For Ignatius the victory over evil, and so also the grand exorcism of Satan from the Earth, was primarily a focus of the incarnation. This expressed in Ignatius’s threefold statement concerning what was accomplished against evil at the incarnation. (Ign. Eph. 19.3) The threefold deliverance for the world was from magic, ignorance and the old kingdom. Magic and spells represent all evil powers that work against humanity (Lightfoot, 83), ignorance is a contrast with the knowledge of God (Ign. Eph. 17.2), and the “old kingdom” was the dominion that Satan possessed over mankind before Christ. Each of these three evils was connected with Satan and the demonic, so that for Ignatius the demons were defeated by the incarnation (Twelftree, 228). With the destruction of these powers came the opportunity for new life (Ign. Eph. 19.3), which was the central concern of Ignatius, and so this passage reflects his views on the chief exorcistic event of history.
Ignatius draws on Pauline ideas found in such places as Colossians 2:14-15, where he calls “this age” the “ancient kingdom” which was overthrown and defeated by the cross. (Lawson, 118) However, there are some differences between the Pauline idea and Ignatius. First, Ignatius is not only connecting the defeat of the world rulers with the death of Christ but also, and more centrally, with his incarnation. In fact Ignatius says that the ancient kingdom was abolished when “God appeared in human form,” Second, Ignatius’s emphasis is on an entire kingdom defeated, more than Paul seems to demonstrate in Col 1:13. This distinction is important in seeing his worldview shaped by a combat between two kingdoms, not just one kingdom that is ruled by God through Christ opposed to illegitimate rulers.
The Church now awaits the consummation of the victory over Satan that had been won for her. This is not overtly clear in Ephesians 19, nor in Ignatius’s letters in general because, more then eschatology, Ignatius places the incarnation as central due to it being the event in which death itself was abolished (Corwin, 155). However, although the victory has been won, he also talks about a future kingdom of God with punishment for the wicked, (Ign. Eph. 16.1-2) along with a brief statement of the Two Ways doctrine which seems to imply a future end to each of the ways (Ign. Magn. 5.1). Although the powers of evil have been defeated, these powers of the old age will be finally done away with at the Second Advent (Russell, 34).
Lawson, John. A Theological and Historical Introduction to the Apostolic Fathers. New York: Macmillan, 1961.
Lightfoot, J.B. Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp. Vol. 2. The Apostolic Fathers. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1981.
Russell, Jeffrey Burton. Satan: The Early Christian Tradition. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1981.
Twelftree, Graham H. In the Name of Jesus: Exorcism among Early Christians. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007.
Corwin, Virginia. St. Ignatius and Christianity in Antioch. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1960.
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