. The mission of the church
  4. The visible and invisible church in Augustine, the Reformers and the East

Module 2: Ministry and Apostolic Succession

  1. Ministry in the New Testament: apostles, elders, overseers and deacons
  2. The bishop in the early church: Clement, Ignatius and Irenaeus
  3. Apostolic succession: three meanings (a line of bishops, the teaching, the mission)
  4. Ordination in the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions

Module 3: Scripture, Tradition and Church Authority

  1. Scripture and tradition in the early church
  2. The Catholic account: Scripture, tradition and the magisterium
  3. The Orthodox account: the living tradition of the church
  4. The Reformation and the question of sola scriptura

Module 4: Three Systems of Authority

  1. The bishop of Rome in early history
  2. Papal primacy and infallibility in Catholic teaching
  3. Orthodox conciliarity and the role of the patriarchs
  4. Protestant principles of authority: Scripture, confessions and the priesthood of believers
  5. The strongest objections each tradition raises against the others

Module 5: Sacramental Theology

  1. Mystery and sacrament: the words and their history
  2. Augustine and the definition of a sacrament
  3. How many sacraments? Seven, two, or none
  4. Validity, efficacy and the role of faith

Module 6: Baptism and the Eucharist

  1. Baptism in Scripture and the early church
  2. Infant baptism and believers baptism
  3. The Eucharist in the early church
  4. Real presence: transubstantiation, the Orthodox mystery, Lutheran, Reformed and memorial views

Module 7: Reconciliation and Liturgical Worship

  1. The forgiveness of sins in Scripture
  2. Confession and penance in the history of the church
  3. Confession across the traditions: Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and Reformed practice
  4. Liturgy, word and table, and the church year
  5. Worship without a fixed liturgy and its principles

Module 8: Schism and Christian Unity

  1. Early schisms: the Donatists and the churches after Chalcedon
  2. East and West: the long division and the events of 1054
  3. The Reformation divisions
  4. Ecumenism and the prospects for unity

All courses

Program / Course 11: Church, Sacraments, and Authority / Lesson 2.2

What you will learn

  • Describe what First Clement, the letters of Ignatius and Irenaeus say about church leadership.
  • Explain how a single bishop at the head of a council of presbyters appears in the sources.
  • Identify what each writer does and does not claim.
  • Compare how Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant readers use these writers.

The big idea

Three early writers show how church leadership was understood after the apostles. Clement of Rome, writing around the end of the first century, defends the ministers of Corinth and says the apostles arranged for their succession. Ignatius of Antioch, in the early second century, urges each church to gather around its bishop, with presbyters and deacons. Irenaeus, late in the second century, points to lists of bishops as evidence that the churches teach what the apostles taught. Each source is valuable and each has limits.

Key terms

Apostolic Fathers
A modern name for a group of early Christian writings from roughly the late first to mid second century, including 1 Clement and the letters of Ignatius.
Monepiscopate
A pattern of church leadership in which a single bishop heads each local church, assisted by presbyters and deacons.
Presbytery
The council of elders (presbyters) in a local church.
Succession list
A list of bishops of one church, in order, tracing back to an apostle.
Rule of faith
A short summary of the apostolic teaching that early churches used as a measure of right belief.
Gnostics
A varied set of movements in the second century that claimed secret knowledge. Irenaeus argued against several of them.

Background

After the apostles, churches needed ways to stay together and to identify true teaching. The evidence for how they did it is partial. A few surviving letters and treatises show leaders speaking about their own situations. A reader must be careful not to read them as complete descriptions of church order everywhere. Churches in Rome, Corinth, Antioch, Asia Minor and Gaul may not have been organized in the same way at the same time.

Even so, the three writers studied here give a valuable line of evidence. Clement writes from Rome, Ignatius writes as he travels as a prisoner from Antioch to Rome, and Irenaeus writes in Lyons, in Gaul, after having known the church in Asia Minor. Taken together they show a shift from groups of leaders to a single bishop who is a center of unity, and an appeal to the apostolic line as a guard against error.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Clement of Rome

First Clement is a letter from the church of Rome to the church of Corinth, traditionally dated around AD 96, although the date is debated. The letter itself does not name its author. Later tradition attributes it to Clement, a leader of the Roman church. The Corinthians had removed some of their presbyters, and the letter urges them to restore order.

