Part 126
from heaven to earth, where he deceived the nations; now he is imprisoned in the abyss (cf 9:1), prevented from deceiving the nations for an extremely long time (the significance of a thousand years; cf. Ps 90:4). w. 4-6, this is all Revelation says about the meaning of the millennium. It is a consequence of the victory of truth over the devil's and the beast's deceit. So that truth may prevail the situation under the beast's rule is reversed: the beast must be seen to be defeated (19:20) and the martyrs, his victims, must be seen to be the true victors. As the kings of the earth who shared the beast's usurped rule are deprived of their kingdom, so the martyrs now reign with Christ (cf. 1:6; 5:10, though the final fulfilment of these promises comes in 22:3-5). Th£ kingdom has been taken from the beast and his allies and given to the martyrs. Whereas his universal rule lasted three and a half years, they rule the earth for a thousand years. Whereas the beast, who killed the martyrs, has perished finally in the second death (19:20), they come to life and the second death has no power over them (w. 4—6). Rule and life—the two issues on which the contest between the beast and the martyrs has hinged—are the sole theme of this account of the millennium. It is not necessary to understand Revelation's story of the millennium as literal prediction of a period of time following the parousia. Rather, it is a symbol of the vindication of the martyrs which the parousia must entail, w. 7-10, this passage depends on the story of Gog in Ezek 38—9 (where the nations from the remotest parts of the earth (38:2—6) gather to attack Israel at the centre of the earth (38:12) and are destroyed by fire from heaven (38:22)). As a narrative demonstration that the triumph of the martyrs in Christ's kingdom is not one which evil can again reverse, the story gives Satan another chance to deceive the nations and to defeat the saints. This time the citadel of the saints remains impregnable, and the devil goes to his final fate (cf. comment on 14:11).
(20:11-15) The Judgement of the Dead This judgement differs from that in 19:17—21 in that it determines the eternal destiny of every human individual throughout history. Not until this passage is the judgement of the dead which 11:18 included in the coming of God's kingdom actually narrated, v. n, God's judgement seat (white is one of the dazzling colours of heaven) is presumably a different throne from the one from which he rules the universe (4:2). The cosmic quake is the reaction to the theophany, as in 6:12-14, but ma7 also
anticipate 2i:ik v. 12, for the books, cf. Dan 7:10; 12:1-2. They represent the exposure of the truth of each person's life so that judgement may be passed on it. Judgement 'according to their deeds' is a formula used throughout the Bible (Ps 62:12; Prov 24:12; Job 34:11; Jer 17:10; Mt 16:27; R°m 2:6; i Pet 1:17; Rev 22:12). It implies not a legalistic notion of retributive justice, but an assessment of the fundamental alignment of a person's life (either to God and the good, or to evil) as evidenced by their deeds. It is not inconsistent with God's mercy, implied by the book of life which, for those whose names are still written in it
(cf. v. 3). v. 8 is mainly a warning to those in the churches who could be conquerors, but succumb to the idolatrous and sinful influences of the society with which they are tempted to compromise. To avoid the second death (cf. 2:11) is to come out of Babylon (18:4) in which all these sins flourish.
(cf. 3:5), has the last word. v. 13, this image of resurrection, found more fully in other ancient Jewish works (e.g. 2 Esd 7:32), envisages the places of the dead as having been entrusted with them for safekeeping until God requires them to return them. The 'sea' seems to be the 'waters under the earth', the primeval chaos (cf. 13:1), mentioned here to prepare
The New Jerusalem the Bride (21:9-22:9 J
(21:9-14) General View of the City The beginning of this section (w. 9-10) parallels 17:1-3, just as 22:6-9 parallels
REVELATION 1304
(21:22-7) The Glory of God in the Temple-City v. 22, while in many ways the description of the city follows OT and Apocryphal models (Isa 52:1; 54:11—12; 60; Ezek 40:2—5; 47:1—12; 48:30-4; Zech 14:6-21; Tob 13:16-17), its most novel feature is the absence of a temple. Ezekiel called the new Jerusalem 'The Lord is There' (48:35) and Zechariah declared the whole city as holy as the temple (14:20—1; cf. Isa 52:1), thus envisaging the whole city as the place of God's holy presence. But Revelation alone claims that the city needs no special place of God's presence, a temple, because it is wholly filled with God's immediate presence. Hence the city has no temple, but is a temple (v. i6fc) or (putting the same point differently) God and the Lamb are its temple (v. 22). v. 23, cf. Isa 60:19-20. w. 246, the city is both the light of the world by which the nations walk (cf. Isa 60:3), and the centre to which the nations and their kings come on pilgrimage (cf. Isa 2:2-3; 60:4-17; Zech 14:16). ('The kings of the earth', who until this point have been depicted throughout Revelation as hostile to God, are now shown acknowledging that their rule comes from God.) But whereas in Isa 60:5-17, it is the material wealth of the nations that is brought in tribute to Jerusalem, in Revelation the kings bring 'their glory' (v. 24) and the people 'the glory and honour of the nations' (v. 26). This contrasts with Babylon's selfindulgent exploitation of the wealth of her empire (18:11-14), but also continues the theme of glory that runs through the whole description from v. n onwards. The nations offer their own glory to God's glory, not thereby losing it, but acknowledging its source in the God to whom all glory and honour belong (cf. the doxologies: 4:11; 5:12, 13; 7:12). The most important single feature of the new Jerusalem is that it is creation enjoying the glory of God, glorified itself in reflecting God's glory, and glorifying God in returning glory to God. v. 27, since the whole city is a temple, full of the holy presence of God, everything unclean must be excluded (Isa 52:1): ritual uncleanness is no doubt here figurative for moral defilement. Idolatry and falsehood, also excluded from the temple (Ps 24:3-4), are the dominant evils of the beast and the dominant temptation of Christians in the beast's dominion.
19:8-10, marking out these two passages about Babylon and the new Jerusalem as a pair, and the intervening passage
(19:11—21:8) as the transition from the destruction of one to the arrival of the other, v. 10, the mountain derives most obviously from Ezek 40:2, but also evokes the myth of the cosmic mountain at the centre of the earth, where God and humanity meet, where Paradise was (Ezek 28:14) an(^ wiU be restored (Isa 11:9; 65:25), with which mount Zion was symbolically identified (Ps 48:2), and where the temple to which all nations will be drawn at the end stands (Isa 2:2). Whereas the builders of ancient Babylon (Gen 11:1—9) sought to join earth to heaven in the self-deifying pride John saw repeated in contemporary Rome, the new Jerusalem which comes from God will truly join heaven to earth, v. n, the whole city shines with the reflected glory of God (cf 4:3, 6; 21:23). wI2—I3> twelve, the number of the people of God, recurs throughout the description of the city (w. 12-14, ^>> 19-22; cf. 22:2). The names of the tribes on the gates come from Ezek 48:30—4. v. 14, cf. Eph 2:20.
