apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

n 96 EPISTLES OF S. IGNATIUS.
later years of the second century. There is not throughout these letters
the slightest tinge of sacerdotal language in reference to the Christian
ministry'. The only passage in which a priest or a high-priest is mentioned
at all is Philad. 9 ;
'
The priests likewise are good, but the
High-priest is better, even He to whom is entrusted the holy of holies,
who alone hath been entrusted with the hidden things of God, being
Himself the door of the Father, etc' Here a careless exegesis has
referred the priests to the Christian ministry;
but the whole context
resists this reference. The writer is contrasting the Old dispensation
with the New. He allows the worth of the former, but he claims a
superiority for the latter (e^atperov 8e rt e;^€i to etiay-y€Ator...To 8e evayye-
\iov aVapTKr/Att e'crTiv
dcji6ap(rLa