Who did Ignatius call the beasts that were guarding him?
According to the early church father Ignatius, the beasts that were guarding him were not literal animals but the ten Roman soldiers assigned to guard him. He used that language in a letter to the congregation at Rome, describing oppressive human opposition, much as Paul spoke of fighting beasts at Ephesus.
Les explains that when Paul writes about fighting with beasts at Ephesus, most people casually think of the Roman Colosseum and being tossed to the lions, but he does not believe that ever happened to Paul. Instead, Paul was talking about his physical enemies, ungodly men who constantly opposed him. Les then cites Ignatius, one of the early church fathers, who wrote to the congregation at Rome in much the same kind of language, saying he was beset with beasts. Those beasts, Les says, were the ten Roman soldiers who were guarding him. Les sees this as the same kind of beasts Paul refers to: constant opposition from fellow men. That fits Paul’s argument that if the dead rise not, there is no advantage in facing such opposition.