(21:15-21) The Walls and the Gates of the City v. 15, cf. Ezek 40:3. v. 16, initially the city is described as a square, 12,000 stadia in each direction. The beast has the triangular number 666, but the people of God have the square number 144 (12 x 12) (7:4—8; 14:1; 21:17). Thgn the city is shown not only to have a square ground plan, but to be a perfect cube, like no city ever imagined, but like the holy of holies in the temple (i Kings 6:20). We learn later that it needs no temple (v. 22): the whole city is the holiest place of God's presence, v. 17, as well as echoing Ezek 40:5, this verse ('144 cubits by the measure of a human being, that is, of an angel', my tr.) resembles 13:18 ('the number of the beast, for it is the number of a human being: its number is 666', my tr). Just as Nero Caesar, written in Hebrew characters, has the numerical value 666, a triangular number, so the Greek word 'angel' (aggdos), written in Hebrew characters, has the numerical value 144, a square number. Humanity debased to the level of the beast is contrasted with humanity raised to the level of the angels, w. 18—21, the city is built out of the jewels and metals of Paradise: cf. Gen 2:11-12; Ezek 28:13. Th£ twelve precious stones (w. 1920) are those of the high priest's breastplate (Ex 28:17—20); and the same twelve occur in Ezek 28:13 (LXX Gk. version; in the MT the first nine) described as 'every precious stone', and in Eden. Thus the list of twelve in Revelation represents all precious stones, all to be found in Paradise. Jewish traditions claimed that the jewels of the high priest's breastplate in Solomon's temple came from Paradise, along with other precious materials used in the temple, and were also the precious stones of which, according to Isa 54:11—12, the new Jerusalem is to be built (cf. 4QpIsaa 1:4—9; LAB 26:13-15). Thus the jewels and the gold characterize the new Jerusalem as a temple-city adorned with all the fabulously radiant precious materials of Paradise. The glory of God is reflected in the jewels and the translucent gold of the city. These are not to be understood merely as allegories for attributes of redeemed people, but as the beauty of the new creation, Paradise restored, and a home for glorified humanity. The city's relation to Paradise here and in 22:1—2 points to the harmony of nature and human culture in the new creation.
(22:1-5) The Throne of God in the City v. i, in another variation on the temple theme, the river of the water of life, which in Ezek 47:1 flows from the temple (cf. Zech 14:8), flows from the throne of God and the Lamb. The eternal life of the new creation has its source in God. v. 2, as in Ezek 47:12, the river nourishes constantly fruitful trees: Revelation identifies them with the paradisal tree of life (Gen 2:9; 3:24). In the tree which bears twelve fruits (not specified in Ezekiel) and whose leaves heal the nations (not specified in Ezekiel) are combined the two strands of reference to the covenant people and to the nations, v. 3», this sentence should be translated: 'there shall no longer be any ban of destruction', a quotation from Zech 14:11. The reference is not to what is cursed (and so is not repetitive of 21:27) but to the curse itself, the sacred ban which in the OT God places on enemies of his rule, requiring their utter destruction. This links with the end of v. 2: the nations who inhabit the new Jerusalem, healed of their idolatry and other sins by the leaves of the tree of life, will never again be subject to the destruction God decrees for those who oppose his rule. w. 3/^-5, the climax of the whole description of the city focuses on the central image of the whole book: the divine throne. In
I305 REVELATION
19). The contrast of the two opposite cases—the already righteous who by heeding the prophecy remain righteous, and the already wicked who by refusing to heed increase their evil— makes an epigrammatic point, but does not exclude the two different cases of change from one category to the other (see Ezek 3:20; 33:12-16).
the earthly temple, the high priest, once a year, wore the sacred name of God on his forehead and entered God's immediate presence in the holy of holies. In the city which as a whole is God's eternal holy of holies, all will enjoy this immediacy without interruption. E specially they will see the face of God, which no one in this life could see and survive (Ex 33:20—3; Judg 6:22—3), but ^0 see which is the deepest human religious aspiration, to be realized only beyond this mortal life (Ps 17:15; i Cor 13:12; cf 2 Esd 7:98). Since the face expresses who someone is, to see God's face will be to know who God is in his personal being. In their access to God's presence the servants of God will be priests, but they will also be kings in that they will reign with him (cf. 1:6; 5:10; 2:21). God's kingdom turns out to be quite different from the beast's, finding its fulfilment not in the subjection of God's 'servants', but in their reigning with him. The point is not that they reign over others (who are not mentioned), but that God's rule over them is for them a participation in God's rule. The image of God's rule, thus finally stripped of all the associations of human rule, expresses the eschatological reconciliation of divine rule and human freedom. (22:6-9) I°hn and the Angel The close resemblances between this passage and 19:9—10 indicate that it concludes the account of the new Jerusalem, just as 19:9—10 concludes the accountofBabylon. Butthepassagealsocontains strong echoes of 1:1-3, suggesting that it is the beginning of the epilogue to the book. In fact, it is designed for both functions. It is another example of John's literary practice of interweaving and overlapping the sections of his work. v. 6, whereas in 19:9/7 the corresponding words ('these are the true words of God') probably refer only to the beatitude in 19:90, here they refer to the whole prophecy (God's revelation of 'what must soon take place', as in 1:1), and the angel (21:9) is revealed to be the angel of 1:1, who mediates the whole revelation to John. v. 7, Jesus' interjection announcing his imminent coming (cf. 2:16; 3:11; 22:12, 20) underlines the relevance and urgency of the whole revelation. The beatitude repeats that of 1:3. w. 8-9, cf. 19:10.
(22:12—13) A Prophetic Oracle At several points in the epilogue Jesus addresses the readers directly, speaking through the prophet, as he does in chs. 2-3 and 16:15. v-12> me second clause echoes Isa 40:10, an announcement of YHWH's coming to judgement. For the principle of judgement according to deeds, see comment on 20:12. v. 13, see comments on 1:8; 21:6. (22:14-15) Beatitude The last of the book's seven beatitudes appropriately takes up the imagery of the new Jerusalem, and specifies witness to the point of death (in the light of 7:14, this must be the meaning of'wash their robes') as the condition of access to the city and its eternal blessings. Revelation writes as if all faithful Christians will suffer death for their witness, but this is its way of vividly dramatizing the situation of crisis that lies in the near future and in which no Christians can count on escaping death if they witness faithfully and refuse to participate in idolatry. The choice is potential martyrdom or remaining outside the new Jerusalem (v. 15). Cf. 21:8, 27. 'Dogs' (regarded as unclean animals with disgusting habits; cf. Prov 26:11; Isa 66:3; Mt 7:6; 2 Pet 2:22) are equivalent to the 'unclean' in 21:27.
(22:16) A Scriptural Testimony Jesus' self-description in the language of OT prophecy constitutes a scriptural testimony equivalent to i: 7 in the prologue to the book. Like the latter, the point is to cite prophetic expectations that the Messiah would bring the nations into God's kingdom. As in 5:5, the 'root of David'refers not to Isa n:ibuttolsa 11:10: 'the root from Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of [or, seek] him'. (Revelation adds 'descendant' to make clear that the root is not that from which the Messiah comes (Isa 11:1) but the Messiah descended from David.) 'The bright morning star' alludes, like 2:28, to Num 24:17, but also and especially (as 'bright' indicates) to Isa 60:3: 'Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn' (whereas Isa 60:1—2 refers to the rising sun, this verse can easily be read as referring to the brightest of stars, the morning star that accompanies the sun's rising). Thus both the messianic titles allude to OT prophecies of the nations being drawn to the Messiah. In both the prologue and the epilogue of Revelation readers are reminded, by citation of prophecies with which the first readers would already be familiar as messianic texts applied by the church to Jesus, of this OT hope for the nations. The hope itself is not a new revelation, but the revelation given to John reveals, for the first time clearly, how it is to be fulfilled: through the church's witness to the nations to the point of death, following the way of the faithful witness, Jesus.
