The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

VI. Powerful Influence of Ambrose of Milan

AMBROSE (c. 340-397), bishop of Milan for twenty-three years, was born at Trier of Christian parents. He was the son of the Pretorian Prefect of the Gauls, the head of one of the principal political divisions of the empire, which embraced France, Spain, and Portugal, and Britain as well. Educated for the bar at Rome, Ambrose received thorough training for high civil office, and went into government service. About 370 he was appointed consular prefect, or governor, of the province of Aemilia-Liguria in northern Italy, whose capital was Milan, one of Europe’s ten greatest cities, at that time the principal capital of the empire in the West. Milan, it has been claimed, became a Christian city before Rome, and it was here that Constantine and Licinius agreed on publishing the famous Edict of Toleration, in 313. PFF1 415.5

In 373, upon the death of Auxentius, Arian bishop of Milan, the orthodox and Arian parties had a violent contest over the succession. As governor, Ambrose entered the church with troops to prevent the strife of the two rival groups over their candidates, counseling peace and wise action in a soothing speech. His address was so effective that he himself was chosen bishop by acclamation—”Ambrose is bishop.” Still unbaptized, he sought to escape the office, but his popular election was ratified by the emperor Valentinian, and he was baptized only eight days before he was consecrated bishop, at the age of thirty-four. 50 his incident has been regarded as indicating that even then the bishopric was considered greater in dignity and power than the governorship. In any event, the power and influence of the church was very extensive. PFF1 416.1

1. BISHOP, STATESMAN, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

Ambrose lived wholly for the church, and rose to the full height of his office. He was recognized as one of the “doctors of the church.” In this period the bishop of Milan was also the metropolitan of the diocese of Italy, that is, north Italy. The peninsula proper, with Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, formed the pope’s own bishopric—the diocese of Rome—but from Ravenna north to the upper Danube, and from Illyricum on the east to the Cottian Alps on the west, stretched the diocese of Italy, under the see of Milan. 51 PFF1 416.2

Ambrose exercised great power and influence, greater even than the bishop of Rome, and the bishops of Milan enjoyed complete independence from Rome, whose influence over them was scarcely noticeable. 52 (See likeness on page 327.) PFF1 417.1

Situated at the residence of the Western emperor, a bishop of Ambrose’ character and ability could exercise great influence on his imperial parishioners, and Ambrose was often the power behind the throne, although he had no personal desire for political power. He was an opponent of both Arians and pagans. Ambrose is believed to have influenced Gratian in 382 to have the altar of victory, on which all pagan oaths were made, removed from Rome—the senate repeatedly trying in vain to have it restored; and it was largely due to the influence of Ambrose that Gratian refused the dignity of Pontifex Maximus. 53 The Arian empress Justina, mother of Valentinian 2, in attempting to introduce Arian worship, tried to terrify him by show of armed force, but Ambrose, backed by the populace, twice showed himself the more powerful of the two. His marked fidelity and courage is illustrated by his action toward the powerful emperor Theodosius, who had slain seven thousand in the massacre of the Thessalonians (c. 390). Ambrose rebuked him in strongest terms for his cruelty, and barred him from communion until he sought forgiveness. 54 PFF1 417.2

Ambrose was the father of the hymnology of the Western church. He was a diligent student, but concerned himself more with the practical than with the dogmatical. Most of his writings are homilies on the Old and the New Testament, and his exegesis is sometimes marred by the allegorical method of Origen. 55 He wrote little on prophecy, though he was a student of Hippolytus, the prophetic expositor. 56 PFF1 417.3

2. THEOLOGY MINGLES EVANGELICAL ELEMENTS

In certain respects the theology of Ambrose was akin to the evangelical positions. He held to the Bible as his rule of faith, and to Christ as the foundation of the church. 57 He taught salvation by faith, which he defined as a vital personal contact with Christ, with remission of sins, not by human merit but through the expiatory sacrifice of the cross. 58 His treatise On the Mysteries (Greek for sacraments) speaks of two sacraments only: baptism and the Lord’s supper. 59 And through his preaching, which converted Augustine, he was to a great extent the source of the Augustinian view of sin and grace, from which Luther came to draw inspiration. 60 PFF1 418.1

We must therefore give Ambrose credit for being better than some of the medieval Catholic doctrines which he was instrumental in introducing into the West, or whose development he influenced. His positions on works, satisfactions, transferable merits, penance, the Eucharist, prayers for the dead, purgatorial fire, the veneration of saints, and celibacy 61 were afterward all carried much further by the church than initially by him. He extolled virginity, but he did not advise against marriage; 62 he encouraged the veneration of martyrs, and of the virgin Mary, but said that Mary was not to be worshiped. 63 His doctrine that the elements in the Eucharist (which he administered under both kinds) became the genuine body and blood of Christ is regarded as the starting point from which the later dogma of transubstantiation grew, yet he carefully guarded against a materialistic view by insisting that the Eucharist is a spiritual food. 64 He taught the doctrine of superabundant merits, but maintained the evangelical principle that men cannot acquire merits at all except through the aid and mercy of God. 65 PFF1 418.2

