Let my spirit be counted as nothing for the sake of the cross, which is a stumbling-block to those that do not believe, but to us salvation and life eternal. "Where is the wise man? where the disputer? " Where is the boasting of those who are styled prudent? For our God, Jesus Christ, was, according to the appointment of God, conceived in the womb by Mary, of the seed of David, but by the Holy Ghost. He was born and baptized, that by His passion He might purify the water.
And again he says, "According to the disposition of the grace of God which is given me, that ye may fulfil the word of God; the mystery which has been hid from ages and generations, which now is manifested to His saints: to whom God wished to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations."
Either he means that Christ’s will was that after his departure we should step up to our special place in the dispensation, in order that we might not feel so deserted (since it is Christ himself who plays the necessary part of the one who suffers and is the ambassador from heaven). Or he means this, namely, for this end that he permitted me to be persecuted, that in my preaching I might gain belief. Or by “dispensation” he means that he required not deeds, nor actions, nor good works but faith and baptism. For you would not otherwise have received the word. “For you,” he says, “to fulfill the word of God.” He speaks of the Gentiles … for that the castaway Gentiles should have been able to receive such lofty doctrines was not ultimately Paul’s personal doing but proceeded from the dispensation of God.
[AD 108] Ignatius of Antioch on Colossians 1:25