Clement argues that Christ was sent by God, the apostles by Christ, and that the apostles appointed their first converts as bishops and deacons and arranged that other approved men should succeed them (1 Clement 42 to 44). The terms bishop and presbyter appear to describe the same people. The letter has no single bishop of Corinth in view. Catholic and Orthodox readers see in Clement an early statement of apostolic succession. Many Protestant scholars note that his concern is order and succession of ministers, and that he does not describe a monarchical bishop. Both observations can be correct.

Step 2: Ignatius of Antioch

Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, wrote seven letters on his way to Rome, where he expected to be put to death. The traditional date is around AD 107 to 110, although some scholars propose later dates. The letters are addressed to churches in Asia Minor and to Rome, and one to Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna.

Ignatius is the clearest early voice for a single bishop with presbyters and deacons. He writes that the church should follow the bishop as Jesus Christ followed the Father, that the presbyters should be treated like the apostolic council, and that no one should do anything of the church’s business without the bishop (Smyrnaeans 8; Magnesians 6). He also links the Eucharist to the bishop: it is valid when celebrated by the bishop or by someone he appoints. He describes the gathered church as the place of Christ’s presence and uses the phrase the catholic church (Smyrnaeans 8).

Two cautions apply. First, Ignatius does not appeal to a line of successors from the apostles in his letters. His case is about the bishop as a center of unity in the church, as a living image of the Father. Second, his letter to the Romans does not speak of a bishop of Rome. Scholars debate what that silence means, and Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant scholars read it differently.

Step 3: Irenaeus of Lyons

Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons in the late second century, wrote Against Heresies to answer Gnostic teachers. They claimed secret traditions from the apostles. Irenaeus replied that the apostles’ teaching is public, that it is preserved in the churches that the apostles founded, and that one can trace the bishops in those churches (Against Heresies 3.3). He gives the list of the bishops of Rome from Peter and Paul to his own time, and he names Polycarp of Smyrna, who he says had been taught by apostles.

For Irenaeus, succession is evidence, not magic. The argument is that the churches in many places hold the same faith, and that this agreement comes from the apostles through those who followed. He adds that the teaching of the apostles is also found in Scripture, and that the churches together hold the rule of faith. Reading Irenaeus fairly means keeping all three together: Scripture, the teaching in the churches, and the line of bishops.

Step 4: What the three sources show together

By the end of the second century many churches had a single bishop, and the argument from succession was in use. How this came about is debated. One view is that a single leader gradually emerged from among the presbyters. Another is that apostolic delegates left a single leader in some churches from the start. A third view is that both happened in different places. The sources do not decide the question.

What they do show is that the bishop was understood as a center of the unity of a local church, that the Eucharist was celebrated under his oversight, and that the connection with the apostles was seen as a protection of the faith. These findings are accepted across traditions. The interpretation of their authority is where the traditions differ.

  1. What problem is each writer trying to solve?
  2. How does the writer describe the relation of bishop, presbyters and deacons?
  3. Does the writer appeal to succession, to unity, or to both?
  4. What does the writer say about the Eucharist and about baptism?
  5. What does the writer not say that later readers sometimes assume?
  6. How reliable is the date and authorship of this text, and how is that known?

Examples

A dispute in Corinth

Clement’s letter responds to a problem: some in Corinth had removed leaders who had served blamelessly. Clement does not base his case on the pope’s power. He argues from Scripture, from the example of Christ and the apostles, and from the principle of order. The case shows how the Roman church intervened in another church’s quarrel.

Ignatius on the Eucharist

Ignatius says that the Eucharist is the flesh of the Savior Jesus Christ and urges that it be held under the bishop or someone he authorizes (Smyrnaeans 6 to 8). This is one of the earliest explicit links between the Eucharist and the bishop’s oversight, and it is used in both Catholic and Orthodox explanations of ministry.

Irenaeus and the succession list

When Gnostic teachers claim a hidden apostolic tradition, Irenaeus replies by pointing to the open chain of bishops in churches such as Rome. His point is not that the names themselves prove the doctrine, but that churches with a known line from the apostles offer a public and checkable witness against secret teaching. (This is a summary of his argument in Against Heresies 3.3.)

