What Justification? Pauline Reception and the Interpretation of Phld. 8.2

Author:

Lookadoo Jonathon1ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Liberal Arts Department, Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary, Seoul 04965, Republic of Korea

Abstract

While studies of how Paul and the Pauline letters were received in early Christianity continue to appear at an ever-quickening rate, there are still corners of early Christian literature that remain underexplored with regard to Pauline reception. The letters of Ignatius of Antioch would not usually be included in the underexplored category, but this article argues that one statement within Ignatius’s letters is deserving of more careful attention vis-à-vis its relationship to Pauline themes and terminology. After showing that interpretations of Ignatius’s Philadelphians (Phld.) 8.2 have typically run along two opposing tracks, the article argues that both ways of interpreting Ignatius’s letter fail to do justice to his rhetoric in the letter. The article proposes an alternative way of reading Ignatius’s justification language in Phld. 8.2. Whereas Paul wrote about justification before God, Ignatius desires to be proven right in the eyes of his Philadelphian readers, with whom he has had a dispute. The article concludes by offering ways to account for the different meanings evidenced in the letters of Ignatius and Paul while also endeavouring to explain the purpose for which Ignatius employs terminology that is similar to that of Paul. In the final clause of Phld. 8.2, Pauline terminology provides Ignatius not with his doctrinal substance but rather with authoritative rhetoric that evokes the Apostle.

Funder

Research Fund of the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary

Publisher

MDPI AG

Reference124 articles.

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3. Batovici, Dan, and de Troyer, Kristin (2017). Authoritative Texts and Reception History: Aspects and Approaches, Brill. BIS 151.

4. Bauer, Thomas-Johann, and von Möllendorff, Peter (2018). Die Briefe des Ignatios von Antiochia: Motive, Strategien, Kontexte, De Gruyter. Millennium-Studien 72.

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