apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

GENUINENESS OF THE EPISTLE.
THE — genuineness of Polycarp's Epistle whether the whole or any
part of it—was never till
questioned the era of the Reformation.
The Magdeburg Centuriators (ii. p. 1
73 sq) were the first to throw any
doubt on it. At a later date (a.d. 1666) Daille included it in his attack
on the Ignatian Epistles {de Script. Dionys. et Igjiat. etc. p. 427 sq).
He found himself in an awkward dilemma. The main ground of his
opposition to the Ignatian letters was the support which they give to
episcopacy. But the Epistle of Polycarp had a double edge. On the
one hand it was, or it seemed to be, one of his principal evidences in
favour of the presbyteral form of government in the early ages. He
could therefore ill afford to dispense with it. On the other hand it was
the chief witness to the genuineness of the Ignatian letters and indeed,
:
if its
testimony were once allowed, the point was established beyond
the reach of controversy. For this reason its evidence must be set
aside. This perplexing problem he solved by accepting the document
in the main as genuine, while he rejected as spurious the 13th chapter
which contains the reference to the Ignatian letters. It was necessary
however to allege some argument for the rejection ;
and this he found
in the words 'qui cum eo stint\ which he assumed to imply that Ignatius
was still living, and therefore to be irreconcilable with an earlier notice
(§ 9) which spoke of him as already martyred. The answer to this objection
is obvious. The present
S2int is a blunder of the Latin translator
who had before him rots uvv avrw or tois /act' omtov, where the tense
is indeterminate. To this point however it will be necessary to return
hereafter.