Hello and welcome to Word Magazine. This is Jeff Riddle, pastor of Christ Reformed Baptist Church in Louisa, Virginia. In this episode of Word Magazine, we're going to be looking at Polycarp of Smyrna, who was one of the post-apostolic church fathers. This episode is a follow-up to Word Magazine 85, where we looked at Ignatius of Antioch, and I noted then that in the college class that I teach called New Testament and Early Christianity, a course I've taught since 2012, at the end of that class I have been giving some focus to the early Christian writings. The bulk of the class is on the New Testament, so looking at the Gospels and Acts and Paul's writings and General Epistles and Revelation. But I give some time at the end of the course to looking at early Christian writings, looking at the post-apostolic Orthodox writers. And I've been using the little textbook that is titled Early Christian Writings from Penguin. It is a version of these writings translated into English that was done by Maxwell Staniforth. in 1968 and then it's been revised and edited by Andrew Luth, who is a British scholar who also happens to be Eastern Orthodox. And so in the class I've been having people read the epistles of Ignatius of Antioch and some of the documents that relate to Polycarp of Smyrna and the Didache, and this semester I'm having my students read the Epistle to Diognetus. And so this is just part of my interest in wanting to learn a little bit more about early Christianity in the post-apostolic age. And also, as I've noted before in the past year, I've been sort of interested in Eastern Orthodoxy, and I've been reading some of their scholars, and one of the critiques of Protestants and Reformed people is that we sort of jump from the New Testament from the Apostolic Age to the Reformation, and we sort of fly over the time period in between. And I'm trying to remedy that by taking a look at some of the church fathers. And I've read many of these things in the past and been coming back, refreshing my reading of it. And even recently in my devotional life, I've been reading through once again, Augustine's Confessions, and I found them very profitable. I read those a long time ago, and it's been really encouraging just to give those a fresh reading as I've begun 2018. But again, in this episode, we want to focus on Polycarp of Smyrna, and this may be someone you've heard of before, maybe someone who's totally new to you. Polycarp was the bishop or the episkopos the early church that was in Smyrna. Smyrna was a city in Asia Minor. It was an early center of Christianity within Asia Minor. It's one of the seven churches that is addressed in the letters to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. So if you look at Revelation chapter 2 verses 8 through 11, we find the letter to the church at Smyrna. Now let's just look at that just to get a little background on this ancient church. Again, this is Revelation 2. beginning in verse eight, and unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write, these things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive. I know thy works and tribulation and poverty, but thou art rich. And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. And even within that letter, there is a reference to this being a suffering church. As it says in Revelation 2.10, fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. So this tradition continues with this being a church that was beleaguered and that underwent persecutions, and it underwent persecutions in particular under the leadership of Polycarp, their bishop, who would eventually meet a martyr's death. Polycarp was a man who lived late 1st century into the early 2nd century. The traditional dates for his life are AD 69 to 155. And his death in 155 is in part estimated based on some of the things that are said at the end of the document. We're going to look at an account of his martyrdom called the Martyrdom of Polycarp. In Eusebius' church history, Eusebius, the father of church history, writes his ecclesiastical history in the fourth century. He says that Polycarp was put to death during the reign of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. Marcus Aurelius reigned from 161 to 180 as emperor. If that's accurate, then that would move the dates for Polycarp's life back later, but most scholars apparently believe that Eusebius was mistaken and they put the earlier dates for the life of Polycarp as more likely, again, from $69 to $155. By the way, as usual on my blog, jeffriddle.net, I am going to be putting a blog post where I will be putting my notes. So if there's something you hear, you want to go back and look at a detail, you can go to jeffriddle.net and you can find this blog on Word Magazine, on Polycarp of Smyrna. And by the way, I might also add, I should have said this up front, that you can now subscribe to the podcast, the Word Magazine podcast and other audio items that we place to sermonaudio.com, whether it's sermons or book reviews or teachings or other things that we put up there. You can go to iTunes and you could subscribe to Christ Reformed Baptist Church, Louisa, Virginia, our feed, and you can get Word Magazine coming directly to your phone. Anyways, back to Polycarp of Smyrna. So we've suggested the years for his life were 69 to 155. You might remember if you listen to the podcast on Ignatius of Antioch, that of his seven letters, one was addressed to the Church of Smyrna and one, the only individual letter of the seven letters of Ignatius of Antioch, it was directed to Polycarp of Smyrna, the Bishop of Smyrna. In the report of the martyrdom of Polycarp, which we're going to look at in more detail a little later, it is said there that Polycarp claimed to have served Christ for 86 years. And there's some question about what could exactly have been meant by that. Did this mean that he was 86 years old when he met a martyr's death and that he had been baptized as an infant? This would be an argument in favor of the early practice of paedo-baptism, if that's the case. Or was he speaking sort of more metaphorically that he had been serving the Lord for all of his 86 years, including even the time before he was converted and then after he was converted? Was he sort of speaking more expansively like that about his life? Or I guess it's possible that he could have been converted as a 10 year old child and then he could have served Christ for 86 years and have been 96 years old when he met a martyr's