3. MAINTAINS MILAN’S INDEPENDENCE OF ROME

Ambrose maintained a definite independence of Rome, never accepting the primacy of the bishop of Rome 66—this independence of Milan continuing for a number of centuries. One of the results of this ecclesiastical independence of northern Italy was that some of the corruptions of which Rome was the source were long kept out of the Milan diocese, and another was that the spirit of independence in the outlying districts, 67 more than in Milan itself, enabled the evangelical light to shine on there for several centuries after the darkness gathered in the southern part of the peninsula. This is a significant fact that should be borne in mind, as it bears on later developments. PFF1 419.1

4. SKETCHY ON PROPHECIES BUT DEFINITE ON LAST DAYS

In spite of Ambrose’ liking for allegorical interpretation, and his tendency to subordinate the prophetic message to the moral and spiritual lessons to be derived from the text, he made it clear that he also believed in the actual second advent, the judgment, and the resurrection of the body. In his treatment of Luke 21 he gave both eschatological and spiritualized inter pretations. The “wars and rumours of wars” reminded him of Contemporary conflicts. PFF1 419.2

“Of the heavenly words none are witnesses more than we, upon whom the end of the world comes. For how many wars, and what rumors of wars, have we receivedl The Huns have risen against the Alans, the Alans against the Goths, the Goths against the Tayfali and the Sarmatians.... And the end is not yet.” 68 PFF1 420.1

With time foreshortened to his gaze he saw the contemporary preaching of the gospel to the heathen as a clear and necessary prelude to the end. PFF1 420.2

“The gospel will be preached, that the world might be destroyed. For just as the preaching of the gospel has gone forth into all the world (Matthew 24:14), which already the Goths and Armenians have believed, and for that reason we see the end of the world.” 69 PFF1 420.3

5. SIGNS OF THE DAY OF JUDGMENT

Ambrose cited Jesus’ great prophecy as presenting specific signs of the coming judgment, such as false christs, earthquakes, the fall of Jerusalem, and the like, but not stating the precise time, so as to leave us constantly on the watch. 70 PFF1 420.4

The abomination of desolation was, as the Jews thought, the Roman armies surrounding Jerusalem; it was also the coming of Antichrist, sitting in the temple and spiritually in the heart. Then many would lapse from the true religion, and the Man of Sin (the Antichrist) would be revealed, but those days of trouble were to be cut short for the sake of the elect. Then would come false prophets, famine, and confusion, with finally the righteous in the desert and the wicked ruling. 71 PFF1 420.5

After a discussion of Antichrist he interpreted figuratively the woe to the women with child and the prayers against flight in the winter or on the Sabbath; the darkening of the sun as the obscuring of faith by the cloud of unbelief, and the darkening of the moon as the eclipse of the church when the earthly shadow of sin cut off the rays of Christ’s light; and the clouds of Christ’s coming as the prophets—reminiscent of Origen. 72 PFF1 420.6

To Ambrose the budding of “the fig tree and all the trees” was a twofold sign of the advent and the judgment, which he interpreted in several ways: (1) every tongue confessing God—even the Jewish people—and (2) the Man of Sin, the branch of the synagogue (the Antichrist), clothing himself in the foliage of his boasting; similarly the softening of the rough wood and the luxuriant growth of sins, or the fruits of faith and of wickedness. 73 Antichrist would finally be slain by Christ “with the Spirit of His mouth.” 74 PFF1 421.1

6. THREE ANTICHRISTS

Ambrose set forth three Antichrists: (1) The future Man of Sin, who sits in the temple of the Jews; (2) his author, the devil, who attempts to possess “my Jerusalem, my soul”; and (3) Arius, or Sabellius, or all who seduce us through bad interpretation. 75 PFF1 421.2

Like Irenaeus, he looked for a future Antichrist coming from the tribe of Dan (citing Genesis 49:16, 17), accepted by the Jews, sitting in the temple as a wicked and cruel judge, and placing an identifying mark upon the forehead. 76 e identified Antichrist not only with the Man of Sin, as we have seen, but also with the beast from the bottomless pit, warring against Enoch and Elijah (John also, according to some manuscripts), and the Beast of Revelation 13, who has a mouth speaking great things. 77 PFF1 421.3

7. LITERAL RESURRECTION AT END OF WORLD

To Ambrose death was threefold: first, the death to sin, which is a matter for rejoicing; second, the natural death, which is not to be dreaded, for it is not a punishment but a release from the vicissitudes of mortal life, which constitute the punishment for the fall of man; and finally, the third death, which is the death of the soul when it “dies to the Lord, through the weakness not of nature but of guilt.” 78 The death of the body is to be followed by the resurrection of the body, just as the seed comes up after planting. “Why doubt that body shall rise again from body?” he asked. 79 PFF1 421.4

“And is it in truth a matter of wonder that the sepulchres of the dead are unclosed at the bidding of the Lord, when the whole earth from its utmost limits is shaken by one thunderclap, the sea overflows its bounds, and again checks the course of its waves? And finally, he who has believed that the dead shall rise again ‘in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump (for the trumpet shall sound),’ ‘shall be caught up amongst the first in the clouds to meet Christ in the air;’ he who has not believed shall be left, and subject himself to the sentence by his own unbelief.” 80 PFF1 422.1