Different perspectives

Catholic

Catholic writers read these sources as evidence that the apostles handed on their office to bishops, that the bishop was a center of unity, and that the church of Rome had a special standing. The Catechism and the Second Vatican Council appeal to Clement, Ignatius and Irenaeus. Catholic scholars also admit that the sources show development in the form of the ministry.

Orthodox

Orthodox theology treats Ignatius as a key witness to the eucharistic community around the bishop. The bishop in each place is a sign of the unity of the church, and all bishops share one episcopate. Orthodox writers use Irenaeus for the continuity of the faith, and they generally do not draw from him a claim of Roman jurisdiction.

Protestant

Protestants read these writers with respect, while holding that they are subordinate to Scripture. Anglicans point to Ignatius and Irenaeus as support for the historic episcopate. Presbyterians and others note that Clement and Irenaeus use bishop and presbyter in overlapping ways. Many Protestants stress that Irenaeus appeals to Scripture as well as to succession.

Scholarly view

Scholars of all traditions treat these texts as the main evidence for second-century church order. They disagree on dating, on how widespread the single bishop was before Ignatius, and on whether Ignatius describes an existing reality or an ideal he is advocating. Some argue that the Ignatian letters were revised later, though most accept the seven letters as authentic.

Why it matters

Claims about bishops and succession are often made in the name of the early church. Reading Clement, Ignatius and Irenaeus directly lets a student see what these writers actually say, which is often more modest and more interesting than the slogans built on them. It also shows that Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants are each reading real evidence, even when they reach different conclusions.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: Clement of Rome was the pope who wrote to rule the Corinthians.

Correction: The letter was sent in the name of the church of Rome and does not name its author. Later tradition attributes it to Clement. Whether it shows a claim of universal authority is a matter on which Catholic and non-Catholic scholars differ.

Misunderstanding: Ignatius proves that bishops were in every church by AD 110.

Correction: Ignatius shows a single bishop in the churches of western Asia Minor and Antioch. Whether this was true elsewhere, including Rome, is less clear from his letters.

Misunderstanding: Irenaeus appealed only to bishops and not to Scripture.

Correction: In Against Heresies he appeals to Scripture, to the rule of faith, and to the succession of bishops. Reading just one of these gives a false picture.

Misunderstanding: Succession lists are an invention of the later church.

Correction: Irenaeus uses a list in the late second century, and Hegesippus is said by Eusebius to have compiled lists earlier. Historians debate the reliability of the earliest names, especially in Rome.

Knowledge check

What was the occasion for 1 Clement, and what does the letter say about succession?

The Corinthian church had removed some presbyters. Clement urges them to restore order and argues that the apostles appointed ministers and arranged for approved men to succeed them. The letter is sent in the name of the Roman church and does not name its author.

What does Ignatius say about the bishop, presbyters and deacons?

He urges the churches to be united under a single bishop, with the presbyters and deacons assisting, and ties the Eucharist to the bishop’s authorization. He wrote seven letters on the way to Rome, probably in the early second century.

How does Irenaeus use bishop lists against the Gnostics?

He argues that churches founded by apostles can show an open line of bishops and a shared teaching, unlike Gnostic claims to secret tradition. He names the bishops of Rome as an example and appeals also to Scripture and the rule of faith.

Name one point on which scholars of different traditions agree about these writers, and one on which they disagree.

They agree that Ignatius shows a single bishop in his churches and that Irenaeus uses succession as evidence. They disagree about how widespread the single bishop was before Ignatius, about the date of the letters, and about what the sources imply about Rome.

Think it through

  1. What is the difference between treating succession as evidence of true teaching and treating it as a guarantee?
  2. Why might Ignatius’ emphasis on unity have mattered to a church in a time of persecution?
  3. How does knowing the occasion of a text change how it should be read?
  4. What would you need to know to decide whether Ignatius describes the actual situation or an ideal?

Independent assignment

Three early witnesses

In your notebook, read 1 Clement 40 to 44, Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans 6 to 8 and Irenaeus Against Heresies 3.1 to 3.4. For each, write three sentences: what the author says, what problem he faces, and what he does not say. Then write 250 to 350 words on how a Catholic, an Orthodox and a Protestant might each use these three sources, and where each would need to add something beyond what the source says. Keep the work in your notebook.

Further study