death. I'm not sure, but he lived a long life. That seems to be the consensus, and again we'll get to that statement where on trial he says, I've served Christ for some 86 years. In his commentary on Polycarp in the writings related to him, Luth notes that both Tertullian and Irenaeus of Lyon report in their writings that Polycarp had been a direct disciple of the apostle John. And we're going to look in a few moments at a couple of the citations from Irenaeus that are cited in Eusebius' ecclesiastical history. But this is just something I think that's pretty interesting and important, that Polycarp of Smyrna was apparently a man, again, who had been a disciple, we might say, of the Apostle John. So we have the ministry of Jesus, his crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and John was an eyewitness of the risen Jesus. And then just one place removed is Polycarp, someone who knew the Apostle John. So we're getting, again, very close to the life and the ministry of Jesus himself. And again, as I said, I want to look briefly at two references to Polycarp that we find in Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History. Both of them are taken from the writings of Irenaeus. And the first of these is in Ecclesiastical History, Book 5, Chapter 20, verses 4 through 8, where Eusebius cites a letter that Irenaeus wrote to someone named Florinus. I'm going to read a little part of this. The version that I'm looking at here is the translation that was made of Eusebius by Kearsup Lake, and it's in the Loeb Classical Library. It says of this letter, this is Irenaeus writing, and he says, for while I was still a boy, I knew you, meaning Florinus, in Lower Asia in Polycarp's house when you were a man of rank in the royal hall and endeavoring to stand well with him. I remember the events of those days more clearly than those which happened recently. For what we learn as children grows up with the soul and is united to it, so that I can speak even of the place in which the blessed polycarp sat and disputed how he came in and went out. the character of his life, the appearance of his body, the discourses which he made to the people, how he reported his intercourse with John and with others who had seen the Lord, how he remembered their words and what were the things concerning the Lord which he had heard from them and about their miracles and about their teaching, and how Polycarp had received them from the eyewitnesses of the word of life, and reported all things in agreement with the scriptures. I listened eagerly even then to these things through the mercy of God which was given me and made notes of them not on paper, but in my heart. And ever by the grace of God do I truly ruminate on them. And I can bear witness before God that if that blessed and apostolic presbyter had heard anything of this kind, he would have cried out and shut his ears and said, according to his custom, oh, good God, to what time hast thou preserved me that I should endure this. So here is Eusebius citing Irenaeus of Lyon who is remembering how as a child he had observed, been in the house of Polycarp, observed him, heard him talk about his interactions with John the Apostle and with other apostles and how he had taken this in And he even says that he made notes of this, not on paper, but in his heart. So, quite interesting to have that recollection. The second one from Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History is in book four. And this is in chapter 14, verses 3 through 9. And again, I'm looking at this in Kearsup Lake's translation of Eusebius that's in the Loeb Classical Library. And here, the citation is taken directly from Irenaeus's famous book, apologetic book, Irenaeus Against Heresies. And this is what Irenaeus records about Polycarp. He says, and Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles and conversed with many who had seen the Lord, but was also appointed bishop by apostles in Asia in the church in Smyrna. Then he says, we also saw him in our childhood, for he lived a long time and an extreme old age passed from life, a splendid and glorious martyr. He constantly taught those things which he had learned from the apostles, which also are the tradition of the church, which alone are true. To these facts, all the churches in Asia bear witness and the present successors of Polycarp And he is a far more trustworthy and reliable witness of the truth than Valentinus and Marcion and the others who hold wrong opinions. Let me just pause here for a moment. So again, he says once more he knew Polycarp in his childhood. He once again says that Polycarp had been an associate of the Apostle John and the other apostles, and he taught persons what John and the other apostles had said and then he says he had more knowledge again as an Orthodox teacher than some of the famed Gnostics of his day like Valentinus and Marcion. He goes on then and relays several sort of anecdotes about Polycarp. And one of them involves a visit that he made to Rome. Another involves an episode relating to John the Apostle in Ephesus. and a third one relates to a conversation with the Gnostic Marcion. So let me just read a part of what is recorded here. In Eusebius, in book 4, again chapter 14, quoting from Irenaeus of Lyon, he says, Anicetus, he visited Rome and converted many of the above-mentioned heretics to the Church of God, preaching that the one and only truth which he had received from the apostles was that which is the tradition of the Church, And there are those who heard him tell that John, the disciple of the Lord, went in Ephesus to bathe and seeing Cyrenthus within, sprang out of the baths without bathing, calling out, let us fly lest the baths fall in since Cyrenthus, the enemy of the truth is within. And it continues and Polycarp himself, when Marcion once met him and said, recognize us, answered, I do not recognize the firstborn, I do rather, I recognize the firstborn of Satan. Such care did the apostles and their disciples take not even to join in conversation with any of those who mutilate the truth. Let's pause there. So three interesting anecdotes again. One is that is that Polycarp went to Rome and his preaching, Orthodox preaching and teaching resulted in the conversion of some of the Gnostic contemporaries of his day. Secondly, this little anecdote about the apostle John that once in Ephesus he had gone into the baths and there was Serentis, a Gnostic teacher, and he ran out without bathing