CHAPTER 2
Notes 33. For an excellent overview of this genre, see Helen Rhee, Early Christian Literature: Christ and Culture in the Second and Third
Centuries (New York: Routledge, 2005).
34. The lack of crying out in pain was seen as a kind of transfiguration of the martyr (Martyrdom of Polycarp 2).
35. Clement of Rome, | Clement 6-7, Martyrdom of Polycarp 18. Volunteering for martyrdom was frowned upon, however. Since one might risk failing in the end (especially under torture) and losing one's salvation, it was better not to seek martyrdom, but to do as Jesus did, and wait to be arrested. Polycarp was seen as a model, since he neither ran to martyrdom nor ran from it (Martyrdom of Polycarp 1, 4).
36. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans 6.1.
37. Martyrdom of Polycarp 18, Apostolic Constitutions 6.6
(6.30).
38. There was a saying in the ancient world, "Call no man blessed while he lives." This meant that as long as one was still alive, there was still time for something to go wrong. As we will see, the early Christians believed that one could lose one's salvation by committing serious sins after baptism; therefore, the only way to know for sure if someone had persevered to the end would be to know that the person had died in the manner that was thought to erase all sin.
39. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans 3.3.
CHAPTER 2
1. On the belief that the grace of baptism could be lost, see Cyprian of Carthage, Epistle 54.13, On the Unity of the Catholic Church
20-21. Although Cyprian wrote almost two centuries after the Didache, he is expressing what was considered a traditional belief.
2. Didache 2, 16. See also the apocryphal Apocalypse of Peter 25.
3. Didache 2.2. See also Juvenal, Satire IV. Writing at about the same time as the Didache, Juvenal, a non-Christian Roman writer, criticized the practice of abortion as a convenience of the wealthy class to avoid the "burden" of having children. His motivation for this critique is very different from the Christian critique, but
Reading the Early Church Fathers it does show how prevalent and acceptable abortion was at the time, and even Juvenal called it murder. Apparently, oral drugs could be used to cause a miscarriage. But even if a baby was born, under Roman law it could be legally disposed of, for no other reason than it was unwanted. At times, however, the Roman government tried to encourage the wealthy to have more children, since many couples were opting to limit their children so that their fortunes would not be dispersed. This was seen as a threat to the empire because it resulted in a decrease in population. If the prevailing attitude among Roman aristocracy was that children were a burden, the early
Christians responded to this by saying that having children is the very purpose of marriage (Justin Martyr, 1 Apology 29).
4. Most of the abandoned children were probably girls, since girls were often perceived as a financial burden. Most of the children exposed in this way were probably taken and raised to be slaves (including prostitutes). See Epistle to Diognetus 5.6.
5. Epistle of Barnabas 19.5, 20.2, Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians 35 (note that Athenagoras also condemns capital punishment), Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 2.10, 3.4 (note that Clement criticized the Romans who, he says, would save an animal but expose a child), Tertullian, Apology 9, Apostolic Church Order 6.
The early Christian writers, exemplified by Tertullian, did not see a difference between abortion and infanticide. See also Apostolic
Constitutions 7.1 (7.3).
6. Justin Martyr, 1 Apology 27.
7. 1 Clement 60.4-61.2.
8. 1 Clement 47.6.
9. 1 Clement 44.
10. 1 Clement 3.3. See also 1 Clement 38.2, where the division is described in terms that are reminiscent of 1 Corinthians
12:22-26.
11. 1 Clement 63.34.
12. 1 Clement 46.9.
13. 1 Clement 46.9, 47.7.
14. Clement of Alexandria would later remark that Peter is preeminent among the apostles because he is the only apostle for whom Jesus had paid his tax (Matt 17:27). Clement of Alexandria,
Who Is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? 21. pasys
Notes 15. On apostolic succession, see Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 2.9.1, 3.1.1, 3.3.1-2, 3.4.1, 4.26.24, 4.33.8. See also
Tertullian, The Prescription Against Heretics 19-21, 23 (an answer to the objection that Peter was rebuked by Paul), 28, 32, 36-37. Note that in chapter 37, Tertullian says that the scriptures do not belong to the heretics, but to those who still hold the "deed" to them, which comes from the "original owners," the apostles. In chapter
28, Tertullian also says that the Holy Spirit guarantees that the Church will not go astray, based on Jesus' promise to Peter in Matthew 16:18-19.
16. Theophilus of Antioch, Jo Autolycus 3.29. i7> Clement 6372; 18. 1 Clement 42, 44.
19. 1 Clement 25. The phoenix was apparently a popular Christian symbol early on, as evidenced by catacomb paintings and early church apse mosaics.
20. 1 Clement 60.4—61.2.
21. 2 Clement 10, 15. The false teachers in question are Docetics; see chapter 4.
