Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp & others · a new plain-English translation from the original language
So understand, children of gladness, that the good Lord made everything plain to us beforehand, so that we might know the one to whom, giving thanks for everything, we owe our praise. If, then, the Son of God — Lord, and destined to judge both the living and the dead — truly suffered so that his wound might make us alive, let us hold this conviction: only for our sake was it possible for God's Son to suffer at all. But moreover, when crucified, he was given vinegar and gall to drink. Listen how the priests of the temple made this plain beforehand. There is a commandment written: Whoever does not keep this fast shall be utterly destroyed by death. The Lord gave this order because he himself was about to offer up the vessel of his spirit as a sacrifice for our sins, so that the type given in the case of Isaac, who was offered upon the altar, might be fulfilled. What does the prophet say on this point? Only that goat offered during the fast may be eaten, as payment covering every sin. Give this close attention: only the priests may eat its entrails, left unwashed, soaked in vinegar. Why? Because I, about to give up this body on behalf of the sins belonging to my newly gathered people, will have vinegar mixed with gall poured out for me to drink — for that reason you priests eat alone, while everyone else fasts and strikes their chests, clothed in sackcloth and ashes — a picture showing that he was destined to suffer at their own hands. Notice the command given here: bring two goats, matched and unblemished, present them both, and have the priest select one of the pair to be wholly burned as an offering for sin. But what shall they do with the other one? Let it be accursed, he says. See how the figure of Jesus is revealed at this point: all of you are to spit on it, stab it, wrap scarlet wool about its head, and afterward chase it out into the desert. And when this is done, the one who carries the goat leads it into the wilderness and removes the wool and lays it on a thorn-bush called rachel, whose shoots we are accustomed to eat when we find them in the countryside — of all bushes only the rachel bears sweet fruit. What then does this mean? Pay attention: one goat is for the altar, but the other is accursed — and note that the accursed one is crowned! Because they will see him on that day wearing the long robe down to his feet, with the scarlet cloth about his body, and they will say: Is this not the one we once crucified, despising him, piercing him, and spitting on him? Truly this was the one who then said he was the Son of God. For how is he like that other goat? For this reason the goats were alike, fine, equal, so that when they see him coming then, they will be struck with astonishment at his likeness to the goat. There, then, is the figure pointing toward the Jesus destined to suffer. Why, though, is the wool placed among the thorn branches? Because this pictures Jesus placed before his church: anyone hoping to seize that scarlet wool must endure much hardship first, since the bramble is a fearsome thing, and mastering it demands pushing through affliction. So too, he says, those who wish to see me and take hold of my kingdom must lay hold of me through affliction and suffering.
But what type do you think it is, that Israel was commanded to offer a heifer through men in whom sins are complete, and after slaughtering it to burn it, and then children take up the ashes and put them into vessels and tie scarlet wool to a stick of wood (there, once more, is the figure of the cross together with scarlet wool) along with hyssop, and with this sprinkle every one of the people in turn, so their sins might be washed away? Understand how plainly he speaks to you. The heifer represents Jesus; those men, guilty of sin, presenting it for sacrifice are the very ones who led him away to be killed. Then they are men no longer, the glory of sinners no longer. The children who do the sprinkling are those who brought us the good news of the forgiveness of sins and the cleansing of the heart, to whom he gave the authority of the gospel — there are twelve of them, as a witness to the tribes, since there are twelve tribes of Israel — to proclaim it. But why are there three children doing the sprinkling? As a witness to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because these were great before God. And why the wool on the wood? Because the kingdom of Jesus is upon wood, and because those who hope in him will live forever. And why the wool and the hyssop together? Because in his kingdom there will be evil and filthy days, in which we shall be saved — because one who suffers in the flesh is healed by the uncleanness of the hyssop. And for this reason, though these things happened as I have said, to us they are plain, but to those people they are dark, because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord.