saying, let's get out of here before the bathhouse caves in because the Serentis, the enemy of the truth is within. And then finally, this interesting report of a conversation that Polycarp, the Orthodox Polycarp, had with the famed Gnostic and arch-heretic Marcion, who mutilated the scriptures, denied the Old Testament, and tried to have a Gnostic influence, understanding of Christianity. The report of the conversation is that Marcion came up to Polycarp and said, you need to recognize us, recognize us, the Gnostic teachers, and Polycarp wittily responded, I do, I recognize you as the firstborn of Satan. And this actually sounds very similar to an anecdote that happens in the report of Polycarp's martyrdom when he's told, say, away with the infidels. And he turns to the pagan crowd and says, away with the infidels. He says what they are asking. He puts a twist on it so it becomes a dig against them and he apparently did the same thing with Marcian. So we get a picture, an idea of Polycarp from these reports as being a respected man, an able teacher, a witty man, a quick-witted man, and so it's an interesting remembrance, again, of someone who was closely related to the Apostles. And by the way, his proximity to the time of the Apostles is interesting because when we think about the Gospels that are written and are being circulated among the early Christians, for example, Sometimes modern scholars are questioning the historical details, and did Jesus do these things? Well, not only did we have the apostles, who if they saw something that was untoward in any of the gospels, who were eyewitnesses to the ministry of Jesus, who could have objected and said, hey, this account in Matthew isn't proper, or Jesus didn't say this, or something like that. They were there to correct anything that was off base in the presentations of Jesus, and they didn't do that. They approved of the four gospel accounts that we have. Not only do we have sort of that line of defense, but there's sort of a second line of defense, and that was these men like Polycarp, who had sat at the feet of John the Apostle and the other apostles, and they also were guardians of the truth. guardians of the transmission of the proper understanding of Jesus and the teachings of Paul, etc. So aside from these references to Polycarp that we find in Irenaeus, we have two other documents that are important for understanding Polycarp of Smyrna. The first of these is a letter that Polycarp wrote to the Philippians, Polycarp to the church at Philippi. And then secondly, we have a third-person account of the martyrdom of Polycarp, obviously not written by him, but about him. And so I thought we would look briefly at both of those writings, first, Polycarp's epistle or letter to the Philippians, and then secondly, the account of Polycarp's martyrdom. And as I go through this, I'm going to be reading some citations from these writings. And again, I'm using the Penguin book titled Early Christian Writings. The translation of the original documents was done by Maxwell Stanaforth. And again, this is the version that was edited by Andrew Luth. So let's start off looking at first of all, at the epistle, Polycarp's epistle to the Philippians. And it begins, from Polycarp and his clergy, and the word there is actually the presbyteroi, or the elders, from Polycarp and his elders, to the colony of God's church at Philippi, all mercy and peace to you from God Almighty and Jesus Christ our Savior. Interestingly, the rise to a church again at Philippi, we know from the book of Acts, from Acts 16, we have Luke's report about how the church was founded there. We have the account of the conversion of Lydia, the seller of purple, also the conversion of the Philippian jailer, the baptism of their households. And so we have the account that Paul was the founder of the church, Paul and Silas. And then we also have in the Pauline epistles, we have the book of Philippians, which is Paul's letter to the brethren at Philippi along with the elders and the deacons. So obviously there was a church from the very beginning from ancient times that was in Philippi in Macedonia and northern Greece. This letter, the Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians, was apparently written fairly early in Polycarp's ministry. It seems to have been written after the time when Ignatius of Antioch had journeyed through the area. It begins by talking about, by commending them for the way that they treated and prayed for the prisoners who passed through, and he says, he describes them as those who were wearing chains which were the badges of the saints the diadems of men truly chosen by God and our Lord." So it's a letter where he's sort of commending them for their concern for Ignatius and other Christian martyrs. In chapter 2 of the letter, he offers exhortations which include this, And then he goes on to offer a quotation, from the Sermon on the Mount. Two verses are cited. It says, Judge not that you be not judged, forgive and you will be forgiven. Be merciful that you may obtain mercy for whatever you measure out to other people will be measured back again to yourselves. So that's the first quotation. That's from Matthew 7.1. And then he adds, uh, and again, happy are the poor and they who are persecuted because they are righteous for theirs is the kingdom of God. And this seems to be a, uh, reference to the Beatitudes, uh, from Matthew, uh, five, three. Um, so what this tells us is that Polycarp, uh, writing here, maybe not long after the martyrdom of Ignatius, which would have been about in the year 107, that Polycarp knows of the Gospel of Matthew, that he can cite the Gospel of Matthew as an authoritative religious text, as scripture, and he acknowledges it as the word of God. And I think this indicates here from the very beginning, looking at Polycarp's epistle to the Philippians, one of the key values of this letter as a historical source, and that is there are many citations throughout this brief letter to various New Testament books, and it shows how Polycarp and the believers Smyrna and the believers in Philippi were well familiar with the New Testament books and were receiving them as scripture. I went through the the epistle and I created a little table that I'm going to put in my blog post again at jeffriddle.net and I put the chapter and where there are direct citations as Luth notes them in this translation. And so in chapter two, there's a citation from Matthew 7.1, Matthew 5.3. Chapter four, as we'll see, there's a citation from 1 Timothy 6.7. Chapter five, there are citations from Galatians 6.7, Galatians 5.17, 1 Corinthians 6.9. Chapter six, a citation from 2 Corinthians 5.10. Chapter 7, a citation from 1 John 4, verses 2 and 3. 