Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol I:
IGNATIUS: Chapter IX.—Let us live with Christ.

Chapter IX.—Let us live with Christ.

If, therefore, those who were brought up in the ancient order of things 680 have come to the possession of a new 681 hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance 682 of the Lord’s Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death—whom some deny, by which mystery we have obtained faith, 683 and therefore endure, that we may be found the disciples of Jesus Christ, our only Master—how shall we be able to live apart from Him, whose disciples the prophets themselves in the Spirit did wait for Him as their Teacher? And therefore He whom they rightly waited for, being come, raised them from the dead. 684

If, then, those who were conversant with the ancient Scriptures came to newness of hope, expecting the coming of Christ, as the Lord teaches us when He says, “If ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed Me, for he wrote of Me;” 685 and again, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it, and was glad; for before Abraham was, I am;” 686 how shall we be able to live without Him? The prophets were His servants, and foresaw Him by the Spirit, and waited for Him as their Teacher, and expected Him as their Lord and Saviour, saying, “He will come and save us.” 687 Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness; for “he that does not work, let him not eat.” 688 For say the [holy] oracles, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread.” 689 But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation on the law, not in relaxation of the body, admiring the workmanship of God, and not eating things prepared the day before, nor using lukewarm drinks, and walking within a prescribed space, nor finding delight in dancing and plaudits which have no sense in them. 690 And after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep the Lord’s Day as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the days [of the week]. Looking forward to this, the prophet declared, “To the end, for the eighth day,” 691 on which our life both sprang up again, and the victory over death was obtained in Christ, whom the children of perdition, the enemies of the Saviour, deny, “whose god is their belly, who mind earthly things,” 692 who are “lovers of pleasure, and not lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” 693 These make merchandise of Christ, corrupting His word, and giving up Jesus to sale: they are corrupters of women, and covetous of other men’s possessions, swallowing up wealth 694 insatiably; from whom may ye be delivered by the mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Footnotes

Literally, “in old things.”

Or, “newness of.”

Or, “according to.”

Literally, “we have received to believe.”

Comp. Matt. xxvii. 52.

John v. 46.

John 8:56, 58.

Isa. xxxv. 4.

2 Thess. iii. 10.

Gen. iii. 19.

Reference is here made to well-known Jewish opinions and practices with respect to the Sabbath. The Talmud fixes 2000 cubits as the space lawful to be traversed. Philo (De Therap.) refers to the dancing, etc.

Ps. vi., Ps. xii. (inscrip.). [N.B.—The reference is to the title of these two psalms, as rendered by the LXX. Εἰς τὸ τέλος ὑπὲρ τῆς ὀγδόης.]

Phil. 3:18, 19.

2 Tim. iii. 4.

Literally, “whirlpools of wealth.”