Epilogue (22:10-21)
(22:10-11) The Angel's Instructions The epilogue, like the prologue, consists in a series of formally diverse units, of which the first (22:6—9) also serves as the conclusion of the preceding section, v. 10, the command contrasts with Dan 12:4, where Daniel, writing centuries before the last days of which he writes, is told to keep his prophecies secret until the time of the end. The contents of John's prophecy were once hidden in the sealed scroll (5:1) but they have now been revealed and written for immediate reading and relevance, since the time of their fulfilment is near. v. n, this exhortation is problematic because Revelation has repeatedly called people to repentance, and probably still implies the possibility of repentance in w. 14-15. While also echoing Dan 12:10, the verse is best understood by comparison with Ezek 3:27: 'let those who will hear, hear; and let those who refuse to hear, refuse'. Only as a figure of speech are those unwilling to hear commanded to refuse to hear; the point is that prophecy has a dual effect depending on people's response. Those unwilling to heed it are hardened in their adherence to evil. In a sense this is the punishment their sin itself produces (cf. Ezek 3:18—
(22:17) Invitation to Come to the Water of Life It may be that the first two invitations to 'come' are addressed to Jesus (responding to v. 12 as v. 2ofc does to v. 2oa) and the third to people, but perhaps more likely the threefold 'come' of Isa 55:1 is echoed and the three invitations to 'come' are all addressed to people, exhorting them to come to drink the water of life. The Spirit is probably here (as in 2:7, n, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22;
EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE 1306
thus both adding to God's law a permission it does not give and at the same time effectively removing the law's prohibitions of idolatry. It is clear from the seven messages to the churches both that compromise with idolatry is one ofthe dangers John's prophecy aims to counter, and that there are false prophets and their followers in the churches with whom John's prophecy would be highly unpopular for this reason. It is at this level of seriousness that we can understand the severe warnings against tampering with the integrity ofthe book (22:6). In their use of'add' and 'take away' for both crime and punishment, they are examples of eschatological lex talionis (see comment on 11:18).
14:13) speaking through Christian prophets (John and his colleagues), while the Bride is the church in her eschatological purity, ready for the coming of her husband the Lamb (cf. 19:7-8; 21:2). What the Spirit says is also the voice of the church as the church should be. Individual Christians who hear what the Spirit says (cf. the formula in the seven messages to the churches: 'Let anyone who has an ear hear...') repeat the invitation, thus identifying themselves with the Bride. The content of the invitation is then spelt out as an invitation to anyone and everyone who thirsts to take the water of life as a gift (echoing God's words in 2i:6fc). The invitation combines the two levels of concern in Revelation: that Christians should be faithful witnesses and 'conquer', and that through their faithful witness the nations should turn to God. Here the water of life is offered to Christians, and also Christians are themselves exhorted to offer the water of life to everyone who thirsts. Whether this means that the eschatological gift ofthe water oflife is available already in the present is hard to tell; such a usage would not be characteristic of Revelation (contra stjn 4:10-15; 7:37-9) but cannot be ruled out. (22:18-19) Warning to Preserve the Book's Integrity Ancient books were often subject to revision, abbreviation, and expansion by scribes and editors, and the textual history of noncanonical Jewish and Christian apocalypses shows that such works were especially liable to be modified in such ways. But these verses also allude to Deut 4:1-2; 12:32, where the danger is of false prophets who maintain that idolatry is acceptable,
(22:20) A Prophetic Oracle and Response 'These things' must be the whole content ofthe book, alluding to 1:2. This is the last of the seven times in Revelation that Jesus says T am coming' (erchomai: cf. 2:5, 16; 3:11; 16:15; 22:7> I2)- John responds with a solemn acceptance of Jesus' word ('Amen') and prayer for his coming. The latter takes up in Greek the Aramaic prayer Maranatha ('Our Lord, come!': i Cor 16:22;
Did. 10:6), which must have been in use from the earliest days ofthe church.
(22:21) Epistolary Ending This resembles the conclusion of most Pauline letters and corresponds to Revelation's epistolary opening in 1:4-50.
For further reading see Bibliographical Guide.
82. Extra-canonical early Christian literature
J. K. ELLIOTT
have been in pagan circles but it spread rapidly throughout Christian centres. A major feature of the various Gnostic systems was that initiates could aspire, through secret revealed knowledge (gnosis), to the redemption of their divine character. Christian gnosis gave a central role to Jesus as an emissary of the supreme God. Some of these Gnostic texts are familiar to us nowadays, thanks to the discovery in 1945-6 ofthe Gnostic library at Nag Hammadi. Among that library is a collection of sayings (most of them attributed to Jesus) in the Gospel of Thomas. We return to that text at j.n-ig.
A. 1. The twenty-seven books that were eventually accepted as the foundation documents of Christianity were not the only early Christian texts to have been composed in the first or second century. There are clues within the NT itself to other early writings. Luke's preface indicates that 'many' had attempted to compose gospel-type books; Col. 4:16 refers to a letter which Paul claims to have written to the Laodiceans; i Cor 5:9 and 2 Cor 7:8 probably refer to correspondence Paul had had with the church in Corinth in addition to the two surviving letters known to us as i and 2 Corinthians. All these texts have been lost. That some early Christian writings did not survive need not surprise us.
4. Writings by Gnostics and other groups had a great influence on the beliefs of many early Christians. Orthodox authorities such as Irenaeus were concerned to remove the threat by restricting the circulation or acceptability of their literature. The decision to create a canon of Christian writings was due less to a desire to define an exclusive collection of early, apostolic, and universally approved books and more to a requirement to avoid dangerous texts which were new and heretical in the eyes of those who were later to be seen as the orthodox defenders ofthe faith.
2. The amazing thing is that so much has survived, given the fact that early Christian writings, including those which were eventually to form the NT, were not composed as scripture and that many of these documents were addressed to a particular locality with a limited readership. The ecclesiastical authorities, east and west, who eventually (and certainly by the 4th cent.) agreed upon a list of authoritative writings (the canon) acceptable to the worldwide church, did so for a variety of reasons. But it seems certain that among the motives was the multiplicity of writings confronting Christians, particularly in the second to third centuries.
5. Not all the texts that were excluded were in fact heretical or unorthodox. The writings that have conventionally been labelled as the 'Apostolic Fathers' (e.g. i and 2 Clement, the
3. Gnosticism alone spawned a large number of writings in this period. The term is relatively recent and describes certain religious teachings which in their Christian guise were prominent in the second century. Its origin seems to
Didache, the Epistle of Barnabas, and the Shepherd of Hermas) do not fall into this category. Nor should the bulk of the writings commonly collected together under the (less than
1307 EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE
no scholar accepts their contents as a true record of the historical circumstances behind the first-century events which they purport to relate. But with the apocryphal gospels we must reckon with the possibility that some of the material—especially that to be seen in the fragmented texts—is either an alternative account of a story known elsewhere from the canonical gospels or a new story that could in theory have fitted comfortably within a canonical gospel. 'Apocryphal' in its popular definition as 'secondary' or 'spurious' does not necessarily apply in such cases. It may well be decided that some of these stories are as authentic and as historical as the canonical accounts.
ideal) title 'The Apocryphal New Testament' be dismissed en bloc as heretical.
6. 'Apocryphal' literally means 'hidden'. Few of the so-called apocryphal books merit this designation, although the Gospd of Thomas and the Acts of Andrew do claim to contain secret words or hidden truths. Books assembled into the category 'New Testament Apocrypha' usually include those texts which were written in imitation of the writings that were later accepted into the NT canon, i.e. gospels, epistles, acts, and apocalypses, although some 'apocryphal' texts are not paralleled in the NT itself. In any case, it is clearly anachronistic to use 'canonical' and 'apocryphal' or 'non-canonical' of texts written in the first two Christian centuries. It is also inappropriate to apply judgements about heresy and orthodoxy to the teaching in these 'apocryphal' texts. To do so is to use the language of the fourth-century Christian establishment with reference to literature that for the most part had been written and was circulating 200 years prior to the crystallizing of such attitudes.