For he speaks again about the ears, how he circumcised our heart. The Lord says through the prophet: They obeyed me with the hearing of the ear. And again he says: Those far off will hear with the ear, and will know what I have done. And: Circumcise your hearts, says the Lord. And again he says: Listen, Israel, for thus the Lord your God declares. And again the spirit of the Lord prophesies: Who is it that wishes to live forever? Let him hear with the ear the voice of my servant. And again he says: Listen, heaven, and take heed, earth, since the Lord has uttered these things to serve as testimony. And again he says: Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of this people. And again he says: Children, listen for the voice of one shouting out in the desert. So then he circumcised our hearing, that we, having heard the word, might believe. But even circumcision, in which they trusted, has been abolished, for he said that circumcision was not to be of the flesh — but they went astray, because a wicked angel was misleading them. He says to them: Thus says the Lord your God — here I find a command — Do not sow among thorns; be circumcised to your Lord. And what does he say? Circumcise your hardness of heart, and do not stiffen your neck. Take another instance: Behold, says the Lord, all the nations are uncircumcised in the flesh, but this people is uncircumcised in heart. But you will say: Yet surely the people have been circumcised as a seal. Yet so too is every Syrian, every Arab, and each priest devoted to the idols. Are they, then, also of their covenant? Even the Egyptians practice circumcision. Learn then, children of love, richly about all this: Abraham, the first to give circumcision, circumcised looking forward in the spirit to Jesus, having received the teachings of three letters. For it says: And Abraham circumcised from his household eighteen and three hundred men. What then is the knowledge given to him? Notice that he mentions the eighteen first, and then, after a pause, the three hundred. The eighteen is I — ten, and H — eight: there you have Jesus. And because the cross was destined to hold grace in the letter T, he also mentions the three hundred. So he indicates Jesus in the two letters, and the cross in the one. He who placed within us the implanted gift of his teaching knows this. No one has ever learned a more trustworthy word from me — but I know that you are worthy of it.
As for Moses saying: You shall not eat pig, nor eagle, nor hawk, nor crow, nor any fish that has no scale on itself — he grasped three teachings in his understanding by this. For at the end he tells them in Deuteronomy: And I will establish for this people a covenant made up of my statutes. It follows that God never actually commanded abstaining from these foods — Moses was speaking spiritually. He mentioned the pig for this reason: he is telling you not to join yourself to people of this kind, men resembling pigs — namely, when living amid abundance they forget the Lord, yet once they fall into need they suddenly remember him, exactly as a pig, while feeding, pays its owner no notice, but squeals the moment it is hungry, and once fed again goes quiet. Nor shall you eat the eagle, the hawk, the kite, or the crow: you shall not, he means, attach yourself to or resemble men of this sort, who do not know how to provide their own food by labor and sweat, but seize what belongs to others in their lawlessness, and lie in wait as if walking in innocence, and look about them, whom they may strip through their greed — in the same way these particular birds never gather their own food, but instead perch idly, watching for a chance to feast on flesh belonging to others — a blight owing to their own wickedness. And you shall not eat, he says, the moray eel, nor the octopus, nor the cuttlefish: you shall not, he means, come to resemble by attaching yourself to men of this sort, who are utterly ungodly and already condemned to death — just as these little fish alone, being accursed, swim in the depths, not swimming like the rest, but dwelling in the earth beneath the deep. But you shall not eat the hare either. Why? You shall not become, he means, a corrupter of boys, nor resemble such men, because the hare grows an extra opening each year — for as many years as it lives, it has that many openings. Nor shall you eat the hyena: you shall not, he means, become an adulterer or a seducer, nor resemble such people. Why? Because this animal changes its nature every year, and becomes at one time male, at another female. And he rightly hated the weasel too. You shall not, he means, become like those we hear of, who commit lawlessness with the mouth through uncleanness, nor attach yourself to unclean women who commit lawlessness with the mouth. For this animal conceives through the mouth. So Moses, having grasped three teachings concerning foods, spoke of them thus in the spirit; but those others accepted them, out of the desire of the flesh, as though they concerned actual eating. David likewise grasps the knowledge held in these same three teachings, saying: Blessed is the man who has taken no part in the counsel that ungodly men keep — just as the fish travel through darkness into the depths — and has not stood in the way of sinners, just as those who seem to fear the Lord sin like the pig, and has not sat in the seat of pestilence, just as the birds sit in wait for prey. You now have this teaching fully, even concerning food. Again Moses says: You shall eat everything that parts the hoof and chews the cud. What does he mean? That the one who receives food knows the one who nourishes him, and resting upon him seems to rejoice. He spoke well, having the commandment in view. What then does he mean? Stay close to those who fear the Lord, to those pondering within their own hearts the fine distinctions of the word given to them, to those who speak and keep the Lord's ordinances, to those aware that such pondering is itself a joyful labor, and who chew the Lord's word over again and again. But what is the parting of the hoof? That the righteous man both walks in this world and awaits the holy age to come. See how well Moses legislated. But how could those people have understood or grasped these things? We, however, having rightly understood the commandments, speak of them as the Lord willed. That is why he cut away the covering from both our ears and our hearts, so understanding of these matters would be ours.