The resurrection, he held, is to take place at the end of the world, 81 and then afterward the kingdom is delivered to God the Father, and perfection begins. 82 PFF1 422.2

8. TWO RESURRECTIONS, THREE CLASSES

Ambrose constructed an interesting interpretation on Psalm 1:5, which he quoted: “The wicked do not rise again in the judgment, nor do sinners rise in the council of the righteous.” 83 He classified all as under the “righteous,” the “wicked,” who have never believed in Christ, and the “sinners,” who have believed but have been overcome through the temptations of this life. After citing Daniel, Jesus, and John on the two resurrections, he made this comment: PFF1 422.3

” ‘Blessed is he who has a part in the first resurrection’ (Apoc. 20:6) for they come to grace without judgment; those, however, who do not come to the first resurrection, but are reserved to the second, they will burn until they fulfill the times between the first and the second resurrection: or if they have not fulfilled them, they will remain longer in punishment.” 84 PFF1 422.4

“You have two orders. There remains the third, of the wicked, who, since they have not believed, have been judged already; and for that reason they do not rise in the judgment, but to punishment: ‘for they loved darkness more than light’ (John 3:19); and for that reason their judgment is punishment, and perhaps the punishment of darkness.” 85 PFF1 423.1

9. INDEFINITE AND INCONSISTENT TIME THEORIES

Ambrose said that the seventh age of the world had ended, and the eighth is the Christian age—the hebdomad of the Old Testament is the ogdoad of the New Testament. 86 But he associated the future rest with the seventh trumpet, which would announce the eternal reign of God and Christ, and with the Sabbath, reckoned not only in days, years, and periods, but also in “hundreds” and “thousands”—”the days, months, and years of this world. 87 He said that to the mythical phoenix the time of the resurrection is the five hundredth year, but to us it is the thousandth. 88 Yet in allegorizing the six days men tioned in connection with the transfiguration, he remarked that “more than six thousand years are computed,” 89 and he preferred to regard it as the six days of creation. Again he assigned to the duration of the world the seven days of creation week, summed up in one day, divided also into twelve hours, or ages, with the first advent of Christ in the eleventh hour! 90 PFF1 423.2

10. LOOKS FOR LITERAL ADVENT

In spite of his allegorism, however, Ambrose gave a picture of the second advent in no figurative terms: PFF1 423.3

“For the Lord says: ‘Then if anyone says to you, “Behold, here is Christ, or behold there,” do not believe. For there will arise false Christs and false prophets, and they will give great signs and wonders, so that they would lead into error, if it could be done, even the elect.’ And therefore lest the elect be deceived, the Lord warns of what is to follow;that we might not be taken by the talk of the false prophets, nor any of their wondrous deeds deceive us. But then we shall believe that Christ is going to come, when the day of full justice will have begun to shine forth. For Christ will be revealed in the full light ot His majesty, and just as the lightning goes out from the east, and pours its light over the whole world even to the west, so also the Son of man, coming with His angels will illuminate this world, in order that every man might believe, and all flesh be saved. Therefore let us not believe Antichrist, concerning whom the false prophets will say, ‘Here is Christ’; for the days of unbelief will be the days of Antichrist. Let us not believe those who say, ‘Christ is in the desert, Christ is in the secret places,’ for already everything is full of Christ where Christ has begun to approach. But when we shall have seen accomplished what Christ in His gospel predicted before, let us believe His advent, lest while we seek the true light, we fall into the shadows of unbelief.” 91 PFF1 423.4

11. AMBROSE A PARADOX

We find Ambrose a paradoxical figure—symbolized from the start by his sudden change from a civil official to a spiritual leader. PFF1 424.1

“Perhaps the most conspicuous feature of his personality was the characteristic Roman trait of practical energy. He was emphatically a man of action. It is true that he was also a thinker. PFF1 424.2

“Finally, Ambrose was intensely religious. His activity was inspired by faith in God and a fervent desire to be useful in God’s service.... PFF1 424.3

“The result of the blending of these four qualities—indomitable energy, moral earnestness, gentle kindliness, and ardent piety—was a character of singular dignity and elevation. It was this character that secured for Ambrose a unique position among his contemporaries. He was the outstanding figure of his time.” 92 PFF1 424.4

He stayed the assault of hostile armies, and demanded an emperor’s penitence before the popes ever did. He honored the see of Peter for the preserving of the Apostles’ Creed, but not for jurisdiction. By holding his own see in complete independence of Rome, he strengthened the north Italian church in that nonsubmission to Rome which helped to provide an opportunity for the growth of non-Roman types of worship. There is an inescapable connection between the long ecclesiastical independence of the Milan diocese and the repeated outcropping of dissent in the outlying regions of northwest Italy and south-east France in succeeding centuries. He was an interpreter of allegorizing Eastern theology to the West, and planted or watered many seeds which later bore unhappy fruit; however, he planted in Augustine the concepts of grace which were to blossom eventually in Luther. We must judge the man by the time in which he lived, and by the contribution which he made. PFF1 424.5