10. The writings themselves, even if they are accepted as historically plausible, cannot, of course, be canonical—the canon was an entity firmly fixed historically from the fourth century and applied to the twenty-seven books of the NT. Literature falling outside those twenty-seven cannot by definition be canonical, however authentic or original to the Jesus story it may be considered. Conversely all the stories and sayings that occur in a NT MS would have been accepted as canonical even when modern textual critics decide that a saying or story found in only part of the MS tradition did not belong to the original author's published text. For example, Codex Bezae adds after Lk 6:4: 'The same day, seeing a certain man working on the sabbath, he said to him, "Man, if indeed you know what you are doing, happy are you; but if not, you are accursed and a transgressor of the law." ' The pericope of the Adulteress, found in some MSS in John's and in Luke's gospel, would have been accepted as canonical by the original readers of those MSS, but the story is absent from other MSS. Users of these shorter MSS would be unaware of this pericope as part of the canonical texts they read. Similarly, the verses at the end of Mark beyond Mk 16:8 are disputed in the MS tradition. Readers of NT MSS, which contain the additional verses, would accept these as part of the canonical Gospel of Mark. If such secondary material is found in a perfectly orthodox copy of the scriptures then for those who owned, used, and read that MS its entire contents were, by definition, canonical. Ancient commentators who pronounced on the canonical status of the NT books did not concern themselves with the differences—sometimes quite significant differences—that existed between MSS. The Gospel according to Mark was commended without it being specified if'Mark' was to be understood as containing 16:9-20 or not. Even Origen and Jerome, who were alert to textual variation, did not comment on such matters in the context of commending or rejecting certain Christian books.
7. Many of the apocryphal books originated in the second century. In several cases such texts are obviously secondary to, and influenced by, earlier works. However, as will be seen below, some of the texts that are now published as NT apocryphal writings may have been composed as early as the first century and therefore be contemporaneous with the NT writings proper. Indeed, some scholars argue for the independence of some of the so-called apocryphal texts (the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Thomas, Egerton Papyrus 2). In other words, some of these early writings may merit study as primary sources alongside those texts which were accepted into the canon.
8. But even if we disagree, and instead argue for a date later than the first century for all the extra-canonical writings, none the less material found in some of these texts could conceivably have had a long history. Possibly some of the stories and sayings about Jesus could have survived in the oral tradition over several generations, and have earthed themselves only in a secondto third-century writing; some stories and sayings may have been preserved in writing within texts that have subsequently disappeared but their past inclusion in a literary form may have helped to popularize them. It could be that that material then influenced later, currently extant documents. To argue along those lines means that one could be dealing with some Jesus material found in noncanonical sources, which is as old, as authentic, and as historically viable as that found within our NT. This applies especially to sayings and some deeds of Jesus in the apocryphal gospels.
11. Most of the differences that are readily observed when one compares the NT in the AV (KJV) and the RV (or most modern English versions) obviously concern English style, language, and usage, but there are a significant number of other changes which are due to the differences in the Greek NT used by the translators. And those textual differences are due to differences in the underlying Greek M S S used by the editors of the printed testament.
9. When we turn to the apocryphal Acts a less controversial demarcation line is usually clear—they are secondto thirdcentury novels merely using an apostle as their eponymous hero. The stories themselves, although bearing some relation to the genre of literature which we know from the Acts of the Apostles with its breathless sequence of stories, journeys, conversions, plots, and speeches, are in effect Christianized counterparts to the popular reading-matter of predominantly literate Roman believers. Parallels to these Christian novels are to be found in erotic pagan literature. We shall turn to the apocryphal Acts below, but, at the moment, it is sufficient to anticipate the conclusion set out in that section: namely that
12. By contrast, paradoxically, material that we may now wish to pronounce as authentic in an apocryphal source can never be canonical. This issue is acute when we turn to the Gospel of Thomas (j. 11—19), which is probably the best-known of the apocryphal texts in modern times.
EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE 1308
13. There is a considerable body of sayings of Jesus that may be collected from patristic writings, biblical MSS, and from apocryphal sources which are not paralleled in the NT. Such sayings are commonly called 'agrapha', that is, sayings 'not written' in the NT itself. As well as the saying in Codex Bezae found after Lk 6:4 (quoted in A.IO above), some other famous agrapha are: 'Be competent money-changers' (in Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis, i. 2 8.177), and 'Ask for the great things, and God will add to you what is small' (ibid. 1.24.158). Agrapha illustrate the growth of tradition and the accretion of legend. Some may represent early tradition, which may be authentic; some result from false attribution (e.g. i Cor 2:9 appears as a saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas, 17); some, embedded in apocryphal works, may have been composed ad hoc for the work concerned (and would have no claim to authenticity).
extant Greek MS is from the eleventh century, and this was rediscovered only in 1873. Its publication in 1883 by P. Bryennios generated great interest. Since then a fourth-century Greek fragment (P. Oxy. 1782 containing Did. 1:3/7-4; 2:7/73:212) has come to light and this helps prove that the Didache was known in Egypt by that time. The Greek Apostolic Constitutions, which shows knowledge of the Didache, also comes from fourth-century Egypt. Knowledge of it by Irenaeus (c.i3O-c.2OO CE) is not proven. A Latin version also exists. Material in the Didache, especially the section known as the Two Ways (Did. i—6) is also found in Barnabas (see below). Mutual dependence of these two texts is unlikely; at the very least this material in common proves only that that section antedates the composition of both works.
2. Date and Provenance. The general scholarly consensus is that the Didache, which is a composite work, was compiled in the form we now have it in the B ryennios MSinthefirsthalf of the second century from several sources, some of which are likely to go back to the first century. Its provenance is unknown but the consensus is that it was composed in Syria, perhaps in or near Antioch, given the strong links between the Didache and the Matthean tradition. The community which preserved and used the Didache seems to have been strongly Jewish—the passage about the Two Ways, the food regulations, the fasts, and the table prayers are all suggestive of such a background. Some hold that it is the product of a branch of the early church antagonistic to the liberal, Pauline, proGentile approach to Christianity.
14. But, for the most part, all the extra-canonical sayings and the apocryphal literature that has survived are later than, derivative from, and secondary to the twenty-seven writings that were to form the NT canon of scripture. In this section we divide the texts into two categories: the early Christian extra-canonical writings, known as the Apostolic Fathers, and the writings of the so-called NT apocrypha.
THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS
B. 1. Under this title are normally included: i Clement, 2 Clement, Epistles of Ignatius, Epistle of Polycarp to the Philipplans, Didache (Epistle of) Barnabas, Shepherd of Hermas, and
3. Influence. The Didache seems to have been very influential, as may be seen by its use not only in the Didascalia Apostolorum and the Apostolic Constitutions, where it forms the basis of Book 7, but also in the Ecclesiastical Canons of the Apostles or the Apostolic Church Order traditions in Ethiopic. The traditions embedded in the Didache are also seen in the Latin Doctrina (Apostolorum) from the ninth century and in Coptic and in Georgian. Various patristic writers, such as Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 3.25.4, and Athanasius, Festal Letter, 39.11, knew of it, as does the seventh-century Catalogue of the Sixty Books. This latter and the fourth-century list behind the Stichometry of Nicephorus refer to a writing called the Teaching (or Teachings) of the Apostles, but it is not clear if the Didache is meant. The teaching known to Nicephorus is only 200 stichoi in length, which makes that writing shorter than the present Didache.
Fragments ofPapias. (At one time the Epistle to Diognetus used to be included.)