Let us also inquire whether the Lord took care to make plain beforehand anything about the water and about the cross. Concerning the water, it is written regarding Israel, how they would not accept the baptism that brings forgiveness of sins, but would build one for themselves instead. For the prophet says: Stand amazed, heaven, and let the earth tremble even further over this, because this people has committed two evil deeds: they have forsaken me, the fountain of life, and dug for themselves a pit of death. Is my holy mountain Sinai a barren rock? For you shall be like fledglings of a bird, flying up, taken from the nest. And again the prophet says: I will go before you and level mountains and shatter gates of bronze and break in pieces bars of iron, and I will give you treasures dark, hidden, unseen, so they will come to recognize me as the Lord God. And: You shall dwell in a lofty cave of strong rock. And: its water can be trusted — you will see a king amid glory, and your spirit will dwell on reverence for the Lord. And again in another prophet he says: And the one who does these things shall be like the tree planted beside the channels of waters, which will give its fruit in its season, and its leaf shall not wither, and everything he does shall prosper. Not so the godless, not so — instead they are like chaff that wind scatters off the surface of the ground. Because of this, the godless will not stand when judgment comes, nor will sinners take their place in the assembly of the just — for the Lord recognizes the path the righteous walk, while the path the godless take comes to nothing. Perceive how he has appointed the water and the cross together. For this is what he means: blessed are those who, having set their hope on the cross, went down into the water, for he speaks of the reward in its own time — then, he says, I will repay it. But as for what he now says — that the leaves shall not wither — this is what he means: that whatever word issues from you, spoken by your own mouth in faith and love, will turn many people toward hope. And again another prophet says: The land belonging to Jacob was celebrated beyond every other land. This means: he glorifies the vessel of his spirit. What then does he say next? And a river appeared, flowing off to the right, out of which lovely trees grew, and anyone eating their fruit would live without end. This means that we go down into the water full of sins and filth, and we rise again carrying fruit within our hearts, holding both reverence and hope toward Jesus by the spirit. And whoever eats of these shall live forever — this means: whoever, he says, hears these things spoken and believes, shall live forever.
In like manner again he speaks of the cross in another prophet who says: And when shall these things be accomplished? The Lord says: when a tree is bent down and rises up again, and when blood drips from a tree. Here again you have a reference to the cross and to the one who was destined to be crucified. And again he speaks to Moses, when Israel was being warred against by foreigners, and in order to remind them, while under attack, that they had been handed over to death because of their sins — the spirit whispers within Moses' heart to fashion a figure representing both the cross and the one destined to suffer, since — it says — war will pursue them without end unless their hope rests on him. So Moses sets one weapon upon another in the midst of the battle, and, positioned above everyone else, spread his arms wide, and by this Israel gained the upper hand once more. Then, whenever he lowered them, men began to die. Why? So that they might know that they cannot be saved unless they set their hope on him. And again in another prophet he says: All day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people, to my righteous way. Once more Moses fashions a figure of Jesus — that suffering awaits him, and that he will restore life to the very one people will believe they have destroyed — through a sign delivered at the moment Israel was collapsing — for the Lord caused every serpent to bite them, and they were dying, since the transgression had come about through the serpent in Eve — in order to convict them, that because of their transgression they will be handed over to the affliction of death. At any rate Moses himself, having commanded: There shall be for you neither a molten nor a graven image as a god — he himself does this, in order to show a type of Jesus. So Moses makes a bronze serpent and sets it up in glory, and by proclamation calls the people together. So they came together and begged Moses to offer up a petition on their behalf for their healing. Moses told them: should any of you suffer a bite, he says, approach the serpent mounted on the wooden post, and trust, believing that even in death it holds power to restore life, and healing will follow at once. This they did. Here again you have, in these things too, the glory of Jesus, that in him are all things and unto him. What, again, does Moses tell Jesus son of Nun as he confers this name upon him, given that he was a prophet, so that all the people might listen to him alone? That the Father makes everything plain concerning his son Jesus. So it is that Moses, conferring this name on Jesus son of Nun at the moment he sent him to scout the land, says: Take a scroll in your hands and write what the Lord says, that the Son of God will cut off from the roots the whole house of Amalek in the last days. See here again Jesus, not as son of man but as Son of God, made manifest, however, in a type in the flesh. Given that they were about to claim the Christ as David's son, David himself — in awe, grasping the delusion under which sinners labor — foretells the following: The Lord declared to my lord, Take your seat at my right side, until I place your foes beneath your feet as a footstool. And again Isaiah speaks in this way: The Lord declared to my lord, the Christ, whose right hand I have taken hold of, that nations would submit before him, and I will shatter the might held by kings. See how David calls him Lord — and does not call him son.
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