22. 2 Clement 3, 6.
23. 2 Clement 6, cf. Hermas, The Shepherd 72.3-4.
24. On the belief that salvation could be lost, see Didache 16, Hermas, The Shepherd 74.5, 95.2, Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 5.9.3. Irenaeus says that the Holy Spirit, once received, can be driven out.
2522 Clement 2; 26. 2 Clement 4. The second part of this is like Matthew 7:23, but the first part has no biblical parallel. aie a Glement 5, 28. 2 Clement 12. Cf. Gospel of Thomas 22. The Gnostics, who produced the Gospel of Thomas, were mostly docetic in their
Christology, meaning that they denied the real humanity of Jesus Christ.
29. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 1.3. The belief that the Onesimus of Philemon became bishop of Ephesus provides another possible reason why the Letter to Philemon was included in the New Testament.
30. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 3.1.
Reading the Early Church Fathers 31. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Trallians 3.3, 5.2.
32. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans 4.3.
33. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Magnesians 6.2.
34. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 5.3. See also Letter to the Magnesians 6, 13, Letter to the Trallians 7, Letter to the Smyrnaeans 9.
35. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 6.1.
36. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Philadelphians 4.1.
37. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans 8.
38. On the bishops as recipients of the apostles' authority, specifically the authority of "binding and loosing" granted by Jesus in Matthew 18:18 (interpreted as the authority to absolve sin and excommunicate), see the Didascalia Apostolorum 5.
39. For Ignatius, to be outside the authority of the bishop is to be outside of the body of Christ. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 5, Letter to the Magnesians 7, Letter to the Trallians 2-3,
Letter to the Philadelphians 3-4, 7, Letter to the Smyrnaeans 8.
Ignatius wrote that only bishops have the authority to convene a council, Letter to Polycarp 7. Note that Irenaeus also condemned unauthorized meetings, Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 3.2.2.
40. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Trallians 3.1.
41. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 5.3.
42. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Magnesians 6.2, 7.1, Letter to the Trallians 2.2, Letter to the Philadelphians 2.2, 6.2, 7.2,
Letter to the Smyrnaeans 8.1-2, 9.1.
43. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 5.2, 20. See also Letter to the Smyrnaeans 8, where it is clear that the bishops could delegate the authority to preside over the Eucharist to priests under their authority.
44. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 20.2, Letter to the Philadelphians 4.1, Letter to the Smyrnaeans 8.1.
45. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans 2.1, 4.1, 5.2, 6.3, (2 46. Polycarp of Smyrna, Letter to the Philippians 13.2.
47. Irenaeus of Lyons, Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 3, Against Heresies 5.5.1.
48. Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History 4.14. The bishop of Rome was Anicetus, bishop from 155 to 166 CE.
254,
Notes 49. Polycarp of Smyrna, Letter to the Philippians 2.1-2.
50. Polycarp of Smyrna, Letter to the Philippians 12.3.
51. Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History 3.39.9.
52. That the concept of a day need not be interpreted as a literal day of twenty-four hours, see Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 2.22.2.
53. Assuming the birth of Christ in 5 BCE, if this interpretation had been correct, we all would have been convinced of it in 1995. Early millennialism was probably a reaction against the dualist rejection of matter/creation that is inherent in docetism and gnosticism (see below). In other words, Papias apparently responded to the docetic "false teachers" by affirming that, not only was Jesus Christ a man of real material flesh and blood, but even the material world itself (as God's good creation) is in some sense eternal. It is possibly also a reaction against the philosophical concept of a cosmic cycle of conflagration and re-creation. Papias was followed in this interpretation by the author of the Epistle of Barnabas as well as by Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and 'Tertullian. See
Epistle of Barnabas 15, Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 80, and Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 5.28.2-3, 5.35.1-2.
54. Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History 3.28, 5.33.4.
55. Barnabas, Epistle 16.4.
56. See for example Barnabas, Epistle 4.6-8, where the author seems to go much further than Paul on the subject of the rejection of Israel and the validity (or nonvalidity) of the covenant.
Also, the emphasis on works suggests a possible adoptionist origin.
57. Hermas, The Shepherd 25.1-5.
58. Hermas, The Shepherd 13.5.
59. Hermas, The Shepherd 83.1.
60. Hermas, The Shepherd 33.6.
61. Hermas, The Shepherd 25.7.
62. Hermas, The Shepherd 12.3, 39.5—7, 98.1.
63. Hermas, The Shepherd 34.1-2.
64. Hermas, The Shepherd 15.3, 108.1-2. Often in the early Church, a man who hoped to continue an upwardly mobile public career would postpone his baptism until retirement. This was because of the strict moral expectations of the baptized, and the conflict presented when the requirements of a government job