2. The term 'Apostolic Fathers', which was not used in antiquity of these writings, implies that the author was an acquaintance of the apostles but did not belong to their number. Clement and Hermas are said to have been disciples of Paul. Polycarp is said to have been a disciple of John. The Didache claims to reflect the teaching of the twelve apostles.
3. The texts discussed first are the Didache and Barnabas (Barn.). The former contains some first-century material, and has significant parallels with the New Testament; the latter is an example of a Christian text from a period slightly later than the NT. We shall refer later to three other texts, i and 2 Clement and the Shepherd of Hermas, because they seem to have been considered worthy contenders for inclusion in the canon in the fourth century. Mention will also be made of the letters by Ignatius.
4. The Didache and the Bible. OT citations in the Didache (Mai 1:11, 14 in Did. 14.3, and Zech 14:5 in Did. 16.7, and possibly Sir 7:22; 12:1 in Did. 1.6) are introduced by special formulae. Did. 1.6, 'as has been said'; 14.3, 'Forthis is whatthe Lord [= God] was referring to'; 16.7, 'As was said'. In the case of the passages in the Didache which parallel a NT passage no such introductory formula is found. Did. 1.3, 'Here is the teaching'; 2.1, 'The second commandment of the teaching is'. The word 'gospel' occurs in Did. 8.2; 11.3; 15.3 but is unlikely to refer to a written source. There are no citations at those points; the reference is to teaching by Jesus.
4. Unlike the texts included in the apocryphal NT, in which the characters of the NT proper reappear, typically in scenes that fill in gaps in the traditional stories, the Apostolic Fathers are concerned not with events set in the time of the NT narratives but with issues of common pastoral concern at their time of composition, such as morality and church order.
5. Several writings among the Apostolic Fathers (by Clement, Barnabas, Polycarp, and Ignatius) are letters. This form of writing is relatively rare in the apocryphal NT. (See Q.i-6.)
The Didache
5. However, the following are noteworthy: Did. 9.5, 'For the Lord [presumably Jesus] also spoke concerning this: "Do not give what is holy to dogs." ' This echoes Mt 7:6. Did. 8.1—2, 'Let your fasts not [coincide] with those of the hypocrites. They fast on Monday and Thursday; you, though,
C. 1. Among the Apostolic Fathers is the Didache (or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, and the Teaching of the Lord through the Twelve Apostles to the Gentiles). It is a short manual of church discipline prefaced by a section on morals. The only complete
1309 EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE
Father wants people to share with everyone the gifts that have been freely granted to them. Blessed is the person who gives according to the commandment, for he is guiltless. Alas for the person who takes. If someone takes something because he is in need, he is guiltless, but if he is not in need, he shall have to defend his reason for taking it and the use for which he intends it: if he is imprisoned, he shall be interrogated about what he has done, and he shall not go free until he has paid back the last penny. 6. But it has also been said about this sort of thing, 'Let your charitable gift sweat in your hands until you know to whom you are giving it.' ["The second commandment of the teaching' (in 2:1) then introduces the list of commandments taken from the traditional Two Ways material.]
should fast on Wednesday and Friday. And do not pray as the hypocrites [do].' This links teaching found embedded in Mt 6:5 and 6:16, but the Didache's use of the teaching differs from that in Matthew's gospel. The Didache is concerned with the establishment of distinctively Christian fasts. There is early evidence that Christians did fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. This was to contrast with Pharisaic fasts on Mondays and Thursdays. Mt 6:5 gives details of how hypocrites pray and how Jesus' followers are to pray. Mt 6:16 is concerned with the manner in which hypocrites fast, and not with the days on which they fast.
6. Other links between the Didache and the NTare disputed. Some scholars argue that the author of the Didache knew and used the canonical gospels. Mt 5:39—47 is said to be behind the interpolated section Did. 1.3/7—2.1, but some of the verses parallel the Lucan version (Lk 6:27-33)—see DIDi-3/?-2.i— and it may well be that the parallels are not due to direct literary dependence but to the oral tradition, or even to a harmonized form of the canonical writings.
The NT apocryphon P. Oxy. 1224 also seems to know the tradition found in Did. 1.3/7 referring to prayer for enemies. This fragment, dating from the fourth century, could have come from an unknown apocryphal gospel. The appearance of this saying in these two sources implies a wide tradition for preserving aphorisms attributed to Jesus, although the Didache does not cite the words as coming from Jesus or even from the NT.
7. There are further links elsewhere which show tenuous parallels with the NT, for example Did. 3.7 (Mt. 5:5); 11:7 (Mk 3:28—9); 14:2 (Mt 5:23—4). These are not strongly suggestive of direct literary dependence. As far as the Matthean parallels are concerned, the link is probably with the material Matthew found in his own source—in other words is from the Matthean additions to his framework (e.g. 3.7, 'On the contrary, be mild tempered, since those who are mild tempered will inherit the land'). This has encouraged some to look for links with the source Q itself rather than with Q in Matthew or in Luke.
Did. 1.3/7—2.1 is not found in parallels to the Two Ways tradition (in Barnabas or elsewhere). The verses interrupt the section 1.2—2.2 and are likely to be an interpolation by the Didachist from his sources. The material is more likely to be from an earlier independent tradition rather than to have come directly from the canonical parallels. The wording and sequence are not precisely those in Matthew or Luke, and may best be seen as an oral retelling of the instructions preserved in these or, more probably, due to the independent continuation of the earlier oral material. Did. 1.5 has a different context from Mt 5:26: in Matthew the saying is concerned with repaying debts; in the Didache the reverse is true—no debts should be incurred, unless they cannot be avoided. (Chs. 7—15) The whole of the Didache seems to have been influenced by liturgical practice. Chs. 7—15 give instruction on baptism (ideally by total immersion but also by affusion), fasting (on Wednesdays and Fridays), prayer, and eucharist. For the community responsible for the Didache baptism seems to have been eschatological rather than specifically Christological, although the baptism involves a trinitarian formula reminiscent of Mt 28:19 when me risen Jesus enjoins his disciples to make disciples by baptizing them into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Firstand secondcentury practice seems not to have been uniform. Compared with those examples of the use of a trinitarian formula, one notes that Thecla's auto-baptism (itself a unique act) is in Christ's name only (Acts of Paul, 34). In the Acts of the Apostles baptism is likewise into the name of Jesus.
8. Commentary. 1:1—6:3 contains the passage generally known as the Two Ways. In it are described the Way of Life and the Way of Death. This has interesting parallels to a similar section in Barn 1820.i, although the Didache adds the saying in 1.3/7-2.1 and also 3.1—6 in which certain attitudes and activities are prohibited in order to facilitate the keeping of the law, and also to the Doctrina Apostolorum, the Apostolic Constitutions, and the Epitome of the Canons of the Holy Apostles, although in Barnabas and the Doctrina a dualistic eschatological framework is in evidence. This whole moral section, whatever its origin (and many see the whole Two Ways tradition as originally Jewish because there are parallels in Qumran), is set here in Did. 7.1 in the context of pre-baptismal instruction and thus it may well give a clear idea about secondand maybe even first-century practice. (Possibly ch. 7 refers to an annual baptismal rite, during which the familiar Two Ways passage was recited. Such a rite would have taken place at the paschal festival.)