1 Peter 4, 7. Matthew 6, 13. Matthew 16, 41. Chapter 8, 1 Peter 2, verses 22 and 24. Chapter 11, 1 Corinthians 16, 2. 2 Corinthians 3, 2. Chapter 12, Ephesians 4.26. The point is there are multiple citations, direct citations seemingly from the New Testament, from a wide range of material, whether it's a gospel like Matthew, whether it's Paul's writings like Galatians or 1 Corinthians or 2 Corinthians or Ephesians or 1 Timothy, and also from the general epistles from 1 Peter, from 1 John, So the whole range of the New Testament canon is being used as an authoritative resource by Polycarp. You know, sometimes we'll have people come up with these ideas that, you know, the Bible wasn't authorized, the canonical scriptures weren't authorized till a later church council and if you read these early Christian writings you realize that that is simply misguided. That's an idea that's in error because these works were being accepted as authoritative again early second century already the New Testament is authoritative among early Christians like Polycarp. And those I just listed are just the direct citations. We're going to see there are also allusions that are made to other books without direct citation. In chapter 3 of Polycarp's epistle to the Philippians, Polycarp notes that he himself does not have what he calls the wisdom of our blessed and glorious Paul. And so he, again, can talk about the Apostle Paul nostalgically, calling Paul blessed and glorious. He can say to the Philippians, during his residence with you, he gave the men of those days clear and sound instruction and the word of truth while he was there in person among them. And even after his departure, still he sent letters, which if you study them attentively, will enable you to make progress in the faith, which was delivered to you. And so here is evidence, again, corroborating the New Testament, corroborating Acts 16. that Paul was the founder of the church at Philippi, noting that Paul's letters were already being circulated, already being accepted as authoritative. And then at the very end of chapter three, he says, faith is the mother of us all with hope following in her train and love of God and Christ and neighbor leading the way. And here we have, again, one of those, what I've called an allusion to a New Testament writing. Here it's an allusion to 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter. Faith, hope, and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love. And here they are in that same order, faith, hope, and love. So Polycarp is saturated already in the writings of the Apostle Paul. Moving on to chapter 4 of this brief epistle, here we find interestingly a quotation from 1 Timothy 6-7. as he says, but troubles of every kind stem from the love of money. Therefore, since we know that we brought nothing into this world and we can carry nothing out, we must gird on the armor of integrity. And the first step must be to school our own selves into conformity with the divine commandments. But it's that citation there of first Timothy six, seven, where he says, we brought nothing into this world and we can carry nothing out. Let's directly again for Paul and I'm supposing this is probably the earliest citation that we have from one of the so-called pastoral epistles from 1st, 2nd Timothy and Titus. And again, this sort of goes against what some of the later German higher critics will say, where they will argue that the pastoral epistles were written very late, and even to this day there are people who cast doubt on the authenticity of the Pauline epistles. But clearly here, the Pauline epistles, the pastoral epistles were in circulation. They were accepted as authoritative by Polycarp. I'll show you an interesting example of just how far some of the modern historical critics will go in their sort of irrational efforts to undermine the authenticity of pastoral epistles. Luth in his introductory comments to Polycarp calls attention to the fact that one of the 19th century German scholars, sorry, 20th century German scholars Hans von Kampenhausen, he actually argued on the basis of Polycarp's references to 1st Timothy 6-7 and to other pastoral epistles that perhaps Polycarp was the author of the pastoral epistles. He just seems to want to deny what is as obvious as the nose on your face, that Paul was the author of the pastoral epistles and that Polycarp didn't write these letters. He wouldn't be citing himself, but he was citing the apostle Paul. If you look at the immediate context again, he's just talked about how Paul lived among you Philippians and he wrote letters to you. And then he cites one of those letters. Paul said, you know, you brought nothing into this world. You can take nothing out. And it's in the context of exhortations about not pursuing material goods and that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. So this little epistle is important for us in establishing the antiquity and the authenticity of, in particular, the pastoral epistles of 1st Timothy, 2nd Timothy, and Titus. Moving on to chapter 5, here Polycarp makes reference to our deacons, and he says, they must never be open to any reproach at the bar his righteousness, remembering that they are ministers of God and Christ and not of men." So here's a reference to the role of the deacons within the church, much like the kind of things we see in 1st Timothy 3, And toward the end of this chapter, chapter five of this polycarp's epistle to the Philippians, there's sort of some exhortations toward different people within the congregation. He says, our younger men, like the deacons, must be unspotted in all respects, making purity their first care and keeping a strict curb on any tendencies to loose living. In this world, he says, it is a good thing to make a clean break with all our carnal desires because all the lusts of the flesh are up in arms against the spirit. That's a quotation from first Corinthians chapter six and verse nine. And he says, because no fornicator, a pervert or sodomite will inherit the kingdom of God. And then he, Sorry, that first quotation was from Galatians 5.17 and the latter one relating to fornicators, perverts, and sodomites not inheriting the kingdom of God. That one