CROSS The Meaning of 'Baptisms' in Hebrews 6.2 179
God.'^62 William Schoedel notes that Ignatius regards the 'Christian life in
general and the life of the martyr in particular as dominated by the pattern
of the crucified Lord'.^63 Gordon Lathrop believes that Ignatius 'seems to
wish to convince the Roman church that he does indeed choose to drink
the cup which his Lord drank, to be baptized with the baptism with which
his Lord was baptized'. Lathrop concludes: 'It should be no surprise that
baptism and eucharist could function in the ancient church as metaphors
for suffering witness before the world as well as sources for such ethical
action, for they already functioned this way in the gospel of Mark. They
continued so to function in the church of the martyrs.'^64
Written in the 150s-60s, the Martyrdom of Poly carp (1.2) speaks of the
bishop of Smyrna's (d. 156 CE) waiting 'to be betrayed as also the Lord
had done, that we too might become his imitators' (cf. Mart. Pol 19.1),
and though not explicitly referring to Mk 10.38-39, the passage echoes
Jesus' words. Later Polycarp is referred to as 'becoming a partaker of
Christ' through his martyrdom {Mart. Pol. 6).^65 The reference to Christ's
- Ignatius of Antioch, Rom. 6.1, in Lake, Apostolic Fathers, I, p. 233, and 6.2-3
on p. 235. It is not difficult to see in these passages possible allusions to Heb. 6.1-6
with its reference to 'having been enlightened/illuminated' in v. 4, and also to Mk
10.38-39 with its statement that the disciples might indeed share in Jesus' baptism of
death. On the association of'illumination' and baptism, see Beasley-Murray, Baptism,
pp. 245-46, who cites 2 Tim. 1.10; 2 Cor. 4.4-6; the prologue in Jn 1 and Eph. 1.18 as
reflecting the idea of illumination and reception of the truth of the gospel. R.McL.
Wilson, Hebrews (NCBC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; Basingstoke: Marshall, Morgan &
Scott, 1987), p. 111, notes that while in Heb. 6.4 'enlightenment' might not be a tech-
nical term for baptism, 'Christian initiation and reception of the knowledge of the truth
(10.26) go together'. See also Lindars, Theology, pp. 67-68, especially n. 63. From the
time of Justin Martyr (see 1 Apology 61.12-13 and 65.1) 'enlightenment' became a
technical term for baptism. It is also used in the Syriac Peshitta's rendering of Heb. 6.4. - W.R. Schoedel, Ignatius of Antioch: A Commentary on the Letters of Ignatius
of Antioch (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985), p. 183, commenting on
Rom. 6.3, which is the only time 'Ignatius connects the theme of imitation with his
own suffering'. Schoedel then notes that the only other occasion Ignatius emphasizes
the suffering of God and the idea of imitation is Eph. 1.1: 'You are imitators of God,
and, having kindled your brotherly task by the blood of God, you completed it per-
fectly' (Lake, Apostolic Fathers, I, p. 173, italics added). - G. Lathrop, 'The Water That Speaks: The Ordo of Baptism and its Ecumenical
Implications', in T.F. Best and D. Heller (eds.), Becoming a Christian: The Ecumeni-
cal Implications of Our Common Baptism (F&O Paper, 184; Geneva: WCC, 1999), pp.
13-29(13-14). - The Martyrdom of Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, in Lake, Apostolic Fathers, II,
pp. 313 and 321 respectively.