8.2—3 contains a version of the Lord's Prayer, introduced with the words: 'Let us pray as the Lord [i.e. Jesus] commanded in his gospel.' This version is closer to the longer Matthean version rather than the apocopated Lucan form, but the wording in the Didache is not identical with Matthew's text:
(1.3!;—2.1) We now turn to the interpolated section:
3!?. Bless those who curse you and pray for your enemies, fast for those who persecute you. What kind of favour is it when you love those who love you? Do not even the gentiles do that? Love those who hate you and you will not have any enemy. 4. Avoid the fleshly and bodily passions. If someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn your other one to him too, and you will be perfect. If someone presses you into one mile of service go along with him for two. If someone takes your cloak, give him your tunic as well. If someone takes away from you what is yours, do not demand it back since you cannot do so anyway. 5. Give to everyone what he asks of you, and do not ask for it back, for the
2. Our Father in heaven, May your name be acclaimed as holy, May your kingdom come, May your will come to pass on earth as it does in heaven. Give us today our bread for the morrow, And cancel for us our debt As we cancel [debts] for those who are indebted to us, And do not bring us into temptation, But preserve us from evil [or, from the evil one]. For power and glory are yours forever.
3. Pray this way three times a day.
EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE 1310
In any case, the Matthean form—and indeed the Lukan—are subject to a complex series of text-critical variants, in which MSS of Matthew may be seen to be assimilating the text to that in Luke, and MSS of Luke to that in Matthew (e.g. the tense of the verb in 'as we forgive [cancel]' in Mt 6:i2/Lk 11:4 and cf.
Did. 9.2 presumably tries to connect Jesus with his Davidic, Messianic, origins, the strange image of the vine here being suggested by the context. The significance of the gathering of the grain to make the loaf in 9:4 also comes from a eucharistic context and perhaps echoes Jn 6:12 or, more generally, the unifying of the church implicit in the conclusion to the stories of the miraculous feedings. 9:5 clearly refers to a eucharist, making it less likely that chs. 9-10 refer to an agape (several scholars have suggested it does, encouraged, perhaps, by the absence of references here to body and blood). The eucharistic interpretation is encouraged by the argument that the context of chs. 9-10 (and i-io as a whole) is that of the annual baptism-eucharist ceremony.
Did. 8.2). Other variants, not of a harmonizing character, may also be seen within the complex textual witnesses to the Lord's Prayer. This activity reveals the volatility of the tradition and its susceptibility to liturgical influences and perhaps also to the influence of Marcion. Certainly, in the form of the Lord's Prayer as transmitted in the Bryennios MS of the Didache the prayer is close to, but not identical with, the longer forms of the prayer in Mt. 6:9-13; e.g. in the concluding doxology the
Didache has only 'power' and 'glory' and omits 'kingdom': these three nouns are found in the MSS reading the longer ending in Mt 6:13. Among other differences, note 'debt' in the Didache rather than Matthew's 'debts'. Both versions seem to have been influenced by the liturgy.
The thanksgiving prayer in ch. 10 addresses God as 'holy Father', which may be compared with Jn 17:11 (itself from the liturgical section, Jn 15-17, which takes place in the upper room and begins with the True Vine discourse). Links with the Johannine tradition are not, however, a prominent feature of the Didache.
(Chs. 9—10) Two eucharistic prayers are significant, one in ch. 9, the other in ch. 10, and are important to our understanding of early Christian practice. Ch. 9:
10.2-9 can be seen as antiphonal. To emphasize the participatory nature of the prayer the Coptic tradition here adds 'Amen' three times. Also in these verses can be seen echoes of the Lord's Prayer. This suggests either a direct borrowing by the originators of this prayer or that the Didachist and Jesus merely share the same understanding of topics to be put on the agenda for prayer, which is perhaps all that the Paternoster itself is. Comparable echoes are to be found in the Gethsemane story in the NT.
i. As for thanksgiving, give thanks this way. 2. First, with regard to the cup: We thank you, our Father, for the holy vine of David your servant which you made known to us through Jesus your servant. To you be glory forever. 3. And with regard to the loaf: We thank you, our Father, for the life and knowledge, which you made known to us through Jesus your servant. To you be glory forever. 4. As this loaf lay scattered upon the mountains and became a single fragment when it had been gathered, may your church be gathered into your kingdom from the ends of the earth. For glory and power are yours, through Jesus Christ, forever. 5. But let no one eat or drink from your Eucharist except those who are baptized in the Lord's name. For the Lord also has spoken concerning this: 'Do not give what is holy to dogs' [Mt 7:6].
The prayer over oil (or incense) in 10.8 is found only in the Coptic; it is not in the Greek. The use of incense or oil is well established in varying religious traditions. In the NT, of course, its use is primarily connected with the anointing of Jesus in the Bethany episode (which was, perhaps, a coronation, or at least a Messiah-making event), or with the burial of Jesus. Anointing of the sick with oil is found in Jas 5:14, and oil was used in the mysterious rite known as 'sealing', which is referred to on several occasions in the second-century apocryphal Acts (e.g. Acts of Andrew, 10; Acts of Paul, 25; Acts of Thomas, 27).
Ch. 10:
i. When you have had your fill, give thanks this way: 2. We thank you, holy Father, for your holy name, which you made dwell in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality, which you made known to us through Jesus your servant. To you be glory forever. 3. You, almighty Lord, created all things for the sake of your name, and you gave food and drink to human beings for enjoyment, so that they would thank you. But you graced us with spiritual food and drink and eternal life through Jesus, your servant. 4. Above all, we thank you, Lord, because you are powerful. To you be glory forever. 5. Be mindful, Lord, of your church, to preserve it from all evil, and to perfect it in your love. And, once it is sanctified, gather it from the four winds into the kingdom which you have prepared for it. For power and glory are yours forever. 6. May grace come, and may this world pass by. Hosanna to the God of David! If anyone is holy, let him come. If anyone is not, let him repent. Our Lord, come! Amen. 7. But permit the prophets to give thanks as they see fit. 8. And concerning the ointment, give thanks as follows: 9. We thank you, Father, for the fragrant ointment which you have made known to us through Jesus your servant. Glory to you forever. Amen.
(Chs. 11-15) m me later Parts of the Didache there are also instructions about travelling prophets, bishops, and deacons. References to itinerant preachers (chs. 13—14) as well as to a settled ministry (chs. 15), and the relation of these preachers to the bishops and deacons are obviously of supreme importance to church historians interested in tracing the growth of church discipline and organization. This section in the Didache encourages biblical scholars to make comparisons with passages such as i Tim. 3:2-13; Titus 1:5-9; and PhilI:IParticularly noteworthy is Did. 13:
i. And every true prophet who wishes to settle among you deserves his food. 2. Similarly, a true teacher also deserves, like the labourer, his food [cf. Mt io:iob]. 3. So when you [sing.] take any firstfruits of what is produced by the wine press and the threshing floor, by cows and by sheep, you [sing.] shall give the firstfruits to the prophets, for they are your [pi.] high priests. 4. If, however you [pi.] have no prophet, give [them] to the poor. 5. If you [sing, in w. 5-7] make bread, take the firstfruits and give them according to the commandment. 6. Likewise, when you open a jar of wine or oil, take the firstfruits and give them to the prophets. 7. Take the firstfruits of money and clothing and whatever else you own as you think best and give them according to the commandment.
Among noteworthy features is the order of the wine before the bread (cf. the shorter text in Lk 22:17-190). The eucharist seems to be a freestanding rite; in some early Christian gatherings, such as Paul describes in the Corinthian correspondence, the eucharist was celebrated at the conclusion of a communal meal.
I3II
EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE
2. Summary of contents: Ch. i: Introduction 2.1—16.10: The correct interpretation of the (Jewish) scriptures.
Prophets and teachers in the Didache are the real successors to the apostles—it is they who receive the firstfruits. Teachers are worthy of their hire, just as the apostles are in Mt 10:10. The historic and hierarchical order, apostles-prophets-teachers, is reminiscent of i Cor 12:28 (cf also Eph 4:11).
chs. 2-3: The Lord does not require sacrifice and fasting; these have been superseded by the sacrifice of Jesus.