was from 1 Corinthians 6.9. Then toward the end of it he says, be as obedient to our clergy and deacons as we should be to God and Christ. The conduct of our young women equally must show the unblemished purity of their conscience, and this whole little section here where he's exhorting younger men and exhorting younger women sounds very much like the exhortations we see in Titus 2, and as do the exhortations to obedience to the elders and the deacons, that reminds us of somewhat of some of the many exhortations of obedience to leadership in the epistles of Ignatius, also in Hebrews 13, verses 7 and 17, and in other places in the New Testament. So it's in harmony with the apostolic teaching. In chapter 7, he starts off with a direct quotation from 1 John 4, 2 and 3, to deny that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is to be antichrist. And then he adds, to contradict the evidence of the cross is to be of the devil. And here I think as John the Apostle was battling docetism, those who were denying the full humanity, the true humanity of Jesus, Polycarp seems to be battling that as well, and he sees this as teaching that is contrary to Christ, it is anti-Christ, and when he talks about contradicting the evidence of the cross, I think he's talking about those who were arguing that Jesus hadn't really suffered on the cross, perhaps those who were denying the reality of the effectiveness of the atonement. Moving on, let's go to chapter 9 of the epistle, and he says here he gives an appeal to holiness. He says, I appeal now to every one of you to hear and obey the call of holiness, and he makes reference to some who had been godly examples, and he mentions Ignatius and and Zosimus and Rufus, and then at the very end he says, to say nothing of Paul himself and the other apostles. And again, it's very interesting to see someone who stood just one generation away from the apostles here expressing his admiration for Paul. This is also interesting because in the tradition, Polycarp again is associated with the Apostle John, that he had been a disciple of John, a companion of John. But here he also has high praise for Paul, and sometimes there's a tendency in modern historical critical study to talk about not the theology of the New Testament, but the theologies, and try to pit Pauline theology against Johannine theology, against Muthian theology or Petrine theology. But here it shows the harmony of the apostolic witness, that Polycarp is a disciple of John, And he can quote from 1 John, but he's also a great admirer of the Apostle Paul. And maybe in particular stresses Paul in this letter, because again, this was a church that had been founded by the Apostle Paul. And so it was particularly important, poignant for him to stress the importance of the blessed and glorious Paul. Moving on a little bit in chapter 10, there are some exhortations, much as we might hear in one of Paul's letters or in the teachings of Jesus about faithfulness during the time before the second coming of Christ. As he says in chapter 10, stand firm then in these ways, taking the Lord for your example. Be fixed and unshaken in your faith. care for each other with a brother's love, and make common cause for the truth. One thing that stands out in this chapter 10 At least it's noted in Luth's edition of the early Christian writings and the epistle here to the Philippians. He claims that there is a reference within this chapter to the book of Tobit. This would be the only direct reference to a so-called apocryphal book. In the English translation, at least, it's just a string of a few words. Charity is death's reprieve. And he says that this comes from Tobit 12.9. And it's possible that might be a citation from Tobit. It could also be just a coincidental use of similar language or it could have been something of an idiom in the Hellenistic Jewish environment. Even if it is a citation from Tobit, it doesn't mean that Polycarp saw the Apocrypha as scripture. And that is, I think, particularly the case when you compare how many citations, direct citations, clear citations there are from the New Testament, which we've already made reference to, and the fact that there's only one very dim allusion to anything from the Apocrypha. And certainly could have had a reference to the Apocrypha without saying that it was accepted as authoritative scripture in the way that he seems to handle and treat the New Testament. Moving on then to chapter 11, he makes reference to a person who apparently maybe had been an elder, an office holder of some sort, who had failed in the ministry. He says, my heart is sore for Valens, sometime one of your clergy or your elders, that he should have so little understanding of the office that was conferred on him. And he He goes on to exhort that those who are ministers should keep a good watch over their lives, and if they do not, they will not have any authority to teach others. And once again, he appeals to Paul. He says, Paul teaches us that it is God's people who are to judge the world. Here, a reference to 1 Corinthians 6. He continues and says, I am not saying that I have seen or heard of anything of the sort among yourselves, you with whom the blessed Paul labored and who were his letters of commendation in those early days and of whom he made his boast in all those churches where alone God was then known in the time before we ourselves had received the knowledge of him. And so it's interesting that he once again is stressing the fact that the Philippians had received firsthand the ministry of Paul. Here he says, you know, Paul was ministering among you before I even came to a knowledge of the truth. And so it's quite intriguing to see this. Let's see. look at the end. There are just 14 chapters in Polycarp's epistle to the Philippians. We might mention that in the 13th chapter he says, you and Ignatius have both written to me to ask whether anyone who may be going to Syria could deliver a letter from you there along with ours. I will see that this is done perhaps by myself personally, if I can find a suitable opportunity or else by someone whom I will send to act for both of us. I am sending you Ignatius's letters as you requested the ones you wrote to us and some others that we had in our possession. So this is also interesting telling us that again, the early second century, these early Christians are sharing, letters. Again, we already talked about the New Testament letters, but then also these other