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The Shepherd of Hermas and Christian Life in Rome in the Second Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

Kirsopp Lake
Kirsopp Lake
Affiliation:
University of Leyden
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Extract

It was once remarked with much truth that the non-fulfilment of the expectation of the Parousia was the principal factor in the development of early Christianity. This is all the more important, because it was not the custom of the first Christians to speak of the “second” coming—that is a modern point of view—but of the “coming” of the Messiah. To them the Son of Man, Jesus, had come, and the resurrection proved that he was now the Messiah in heaven, but, as Professor Burkitt has recently pointed out, “Son of Man” does not mean “Messiah” in the full sense, but is rather the description given of the predestined and pre-existent Messiah, before he actually came as Messiah in function. The Parousia of the triumphant Messiah whom they expected was as much future for Christians as it was for Jews, and on this point the main difference between the two was that the former believed that they knew who the Messiah was.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , January 1911 , pp. 25 - 46
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1911

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References

1 I saw exactly the sort of scene (except that there was no tower) between Grotta Ferrata and Frascati, when the electric tramway was being laid. The stones slid down the cliff to their destination, but, just as Hermas describes, many of them failed to reach it.

2 When one remembers that the Epistle to the Hebrews was well known in Rome before the time of Hermas (cf. the long quotations in 1 Clement), it is difficult not to think that this is a reference to Heb. 6 4 ff. It will be noted that Hermas does not deny the truth of what Hebrews says; he only claims to supersede it on one point by a more recent revelation.

3 Cf. Origen's quotation from Celsus in Contra Celsum iii, 59: οἱ μὲν γὰρ εἰς τὰς ἄλλας τελετὰς καλοῦντες προκηρύττουσι τάδε˙ ὅστις χεῖρας καθαρὸς καὶ ϕωνὴν συνετὸς … καὶ ὅτῳ ἡ ψυχὴ οὐδὲν συνοῖδε κακόν, καὶ ὅτῳ εὖ καὶ δικαίως βεβαίωται … ἐπακούσωμεν δὲ τίνας ποτὲ οὖτοι καλοῦσιν˙ ὅστις, ϕασίν, ἁμαρτωλός, ὅστις ἀσύνετος, ὅστις νήπιος, καὶ ὡς ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν ὅστις κακοδαίμων, τοῦτον ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ δέξεται.

4 It might probably be added that Mithraism, which was in the end the most serious rival of Christianity, approached most nearly to its practice in this respect.

5 Some years ago one would have made this statement with much confidence. But J. Réville's book Les origines de l'épiscopat suggests other possibilities. They do not, however, seriously affect the present question.

6 Note here the earliest and undoubtedly correct interpretation of the “sin against the Holy Spirit,” namely, to reject the message of an inspired prophet, because he is the mouthpiece of the Spirit.

7 Hermas may indeed even be used as an argument to show that the Johannine literature was not introduced in Rome until after the time of Hermas. It is not impossible that Justin Martyr brought it with him,—but this question deserves separate treatment.