Stand Firm as an Anvil

Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 2 TIMOTHY 2:3

Six of Ignatius’s letters are addressed to churches. The seventh is written to one man: Polycarp, the young bishop of Smyrna, who had welcomed him and cared for him. It is the shortest of the letters and the most personal. In it an older pastor, about to die, gives counsel to a younger one who had many years of ministry ahead of him. Polycarp would lead the church at Smyrna for some forty years or more and die a martyr himself, an old man, around the middle of the century. The letter is a kind of pastoral charge, and it has much to say to anyone who has the care of others.

Pressing forward

Ignatius begins by praising Polycarp’s mind, “grounded as it were on an immovable rock”. Then, at once, he urges him on: “I exhort thee in the grace wherewith thou art clothed to press forward in thy course and to exhort all men that they may be saved.” There is no room for resting on a good start. The grace that has been given must be used, and the goal of all ministry is that people may be saved.

He continues with a string of short, sharp commands, almost like proverbs. “Have a care for union, than which there is nothing better. Bear all men, as the Lord also beareth thee.” And again: “Give thyself to unceasing prayers. Ask for larger wisdom than thou hast. Be watchful, and keep thy spirit from slumbering.”

Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity. 1 CORINTHIANS 16:13–14

Every line is worth pondering. Bear all men, as the Lord bears you: the pastor’s patience is rooted in the patience of God. Ask for larger wisdom than you have: even a good bishop must never think he knows enough. Keep your spirit from slumbering: the great danger of long ministry is not rebellion but drowsiness.

Not the same salve for every wound

Then Ignatius turns to the hard cases. “If thou lovest good scholars, this is not thankworthy in thee. Rather bring the more pestilent to submission by gentleness. All wounds are not healed by the same salve.”

It is a wise and humane piece of advice. Any pastor can love the easy people, the eager and the teachable. The test of a shepherd is how he treats the difficult ones. And he must not treat them all alike. Different wounds need different remedies. Some need a sharp word, some a gentle one; some need time, some need to be left alone for a while. The good pastor, like the good physician, attends to the particular case. Ignatius tells Polycarp to “speak to each man severally after the manner of God.”

And of some have compassion, making a difference: and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire. JUDE 1:22–23

He adds that Polycarp should be “prudent as the serpent in all things and guileless always as the dove” — the Lord’s own counsel to His disciples, applied to the work of a pastor.

The anvil and the athlete

The most memorable image in the letter comes when Ignatius speaks of the false teachers who were troubling the churches. “Let not those that seem to be plausible and yet teach strange doctrine dismay thee. Stand thou firm, as an anvil when it is smitten. It is the part of a great athlete to receive blows and be victorious.”

An anvil does not strike back. It simply stays where it is, and the hammer rings on it. The strength of the anvil is its steadiness. That is what Ignatius wanted for Polycarp: not the strength of a brawler who returns every blow, but the strength of one who cannot be moved. He calls him “God’s athlete” too, and tells him that the prize is “incorruption and life eternal”.

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. EPHESIANS 6:13

He ends this section with a thought that goes to the heart of Christian endurance: “But especially must we for God’s sake endure all things, that He also may endure us.”

The widows, the slaves and the families

The letter then turns to the ordinary care of a congregation. “Let not widows be neglected. After the Lord be thou their protector.” “Let meetings be held more frequently. Seek out all men by name.” That last phrase is lovely. The pastor is not to deal only with a crowd. He is to know his people one by one, and to go after them.

To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. JOHN 10:3

Ignatius also says: “Despise not slaves, whether men or women.” In his world that was a real instruction; slaves were despised as a matter of course. But here the reader must be honest. Ignatius goes on to say that slaves should not be puffed up, and should not desire to be set free at the church’s expense. He was not an opponent of slavery; almost no one in his world was. His concern seems to have been that the church’s common funds not be drawn on for this purpose, and that slaves not seek freedom for the wrong reasons. But modern readers will rightly feel that his counsel falls short of what the gospel would later be seen to require. We can honour his call not to despise slaves while recognising that it was not the whole truth.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. GALATIANS 3:28

He gives counsel about marriage too: wives are to love the Lord and be content with their husbands, husbands to love their wives “as the Lord loved the Church.” And he warns that anyone who chooses to live unmarried in honour of the Lord should do so “without boasting”.

A Christian is not his own

Towards the end of the letter Ignatius turns from Polycarp to the whole church at Smyrna, and gives them a picture of the Christian life as military service. “Let your baptism abide with you as your shield; your faith as your helmet; your love as your spear; your patience as your body armor.” It is a picture drawn from Paul, and from the soldiers who had surrounded him every day of his journey.

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. EPHESIANS 6:11

And he gives them one sentence that sums up the whole of his own life: “A Christian hath no authority over himself, but giveth his time to God.” Ignatius had lived that. His time was nearly gone, and he had given all of it.

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Read the letter to Polycarp in full — it will take you ten minutes — and underline the counsel that most speaks to you.

2. Think of the most difficult person you are responsible for, at home, at church or at work. Ask what particular “salve” their wound needs, rather than treating them like everyone else.

3. When you are criticised or opposed this week, practise being an anvil: stand firm, do not strike back, and let the blow ring out.

4. Learn the names of three people in your church whom you do not know, and seek them out.

5. Ask yourself whether your time is really given to God. Choose one way to hand more of it over to Him.

A PRAYER

Lord Jesus, Great Shepherd of the sheep, You know Your own by name, and You bear with each of us in patience and love.

Give to all who care for others the wisdom to treat each one as You would, the patience to bear the difficult, and the strength to stand firm when they are struck.

Keep my spirit from slumbering, and give me larger wisdom than I have.

My time is not my own; take it, and use it for Your glory, until my course is finished. Amen.