letters, including Ignatius' letters, which are being gathered together. And so early Christianity is very much a literary movement and it's important to have written documents, edifying documents. Of course there are the inspired documents within the scriptures and then there are other uninspired writings that the believers find to be helpful for them. So the second document related to Polycarp of Smyrna that I'd like to take a look at is not something that he wrote. Again, the only thing that we have that he wrote was that Epistle to the Philippians, but we do have another document that is written about Polycarp and it's called the Martyrdom of Polycarp. Luth says that this is considered, quote, the earliest surviving authentic account of Christian martyrdom outside the New Testament, end quote. It is a document that is written in the form of a letter and it's sent from one church to another. It's sent from the church of Smyrna, which Polycarp had served as bishop, to the church at Philomelium, Phrygia. And so it begins from the colony of God's Church at Smyrna to the colony of God's Church at Philomelium and to all the colonies of the Holy Catholic or Universal Church everywhere, all mercy, peace, and love to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. And then at the very end of this letter or account It is signed at the end of chapter 20, Your scribe, Everestus. And so it's written by apparently this man, Everestus. The letter begins by noting the heroic deaths of several Christian martyrs, and it describes in particular the courageous death in chapter 3 of an early Christian named Germanicus. is called an example of true nobility, and it says he confronted the savage beasts with the utmost gallantry. So apparently Germanicus was thrown to the beasts, even as Ignatius apparently was, and I think the Romans called it the damnatio ad bestias, to be condemned to the beasts. And So he was able, Germanicus was able to prove himself very courageous within this, but when the crowd sees the courage of Germanicus, the author of this account of Polycarpus Martyrnum says they were taken aback by the heroism which this brood of Christians and their love and fear of God were displaying Instead of though being humbled by that, it is reported that they broke into yells of down with the infidels and go find polycarp. So this is some sort of persecution that broke out against the Christians, and they take Germanicus and others and throw them to the beast, but that doesn't satisfy their bloodlust, and they say, let's go get Polycarp. They would have acknowledged Polycarp as the leader, the minister, the bishop of the church in Smyrna. It's interesting that in chapter four, there's also a mention of a man named Quintus, who was a Phrygian who had newly arrived, and he apparently had volunteered himself for martyrdom, but when he came inside of the beasts, he had been filled with fear, and then he had compromised, and he had taken the oath and offered the incense to the gods. And so he had failed in his zeal for martyrdom. And perhaps the author here is pointing against some of the failures of that. If you go back and listen to the Word magazine that I did on Ignatius of Antioch, we see particularly in his epistle to the Romans his zeal for martyrdom, but the author of this martyrdom polycarp seems to be warning against those who are overzealous for martyrdom. He even says, and that is the reason, brothers, why we do not approve of men offering themselves spontaneously. We are not taught anything of that kind in the gospel. So there's a caution against that and there's this sort of cautionary tale of Quintus. Well, with that done, it proceeds to tell about Polycarp. Remember, the people are saying, you know, let's go get Polycarp. Go and find Polycarp. Apparently, as is described here, the Christian community warned Polycarp, they urged him to leave the city of Smyrna and at their urging he goes out into the countryside and stays incognito with family out in the countryside or in a house out in the countryside, but we're told in chapter 5 that three days before his arrest while he was in prayer he had a vision and in the vision his pillow was on fire and he took this as a sign of his impending martyrdom that he would be burned and it's reported there that he said, I must be going to be burned alive. Again, he is sort of on the move. And in chapter 6, we're told that they moved him to another farm. The police are on his heels, and they take some of the houseboys, some of the slaves, and they torture them. And one of these, it's really a pathetic account, one of these slave boys confesses under torture where Polycarp has fled. And the police come to the house where he's staying, where he's sleeping upstairs in the attic. They surround the house. And Polycarp, the author, tells us when he becomes aware of this, he realizes that there's going to be no use running any longer. And so he bravely, in a very manly way, surrenders himself. He says, God's will be done. He calmly greets those who come to arrest him, and he chats with them. even these who arrest him were told by the author are struck by his calmness and when I read that this little section here I thought about the description I recently read the description of the time right before the death of Socrates in Plato's account in his Apology about how calm Socrates was before his impending death. And as I read this, I thought about maybe there being an ancient ideal that was sort of written into this. that Polycarp has a supernatural calmness. I guess it would be what Paul describes in Philippians as the peace that passeth understanding. And there's both, again, a biblical Hebraic element to that, but also maybe an ancient Hellenistic element to that is like Socrates. He is unafraid to go to death. Then in chapter 8 of the Martyrdom of Polycarp, it talks about how he was put on a donkey and led into the city. No doubt there is an attempt at a parallel to the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem. Once in the city, he is urged by the governor to say, Caesar is Lord. It's very interesting given that the early Christian confession was Jesus is Lord, as in places like Romans 10, 9. If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God is raised from the dead, you will be saved. But they want Polycarp to say Caesar is Lord. And of course, Polycarp refuses, and he is taken to the city circus, the circular track where his trial and execution is to continue. And