# To the Romans 2.1

- Author: [Ignatius of Antioch](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/ignatius-of-antioch/)
- Work: [To the Romans](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-romans/) (*Ad Romanos*)
- Date: ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) (disputed)
- Source: Lake, LCL 24:226–228; 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 5:688a (found by text match)
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26
- Canonical URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-romans/2/1/

Summary: If the Romans do nothing to save him, Ignatius's death will speak God's word.

## Greek text

Οὐ γὰρ θέλω ὑμᾶς ἀνθρωπαρεσκῆσαι, ἀλλὰ θεῷ ἀρέσαι, ὥσπερ καὶ ἀρέσκετε. οὔτε γὰρ ἐγώ ποτε ἕξω καιρὸν τοιοῦτον θεοῦ ἐπιτυχεῖν, οὔτε ὑμεῖς, ἐὰν σιωπήσητε, κρείττονι ἔργῳ ἔχετε ἐπιγραφῆναι. ἐὰν γὰρ σιωπήσητε ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ, ἐγὼ λόγος θεοῦ· ἐὰν δὲ ἐρασθῆτε τῆς σαρκός μου, πάλιν ἕσομαι φωνή.

## English translation (Claude)

For I do not want you to please people, but to please God, as indeed you do. For neither shall I ever have such an opportunity to attain to God, nor can you, if you keep silent, be credited with any better deed. For if you keep silent about me, I shall be a word of God; but if you love my flesh, I shall again be only a voice.

## Scripture references

- 1 Thess 2:4: allusion, medium confidence
- Gal 1:10: echo, medium confidence

## Translation notes

- “A word of God … only a voice”: through his death he will become a true word of God; if they save him, he will be a mere sound. Some manuscripts read “I shall be God's” instead of “I shall be a word of God.” The Ante-Nicene Fathers translation (1885) follows that reading and renders the last clause “I shall again have to run my race.”

## Citation (SBL)

Ign. Rom. 2.1 (PG 5:688a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ign-romans/2/1/).