Theopedia

Polycarp

— “Eighty and six years have I served him, and he never did me wrong; and how can I now blaspheme my King that has saved me?”

Polycarp, reply to the Roman governor before his execution, quoted in the Martyrdom of Polycarp, quoted in Louis Markos, From Aristotle to Christ1

Overview

Polycarp was bishop of Smyrna, a coastal city in Roman Asia Minor now known as Izmir, Turkey, in the first half of the second century, and died about AD 166.2 He was a disciple of the apostle John and, in later life, taught Irenaeus, who became bishop of Lyons and one of the church’s chief opponents of Gnosticism.3 Only one letter of Polycarp’s own writing survives, addressed to the church at Philippi, and it is one of the earliest Christian documents to treat Paul’s letters as Scripture.4 He was an old man, in his nineties, when he was burned at the stake for refusing to renounce Christ.5

Life and Ministry

Polycarp knew the apostle John personally and was set over the church in Smyrna as its bishop.2 Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, was his friend, and Irenaeus, as a young man in Smyrna, sat under his teaching before becoming bishop of Lyons himself.3

Polycarp’s sole surviving work, his Letter to the Philippians, was occasioned by the martyrdom of Ignatius of Antioch, who had passed through Smyrna on his way to execution in Rome.6 At the Philippians’ request, Polycarp forwarded them a collection of Ignatius’s own letters along with his own short covering letter, which commends the Philippians for their care toward suffering believers, exhorts them to steadfastness, and instructs the church’s officers and members in their duties.6 Michael Kruger dates the letter, and its citation of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians as Scripture, to around AD 110.4

Decades later, Polycarp was arrested and brought into the arena at Smyrna, where the Roman governor pressed him to curse Christ and swear by the genius of Caesar in exchange for his life.5 Polycarp refused, and when the governor threatened him with wild beasts and then with fire, he answered each threat in turn before being bound to the stake and burned.5 His last recorded words were a prayer of thanksgiving:

…that thou hast thought me worthy of the present day and hour, to have a share in the number of the martyrs and in the cup of Christ.7

Theological Contribution

Witness to Paul’s letters as Scripture

Polycarp’s letter distinguishes his own authority as a bishop from the apostle Paul’s: “For neither I nor anyone like me is able to replicate the wisdom of the blessed and glorious Paul.”3 He urges the Philippians to study Paul’s own letters directly: “If you carefully peer into them, you will be able to be built up in the faith that was given to you.”3 From the letters Polycarp quotes or alludes to, Kruger notes that scholars generally agree he knew Romans, 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and 1 and 2 Timothy.3 In one citation, Polycarp combines Psalm 4:4 and Ephesians 4:26 under the formula “as it is written in these Scriptures,” language the New Testament itself reserves for Old Testament citations. Kruger takes this as early evidence that Polycarp counted the Ephesians letter as Scripture in its own right.4

Apostles and prophets as parallel authorities

In another passage, Polycarp places “the apostles” alongside “the prophets” as sharing equal authority, a pairing the patristic scholar Denis Farkasfalvy reads as an early theology of what he calls a “proto-Canon.”8 Kruger notes that this same prophet-apostle structure recurs throughout other early Christian writings, from the New Testament itself through Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian, suggesting it reflects a broader instinct in the early church rather than a peculiarity of Polycarp’s own thought.8

Historical Significance

Polycarp’s letter is among the earliest surviving external witnesses to a functioning Pauline letter collection and to the practice of citing Paul’s words as Scripture.4 Papias and Irenaeus both drew on their own connection to Polycarp, and through him to the apostle John, when later apologists argued against Gnostic teachers who claimed access to revelation the apostles never gave.9 Louis Markos reads Polycarp’s replies to the governor at his trial as combining personal conviction, emotional force, and reasoned argument in the face of death.5

Related Doctrines

  • Irenaeus, his student, who carried Polycarp’s testimony about the apostle John into the next generation
  • Development of the Canon, which Polycarp’s letter bears some of the earliest testimony to
  • Apostolic Fathers, the collection of early Christian writings Polycarp’s letter belongs to
  • Justin Martyr, a contemporary early apologist and fellow martyr
  • Martyr, the broader category Polycarp’s death is a paradigm case of

References

  1. Polycarp, reply at his trial, quoted in the ancient Martyrdom of Polycarp, quoted in Louis Markos, From Aristotle to Christ: How Aristotelian Thought Clarified the Christian Faith (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2024), “Part 5. How to Make Beautiful Things.” ↩

  2. Elijah Porter Barrows, Companion to the Bible (New York: American Tract Society, 1867), 45-46: “Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, was a disciple of the apostle John.” ↩ ↩2

  3. Michael J. Kruger, The Question of Canon: Challenging the Status Quo in the New Testament Debate (Nottingham: Apollos, 2013), chap. 5, “The Date of Canon,” 193: “Polycarp was a central figure in the earliest stages of Christianity. Not only was he the bishop of Smyrna at the turn of the century, but he apparently knew the apostle John personally. Moreover, he was said to have been a companion of Papias and also the teacher/mentor of Irenaeus himself.” ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  4. Kruger, Question of Canon, 196. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  5. Markos, From Aristotle to Christ, “The Aristotelian Rhetoric of Polycarp.” ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  6. Barrows, Companion to the Bible, 515-516: “Polycarp was a disciple of the apostle John, and presided over the church in Smyrna. He suffered martyrdom about the year 166. Of his writings only one short epistle remains, addressed by him to the Philippians soon after the martyrdom of Ignatius, who passed through Smyrna on his way to Rome.” ↩ ↩2

  7. Polycarp, final prayer, quoted in the ancient Martyrdom of Polycarp, quoted in Markos, From Aristotle to Christ, “The Aristotelian Rhetoric of Polycarp.” ↩

  8. Kruger, Question of Canon, 194. ↩ ↩2

  9. Michael J. Kruger, Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament Books (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), chap. 6, “The Corporate Reception of the Canon,” on Papias as “a friend of Polycarp” who had himself heard the apostle John preach. ↩