we're told then in chapter nine of the martyrdom of Polycarp that as he is being led, or as he steps into the arena, that there's a voice that comes from heaven, which speaks to him and says, be strong, Polycarp, and play the man. And he adds, the author adds, no one caught sight of the speaker, but those of our friends who were there heard the voice. And they continue to interrogate Polycarp. They continue to urge him to compromise. And this is the point where they say to him, all you have to say is, down with the infidels. And in some translations I've read of this say, down with the atheists. referring to the Christians who believed in the one true God and didn't believe in the pantheon of the pagan deities and Polycarpus again is told just say down with the infidels down with the atheists and Instead of doing that he turns to the pagan crowd all the polytheists who are around him and he looks to them and he says down with the infidels down with the atheists and this of course infuriates those who were oppressing him. The governor once more urges him, revile your Christ. And this is where Polycarp offers his famous reply, probably the best known passage within the martyrdom of Polycarp. As Polycarp responds at the end of chapter nine, he says, 80 and six years have I served him. and he has done me no wrong, how then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?" When the governor persists, Polycarp, we're told in chapter 10, tells him, I am a Christian, and then he sort of wittily says, I know if you keep asking me about these things about Christ, if you want to learn more about the meaning of Christianity, just name the day and the hour and I'll meet with you and explain it to you. It presents Polycarp as being a teacher, even to the end. And then in chapter 11, the governor threatens him. He says if he doesn't recant, he will be burned to death. And Polycarp is reported as replying, the fire you threatened me with cannot go burning for very long. What a Christian would read between the lines obviously is, you know, the fires of martyrdom can only last for a limited amount of time and limited duration until my life ebbs away. But the fires of hell, the fires of damnation are for eternity. And I would rather choose temporary suffering in this world than eternal suffering in hell. Um, so eventually he's taken, uh, to the stake where they initially try to nail him there. And then they, uh, to the stake where he's going to be burned. Uh, they give up on that and they simply tie him to the stake. They strip off his clothing, um, and his shoes. It's very interesting reference here in chapter 13 as it talks about him, uh, being disrobed. stripped to be burned. It makes reference to the fact that many of the faithful Christians were typically eager to try to touch his bare skin. Such universal veneration had the saintliness of his life earned for him even before his martyrdom. We'll come back to this in a moment, this idea that develops in the post-apostolic age and becomes more and more intense in later years in in some branches of Christianity, and that is the physical sanctity of godly men like a polycarp that will lead to wanting to have things like relics and objects related to these men, particularly from, even from their very bodies. The author says in chapter 15, then, or actually chapter 14, that Polycarp was offered like a noble ram for the sacrifice. And then just before he is burned at the stake, he offers a prayer. This is in chapter 14. He says, O Lord God Almighty, father of thy blessed and beloved son, Jesus Christ, through whom we have been given knowledge of thyself. Thou art the God of angels and powers of the whole creation. and of all the generations of the righteous who live in thy sight, I bless thee for granting me this day and hour that I may be numbered amongst the martyrs to share the cup of thine anointed and arise again unto life everlasting, both in body and soul and in the immortality of the Holy Spirit. And he goes on in that prayer ends it with, and amen, and after the prayer ends, the fire is lit, and then there is a miraculous event that is finally recorded in chapter 15. It says, and when they, and then we, when we who were privileged to witness it saw a wondrous sight, And we have been spared to tell it to the rest of you. The fire took on the shape of a hollow chamber, like a ship sail when the wind fills it and formed a wall around about the martyr's figure. And there was he in the center of it, not like a human being in flames, but like a loaf burning in the oven or like a gold or silver ingot being refined in the furnace. And we became aware, he continues, of a delicious fragrance like the odor of incense or other precious gums. So at the burning of the steak, this miraculous event happens. A hollow chamber forms around his figure. He was like a loaf baking in the oven and this emits a delicious fragrance. No doubt there are some allusions that are meant here to the burning fiery furnace into which the three Hebrew youths in Daniel 3 were thrown and yet they were not consumed and they didn't even have the smell of smoke upon them. I mentioned recently in the podcast about my reading from 2017 how I had read the Brothers Karamazov the account of the elder in the monastery who was thought to be a godly man and and how surprised everyone was when they began to smell his putrefying body and here we have maybe a the roots of some of those, one of the roots of some of those ideas that the godly in their deaths should not emit, you know, some foul smell, the smell of corruption, but there should be some pleasing fragrance even that comes from their bodies and this is a sign of their holiness. And so we see something like that being referred to here. Finally, because he hasn't He'd been consumed by the flames. We're told by the author in chapter 16 that some ruffians, some dagger men were sent in and they stabbed Polycarp and so they end his life. But there are other miracles associated with this. When they stab him, a dove flies out of his body and from the wounds of the stabbing there rushes out a copious amount of blood. And it actually, there's so much blood that comes out from Polycarp's body that it puts out the fire, it extinguishes the flames. The author of the martyrdom of Polycarp offers the final verdict here in chapter 16 that Polycarp was clearly a great man among the elect of God, who he says combined both apostle and prophet in his own person. So he was