Sophia Scriptura

To the Romans 6.1

Ignatius of Antioch · To the Romans · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Smyrna · Read in context

Summary: Ignatius would rather die for Christ than rule the world; his death will be a birth.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:232

Οὐδέν μοι ὠφελήσει τὰ πέρατα τοῦ κόσμου οὐδὲ αἱ βασιλεῖαι τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου. καλόν μοι ἀποθανεῖν εἰς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν, ἢ βασιλεύειν τῶν περάτων τῆς γῆς. ἐκεῖνον ζητῶ, τὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀποθανόντα· ἐκεῖνον θέλω, τὸν διʼ ἡμᾶς ἀναστάντα. ὁ δὲ τοκετός μοι ἐπίκειται.

English · Claude translation

The ends of the world will profit me nothing, nor the kingdoms of this age. It is better for me to die for Christ Jesus than to reign over the ends of the earth. Him I seek, who died for us; him I desire, who rose for our sake. The pains of birth are upon me.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:232 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 172–277 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912-1913), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Also in
PG 5:692b (found by text match)
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Lake (LCL 24, 1912); made independently of existing English translations.
Scripture
Topics
Martyrdom

Notes

Translation notes

  • “To die for Christ Jesus” (ἀποθανεῖν εἰς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν): or “to die and so come to Christ Jesus.”
  • “The pains of birth”: his martyrdom will be his birth into true life (6.2).
  • Some manuscripts read τόκος (“gain, interest”) for τοκετός (“childbirth”); hence older translations such as the Ante-Nicene Fathers (1885): “This is the gain which is laid up for me.”

Cite this passage

Ign. Rom. 6.1 (PG 5:692b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-romans/6/1/).

Plain text
Ign. Rom. 6.1 (PG 5:692b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-romans/6/1/).

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