Ch. 15 is likely to be one of the most recently composed sections of the work because we have here instructions for a settled ministry of bishops and deacons (presbyters are not mentioned). The precise social context in which such issues would have been relevant for the church are not self-evident.
ch. 4: Warnings about the coming judgement. chs. 5-6: Why the Lord suffered in the flesh. chs. 7-8: The Lord's suffering paralleled in the scapegoat and the red heifer.
chs. 9—10: Circumcision explained. chs. 11-12: The OT tells us about baptism, the cross, the crucifixion, and Jesus.
(Ch. 16) is an eschatological appendix with teaching about the Antichrist (in v. 4) and the second coming (in w. 7—8, assuming 'the Lord' there to be Jesus). There are links with Mt 24 (and parallels) but there are differences in both content and language. There are also other links with the eschatological passages in i Thess 4:12—5:13 and elsewhere in the NT, suggesting a common Jewish-Christian background. The apocryphal Apocalypse of Peter in Ethiopic begins with an eschatological passage that also has close parallels with Did. 16, including the sign-working deceiver, the cross preceding the Lord as he comes, the regal procession, and judgement.
chs. 13—14: Covenant explained. ch. 15: Sabbath explained. ch. 16: The temple explained as the presence of God in believers. 17.1—18.10: Transitional passage. i8:ifc—20: The Two Ways passage.
ch. 21: Conclusion. 3. Author. The work is anonymous—the author is unknown, but early tradition attributed it to Barnabas. He is likely to have been a Gentile Christian if the reference in 16.7 to a time 'before we believed in God' is allowed its plain meaning. Others see him as a Jewish Christian: there are several Jewish elements in the writing, and he is familiar with Jewish law, ritual, and sacrifices. The Two Ways passage was probably originally Jewish. The author was certainly familiar with various methods of Jewish interpretation such as haggadah, midrash, and Halakah. Even if the author was not a Jewish Christian, he was obviously aware of, and had access to, Jewish traditions.
i. Keep vigil over your life. Let your lamps not go out and let your loins not be ungirded but be ready for you do not know the hour at which our Lord is coming. 2. You shall assemble frequently, seeking what pertains to your souls, for the whole time of your belief will be of no profit to you unless you are perfected at the final hour. 3. For in the final days false prophets and corruptors will be multiplied, and the sheep will turn into wolves, and love will turn into hate. 4. As lawlessness increases, they will hate and persecute and betray one another, and at that time the one who leads the world astray will appear as a son of God and will work signs and wonders, and the earth will be given into his hands and he will do godless things which have never been done since the beginning of time. 5. Then human creation will pass into the testing fire and many will fall away and perish but those who persevere in their belief will be saved by the curse itself 6. and then the signs of truth will appear, first, the sign spread out in heaven, next, the signal of the trumpet call, and third, resurrection of the dead—7. not of all the dead but, as it has been said, 'The Lord will come and all the holy ones with him.' 8. Then the world will see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven.
4. The author compiled his letter from several previously existing traditions. The epistle is an evolved piece of literature, but that does not mean that the tradition is more important than the redactor. There is a certain lack of coherence and consistency in the letter, but it is not as lacking in overall direction as a first reading might suggest. The author is more than a mere compiler—he has an overall theological plan, in which his main Tendenz is an anti-Jewish slant imposed by him on his sources.
Bibliography: Wengst (1984); Niederwimmer (1993); Rordorf and Tuilier (1978); Tuckett (1989); Draper (1996); the Greek text of the Didache with an ET is found in Lake (1912-13: i. 308-33). A full bibliography of works on the Didache from about 1900 to 90 is found in Jefford (1995).
5. Early Recognition. Clement of Alexandria quotes Barnabas as 'scripture'. There are seven citations in Clement of Alexandria's Stromateis 2 and 5 from Barnabas. Eusebius,
Hist. Ecd. 6.14.1, says Clement, Hypotyposeis (now lost), included commentary on Barnabas (and Jude with the other Catholic epistles and the Apocalypse of Peter). Origen refers to Barnabas as a Catholic epistle (c. Cds. 1.63 citing Barn. 5.9). Eusebius, Hist. Ecd. 6.13.6-14.1 places Barnabas among the 'disputed' writings; 3.25.4 has it among the 'spurious' writings.
The Epistle of Barnabas
D. 1. The Didache and Barnabashave much in common. Both were written about the same time, both are found in the Bryennios MS, and, most significantly, both contain the passage about the Two Ways, which naturally raises the questions whether the Didache copied it from Barnabas or whether
Jerome, De Vir. III. 6, refers to the Didache and Barnabas as 'apocryphal'. He cites Barn. 8.2 in In Ezek. 43.19; Barn. 5.9 is quoted (as in Origen) in Adv. Pel. 3.2, although Origen misattributed it to Ignatius. The canonical list in Codex Claromontanus refers to the Epistle of Barnabas but possibly the Epistle to the Hebrews, lacking in that catalogue, is meant. The Catalogue of the Sixty Books calls Barnabas 'apocryphal', and the Stichometry of Nicephorus labels it 'disputed'.
Barnabas found it in the Didache. (The common solution to the interrelationship of these passages is to say that the section containing the Two Ways came to both authors independently.) Both works are examples of an evolved literature, preserving and transmitting traditions. But whereas the Didache is a catechetical work aimed at initiates, Barnabas is aimed at reclaiming Jewish Christians, who were in danger of returning to Judaism.
6. Text. The letter survives in Greek and Latin. The Greek MSS containing it are the biblical Codex Sinaiticus of the
EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE 1312
The outer limits for the date of composition thus seem to be 117 CE and 132 CE. But if Nerva (96—8 CE) is to be identified as the little horn, this could mean that the letter was composed in his short but benign reign. His favourable attitude to Judaism could well have been responsible for the rumour that the temple would be rebuilt.
fourth century and Codex Hierosolymitanus (or Constantinopolitanus), the eleventh-century MS discovered by Bryennios and published by him in 1883. Bryennios' MS, already referred to above in connection with the Didache, contains, in addition to the Didache and Barnabas, i and 2 Clement, Chrysostom's Synopsis of the OTand NT (incomplete), and the long recension of Ignatius' letters (see 1.1—2).
In so far as Barnabas is a composite work, there is the possibility that some of the material is of varying dates, hence it would be unwise to date it by any one piece of evidence; moreover its use of stock apocalyptic imagery makes it unreliable to pinpoint precise historical events.
Its appearance in Codex Sinaiticus shows that in the fourth century its canonical status was considered a possibility, Barnabas occurs immediately after Revelation without a break—it is not in a separate appendix. The fact that Barnabas is found (together with the Shepherd of Hermas) in this biblical MS suggests the scribe copied it (and the Shepherd) as if they were of equal status with the preceding books. In addition there is a family of Greek MSS, the oldest being eleventh century, in which Epistle ofPolycarp to the Philippians, 9.2, is followed directly by Barnabas 5.7. In an ancestor of this family, a scribe obviously carelessly omitted the end ofPolycarp and the beginning of Barnabas and thereby accidentally combined the two works in this way. The epistle is also found in a ninthto tenth-century Latin MS (Codex Corbeiensis), now in St Petersburg. This MS ends at ch. 17, and thus omits the passage about the Two Ways, raising the questions whether the Latin omitted that section from an earlier, longer version or whether the Greek tradition interpolated the section from another source into a form of Barnabas comparable to that now known to us only in the Latin version.