like the apostles and like the prophets of old. The author then notes in chapter 17 how the authorities tried to stop the Christians from taking Polycarp's remains as relics. Again, there's a bit, I think, here of another sort of echo from the gospel accounts of the crucifixion of Jesus and how the sealing of the tomb and so forth And it's reported here in chapter 17 in particular that they wanted to keep the Christians away from the body of Polycarp because they feared lest they should forsake the crucified and take to worshiping this fellow instead. A centurion, however, in chapter 18, we're told, took the body of Polycarp, had it burned, and from the ashes the Christians were able to gather up the bones of Polycarp. which the author says were more precious to us than jewels and finer than pure gold. And the author also notes their practice, the Christian's practice of assembling where these remains of polycarp were and remembering what is called here the birthday of his martyrdom. And so there's the idea of an annual memorialization of the martyrdom of Polycarp among the believers at Smyrna. Luth, again, the editor of this work, of this translation, who is himself Eastern Orthodox, says that the Martyrdom of Polycarp, quote, provides, quote, the earliest evidence for the preservation of the relics of the martyrs and for the celebration of the anniversary of the martyrdom, the heavenly birthday of the saint, end quote. And the author of The Martyrdom of Polycarp concludes in chapter 19 of Polycarp, not only was he a famous doctor, he was a martyr without peer and one whose martyrdom all aspire to imitate so fully does it accord with the gospel of Christ. Well, we've looked a little bit at the life of Polycarp of Smyrna, and we've looked at two documents related to him, one letter that he wrote, the Epistle to the Philippians, one account of his death in the martyrdom of Polycarp. What can we conclude, if we can sum up, what are the things that we can gather and gain from looking at these works. Let me note at least three sort of conclusions. First of all, we see that Polycarp was a student of John the Apostle and an important transitional figure from the age of the apostles to the post-apostolic age. And again, I referenced this already, that we had these men, faithful men, who had heard the accounts of the life and the teachings of Jesus from the apostles, from the eyewitnesses, and then they become the faithful stewards of that information and share that with the generation that comes behind them. Second conclusion. In Polycarp's epistle to the Philippians, we see how the New Testament was being looked to as scripture from the earliest times in the post-apostolic Christian movement. Here in the early second century already, the New Testament writings are being appealed to as authoritative. And then thirdly, The third conclusion, the martyrdom of Polycarp follows the accounts of the New Testament martyrs. This tradition, we might call it, of keeping a record of the death of Christians, notable Christian leaders. It's there in Acts 7, where there's the account of the martyrdom of Stephen. It's there in Acts 12. the account of the death of James the Apostle by the sword at the hands of Herod. It's there in the reference in Revelation 2.13 to the death of Antipas of Pergamum. And actually, although we don't have an account of his martyrdom, in the Gospel of John chapter 20, 21 rather, verses 18 and 19, there's the reference to the eventual death of Peter as Jesus prophesies how Peter will meet a martyr's death And so this is a tradition within the New Testament and it continues in the post-apostolic period. Now one of the things I'm struck by with the martyrdom of Polycarp in particular is that there seem to be many more sort of supernatural, legendary elements that are included. So in Acts 7, they're just sort of the sober record of how Stephen is stoned to death. But with the martyrdom of Polycarp, you know, we have him being kept in a hollow chamber and not be hurt by the fire, then being stabbed and a dove flying out and copious amounts of blood coming out. So there seem to be these more supernatural and legendary elements. And we also have in the martyrdom of Polycarp, as already noted, this focus on relics and memorials. And we don't find that in the New Testament accounts. We don't find Luke telling us of the early Christians trying to get the bones of Stephen or the bones of James the Apostle. We don't have a reference of the Christians in Pergamum trying to get the clothing or the bones of Antipas, the fateful martyr there. And so this seems to be a post-apostolic development And I think it represents, again, I'm looking at it from obviously a Protestant reform perspective, it represents a drift away from the apostolic tradition. reflected in the New Testament. And of course, these departures will continue until we reach the medieval period, and this will result in the Reformation as an attempt to purify and to go back to the apostolic practice. We should note, however, that the early Protestants will also claim polycarp as one of their own. They will claim the martyrdom of polycarp as part of their history, the very popular work among Protestants that was called Fox's Book of Martyrs when it describes some of the early Christians who were martyred for the faith. There's an account there of Polycarp's martyrdom. Of course, they very strategically leave out references to relics and memorials, but they do give an account of the death of Polycarp. And so the martyrdom of Polycarp and the life of Polycarp, the ministry of Polycarp of Smyrna has remained a source of inspiration and encouragement for believers. It remains so today. And I was thinking in particular, you know, those of us in the West, we live with relative safety and security, but I'm thinking that perhaps some Christians who live in situations where they face persecution, where they face the possibility of death, how they might be especially encouraged by reading Revelation, the book of Revelation, and also reading perhaps the epistles of Ignatius of Antioch and reading the martyrdom of Polycarp. And so I think documents like this, though not inspired, perhaps still have, could have an edifying purpose for believers today. Well, this concludes our review of and discussion of Polycarp of Smyrna. I hope this has been helpful for you, and I will look forward to meeting with you again in the next Word magazine. Until then, take care and God bless.