9. Teaching. Whatever date is agreed upon, it is clear that the motivation for the writing of Barnabas was a resurgence of confidence in Judaism, perhaps fuelled by or even responsible for a belief that the Jerusalem temple would be rebuilt. This confidence was felt by the author of Barnabas to be destabilizing the Christian community. There was a temptation that some Christians (presumably of Jewish origin) would relapse into Judaism, and they needed reminding about the relationship of Judaism and Christianity, the role and purpose of the Jewish law, and the place of Christian ethics.
10. Gnosis. is a key term throughout the letter, but this is not a Gnostic work as commonly understood. The gnosis here refers to special insights; it is not an unorthodox, speculative Gnosticism. It may be divided into exegetical and ethical gnosis. Exegetical gnosis, especially of OT events, gives the
'correct' understanding of salvation history—the interpretation of scripture is the central focus of the writing. Chs. 2.1-16.10 give a spiritualized understanding ofthe OT. Ethical gnosis means right conduct (in the Two Ways passage), that is, the correct understanding of the Lord's requirements for ethical behaviour.
7. Provenance. Barnabas was probably intended for a community in which Jewish Christians were in contact with Jews, although the precise locality in which it was written, or to which it was addressed, is not clear. Alexandria is a strong possibility, but, because the Two Ways passage has parallels with the Manual of Discipline from Qumran (iQS 3:13-4:28), some seek a place of composition east of Alexandria itself.
11. Barnabas makes a significant contribution to our understanding of Christianity at the end of the first and, probably, the beginning ofthe second centuries. Carleton Paget (1994: 264) writes: 'The survival ofthe Epistle of Barnabas is fortuitous, for it serves to remind all students of Early Christianity of the incomplete and fragmentary nature of what we know about this subject, and can, along with other extra-canonical texts, have the salutary effect of subverting glib reconstructions of Christian origins.'
8. Date. The question of the date of Barnabas hinges on two passages, 4.4-5 and 16.3-4. 4.4-5:
And the prophet speaks thus: Ten kingdoms will reign on the earth. And afterward there will arise a little king, who will humiliate three of the kingdoms simultaneously. Similarly, Daniel says concerning the same one: And I saw the fourth beast, wicked and powerful and more dangerous than all the beasts of the sea; and ten horns sprouted from him, and from them budded a little offshoot of a horn; and it humiliated three of the great horns simultaneously.
12. The message of Barnabas is that Christians need to reassert their independence—it is they who are the true people ofthe Covenant. This reflects concerns similar to those of Paul several decades previously. For Paul the church was in the new age of the Spirit, Judaism had had a place in the history of salvation but, since the coming of Christ, the period of the law now belonged only to the old dispensation. For Barnabas the relevance of the God-given law is differently interpreted: it had always been incorrectly understood by Jews. Using his particular exegetical gnosis the author shows how, in particular, circumcision, covenant, sabbath observance, and the temple should have been interpreted, and using allegorical and other interepretative methods gives several examples of right understanding.
There is a wide diversity of views on the interpretation of these verses. It has sometimes been concluded that the ten kings seem to lead up to Trajan, with Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian as the three humbled emperors; the little horn' is then seen here as Nero Redivivus, who will be subdued by the returning Jesus. Thus a date in Hadrian's reign (117—138 CE) is required for this interpretation. 16.3-4:
Furthermore, he says again: Behold, those who tore down this Temple will themselves build it. It is happening. Because of their fighting it was torn down by the enemies. And now the very servants of the enemies will themselves rebuild it.
13. A good example of this is ch. 9, on circumcision. Its symbolic significance is emphasized; true circumcision is obedience. Little in this chapter is distinctively Christian until we reach the closing section. The symbolic significance of numbers (gematria) is important in much Jewish
If the reference is to a literal temple (and that is by no means certain) then we need a date prior to 132, when Hadrian built a Roman temple on the site of the Jerusalem temple.
1313 EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE
"many called but few chosen".' However, there is little support for the idea that the author had the written, canonical gospel in mind. It is more likely that he was familiar with the saying from the oral tradition. Similarly the references to Jesus' imbibing gall and vinegar on the cross (Barn. 7.3, 5) are also likely to have reached him from oral tradition. Barn. 5.9 (the verse known to Origen and Jerome) parallels Mk 2.17, calling sinners to repentance; 6.6 perhaps knows the passage about the casting of lots for Jesus' garments; 5.12 quotes the passage about the smiting of the sheep, recalling, perhaps, Mt 26:31 and Mk 14:27, although it may have come to him from Zech 13:7. The following (6.13; 7.9; 12.10-11) are also paralleled in biblical passages:
writing. Here it is applied to the name of Jesus and to the
Learn, then, abundantly concerning everything, children of love, for when Abraham first gave circumcision, he circumcised while looking forward in the spirit to Jesus, and he received the teachings of the three letters. For it says: And Abraham circumcised the men of his household [Gen. 17:23], 18 and 300 in number [Gen. 14:14]. What, then, is the gnosis which was given him? Learn! For a distinction is made in that the 18 comes first, then it says 300. Now the (number) 18 (is represented by two letters), J = 10 and E = 8— thus you have "JE," the abbreviation for "JEsus." And because the cross, represented by the letter T (= 300), was destined to convey special significance it also says 300. He makes clear, then, that JEsus is symbolized by the two letters (JE 18), while in the one letter (T 300) is symbolized the cross. He who placed the implanted gift of his teaching in us knows! No one has learned from me a more trustworthy lesson! But I know that you are worthy.
And the Lord says: Behold, I make the last things like the first, (cf. Rev 21:5)
Because they will see him then, on that day, wearing the scarlet robe
around his flesh and they will say: Is not this he whom we once crucified, despising and piercing and spitting on him? Surely this was the one who then said he was God's Son. (cf. Mk 14:39 and par.)
In the second century the pagan Lucian mentions (injudicum Vocalium, 12) that the cross is constructed in the form of a T and 'is so named by men'.
10. Since then, they were going to say that Messiah is David's Son, David himself—fearing and perceiving the error of the sinners— prophesies: The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet' [Ps 110:1]. n. And again, Isaiah says as follows: The Lord said to my Messiah, the Lord, whose right hand I held, that nations would become obedient to him, and 'I will demolish the strength of kings' [Isa 45:1]. Notice how David says he is 'Lord', and does not say 'Son', (cf. Mk 12:36 and par.)
14. Throughout, Barnabas teaches that the New Israel is Christianity and that the OT had always been a Christian book. The Jews had got their own traditions wrong. The Jewish literal interpretation of the law was due to the devices of an evil angel, who had deceived Jews. This unusual approach demonstrates the distinctiveness of this letter, and probably ensured its preservation, success, and popularity. It survived in the MS tradition over several centuries, and was quoted (particularly by Egyptian fathers), respected, and venerated as one new way of looking at a perennial problem in early Christianity—the relationship of Christianity and Judaism. Other approaches differed. Marcion, for example, simply jettisoned the OT. The canonical Hebrews speaks of two covenants, and of the supremacy of the new over the old—the old dispensation was only temporary, whereas Christ's atoning sacrifice is eternal.
None of these parallels requires a literary dependence of Barnabas on the NT texts.
18. Barnabas and the OT. All the extensive allusions, references, and quotations from the OT Scriptures are loose and are likely to have reached the author from previously existing (oral) testimonies. Over twenty come from the LXX of Isaiah. Several are from the LXX Psalter. There are loose citations also from the Pentateuch. 6.2-4 combines loose and exact citation from the LXX of Isaiah and the Psalms: