by Adolph (von) Harnack
translated and edited by James Moffatt
Second, enlarged and revised English edition;
Theological Translation Library, volumes 19-20
From the German, Die
Book 3, chapter 1
(scanned by Amna Khwar)
BOOK
III
THE MISSIONARIES : THE METHODS OF THE MISSION AND THE COUNTER-MOVEMENTS
THE CHRISTIAN
MISSIONARIES (APOSTLES, EVANGELISTS,
AND PROPHETS OR TEACHERS: THE INFORMAL MISSIONARIES)
I
BEFORE entering upon the subject proper, let us briefly survey the usage of the term “apostle," in its wider and narrower senses, throughout the primitive Christian writings. \1/
----------------------------------------------
\1/ Though it is only apostles of Christ who
are to
be considered, it may be observed that Paul spoke (2 Cor. viii. 23) of
<g> d,rdo-ro o, &K717jatmv </g>, and applied the title
"apostle of the Philippians" to Epaphroditus, who had conveyed to him
a donation from that church (Philip. ii. 25). In Heb. iii. i Jesus is
called
"the apostle and high-priest of our confession." But in John xiii. 16
"apostle" is merely used as an illustration: <g> obK irrs Soi
os AC-((WY TO; Kuplov a6Tov", o1) aado-TOAos µs(Cwv To; i€' 4avTos
avTdv.
</g> For the literature on this subject, see my edition of the
Didache
(Texte u. Untersuchungen, vol. ii., 1884) and my Dogmengeschichte I.3
(1894),
PP. 153 f. [Eng. trans., vol. i. pp. 212 f.], Seufert on Der Ursprung
and die
Bedeutung des Apostolats in d. Christliche Kirche (1887), Weizsacker's
Der
Apost. Zeitalter2 (1892, s. V. ), Zahn's Skizzen aus den: Leben der
alien
Kirche 2 (1898), P• 338, Haupt on 7um Verstandnisse des Apostolats int
N. T.
(1896), Wernle's Anfange unserer Religions (1904), and Monnier's La
notion de
1'A,bostolat des origins a Ir/nte (1903)
\2/ Matt. x. 5, xx. 17, xxvi. 14, 47; Mark (iii. 14), iv. 10, vi. 7, ix. 35, x. 32, xi. 11, xiv. 10, 17, 20, 43 ; John vi. 67, 70, 71, xx. 24
\3/
Matt. x. i, xi. 1, xxvi. 20.-Add further the instances in which they
are called
"the eleven " (Mark xvi. 14) or "the eleven disciples "
(Matt. xxviii. 16).
\4/ This is explicitly
stated in
Barn. 8: <g> ouuly SEKabv'o ds tAapTUplov Twv Ovk@v ZTi 'B' a(
OuAal Too
'I rpaiX </g> ("They are twelve for a testimony to the tribes,
for
there are twelve tribes in Israel ").
\5/ This is a remarkable
fact. In
the Johannine epistles "apostle" never occurs at all. Yet these
letters were composed by a man who, whatever he may have been, claimed
and
exercised apostolic authority over a large number of the churches, as
is plain
from the third epistle (see my study of it in the fifteenth volume of
the Texte
and Unlersuchungen, part 3). More on this point afterwards.
\6/ Not "the twelve" pure and simple.
Elsewhere the term, "the twelve apostles," occurs only in Apoc. xxi.
14, and there the " twelve " is not superfluous, as the Apocalypse
uses "apostle" in a more general sense (see below).
\7/The phrasing of Mark iii. 14 <g>
(iao(,tvov
Ic 8o,ca bva &'Qlv µET' al-roi teal Iva aToa,Te,AArr a6Tob5
Knp6aeEly Kal
EXELv 1touo(av 1KoaxAE/y T& SatlAo'via) </g> corresponds to
the
original facts of the case. The mission (within Israel) was one object
of their
election from the very first; see, further, the saying upon " fishers
of
men " (Mark i. 17).--In this connection we must also note those
passages
in the gospel where <g> aaoeTEAAEIv </g> is used, i.e.,
where it is
applied by Jesus to his own commissions and to the disciples whom he
commissions (particularly John xx. 21, <g> KaOasa7rEOTTRAKEV pe 6
aa-r
tp, Kayw ,ri'1rro v sac). </g>
=========================
----------------------------------------
\1/From the absence of the term "twelve" in Paul, one might infer (despite the gospels) that it did not arise till later; I Cor. xv. 5, however, proves the reverse.
========================
(a)
He calls himself an apostle of Jesus
Christ, and lays
the greatest stress upon this fact. \1/ He became an apostle, as alone
one
could, through God (or Christ) ; God called him and gave him his
apostleship,
\2/ and his apostleship was proved by the work he did and by the way in
which
he did it. \3/
(b)
His fellow-missionaries-e.g., Barnabas and
Silvanus-are
also apostles; not so, however, his assistants and pupils, such as
Timothy and
Sosthenes. \4/
(c)
Others also -- probably, e.g., Andronicus
and Junias \5/ are
apostles. In fact, the term cannot be sharply restricted at all; for as
God
appoints prophets and teachers "in the church," so also does he
appoint apostles to be the front rank therein, \6/ and since such
charismatic
callings depend upon the church's needs, which are known to God alone,
their
numbers are not fixed. To the apostleship belong (in addition to the
above mentioned
call of God or Christ) the wonderful deeds which accredit it (2 Cor.
xii. 12)
and a work of its own (1 Cor. ix. 1-2), in addition to special rights.
\7/ He
who can point to such is an apostle. The very polemic against false
apostles (2
Cor. xi. 13) and " super-apostles " (2 Cor. xi. 5, xii. 11) proves
that Paul did not regard the conception of " apostle " as implying
any fixed number of persons, otherwise the polemic would have been
differently
put. Finally, a comparison of 1 Cor. xv. 7 with verse 5 of the same
chapter shows,
with the utmost clearness, that Paul distinguished a circle of apostles
which
was wider than the twelve-a distinction, moreover, which prevailed
during the
earliest period of the church and within
------------------------------------------
\1/ See
the opening of all the Pauline epistles, except 1 and 2 Thess.,
Philippians and
Philemon; also Rom. i. 5, xi. 13, 1 Cor. iv. 9, ix. I f., xv. 9 f., 2
Cor. xii.
12, Gal. i. 17 (ii. 8). It may be doubted whether, in i Cor. iv. 9
<g>
(SoKi, 6 9EbrjAas Togs &,roo'T6Aous 1QXIITOUS a,r€SEI.Ev ms
lalOavaT(oul),
loXdTOUS </g> is to be taken as an attribute of <g>
aIrouTJAovs
</g> or as a predicative. I prefer the former construction (see
I Cor.
xv. 8 f.), and it seems to me therefore probable that the first person
plural
here is an epistolary plura
\3/ I Cor. ix. 1, 2, xv. 9 f., 2 Cor. xii.
12, Gal.
1. 2.
\4/ 1
Cor. ix. 4 f. and Gal. ii. 9 prove that Barnabas was an apostle, whilst
i
Thess. ii. 7 makes it very probable that Silvanus was one also. In the
greetings of the Thessalonian and Philippian epistles Paul does not
call
himself an apostle, since he is associating himself with Timothy, who
is never
given this title (1 Thess. ii. 7 need not be taken as referring to
him). It is
therefore quite correct to ascribe to him (as in 2 Tim. iv. 5) the work
of an
evangelist. Apollos, too [see p. 79], is never called an apostle. As
for
<g> EbayyEJuer*s </g>, it is to be noted that, apart from 2
Timothy, it occurs twice in the New Testament ; namely, in the
We-journal in
Acts (xxi. 8, as a title of Philip, one of the seven), and in Ephes.
iv. I 1,
where the reason for evangelists being mentioned side by side with
apostles is
that the epistle is addressed to churches which had been founded by
nonapostolic
missionaries, and not by Paul himself-just as the term <g> 01
ateouravTEa
(sc. Tbv KGplov) </g> is substituted for "apostles" in Heb. ii.
3, because the readers for whom the epistle was originally designed had
not
received their Christianity from apostles.
\6/
I Cor. xii. 28 f. ; Eph. iv. i i. Even Eph. ii. 20 and iii. 5 could not
be
understood to refer exclusively to the so-called "original apostles,"
otherwise Paul would simply be disavowing his own position.
\7/
It cannot be proved--at least not with any great degree of
probabilityfrom i
Cor. ix. I that one must have seen the Lord in order to be able to come
forward
as an apostle. The four statements are an ascending series <g>
(o8KEtµ)
gm6espos ; oUK ei/Al arso-ToAos; ovXl 'Irrcro v Tὸv Kvpiov j
v e4paKa
; ofT? Epyov µon uµs?s iirs-s dv Kuph,), </g> as is proved by the
relation of the second to the first. It is clear that the third and
fourth
statements are meant to attest the second, but it is doubtful if they
contain
an attestation which is absolutely necessary.
\8/
Cp. Origen, Hom. in Nun:., xxvii. I I (vol. x. p. 353, ed. Lommatzsch)
:
"In quo apostolus ostendit [sc. I Cor. xv. 7) esse et alios apostolos
exceptis illis duodecim."
=========================
(d) But in a further,
strict, sense of the term, "apostle" is reserved for those with whom
he himself works, \1/ and here some significance attaches to the very
chronological succession of those who were called to the apostleship
(Rom. xvi.
7). The twelve who were called during the lifetime of Jesus fall to be
considered as the oldest apostles; \2/ with their qualities and
functions they
form the pattern and standard for all subsequent apostles. Thus the
twelve, and
(what is more) the twelve as apostles, come to the front. As apostles
Paul put
them in front; in order to set the dignity of his own office in its
true light,
he embraced the twelve under the category of the original apostolate
(thereby
allowing their personal discipleship to fall into the background, in
his
terminology), and thus raised them above all other apostles, although
not
higher than the level which he claimed to occupy himself. That the
twelve
henceforth rank in history as the twelve apostles, and in fact as the
apostles,
was a result brought about by Paul; and, paradoxically enough, this was
brought
about by him in his very effort to fix the value of his own
apostleship. He
certainly did not work out this conception, for he neither could nor
would
give up the more general conception of the apostleship. Thus the term
"apostle " is confined to the twelve only twice in Paul, \3/ and even
in these passages the reference is not absolutely certain. They occur
in the
first chapter of Galatians and in I Cor. ix. 5. Gal. i. 17 speaks of of
<g> 7rpo ἐuou a7roTToXoi </g> (" those who were
apostles before me "), where in all likeliehood the twelve are alone to
be
understood. Yet the subsequent remark in verse 19 <g>
(E",repovTivv
a-rrorrTOXwv owK edSov ei µr) 'IaKw,30V -rov a8eX0ov Tou Kupiou)
</g>
shows that it was of no moment to Paul to restrict the conception
rigidly. In
1 Cor. ix. 5 we read, <g> exouev seoucriav adeX95i7v yuvaiKa
7reptayety,
ws Kai of Xot7roὶ aaocTToXOI Kai of adeXfio1 Tov Kupiou Kai
Ki95as;
</g> the collocation of <g> aoiimv airo6ToXaw </g>
with the
Lord's brothers renders it very probable that Paul here is thinking of
the
twelve exclusively, and not of all the existing apostles, when he
mentions
" the apostles." To sum up our results: Paul holds fast to the wider
conception of the apostolate, but the twelve disciples form in his view
its
original nucleus.
3.
The
terminology of Luke is determined as much by that of the primitive age
(the
Synoptic tradition) as by the post-Pauline. Following the former, he
calls the
chosen disciples of Jesus "the twelve," \1/ or "the
eleven;" \2/ but he reproduces the latter in describing these disciples
almost invariably throughout Acts as simply " the apostles " -- just as
though there were no other\3/ apostles at all -- and in relating, in
his gospel,
how Jesus himself called them apostles (vi. 13). Accordingly, even in
the
gospel he occasionally calls them " the apostles." \4/ This would
incline one to assert that Luke either knew, or wished to know, of no
apostles
save the twelve; but the verdict would be precipitate, for in Acts xiv.
4, 14,
he describes not merely Paul but also Barnabas as an apostle. \5/
Obviously,
the terminology was not yet fixed by any means. Nevertheless it is
surprising
that Paul is only described as an "apostle" upon one occasion in the
whole course of the book. He does not come \6/ under the description of
the
qualities requisite for the apostleship which Luke has in view in Acts
i. 21
f., a description which became more and more normative for the next
age.
Consequently he cannot have been an apostle for Luke, except in the
wider sense
of the term.
-----------------------------------------------
\2/
Luke xxiv. 9, 33 (cp. Acts ii. 14, <g> IIETpoS ,rbv To,s Ev8EKa)
</g>
\3/
Acts i. 2, ii. 37, 42-43, iv. 33, 35, 36, 37, V. 2, 12, 18, 29, 40, vi.
6,
viii. I, xiv. 18, ix. 27, xi. r, xv. 2, 4, 6, 22, 23, xvi. 4. In the
later
chapters "apostle" no longer occurs at all. Once we find the
expression of <g> EvSEKa ? rdQToAo, </g>
(Acts i. 26).
\4/
Luke ix. to, xvii. 5, xxii. 14, xxiv. 10. The gospel of Peter is more
cautious
; it speaks of <g> µa07Itaf
</g> (30), or of <g>
Sw8EKa
Ua871Tai </g> (59), but never of <g>
&,rd, roAoi. </g>
Similarly, the apocalypse of Peter (5) writes, it <g> s€ῖs
of SIu8EKa gab, rai. </g>
\5/
With both Paul (see above) and Luke, then, the apostolic dignity of
Barnabas is
well established.-In regard to the Seventy disciples Luke does speak of
an <g> aaoOVEAXE,v
</g> and calls them "seventy other" apostles, in
allusion to the
twelve. Yet he does not call them explicitly apostles. Irenaeus (II.
xxi. 1),
Tertullian (adv. Marc., iv. 24), Origen (on Rom. xvi. 7), and other
writers,
however, describe them as apostles, and people who were conjectured to
have
belonged to the Seventy were also named apostles by a later age.
\6/
The apostle to be elected must have companied with Jesus from the date
of
John's baptism until the ascension ; he must also have been a witness
of the
resurrection (cp. also Luke xxiv. 48, Acts i. 8). (Paul simply requires
an
apostle to have "seen" the Lord.) This conception of the apostolate
gradually displaced the original conception entirely, although Paul
still
retained his apostolic dignity as an exception to the rule.
============================
4.
The
apocalypse of John mentions those who call themselves apostles and are
not (ii.
2), \1/ which implies that they might be apostles. Obviously the writer
is
following the wider and original conception of the apostolate, The
reference in
xviii. 20 does not at least contradict this, \2/ any more than xxi. 14
(see
above), although only the twelve are named here " apostles," while
the statement with its symbolic character has certainly contributed
largely to
win the victory for the narrower sense of the term.
5.
In First
Peter and Second Peter (i. 1), Peter is called an apostle of Jesus
Christ. As
for Jud. 17 and 2 Peter iii. 2 <g> (TapifuaTa Ta 7rpoetpqueva
ti7ro TOW a
'7roTTAwv TOO KUQ1OV ifµwv 'I>7Tou X ptTTOO, Ta 7rpoetprtµeva prf
uaTa u7ro
TOW ayIwv 7rpoor)Twv Kal 7 TWV a7rOTTOXwv U,u.WV EYTOXi) TOO KUpIOU
Kaὶ owr pOS), </g> in the first passage it is certain,
and in
the second very likely, that only the twelve disciples are to be
understood.
6.
That the
epistle of Clement uses "apostles" merely to denote the original
apostles and Paul, is perfectly clear from xlii. 1 f. (the apostles
chosen
previous to the resurrection) and xlvii. 4 (where Apollos, as <g>
avip
8680KtµwTµevos 'Tap' a7rOTT0'Xots, </g> a man approved by the
apostles,
is definitely distinguished from the apostles) ; cp. also v. 3 and
xliv. 1. For
Clement's conception of the apostolate, see below. The epistle of
Barnabas (v.
9) speaks of the Lord's choice of his own apostles <g> (i&ot
a7rOTTOXot) </g>, and therefore seems to know of some other
apostles; in
viii. 3 the author only mentions the twelve " who preached to us the
gospel of the forgiveness of sins \3/ and were empowered to preach the
gospel," without calling them expressly " apostles." \4/ As the
Preaching of Peter professes to be an actual composition of Peter, it
is
self-evident that whenever it speaks of apostles, the twelve are alone
in view.
\5/
------------------------------------------
\1/ Cp. (above)
Paul's
judgment on the false apostles.
\2/
<g> Ebrpafvcu obpav4 Kal of ay,o,
cal of avrooToXo, Kal of ,rpoOilTa,. </g> For the collocation of
the Old
Testament prophets, cp. also Luke xi. 49, 2 Pet. iii. 2. But in our
passage, as
in Eph. iii. 20, iii. 5, iv. I t, the writer very possibly means
Christian
prophets.
\3/
Of <g> A,avTLCOVTES 1ra,SES 01 EVa7-yeAla fee,Evo,
9J/AῖV Ti]V
6'95eo tv 4µapTtwv Kal Tὸv ayvtSµὸv T,7S KapSfaS,
OtS
ESWKEV TOO" Eua7YEA(OV T,}v E~OVO•faV-0300ty SEKaSVO EIS µapTVptov TWV
43VAWV, (lTt SEKatSVO ..VXal TOO 'IQpaiiA-Efs rὸ KrtpvOa. V
</g> ("The
children who
sprinkle are
those who preached to us the gospel of the forgiveness of sins and
purification
of heart; those whom he empowered to preach the gospel, being twelve in
number
for a testimony to the tribes-since there are twelve tribes in Israel").
\4/ As v. 9 shows,
this is
merely accidental.
\5/
See von Dobschutz in Texte u. Unters., xi. i. Jesus says in this
Preaching
<g> 'EZ,eXefcunv 614s SciSeKa ua87,T&r Kpfvas allour lµoi Kal
arovTdAous rgoro)s *y7/Qd,((evos eivai, rj(Arwy Erl Tav Kdoµov
ovayyeAl(raorOat
'robs KaTa ,jv obcouflivljv avOpc4rovs, K.T.X. </g> (" I have
chosen
you twelve disciples, judging you to be worthy of me and esteeming you
to be
faithful apostles, sending you out into the world to preach the gospel
to all
its inhabitants," etc. ).
==========================
7.
The passage
in Sim. IX. xvii. 1 leaves it ambiguous whether Hermas meant by
"apostles"
the twelve or some wider circle. But the other four passages in which
the
apostles emerge (Vis., III. v. 1 ; Sim., IX. xv. 4, xvi. 5, xxv. 2)
make it
perfectly clear that the author had in view a wider, although
apparently a
definite, circle of persons, and that he consequently paid no special
attention
to the twelve (see below, Sect. III., for a discussion upon this point
and upon
the collocation of apostles, bishops, and teachers, or of apostles and
teachers). Similarly, the Didache contemplates nothing but a wider
circle of
apostles. It certainly avows itself to be, as the title suggests, a
<g>
&BaX~ KUpioU Sla TwV y(3' avrorTOXcuv </g> (an instruction of
the
Lord given through the twelve apostles), but the very addition of the
number in
this title is enough to show that the book knew of other apostles as
well, and
xi. 3-6 takes apostles exclusively in the wider sense of the term
(details of
this in a later section).
8.
In the dozen
or so passages where the word "apostle" occurs in Ignatius, there is
not a single one which renders it probable that the word is used in its
wider
sense. On the contrary, there are several in which the only possible
allusion
is to the primitive apostles. We must therefore conclude that by 66
apostle
" Ignatius simply and solely understood \1/ the twelve and Paul (Rom.
iv.
3). Any decision in the case of Polycarp (Ep., vi. 3, viii. 1) is
uncertain,
but he would hardly have occupied a different position from that of
Ignatius.
His church added to his name the title of an “apostolic and prophetic
teacher" (Ep. Smyrn., xvi. 2).
This
survey of
the primitive usage of the word “apostle " shows that while two
conceptions existed side by side, the narrower was successful in making
headway
against its rival. \2/
------------------------------------------
\1/ Ignatius
disclaims
apostolic dignity for himself, in several passages of his epistles ;
which
nevertheless is a proof that there was a possibility of one who had not
been an
original apostle being none the less an apostle.
\2/
During the course of the second century it became more rare than ever
to confer
the title of "apostles" on any except the biblical apostles or
persons mentioned as apostles in the Bible. But Clement of Rome is
called an
apostle by Clement of Alexandria (Strom., IV. xvii. ro5), and Quadratus
is once
called by this name.
========================
II
One other preliminary
inquiry is
necessary before we can proceed to the subject of this chapter. We are
to
discuss apostles, prophets, and teachers as the missionaries or
preachers of
Christianity ; the question is, whether this threefold group can be
explained
from Judaism.
Such
a
derivation is in any case limited by the fact that these classes did
not form
any triple group in Judaism, their close association being a
characteristic of
primitive Christianity. With regard to each group, the following
details are to
be noted:-
1.
Apostles. \1/
- Jewish officials bearing this title are unknown to us until the
destruction
of the temple and the organization of the Palestinian patriarchate; but
it is
extremely unlikely that no “apostles " previously existed, since the
Jews
would hardly have created an official class of “apostles " after the
appearance of the Christian apostles. At any rate, the fact was there,
as also,
beyond question, was the name \2/ -i.e., of authoritative officials who
collected contributions from the Diaspora for the temple and kept the
churches
in touch with Jerusalem and with each other. According to Justin (Dial.
xvii.,
cviii., cxvii.), the thoroughly systematic measures which were
initiated from
Jerusalem in order to counteract the Christian mission even in Paul's
day were
the work of the high priests and teachers, who despatched men <g>
(avdpac
XetporovήtravTes eKXeKTous) </g> all over the world to give
correct
information about Jesus and his disciples.
--------------------------------
\1/
The very restricted use of the word in classical (Attic) Greek is well
known
(Herod., I. 21. v. 38; Hesychius: <g> ardo-ro os' O•TpaTgy?s KaTa
rXOUUV
aeµrrdµfvos). </g> In the LXX. the word occurs only in I Kings
xiv. 6
(describing the prophet Abijah : Hebrew m5vi). Justin has to fall back
on
<g> aroure'XAety </g> in order to prove (Dial. lxxv.) that
the
prophets in the Old Testament were called <g> ardo-TOXot.
</g>
Josephus calls Varus, the head of a Jewish deputation to Rome,
<g>
ardo'TOlos abr3ay </g> (Antiq., xvii. 11, i). The classical usage
does
not explain the Jewish-Christian. Hence it is probable that <g>
arch-r&.or </g> on Jewish soil retained the technical sense
of "
messenger."
\2/ If Judaism had
never
known apostles, would Paul have spoken of "apostles" in 2 Cor. viii.
23 and Phil. ii. 25?
========================
These were "apostles
"
\1/ that is, this task was entrusted to
the apostles" who kept Jerusalem in touch with the Diaspora. \2/
Eusebius
(in
Isa. xviii. 1 f.) proves that the chosen persons whom Justin thus
characterizes
are to be identified with the "apostles" of Judaism. The passage has
been already printed (cp. p. 59), but in view of its importance it may
once
more be quoted: <g> eiipoaev ev TOis TOW 7raXatwv Tuyypc/ uaTty,
ws of
Ti]v 'IepovTaXiA oiKOUVTes Tot' Twv 'Ioudaiwv eOvous iepeic Kai ~rpeo.
VTepot
ypaµ,aaTa StaXapaeavres eis ~ravTa &7reu~, avTo Ta e' 01/n Tots
airavraXou
'Ioudaiots dt(1/3AXXOVTes T'v X pu rroi dLSacrKaXiav ws aipecup Katvi7V
Kai
aXXoTpiav Tot' OeoU, 7rap)lyyeXXos' Te dt' ἐ7rlTTOX(AV ,ui7
TapadeeaTeat aur)Iv . . . . o"t -re a7rocrToXot auTwv
erLTTOXas(3t,3XivasKoatSoµevot3a7ravTaXoUyf7sdteTpexov,epiToyTWTi7pos?7MUws'ev&a,$AXXovTecXoyov.a7rOTTOXOV9
de &Te'TI Kaὶ vt'v </g> (so that the institution
was no
novelty) <g> 6TT(V 'Ioudaiots OPO,W2 eiv TOUS eyKUKXta ypaµµaTa
7rapa Twv
apXoPTwv alTwv evr1KO,ttttoµevous. </g>The primary function,
therefore,
which Eusebius emphasized in the Jewish " apostles " of his own day,
was their duty of conveying encyclical epistles issued by the central
authority for the instruction and direction of the Diaspora. In the
law-book
(Theodosianus Codex, xvi. 8. 14), as is only natural, another side is
presented
" Superstitionis indignae est, ut archisynagogi sive presbyteri
Judaeorut
vel quos ipsi apostolos vocant, qui ad exigendum aurum atque argentum a
patriarcha
certo tempore diriguntur," etc. ("It is part of this worthless
superstition that the Jews have chiefs of their synagogues, or elders,
or
persons whom they call apostles, who are appointed by the patriarch at
a
certain season to collect gold and silver ").
------------------------------------
\1/
The passages have been printed above, on PP. 57 f. ; <g>
xe,poToJftoavres
</g> denotes the apostolate (cp. Acts xiii. 3).
\2/
For this intercommunication see, e.g., Acts, xxviii. 21 : <g>
otlre
ypa'µµara repl oov" ?8F~aµe9a arὸ Tis 'IouSafas </g>
(say
the Roman Jews, with regard to Paul) <g> odre lrapayevGµeVOS T,s
T@Y
a8cApῶv arfjyye,Aev. </g> A cognate reference is that
of 2 Cor.
iii. I, to <g> grioroAal ouorarucaf. </g>
\3/
The allusion is to Isa. xviii. 1-2, where the LXX. reads : <g>
oval . . .
. 6 aroo x;kwv dv BaAdoon Spnpa Kal Ercoroxas $i,BAivas Eravco TOO
(&aTos,
</g> while Symmachus has not <g> Sp,7pa </g> but
<g>
arooT6Xous. </g> Eusebius therefore refers this passage to the
false
"apostles" of Judaism, and the words <g> ropeu'aovrac yap
kyyeAot ,co"v¢oc, ,c.T.1t., </g> to the true apostles.
===========================
The same aspect is
adduced, as
the context indicates, by Julian (Epist. xxv. ; Hertlein, p. 513), when
he
speaks of "the apostleship you talk about" <g> (Xeyoµevr7 crap'
uaiv a7rouroXi7). </g> Jerome (ad Gal., i. 1) merely remarks:
"Usque
hodie a patriarchis Judaeorum apostolos mitti" ("To this day apostles
are despatched by the Jewish patriarchs"). But we gain much more
information
from Epiphanius, who, in speaking of a certain Joseph (adv. Har., xxx.
4),
writes: <g> ouTOc Twv Trap auTots aEtwµaTLKwv avdpwv evapiO aoc'v
elTL de
omTOL UCTa TOP oraTptapXt7v a7roTTOXot KaXouuevot, TrpoTedpeuovTt Se
Tw
7raTptapXp Kai Tuv auT(p 7rOXXaKts Kaὶ ev PVKTL Kai iv Y7µepn
TvveXws
&ayovTz, &a To Tua$ouXeuety Kca ava/epelyatm(p Ta Kara Tov
voµov.I
</g> \1/ He tells (chap. xi.) when this Joseph became an apostle
(or, got
the <g> eutcap7ria Tqs (`xaroTToXf3c), </g> and then
proceeds: </g> Kai µeT' e7rio-ToXwv
Ouros
a7roTTeXXeTat eis Ti7vKtXiiwv yjv' o"s aveXOwv EKe1Te aTo etcaTTrlc
7roXewc Ti.s KiXttce'as Ta e7rtdetcara Kat Tac a7rapXac orapa TOW ev Tn
e7rapXtre Ioudauov eiTe7rpaTTev . . . . ETeὶ ouv, ola
alroTTOXos
(oiTws yap ?rap' auTOis, ws e-P'7v, To aeiwfta KaXeITat), sa0piOeTTaros
Kaὶ KaOapeuwv djeev Ta eis KaTacrTaoty euvouias, oLTws
e7rtreXety
irpo,C3aXXoµevos, 7roXXouc Twv KaKwv KaTaTTaOevTwv apxttrvvaywywv Kai
iepewv
Kai 7rpeoi3uTepwv Kai ataVITwv . . . . Kaeatpwv Te Kai ,ueratctvwv TOt'
aetcvµaTOS v7ro iroXXwv evetcoTeiTO, K.T.X. </g> (" He was
despatched with epistles to Cilicia, and on arriving there proceeded to
levy
from every city of Cilicia the titles and firstfruits paid by the Jews
throughout the province. When, therefore, in virtue of his apostleship
(for so
is this order of men entitled by the Jews, as I have said), he acted
with great
rigour, forsooth, in his reforms and restoration of good order-which
was the
very business before him-deposing and removing from office many wicked
chiefs
of the synagogue and priests and presbyters and ministers . . . . he
became
hated by many people ").
----------------------------------------
\1/ "He belonged
to the order of their
distinguished men. These consist of men called “apostles' ; they rank
next to
the patriarch, with whom they are associated and with whom they often
spend
whole nights and days taking counsel together and consulting him on
matters
concerning the law."
==========================
Putting
together
these functions of the “apostles," \1/ we get the following result. (1)
They were consecrated persons of a very high rank ; (2) they were sent
out into
the Diaspora to collect tribute for headquarters; (3) they brought
encyclical
letters with them, kept the Diaspora in touch with the centre and
informed of
the intentions of the latter (or of the patriarch), received orders
about any
dangerous movement, and had to organize resistance to it; (4) they
exercised
certain powers of surveillance and discipline in the Diaspora ; and (5)
on
returning to their own country they formed a sort of council which
aided the
patriarch in supervising the interests of the law.
In
view of all
this one can hardly deny a certain connection between these Jewish
apostles and
the Christian. It was not simply that Paul \2/ and others had hostile
relations
with them their very organization afforded a sort of type for the
Christian
apostleship, great as were the differences between the two. But, one
may ask,
were not these differences too great ? Were not the Jewish apostles
just
financial officials ? Well, at the very moment when the primitive
apostles
recognized Paul as an apostle, they set him also a financial task (Gal.
ii.
10); he was to collect money throughout the Diaspora for the church at
Jerusalem. The importance henceforth attached by Paul to this side of
his work
is well known; on it he spent unceasing care, although it involved him
in the
sorest vexations and led finally to his death. Taken by itself, it is
not easy
to understand exactly how the primitive apostles could impose this
task on
Paul, and how he could quietly accept it. But the thing becomes
intelligible
whenever we assume that the church at Jerusalem, together with the
primitive
apostles, considered themselves the central body of Christendom, and
also the
representatives of the true Israel.
--------------------------------------
\1/ Up till now
only one inscription has been
discovered which mentions these apostles, viz., the epitaph of a girl
of
fourteen at Venosa : " Quei dixerunt trenus duo apostuli et duo
rebbites" (Hirschfeld, Bullelt. dell Instil. di corrisp. archa'ol.,
1867,
p. 152).
\2/
Was not Paul himself, in his pre-Christian days [cp. P. 59], a Jewish
"apostle"? He bore letters which were directed against Christians in
the Diaspora, and had assigned to him by the highpriests and Sanhedrin
certain
disciplinary powers (see Acts viii. 2, xxii. 4 f., xxvi. 1o f.,
statements
which deserve careful attention).
=======================
That was the reason
why the
apostles whom they recognized were entrusted with a duty similar to
that
imposed on Jewish "apostles," viz., the task of collecting the
tribute of the Diaspora. Paul himself would view it, one imagines, in a
somewhat different light, but it is quite probable that this was how
the matter
was viewed by the primitive apostles. In this way the connection
between the
Jewish and the Christian apostles, which on other grounds is hardly to
be
denied in spite of all their differences, becomes quite evident. \1/
These
statements
about the Jewish apostles have been contested by Monnier (op. cit.,
pp. 16 f.)
: "To prop up his theory, Harnack takes a text of Justin and fortifies
it
with another from Eusebius. That is, he proves the existence of an
institution
in the first century by means of a second-century text, and interprets
the
latter by means of a fourth-century writer. This is too easy." But it
is
still more easy to let such confusing abstractions blind us to the
reasons
which in the present instance not only allow us but even make it
obvious to
explain the testimony of Justin by that of Eusebius, and again to
connect it
with what we know of the antichristian mission set on foot by the
Jerusalemites, and of the false apostles in the time of Paul. I have
not ignored
the fact that we possess no direct evidence for the assertion that
Jewish
emissaries like Saul in the first century bore the name of “apostles."
(2)
Prophets.-The common idea is that prophets had died out in Judaism long
before
the age of Jesus and the apostles, but the New Testament itself
protests
against this erroneous idea. Reference may be made especially to John
the
Baptist, who certainly was a prophet and was called a prophet; also to
the
prophetess Hanna (Luke ii. 36), to Barjesus the Jewish prophet in the
retinue
of the pro-consul at Cyprus (Acts xiii. 7), and to the warnings against
false
prophets (Matt. vii. 15, xxiv. 11, 25 =Mark xiii. 22, 1 John iv. 1, 2
Pet. ii.
1).
------------------------------------
\1/
We do not know whether there were also "apostles" among the disciples
of John-that narrow circle of the Baptist which, as the gospels
narrate, was
held together by means of fasting and special prayers; we merely know
that
adherents of this circle existed in the Diaspora (at Alexandria : Acts
xviii.
24 f., and Ephesus : Acts xix. 1 f.). Apollos (see above, p. 79) would
appear
to have been originally a regular missionary of John the Baptist's
movement;
but the whole narrative of Acts at this point is singularly coloured
and
obscure.
======================
Besides, we are told
that the
Essenes possessed the gift of prophecy; \1/ of Theudas, as of the
Egyptian, \2/
it is said, <g> nrpo0rI'TsJr eXeyev e vat </g> (" he
alleged
himself to be a prophet," Joseph., Antiq., xx. 5. 1); Josephus the
historian played the prophet openly and successfully before Vespasian ;
\3/
Philo called himself a prophet, and in the Diaspora we hear of Jewish
interpreters of dreams, and of prophetic magicians. \4/ What is still
more
significant, the wealth of contemporary Jewish apocalypses, oracular
utterances, and so forth shows that, so far from being extinct,
prophecy was in
luxuriant bloom, and also that prophets were numerous, and secured both
adherents and readers. There were very wide circles of Judaism who
cannot have
felt any surprise when a prophet appeared: John the Baptist and Jesus
were
hailed without further ado as prophets, and the imminent return of
ancient
prophets was an article of faiths From its earliest awakening, then,
Christian
prophecy was no novelty, when formally considered, but a phenomenon
which
readily coordinated itself with similar contemporary phenomena in
Judaism. In
both cases, too, the high value attached to the prophets follows as a
matter of
course, since they are the voice of God; recognized as genuine
prophets, they
possess an absolute authority in their preaching and counsels. They
were not
merely deemcd capable of miracles, but even expected to perform them.
It even
seemed credible that a prophet could rise from the dead by the power of
God ;
Herod and a section of the people were quite of opinion that Jesus was
John the
Baptist redivivnt (see also Rev. xi. 11). \6/
--------------------------------------
\1/ Cp. Josephus'
Wars, i. 3.
5, ii, 7. 3, 8. 12 ; Antiq., xiii. 11.
2, xv. 10. 5, xvii. 3. 3.
.
\2/ Acts xxi. 38;
Joseph.,
Antiq., xx. 8. 6 ; Wars, ii. 13. 5
\3/ Wars, iii. 8. 9
; cp.
Suet., Vespas., v., and Die Cass., lxvi. t.
\4/
Cp. Hadrian, Ep. ad Servian. (Vopisc., Salurn.,viii.).-One cannot, of
course,
cite the gospel of pseudo-Matthew, ch. xiii. (" et prophetae qui
fuerant
in Jerusalem dicebant hanc stellam indicate nativitatem Christi "),
since
the passage is merely a late paraphrase of the genuine Matthew.
\5/
Only it is quite true that the Sadducees would have nothing to do with
prophets, and that a section of the strict upholders of the law would
no longer
hear of anything ranking beside the law. It stands to reason also that
the
priests and their party did not approve of prophets. After the
completion of
the canon there must have been a semi-official doctrine to the effect
that the
prophets were complete (cp. Ps. lxxiv. 9 : <g> ra orrrµeia nµwv
ofK
efSowev, ov,c 90-TIP Ere apo¢$Trts, teal juas 06 yvddooTau ETt,
</g> also
1 Macc. iv. 46, ix. 27, xiv. 41), and this conviction passed over into
the
church (cp. Murator. Fragm., " completo numero ") ; the book
of Daniel
was no longer placed among the prophets, and the later apocalypses were
no
longer admitted at all into the canon. Josephus is undoubtedly echoing
a widely
spread opinion when he maintains that the "succession of the prophets
" is at an end (Apion., i. 8 ; cp. also Euseb., H.E., iii, to. 4 : "
From the time of Artaxerxes to our own day all the events have been
recorded,
but they do not merit the same confidence as we repose in the events
that
preceded them, since there has not been during this time an exact
succession of
prophets "- <g> aaὸ 3E 'Apra~ip~ov µixpi TOU Kae' ~,uas
Xpovov yEypaaTai )AE5 fsaorra, afo'rews 8' O$X 6µofas UhvTaL This
rrpὸ avTwv, Sta ra µa} yevioOae r> v rwv apo¢r;Twv
adcpcf3n
Sia5oXitv). </g> Julian, c. Christ., 198 C : <g> Ti) aap'
'E,Bpaiots [apo¢griKiv avevµa]f,riXnrev </g> (" the prophetic
spirit
failed among the Hebrews "). But although the line of the
"canonical" prophets had been broken off before the appearance of
Jesus, prophecy need not therefore have been extinguished.
\6/
The saying of Jesus, that all the prophets and the law prophesied until
John
(Matt. xi. 13), is very remarkable (see below) ; he appears to have
been
thiciking of the cessation of prophecy, probably owing to the nearness
of the
end. But the word also admits of an interpretation which does not
contemplate
the cessation of prophecy.
=======================
(3)
Teachers.-
No words need be wasted on the importance of the scribes and teachers
in
Judaism, particularly in Palestine ; but in order to explain
historically the
prestige claimed and enjoyed by the Christian <g>
&&t(TKaXoe
</g> it is necessary to allude to the prestige of the Jewish
teachers. a
The rabbis claimed from their pupils the most unqualified reverence, a
reverence which was to exceed even that paid to father and mother."
"Let esteem for thy friend border on respect for thy teacher, and
respect
for thy teacher on reverence for God." " Respect for a teacher
surpasses respect for a father ; for son and father alike owe respect
to a
teacher." " If a man's father and teacher have lost anything, the
teacher's loss has the prior claim ; for while his father has only
brought the
nian into the world, his teacher has taught him wisdom and brought him
to life
in the world to come. If a man's father and teacher are bearing
burdens, he
must help the teacher first, and then his father. If father and teacher
are both
in captivity, he must ransom the teacher first." As a rule, the rabbis
claimed everywhere the highest rank. "They love the uppermost places at
feasts and the front seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the
market-place, and to be called by men 'rabbi"' (Matt. xxiii. 6 f. and
parallel passages). " Their very dress was that of people of
quality." \1/
Thus
the three
members of the Christian group-apostles, prophets, teachers-were
already to be
met with in contemporary Judaism, where they were individually held in
very
high esteem. Still, they were not grouped together, otherwise the
prophets
would have been placed in a more prominent position. The grouping of
these
three classes, and the special development of the apostleship, were
the
special work of the Christian church. It was a work which had most
vital
consequences.
---------------------------------
\1/ Schurer, Gesch.
d. jud.
Volkes, II. pp. 317 f. (Eng. trans., II. i. 317).
===================
III
As we are essaying a
study of the
missionaries and teachers, let us take the Didache into consideration.
\1/
In
the fourth
chapter, where the author gathers up the special duties of Christians
as
members of the church, this counsel is put forward as the first
commandment:
<g> TcKVov,uot),TOu XaXouvTosLTO1
TOY XoyOV TOU OEOU 14VYIO'O4LTrf VVKTOS Kai i'jp,epac, Tiftt)Teic
LSEauTOV 609
KUptov 0OEV yap >7 KUptoTns xaxei7at, eKel Kuptos 60-TLv </g>
(“My
son, thou shalt remember him that speaketh to thee the word of God by
night and
day ; thou shalt honour him as the Lord. For whencesoever the lordship
is
lauded, there is the Lord present "). \2/ As is plain from the whole
book
(particularly from what is said in chap. xv. on the bishops and
deacons), the
writer knew only one class of people who were to be honoured in the
church,
viz., those alone who preached the word of God in their capacity of
ministri
evangelii. \3/
----------------------------------
\1/
In what follows I have drawn upon the section in my larger edition of
the
Didache (1884), which occupies pp. 93 f.
\2/
Compare the esteem above mentioned in which the Jews held their
teachers.
Barnabas (xix. 9-to), in a passage parallel to that of the Didache,
writes:
<g>ἀya7rt oe,s ios Kdp77v Toivv tcb9aAµov vov 7rdvTa
Tὸv AaAoiuuvTd o•oi Tlv Xdyov Kvpfou,µv77o9fjo.1 i7µipav
Kpfvews
YOKT?IS Kal i7µipas: </g> ("Thou shalt love as the apple of thine
eye everyone who speaks to thee the word of the Lord ; night and day
shalt thou
remember the day of judgment").
\3/
The author of Hebrews also depicts the <g> 7yovµEVoi </g>
more
closely, thus: <g> oYTwEs dAaA77trav vµiv TDv Adyov TOP 0600
</g>
(xiii. 7). The expression <g> nyovµEVoe or 7rpon ovsevot
</g> (see
also Heb. xiii. 17), which had a special vogue in the Roman church, although
it is
not unexampled elsewhere, did not become a technical expression in the
primitive age ; consequently it is often impossible to ascertain in any
given
case who are meant by it, whether bishops or teachers.
=====================
But
who are
these <g> XaaouvTe9 Tot' Xoyov Tot) Oeou </g> in the
Didache ? Not
permanent, elected officials of an individual church, but primarily
independent
teachers who ascribed their calling to a divine command or charism.
Among them
we distinguish (1) apostles, (2) prophets, and (3) teachers. These
preachers,
at the time when the author wrote, and for the circle of churches with
which he
was familiar, were in the first place the regular missionaries of the
gospel
(apostles), in the second place the men who ministered to edification,
and
consequently sustained the spiritual life of the churches (prophets
and
teachers). \1/
(1)
They were not elected by the churches,
as were bishops and deacons alone (xv. 1, <g> xeiporov&aTe
eauTois
e7rlo-KO7rOU9 Kaὶ SLaK0VOUS). </g> In 1 Cor. xii. 9.8
we read :
<g> Kai oils ,uev eOero o OeosEV Tfl eKKXI/?La 7rpWTOV 67roo-ro'
OUs,
aeUTepOV 7rpooi7Tas, TpITOVJt8aarKaXov9 </g> (cp. Ephes. iv. 11 :
<g> Kaὶ auTos e&LVKev TOUs ,aevaa7ro(rToaoUs, Tovs
ae
7rpolb&as, Toys 81 euayyexLOTas, Tovs de'7rotµeva9 Kal U60KdXous).
</g> The early source incorporated in Acts xiii. gives a capital
idea of
the way in which this divine appointment is to be understood in the
case of the
apostles. In that passage we are told how after prayer and fasting five
prophets
and teachers resident in the church at Antioch (Barnabas, Simeon,
Lucius,
Manaen, and Saul) received instructions from the holy Spirit to
despatch
Barnabas and Saul as missionaries or apostles. \2/ We may assume that
in other
cases also the apostles could fall back on such an exceptional
commission. \3/
---------------------------------
\1/
According to chap. xv., bishops and deacons belong to the second class,
in so
far as they take the place of prophets and teachers in the work of
edifying the
church by means of oral instruction.
\2/
The despatch of these two men appears to be entirely the work of the
holy
Spirit. <g> 'ApoplvaTE S,} pot TὸY Bapvasav Kal zav"Aov
Efs Ta Epyovh7rpouKiKA77µai aurovs, </g> says the Spirit. The
envoys thus
act simply as executive organs of the Spirit.
\3/
In the epistles to Timothy, Timothy is represented as an
"evangelist," i.e., as an apostle of the second class, but he is also
the holder of a charismatic office. Consequently, just as in Acts
xiii., we
find in I. i. 18 these words : <g> TaIT77v 7*P 7rapayyEXlaY
7rapaTf9E,aal
€Ot, TtKYOYTlµd9EE, KRTQ Tns irpoayou'oar ?7rl vi 7rpop77TEfas;
</g> and
in iv. 14, the following: <g> µi7 aµtAE, TOP iY O'ol ,yaphrµaTos,
6
iS6977 00, 814 7rpOcp77TEfar [,LETa' E'7r,Oi?Ews TCY XeipWY TOO
TpEO'$VTEp(OO].
</g>
======================
The prophets were
authenticated
by what they delivered in the form of messages from the holy Spirit, in
so far
as these addresses proved spiritually effective. But it is impossible
to
determine exactly how people were recognized as teachers. One clue
seems
visible, however, in Jas. iii. 1, where we read: <g>/i.i7 IroXXOt
SCoarrKaXOC yivea 8e, iooTes O"TC µ€F OOV Kptua Ar7/AINIueea.
</g>
From this it follows that to become a teacher was a matter of personal
choice-based, of course, upon the individual's consciousness of
possessing a
charisma. The teacher also ranked as one who had received the holy
Spirit \1/
for his calling;. whether he was a genuine teacher (Did., xiii. 2) or
not, was
a matter which, like the genuineness of the prophets (Did., xi. 11,
xiii. 1),
had to be decided by the churches. Yet they merely verified the
existence of a
divine commission ; they did not in the slightest degree confer any
office by
their action. As a rule, the special and onerous duties which apostles
and
prophets had to discharge (see below) formed a natural barrier against
the
intrusion of a crowd of interlopers into the office of the preacher or
the
missionary.
(2)
The distinction of "apostles, prophets,
and teachers" is very old, and was common in the earliest period of the
church. The author of the Didache presupposes that apostles,
prophets, and
teachers were known to all the churches. In xi. 7 he specially mentions
prophets ; in xii. 3 f. he names apostles and prophets, conjoining in
xiii. 1-2
and xvi. 1-2 prophets and teachers (never apostles and teachers :
unlike
Hermas). The inference is that although this order- “apostles,
prophets, and
teachers "-was before his mind, the prophets and apostles formed in
certain aspects a category by themselves, while in other aspects the
prophets
had to be ranked with the teachers (see below). This order is identical
with
that of Paul (1 Cor. xii. 28), so that its origin is to be pushed back
to the
sixth decade of the first century ; in fact, it goes back to a still
earlier
period, for in saying <g> OUs µ.V McTo O BeOc By Tn FKKAY/6la
?rpWTOV
a7rooToXovq, x.T.X.. </g>
--------------------------------------
\1/
This may probably be inferred even from I Cor. xiv. 26, where <g>
&&X7 <g> follows <g> arrorccAr4or, </g> and
it is
made perfectly clear by Hermas. who not only is in the habit of
grouping
<g> a,r eroxoi and &SdoKaAot, </g> but also (Sim., ix.
25. 2)
writes thus of the apostles and teachers: " They taught the word of God
soberly and purely .... even as also they had received the holy Spirit
"
<g> (&8d~avTES QEpvws Kid ayvws -At,A4-yo;, Tov Oeov . . . . KaOws ca; avE"upa Tὸ aytov). </g>
======================
Paul is thinking
without doubt of
some arrangement in the church which held good among Jewish Christian
communities founded apart from his co-operation, no less than among the
communities of Greece and Asia Minor. This assumption is confirmed by
Acts xi.
27, xv. 22, 32, and xiii. 1. f. In the first of these passages we hear
of
prophets who had migrated from the Jerusalem-church to the Antiochene;
\1/ the
third passage implies that five men, who are deseribed as prophets and
teachers, occupied a special position in the church at Antioch, and
that two of
their number were elected by them as apostles at the injunction of the
Spirit
(see above). \2/ Thus the apostolic vocation was not necessarily
involved in the
calling to be a prophet or teacher; it required for itself a further
special
injunction of the Spirit. From Acts xiii. 1 f. the order-" apostles,
prophets, teachers "-follows indirectly but quite obviously; we have
therefore evidence for it (as the notice may be considered historically
reliable) in the earliest Gentile church and at a time which was
probably not
even one decade distant from the year of Paul's conversion.
A
century may
have elapsed between the event recorded in Acts xiii. I f. and the
final
editing of the Didache. But intermediate stages are not lacking.
First, we
have the evidence of 1 Cor. (xii. 28), \3/ with two witnesseses besides
in
Ephesians (whose evidence is all the more weighty if the epistle is not
genuine) and Hermas. Yet neither of these witnesses is of supreme
importance,
inasmuch as both fail to present in its pristine purity the old class
of the
regular <g> XaXouvres rov Xo'yov rou Oeou </g> as apostles,
prophets, and teachers; both point to a slight modification of this
class,
owing to the organization of individual churches, complete within
themselves,
which had grown up on other bases.
----------------------------------
\1/
On a temporary visit. One of them, Agabus, was permanently resident in
Judaea
about fifteen years later, but journeyed to meet Paul at Casarea in
order to
bring him a piece of prophetic information (Acts xxi. io
f. ).
\2/
From the particles employed in the passage, it is probable that
Barnabas,
Simeon, and Lucius were the prophets, while Manaen and Saul were the
teachers,
One prophet and one teacher were thus despatched as apostles. As the
older man,
Barnabas at first took the lead (his prophetic gift may be gathered
from the
name assigned to him, " Barnabas "= <g> uiὸs
,rapaKA4QEws </g> (Acts iv. 36); for in i Cor. xiv. 3 we read,
<g>
,rpo4nrr 6WV avOp(uaotr ) &Le 7rapaKAq rw). </g>
\3/
Observe that after enumerating apostles, prophets, and teachers, Paul
does not
proceed to give any further category of persons with charismatic gifts,
but
merely adds charismatic gifts themselves ; note further that he gives
no
classification of these gifts, but simply arranges them in one series
with a
double <g> EIrEtTa, </g> whereas the apostles, prophets,
and
teachers are enumerated in order with <g> wp&TOV, beimepov,
</g> and <g> rplroy </g>. The conclusion is that the
apostolate, the prophetic office (not, speaking with tongues), and
teaching
were the only offices which made their occupants persons of rank in the
church,
whilst the <g> Evvdprts, idpara, awTLA4ipt4Ets, N.T.A.,
</g>
conferred no special standing on those who
were gifted with such charismata.
Hence
with Paul, too, it is the preaching of God's word which constitutes a
position
in the <g> dKKArjTfa </g> of God. This agrees exactly with
the view
of the author of the Didache.
========================
Like
Did. xi. 3,
Eph. ii. 20 and iii. 5 associate apostles and prophets, and assign them
an
extremely high position. All believers, we are told, are built up on
the
foundation of the apostlcs and prophets, to whom, in the first
instance, is
revcaled the secret that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs of the promise
of
Christ. That prophets of the gospel, and not of the Old Testament, are
intended here is shown both by the context and by the previous mention
of
apostles. Now in the list at iv. 11 the order " apostles, prophets, and
teachers " is indeed preserved, but in such a way that
"evangelists" are inserted after "prophets," and
"pastors" added to "teachers" (preceding them, in fact, but
constituting with them a single group or class).' From these
intercalated words
it follows (1) that the author (or Paul) knew missionaries who did not
possess
the dignity of apostles,' but that he did not place them immediately
after the
apostles, inasmuch as the collocation of "apostles and prophets" was
a sort of noli me tangere (not so the collocation of "prophets and
teachers"); (2) that he reckoned the leaders of an individual church
<g> (7rot,cceves) </g> among the preachers bestowed upon
the church
as a whole (the individual church in this way made its influence felt);
(3)
that he looks upon the teachers as persons belonging to a definite
church, as
is evident from the close connection of teachers with - <g> rot
tc've4
</g> and the subsequent mention (though in collocation) of the
former.
----------------------------------------
\1/
It does not follow that the
"teachers" are to be considered identical with the
"pastors," because -robs SE does not immediately precede <g>
MaitrKaAous. </g> The inference is
merely that Paul or the author took both as comprising a single group.
\2/
I have already tried (p. 321) to explain exactly why evangelists are
mentioned
in Ephesians.
=======================
The difference
between the author
of Ephesians and the author of the Didache on these points, however,
ceases to
have any significance when one observes two things : (a) first, that
even the
latter places the <g> 7royaeves (ἐmiovo1rot) </g>
of the
individual church side by side with the teachers, and seeks to have
like honour
paid to them (xv. 1-91); and secondly (b), that he makes the permanent
domicile
of teachers in an individual church (xiii. 9.) the rule, as opposed to
any
special appointment (whereas, with regard to prophets, domicile would
appear,
from xiii. 1, to have been the exception). It is certainly obvious that
the
Didacbe's arrangement approaches more nearly than that of Ephesians to
the
arrangement given by Paul in Corinthians, but it would be more than
hasty to
conclude that the Didache must therefore be older than the former
epistle. We
have already seen that the juxtaposition of the narrower conception of
the
apostolate with the broader is very early, and that the latter, instead
of
being simply dropped, kept pace for a time with the former.
Furthermore, it
must be borne in mind that passages like Acts xiii. 1, xi. 27, xxi. 10,
etc.,
prove that although the prophets, and especially the teachers, had to
serve the
whole church with their gifts, they could possess, even in the earliest
age, a
permanent residence and also membership of a definite community, either
permanently
or for a considerable length of time. Hence at an early period they
could be
viewed in this particular light, without prejudice to their function as
teachers who were assigned to the church in general.
As
for Hernias,
the most surprising observation suggested by the book is that the
prophets are
never mentioned, for all its enumeration of classes of preachers and
superintendents in Christendom. \1/ In consequence of this, apostles
and
teachers <g> (a7rorrroXoc </g> and <g>
&8dcrcaXot)
</g> are usually conjoined. \2/ Now as Hermas comes forward in
the role
of prophet, as his book contains one large section (Mand. xi.) dealing
expressly with false and genuine prophets, and finally as the vocation
of the
genuine prophet is more forcibly emphasized in Hermas than in any other
early
Christian writing and presupposed to be universal, the absence of any
mention
of the prophet in the " hierarchy " of Hermas must be held to have
been deliberate.
-----------------------------------
\1/ In Sim. ix. 15.
4a Old
Testament prophets are meant.
\2/
Cp. Sin,., ix. 15, 4b: <g> of SE µ' aadovoAoc Kal SiSdo'KaXot TOO
Kn/puyµaros Toobtoo TOO 9eo"u </g> (" the forty are apostles
and teachers of the preaching of the Son of God") ; 16. 5 : <g>
of
aadvTOAOI Kal of SLSdo'KaAoc Oi KnpI aVTES Tὸ 6VO/Aa TOO U100
TOOBEo"u </g> (" the apostles and teachers who preached the
name of the Son of God ") ;25. 2 : <g> aido'TOAOt Kal
&Sd,rKaXOC
of KnpttaVTes GS 1AOV TLV Kdo`uov Kal O! Scbd~OVTET veµv&s Kal
ayvius
Tὸv AdyoV TOO Kupiou </g>("apostles and teachers who
preached to all the world, and taught soberly and purely
the word
of the Lord "). Vii., III. v. I. (see below) is also relevant in this
connection. Elsewhere the collocation of <g> "krdvTo;kos,
848dawaaos" </g> occurs only in the Pastoral epistles (i Tim. ii.
7,
2 Tim. i. II); but these passages prove nothing, as Paul either is or
is meant
to be the speaker.
=====================
In short, Hermas
passed over the prophets because he reckoned himself one of them.
If this inference be true \1/ we are justified in supplying " prophets
" wherever Hermas names " apostles and teachers," so that he too
becomes an indirect witness to the threefold group of "apostles,
prophets,
teachers." \2/ In that case the conception expounded in the ninth
similitude of the "Shepherd" is exactly parallel to that of the man
who wrote the Didache. Apostles (prophets) and teachers are the
preachers
appointed by God to establish the spiritual life of the churches ; next
to them
come (chapters xxv.-xxvii.) the bishops and deacons. \3/ On the other
hand, the
author alters this order in Vis., III. v. 1, where he writes: \4/
<g> of
µ6,v ovv X1901 of Telpaywvot Kill Xevxoi Kai (r uµ~tovovuTes Tais
apttoyais
atiTiov, oiirot eio-ty of aoroTToXot </g> (add <g> Kai
orpo/ii]Tai)
Kai ἐ7ria'KO7rot Kai &Saa'KaXot Kai &CLKOVOi of
7ropevO€VTes
KaTa Tip) a-eµvoT>)Ta Tov 9606
aὶἐ7rtoKO7r4TavTes Kai
8tdci avTes Kaὶ &atcovrjo avTes ayvws Kaὶ a
eµvWS Tois
ἐKaeKTOis TOY 9EOU, of µEr K€KO1,a>)µevot, 01 86' e'rt
ovTes.
</g>
-------------------------------
\1/
Lietzmann (Go1ting. Gelehrte Anz., 1905, vi. p. 486) proposes another
explanation:
"Apostles and teachers belong to the past generation for Hermas; he
recognises a prophetic office also, but only in the Old Testament
(Sim., ix.
15- 4). He does occupy himself largely with the activities of the true
prophet,
and feels he is one himself; but he conceives this <g> apo¢rtTe,
stv
</g> as a private activity which God's equipment renders
possible, but
which lacks any official character. So with his censor in the
Muratorian
Fragment." Perhaps this is the right explanation of the difficulty. But
can Hermas have really estimated the prophets like the Muratorian
Fragmentist?
\2/ Hermas, like
the author of the Didache, knows
nothing about "evangelists" as distinguished from
"apostles"; he, too, uses the term "apostle" in its wider
sense (see above, p. 326).
\3/
In conformity with the standpoint implied in the parable, the order is
reversed
in chapters xxvi.-xxvii.; for the proper order, see Vis., III. v. t.
\4/ "The squared
white stones that fit
together in their joints, are the apostles and bishops and teachers and
deacons
who walked after the holiness of God and acted as bishops, teachers,
and
deacons, purely and soberly for the elect of God. Some have already
fallen
asleep, and others are still living."
=============================
According to the
author of the
Didache also, the <g> r1oKo,rot and &cKOvot </g> are
tobe added
to the <g> avroo-roXot,, 7rpoyM rat, </g> and <g>
&BaTKaXot, </g> but the difference between the two writers is
that
Hernias has put the bishops, just as the author of Ephesians has put
the
<g> 7rotµevec, </g> before the teachers. The reasons for
this are
unknown to us; all we can make out is that at this point also the
actual
organization of the individual communities had already modified the
conception
of the organization of the collective church which Hermas shared with
the
author of the Didache. \1/
Well
then; one
early source of Acts, Paul, Hermas, and the author of the Didache all
attest
the fact that in the earliest Christian churches "those who spoke the
word
of God" (the <g> XaXovvres Tov Aoyov TOO 0600) </g>
occupied
the highest position, \2/
and that they were
subdivided
into apostles, prophets, and teachers. They also bear evidence to the
fact that
these apostles prophets, and teachers were not esteemed as officials of
an individual
community, but were honoured as preachers who had been appointed by God
and
assigned to the church as a whole. The notion that the regular
preachers in the
church were elected by the different churches is as erroneous as the
other idea
that they had their "office" transmitted to them through a human
channel of some kind or other. So far as men worked together here, it
was in
the discharge of a direct command from the Spirit.
Finally,
we have
to consider more precisely the bearings of this conclusion, viz., that,
to
judge from the consistent testimony of the earliest records, the
apostles,
prophets, and teachers were allotted and belonged, not to any
individual
community, but to the church as a whole. By means of this feature
Christendom
possessed, amid all its scattered fragments, a certain cohesion and a
bond of
unity which has often been underestimated.
-----------------------------------
\1/
It is to be observed, moreover, that Sim. ix. speaks of apostles and
teachers
as of a bygone generation, whilst Vis. iii. declares that one section
of the
whole group have already fallen asleep, while the rest are still alive.
We
cannot, however, go into any further detail upon the important
conceptions of
Hermas.
\2/ So, too, the
author of Hebrews. Compare also
I Pet. iv. I I : <g> Ef ris aAEῖ, ws Xdyia BEoV- Ef ris
SiaKo/Eῖ, cLs 1f ioXvos fs xopgyeῖ 6 Beds
</g> [a
passage which illustrates the narrative in Acts vi.].
=====================
These apostles and
prophets,
wandering from place to place, and received by every community with the
utmost
respect, serve to explain how the development of the church in
different
provinces and under very different conditions could preserve, as it
did, such a
degree of homogeneity. Nor have they left their traces merely in the
scanty
records, where little but their names are mentioned, and where witness
is borne
to the respect in which they were held. In a far higher degree their
self-expression appears throughout a whole genre of early Christian
literature,
namely, the so-called catholic epistles and writings. It is impossible
to
understand the origin, spread, and vogue of a literary genre so
peculiar and in
many respects so enigmatic, unless one correlates it with what is known
of the
early Christian " apostles, prophets, and teachers." When one
considers that these men were set by God within the church-i.e., in
Christendom
as a whole, and not in any individual community, their calling being
meant for
the church collcctive-it becomes obvious that the so-called catholic
epistles
and writings, addressed to the whole of Christendom, form a genre in
literature
which corresponds to these officials, and which must have arisen at a
comparatively early period. An epistle like that of James, addressed "
to
the twelve tribes of the dispersion," with its prophetic passages
(iv.-v.), its injunctions uttered even to presbyters (v. 14), and its
emphatic
assertions (v. 15 f.), this epistle, which cannot have come from the
apostle
James himself, becomes intelligible so soon as we think of the
wandering
prophets who, conscious of a divine calling which led them to all
Christendom,
felt themselves bound to serve the church as a whole. We can well
understand
how catholic epistles must have won great prestige, even although they
were not
originally distinguished by the name of any of the twelve apostles. \1/
---------------------------------------
\1/
This period, of course, was past and gone, when one of the charges
levelled at
the Montanist Themison was that he had written a catholic epistle and
thus
invaded the prerogative of the original apostles: see Apollonius (in
Euseb.,
HE., v. 18. 5)- <g> 06tA1a-y &4A/A770-C, 1At7AOVµeyos
TὸP
aVd0-TOxoV, KaOoAu ,' ripe oi,vTaiaµevos Eato•ToA7v KaTr7x€iy TOYS
4,µetvov
aiTOv ,re,rt0-TEVKdTes </g> ("Themison ventured, in imitation of
the
apostles, to compose a catholic epistle for the instruction of people
whose
faith was better than his own ").
=======================
Behind these epistles
stood the
teachers called by God, who were to be reverenced like the Lord
himself. It
would lead us too afar afield to follow up this view, but one may refer
to the
circulation and importance of certain "catholic" epistles throughout
the churches, and to the fact that they determined the development of
Christianity in the primitive period hardly less than the Pauline
epistles.
During the closing decades of the first century, and at the opening of
the
second, the extraordinary activity of these apostles, prophets, or
teachers
left a lasting memorial of itself in the "catholic" writings; to
which we must add other productions like the " Shepherd " of Hermas,
composed by an author of whom we know nothing except the fact that his
revelations were to be communicated to all the churches. He is really
not a
Roman prophet ; being a prophet, he is a teacher for Christendom as a
whole.
It
has been
remarked, not untruly, that Christendom came to have church
officials- as distinct from local officials of the
communities-only
after the episcopate had been explained as an organization intended to
perpetuate the apostolate in such a way that every bishop was held, not
simply
to occupy an office in the particular community, but to rank as a
bishop of the
catholic church (and, in this sense, to be a follower of the apostles).
This
observation is correct. But it has to be supplemented by the following
consideration, that in the earliest age special forms of organization
did arise
which in one aspect afford an analogy to ecclesiastical office in later
catholicism. For "those who spake the word of God" (the <g>
XaXouvres Tov Aoyov TOO Oeov) </g> were catholic teachers
<g>
(S(&o-icaXot rcaOoXucoi). </g> \1/ Yet even when these
primitive
teachers were slowly disappearing, a development commenced which ended
in the
triumph of the monarchical episcopate, i.e., in the recognition of the
apostolic and catholic significance attaching to the episcopate.
-----------------------------------
\1/ I shall at this
point put
together the sources which prove the threefold group.
(1)
The <g> Aaxo0vres TὸV xdyoy Tov" Beov </g> (and
they
alone at first, it would appear; i.e., apostles, prophets, and
teachers) are
the <g> hyouAcyot or TETtµfiµevot </g> in the churches;
this
follows from (a) Did., iv. I, xi. 3 f., xiii., xv. 1-2, when taken
together;
also (b) from Heb. xiii. 7, 17, 24, where the <g> i7yoiµevot
</g>
are expressly described as <g> xaxoohTES TὸV xdyov TO"v
Beov; </g> probably (c) from Clem. Rom., i. 3, xxi. 6 ; (d) from
Acts xv.
22, 32, where the same persons are called <g> iyovµevot
</g> and
then <g> apotpi7Tat; </g> and (e) from the "Shepherd " of
Hermas.
(2)
Apostles, prophets, and teachers : cp. Paul (s Cor. xii. 28 f., where
he tacks
on <g> Svvaµets, Xaplo.aaTa 1aµaTwv, tivTtxfj4Ets, Ku,BEpv4rets,
yevr7
yxmoowv). </g> When the fathers allude to this passage during
later
centuries, they do so as if the threefold group still held its own,
oblivious
often of the presence of the hierarchy. Novatian, after speaking of the
apostles who had been comforted by the Paraclete, proceeds (de Trinit.,
xxix.)
: " Hic est qui prophetas in ecclesia constituit, magistro. erudit "
("This is he who places prophets in the church and instructs teachers
"). Cyril of Jerusalem (Catech., xviii. 27) will recognize no officials
as
essential to the church, not even bishops, except the persons mentioned
in the
above passage. Ambrose (Hexatm, iii. 12, 5o) writes : " God has girt
the
vine as it were with a trench of heavenly precepts. and the custody of
angels ;
.. .. he has set in the church as it were a tower of apostles,
prophets, and
teachers, who are wont to safeguard the peace of the church " ("
Circumdedit enim vineam velut vallo quodam caelestium praeceptorum et
angeloruni custodia . . . . posuit in ecclesia velut turrim apostolorum
et
prophetarum atque doctorum, qui solent pro ecclesiae pace praetendere";
see in Ps. cxviii., Sermo xxii., ch. 15). Vincent of Lerin (Commonit.
37, 38)
speaks of false apostles, false prophets, false teachers; in ch. 40,
where one
expects to hear of bishops, only apostles and prophets and teachers are
mentioned. Paulinus of Nola (Opera, ed. Hartel, i. p. 411 f.) addressed
an
inquiry to Augustine upon apostles, prophets and teachers, evangelists
and
pastors. He remarks very significantly : " In omnibus his diversis
nominibus simile et prope unum doctrinae officium video fruisse
tractatum"
(" Under all these different names I see that a like and almost
identical
order of doctrine has been preserved"), and rightly assumes that the
prophets cannot be those of the Old Testament, but must be Christian
prophets.
(3) Prophets and
teachers,
who select apostles from their number (Acts xiii. 1).
(4) Apostles,
prophets, and
teachers : the Didache (adding bishops and deacons).
(5) Apostles,
prophets,
evangelists, pastors, and teachers: Ephes. iv. 11.
(6)
Apostles and teachers (prophets being purposely omitted), with bishops
and
deacons in addition: Hermas, Sim., ix.
(7) Apostles
(prophets),
bishops, teachers, deacons: Hermas, his., iii.
(8)
Apostles, teachers, prophets : Cleve. Horn., xi. 35, <g> µEµvno9s
a,rdaToltov1 SISdOKaltov it 7rpo(Pi7Tnv. </g>
(9)
Apostles and prophets (the close connection of the two follows at an
early
period from Matt. x. 41): Rev. xviii. 20 (ii. 2, 20), Ephes. ii. 20,
iii. 5,
Did., xi. 3. (According to Irena;us, III. ii. 4, John the Baptist was
at once a
prophet and an apostle: "et prophetae et apostoli locum habuit " ;
according to Hippolytus, de Antiahr., 50, John the disciple was at once
an apostle
and prophet.) So the opponent of the Alogi, in Epiph., H1er., 51. 35,
etc. ;
cp. Didasc., de Charism.[Lagarde, Rekq., pp. 4, 19 f.]: <g> of
7rpoApi-ra: top' i7µWv 1rpo(pfTEUQRVTES ou 7rape4ETEWav EaVTObs TOIS
airooTdlto:S </g>(" our prophets did not measure themselves with
the
apostles ").
(10)Prophets
and teachers: Acts xiii. 1 (2 Pet. ii. i),
Did., xiii. 1-2, xiv. 1-2, Pseudo-Clem., de T"irg., I. 11 : "Ne multi
inter vos sint doctores neque omnes sitis prophetae" (loc. cit.,
<g>
xdyos SISayfjs f 7rpo(PnTEfas j StaKOVfas). </g> In the later
literature,
the combination (false prophets and false teachers) still occurs
frequently;
see, e.g., Orig., Ilom. ii. in
Ezek. (Lommatzsch, xiv. PP- 33, 37), and Vincent of Lerin., loc. cit.,
15. 23.
In the pseudo-Clementine Homilies Jesus himself is called "our teacher
and
prophet."
(11)
Apostles and teachers (Hermas) : i Tim. ii. 7, 2 Tim. i. 11, Clem.,
Strom.,
vii. 16. 103: <g> of µaxdpto: airdOTOXof Te cal SISdo,raxot,
</g>
Eclog. 23.
(12)
Polycarp is described in the epistle of his church (xvi. 2) as
<g> tv
Tois KaO' 911.AaS Xpὸ'OAS St4doKaxos a7r0OTOIUKὸs
Kal
7rpO4nTIKJS, 7EVs'A.EVOS t7rLOKdKOi Tf1S tV Xµvpvn KROoAuKil ss
tKKXnofas
</g> (cp. Ada Pion. I : <g> a,roo-ToXIKὸs
&,'lp TWv
Ka0' i7µaS yevdµevor). </g> Here the ancient and honourable
predicates
are conjoined and applied to a " bishop." But it is plain that there
was something wholly exceptional in an apostolic and prophetic teacher
surviving
" in our time." The way in which Eusebius speaks is very noticeable
(Mart. Pal., ri. I): of one group of twelve martyrs he says, they
partook of
<g> 7rpoApnrtKOO TWOS h Kal a7roOTOAIKOV xapfaµaTOS Kal apiOµoi
</g> (a prophetic or apostolic grace and number).
(13)
Alexander the Phrygian is thus described in the epistle from Lyons
(Eus., H.E.,
v. 1. 49): <g> yvwaTὸr OXESὸv 7raot SAa To1V
7rpὸs OE1W aydTnv Kaὶ 7rappno1ay TOO ltd-you . JP
yap Kal
o'K &µoipos alroOTOXtK06 Xapfoµaros </g> (" Well known to all
on
account of his love to God and boldness of speech-for he was not
without a
share of apostolic grace ").
An
admirable proof that the prophets were bestowed on the church as a
whole,
instead of on any individual congregation (that it was so with the
apostles,
goes without saying), is furnished by Valentinian circles (Excerpta ex
Theodot., 24): " The Valentinians declare that the Spirit possessed by
each individual of the prophets for service is poured out on all
members of the
church ; wherefore the tokens of the Spirit, i.e., healing and
prophecy, are
performed by the church" <g> (.EyOVOW OL ObaAEVTWtavol STi b KaTh
CTS TWV 7rpo0fTWV --OXEV 7rvEVµa t~afpETOV sir Stasov(av, TOVTO
t&rl
7r4PTRS TO1)S Ti s t oranofas t~EXVOn ' Stὸ Kaὶ Ta
r77 is
TOO 7rvEV/LaTOS tdOEIS Kai 'Rp01pnTEfal Iih T71S tKKAnOLRS
taITEltayyrai).
</g> Compare the claims of the Montanist prophets and the history
of the
" Shepherd " of Hermas in the church.
The
passage from the Eclogues of Clement, referred to under (ii), reads as
follows
: <g> 6awep SAa TOO orfµaros 6 OWT4xp txdxsi Kal LRTO, OSTWS Kal
7rpdTEpOV "SAaTWV 7rp0gnTwv," POP SE "15th TCV airoOTdAwv Kai
St8aOKdAwp " . . . . lral ,re'vTOTE &VOpw7ro, 6 ft'iXeV8pw7rOS
tVSVETat OeὸS ELS ijv ai'Opwawy OwTnpfa,, 7rpdTEpov /AfV TOV$
7rpo4n
ras, POP SE T7)V tKK11noLav </g> (" Even as the Saviour spake and
healed through his body, so did he formerly by the prophets and so does
he now
by the apostles and teachers
Everywhere
the God who loves men equips man to save men, formerly the prophets and
now the
church "). This passage is very instructive ; but, as is evident, the
old
threefold group is already broken up, the prophets being merely
admitted and
recognized as Old Testament prophets. I leave it an open question
whether the
<g> 7rveuµaTtKOf </g> of Origen (de Orat., xxviii.) are
connected
with our group of teachers. The <g> TdItS 7rpo(pnTWv µaprvpwv TE
Kai
a,roOTdAwy </g> (Hipp., de Antichr., 59) is irrelevant in this
connection.
==========================
The preliminary
stages in this
development may be distinguished wherever in Ephesians, Hernias, and
the
Didache the permanent officials of the individual community are
promoted to the
class of apostles, prophets, and teachers," or already inserted among
them. When this happened, the fundamental condition was provided which
enabled
the bishops at last to secure the prestige of “apostles, prophets, and
teachers." If one looks at 1 Cor. xii. 28 or Did. xiii. ("the
prophets are your high-priests "), and then at the passages in Cyprian
and
the literature of the following period, where the bishops are extolled
as the
apostles, prophets, teachers, and high-priests of the church, one has
before
one's eyes the start and the goal of one of the most important
developments in early
Christianity. In the case of prominent bishops like Polycarp of Smyrna,
the end
had long ago been anticipated; for Polycarp was honoured by his church
and
throughout Asia as an "apostolic and prophetic teacher."
As
for the
origin of the threefold group, we have shown that while its component
parts
existed in Judaism, their combination cannot be explained from such a
quarter.
One might be inclined to trace it back to Jesus Christ himself, for he
once
sent out his disciples as missionaries (apostles), and he seems
(according to
Matt. x. 41) to have spoken of itinerant preaching prophets whom he set
on
foot. But the historicity of the latter passage is disputed; \1/ Jesus
expressely denied the title "teacher" to his disciples (Matt. xxiii.
8); and an injunction such as that implied in the creation of this
threefold
group does not at all tally with the general preaching of Jesus or with
the
tenor of his instructions. We must therefore assume that the rise of
the
threefold group and the esteem in which it was held by the community at
Jerusalem (and that from a very early period) were connected with the
"Spirit" which possessed the community. Christian prophets are
referred to in the context of Acts ii. (cp. verse 18) ; they made their
appearance very soon (Acts iv. 36). Unfortunately, we do not know any
further
details, and the real origin of the enthusiastic group of " apostles,
prophets, and teachers " is as obscure as that of the ecclesiastical
group
of "bishops, deacons, and presbyters," or of the much later complex
of the so-called inferior orders of the clergy. In each case it is a
question
of something consciously created, which starts from a definite point,
although
it may have sprung up under pressure exerted by the actual
circumstances of the
situation.
----------------------------------
\1/
I would point, not to the words of Matt. xi. 13 <g> (7ruvTES of
7rpo$f7Tar Kal 6 Ydµos ews'Iwdwvou EFpoy"'TEvo'aY), </g> since
that
saying perhaps (see p. 333) covers a new type of prophets, but
certainly to the
situation in which Matt. x. 40 f. is uttered; the latter seems to
presuppose
the commencement and prosecution of missionary labours.
=====================
IV
The
Didache
begins by grouping together apostles and prophets (xi. 3), and
directing that
the ordinance of the gospel is to hold good as regards both of them;
but in its
later chapters it groups prophets and teachers together and is silent
on the
apostles. From this it follows, as has been already pointed out, that
the
prophets had something in common with apostles on the one hand and with
teachers on the other. The former characteristic may be inferred from
the
expression <g> KaTa To Soyaa Tou euayyeXiou, </g> as well
as from
the detailed injunctions that follow. \1/ The " ordinance of the gospel
" can mean only the rules which we read in Mark vi. (and parallels),
\2/
and this assumption is corroborated by the fact that in Matt. x., which
puts
together the instructions for apostles, itinerant prophets also are
mentioned,
who are supposed to be penniless. To be penniless, therefore, was
considered
absolutely essential for apostles and prophets ; this is the yiew
shared by 3
John, Origen, and Eusebius. John remarks that the missionaries wandered
about
and preached, without accepting anything from pagans. They must
therefore have
been instructed to " accept " from Christians. Origen (contra Cels.,
III. ix.) writes : "Christians do all in their power to spread the
faith
all over the world. Some of them accordingly make it the business of
their life
to wander not only from city to city but from township to township and
village
to village, in order to gain fresh converts for the Lord. Nor could one
say
they do this for the sake of gain, since they often refuse to accept so
much as
the bare necessities of life ; even if necessity drives them sometimes
to
accept a gift, they are content with getting their most pressing needs
satisfied, although many people are ready to give them much more than
that.
--------------------------------------
\1/
"Let every apostle who comes to you be received as the Lord. But he
shall
not remain more than one day, or, if need be, two; if he remains for
three
days, he is a false prophet. And on his departure let the apostle
.receive
nothing but bread, till he finds shelter; if he asks for money, he is a
false
prophet" <g> (nas 6 a7rda-ToAos EpXdµevos 7rpas uµas 8EXO1TW WS
Ku'plos' o6 ,UEVE77 SE E( µii 7)4Epay µ(av' ERV tSE 7)' XpE(a, Kal T7yY
YAX7fV
' Tp€LS SE AV /AE(V) SI/E0t507rpOrT7)S Eo'T(Y' E~EpXd,14EY0S EE 6
a7rd0'TOJ10S
1.C7)SEY Aaf1$aYETw El µi) &PTOY EWS oil a6?u rO7^ VaY Be apybptov
air, ,
tiIEVSo7rpoofT7ts to-Tip, </g> xi. 4-6).
\2/
Lietzmann (loc. cit., p. 486) objects that the words could not mean
what
apostles and prophets had to do, but simply how the community was to
treat
them. We are to think of passages like Matt. x. 40 f. But this view
seems to me
excluded by what follows (4 f.) in Did. xi. Here there is certainly an
injunction to the community, but the latter is to make the Sdyµa the
norm for
its treatment of these officials, the Sdyµa laid down in the gospel;
and this
is to be found in Mark vi. (and parallels).
======================
And if at the present
day, owing
to the large number of people who are converted, some rich men of good
position
and delicate high-born women give hospitality to the messengers of the
faith,
will any one venture to assert that some of the latter preach the
Christian
faith merely for the sake of being honoured ? In the early days, when
great
peril threatened the preachers of the faith especially, such a
suspicion could
not easily have been entertained; and even at the present day the
discredit
with which Christians are assailed by unbelievers outweighs any honour
that
some of their fellow-believers show to them." Eusebius (H.E., iii. 37)
writes: " Very many of the disciples of that age (pupils of the
apostles),
whose heart had been ravished by the divine Word with a burning love
for
philosophy [i.e., asceticism], had first fulfilled the command of the
Saviour
and divided their goods among the needy. Then they set out on long
journeys,
performing the office of evangelists, eagerly striving to preach Christ
to
those who as yet had never heard the word of faith, and to deliver to
them the
holy gospels. In foreign lands they simply laid the foundations of the
faith.
That done, they appointed others as shepherds, entrusting them with the
care of
the new growth, while they themselves proceeded with the grace and
co-operation of God to other countries and to other peoples." See, too,
H.E., v. 10. 2, where, in connection with the end of the second
century, we
read : "There were even yet many evangelists of the word eager to use
their divinely inspired zeal, after the example of the apostles, to
increase
and build up the divine Word. One of these was Pantsenus" <g>
(evOeov ~;1Xov A7romroaucov uiu4,ua-rov crvveto-oepety sr' avfrjo7Et
Kai
oixosoµf 7-00 19610t) Xoyou rpourieotiuevot, ivy dEc' yEVO,u.evos
Kaὶ
IIav-raivos). </g> \1/ The second essential for apostles, laid
down by
the Didache side by side with poverty, namely, indefatigable missionary
activity (no settling down), is cndorsed by Origen and Eusebius also.
\2/
------------------------------------
\1/
The word "evangelist" occurs in Ephes. iv. ii, Acts xxi. 8, 2 Tim.
iv. 5, and then in the Apost. Canons (ch. 19). Then it recurs in
Tertull., de
Prascr,, iv., and, de Corona, ix. (Hippol., de Antichr., 56, calls Luke
apostle
and evangelist). This proves that any distinction between apostles and
evangelists was rarely drawn in the early ages of the church ; on the
contrary,
the apostles themselves were frequently described as <g>
cuayy€Ato''µevoe
</g> (cp. Gal. i. 8, Cleat. Rove., xliii. r, and Polyc., Epist,
vi. 3 ;
in Barn. viii. 3 the twelve indeed, without the designation of
"apostles,"
are thus described). Eusebius calls the evangelists the imitators of
the
apostles, but in the earliest period they were held by most people
simply to be
apostles.
\2/
Apostles have merely to preach the word ; that is literally their one
occupation.
This conception, which Acts vi. 6 already illustrates, lasted as long
as the
era of the actual apostles was remembered. The Abgar-source,
transcribed by
Eusebius (HE., i. 13), also confirms the idea that no apostle was to
receive
any money, and makes one notable addition to the duties of the
apostolate. When
Thaddnus was summoned to preach God's word to a small group, he
remarked "
I shall say nothing in the meantime, for I am sent to preach the word
of God
<g> (Kfp-uZai) </g> publicly. But assemble all thy citizens
in the
morning, and I will preach to them."
=====================
The
Didache
informs us that these itinerant missionaries were still called apostles
at the
opening of the second century. Origen and Eusebius assure us that they
existed
during the second century, and Origen indeed knows of such even in his
own day
; but the name of "apostle " was no longer borne, \1/ owing to the
heightened reverence felt for the original apostles and also owing to
the idea
which gained currency even in the course of the second century, that
the
original apostles had already preached the gospel to the whole world.
This idea
prevented any subsequent missionaries from being apostles, since they
were no
longer the first to preach the gospel to the nations.\2/
We
have already
indicated how the extravagant estimate of the primitive apostles arose.
\3/
Their labours were to be looked upon as snaking amends for the fact
that Jesus
Christ did not himself labour as a missionary in every land.
Furthermore, the
belief that the world was near its end produced, by a sort of
inevitable
process, the idea that the gospel had by this time been preached
everywhere;
for the end could not come until this universal proclamation had been
accomplished, and the credit of this wonderful extension was assigned
to the
apostles. \4/
--------------------------------------
\1/
It is, of course, merely by way of sarcasm that Cyprian speaks of
Novatian's
apostles (EP. IV. 24).
\2/ Naturally,
Eusebius thus
comes into conflict with his own conception of the situation ; compare
ii. 3,
iii. t-4, and iii. 37.
\3/
The idea of collective statements made by the apostles occurs as early
as the
Didache (cp. its title), Jude and 2 Peter, and Justin (Apol., i. 62).
\4/
Cp. Tert., de Carne, ii.: "Apostolorum erat tradere." The idea of the
apostolic tradition is primitive and not destitute of an historical
germ ; it
was first of all in Rome, and certainly under the influence of the
genius of
the city and the empire, that this idea was condensed and applied to
the
conception and theory of a tradition which transmitted itself through
an
apostolic succession. Afterwards this theory became the common
possession of
Christianity and constituted the idea of "catholicity." Origen (cp. de Princ., iv. 9) defends it as confidently as
Tertullian
(" Regula et disciplina quam ab Jesu Christo traditam sibi apostoli per
successionem posteris quoque suis sanctam ecclesiam docentibus
tradiderunt
").
======================
On these grounds the
prestige of
the primitive apostles shot up to so prodigious a height, that their
commission
to the whole world was put right into the creed. \1/ We are no longer
in a
position nowadays to determine the degree of truth underlying the
belief in the
apostles' world-wide mission. In any case it must have been extremely
slight,
and any representation of the twelve apostles as a unity organized for
the
purpose of worldwide labours among the Gentile churches is to be
relegated
without hesitation to the province of legend . \2/
Unfortunately,
we know next to nothing of any details concerning the missionaries
(apostles)
and their labours during the second century ; their very names are
lost, with
the exception of Pantaenus, the Alexandrian teacher, and his mission to
“India"
(Eus., H.E., v. 10).
----------------------------
\1/
Details in my I.ehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte, I.1') pp. 153-156 [Eng.
trans.,
i. pp. 16o f.) ; I shall return to the legends of the mission in Book
IV. Chap.
I., but without attempting to exhaust the endless materials ; all I
shall do is
to touch upon them. The most extreme and eccentric allusion to the
importance
of the twelve apostles occurs in the Pistis Sophia, ch. 7 (Schmidt, p.
7),
where Jesus says to the twelve : "Be glad and rejoice, for when I set
about making the world, I was in command of twelve powers from the very
first
(as I have told you from the beginning), which I had taken from the
twelve
saviours (ewlpss) of the treasure of light according to the commandment
of the
first mystery. These, then, I deposited in the womb of your mother,
while I
entered the world-these that live now in your bodies. For these powers
were
given to you in the sight of all the world, since ye are to be the
deliverers
of the world, that ye may be able to endure . . . . the threats of the
archons
of the world, and the sufferings of the world, your perils and all your
persecutions." Compare ch. 8 (p. 9) : " Be glad then and rejoice, for
ye are blessed above all men on earth, since it is ye who are to be the
deliverers
of the world." In Clement's Eclogues (c. 16) also the apostles are
usually
called <g> owrjPss Twv kvOpwawv </g> (" saviours of
men"). Origen calls them " kings" (Hom. xii. 2, in Num., vol. x.
pp. 132 f. ), and he does not reject the interpretation (de Princ., ii.
8. 5)
of the saying " My soul is sorrowful even unto death " which made
Jesus think of the apostles as his soul; The " multitudo credentium "
are the body of Christ, the apostles are his soul!
\2/
It is worth noting that, according to the early Christian idea, the
Mosaic law
also had spread over the whole world. In their world-wide preaching,
the
apostles therefore came upon the results produced by that law (see, for
example, the statements of Eusebius in the first book of his
church-history).
===================
Perhaps we should
look upon
Papylus in the Acts of Carpus and Papylus as a missionary ; for in his
cross-examination he remarks: <g> e'v vraTf ἐ7rapXla
Kaὶ vroXec eiaiv ,uou TeKva KaTa Oeov </g> (ch. 32, "
in
every province and city I have children according to God"). Attalus in
Lyons was probably a missionary also (Eus., H.E., v. i.). Neither of
these
cases is, however, beyond doubt. If we could attach any value to the
romance of
Paul and Thecla (in the Acta Pauli), one name would come up in this
connection,
viz., that of Thecla, the only woman who was honoured with the title of
,
<g> a7roo-ToXos. </g> But it is extremely doubtful if any
basis of
fact, apart from the legend itself, underlies the veneration felt for
her,
although the legend itself may contain some nucleus of historic truth.
Origen
knows of cases within his own experience in which a missionary or
teacher was
subsequently chosen to be bishop by his converts, \1/ but the
distinction
between missionary and teacher had been blurred by this time, and the
old triad
no longer existed.
Yet even though we
cannot
describe the labours of the apostles during the second century-and by
the
opening of the third century only stragglers from this class were still
to be
met with-the creation and the career of this heroic order form of
themselves a
topic of supreme interest. Their influence need not, of course, be
overestimated. For, in the first place, we find the Didache primarily
concerned
with laying down rules to prevent abuses in the apostolic office; so
that by
the beginning of the second century, as we are not surprised to learn,
it must
have been already found necessary to guard against irregularity. In the
second
place, had apostles continued to play an important part in the second
century,
the stereotyped conception of the primitive apostles, with their
fundamental
and really exhaustive labours in the mission-field, could never have
arisen at
all or become so widely current. Probably, then, it is not too
hazardous to
affirm that the church really had never more than two apostles in the
true
sense of the term, one great and the other small, viz., Paul and
Peter-unless
perhaps we add John of Ephesus. The chief credit for the spread of
Christianity
scarcely belongs to the other regular apostles, penniless and
itinerant,
otherwise we should have heard of them, or at least have learnt their
names ;
whereas even Eusebius was as ignorant about them as we are to-day. The
chief
credit for the spread of Christianity is due to those who were not
regular
apostles, and also to the " teachers."
---------------------------------
\1/
Cp. Hom. xi. 4, in Num., vol. x. p. 113: "Sicut in aliqua, verbi
gratia,
civitate, ubi nondum Christiani nati sunt, si accedat aliquis et docere
incipiat, laboret, instruat, adducat ad fidem, et ipse postmodam its
quos
docuit princeps et episcopus fiat."
====================
V
Though the prophets,
\1/
according to the Didache and other witnesses, had also to be penniless
like the
apostles, they are not to be reckoned among the regular missionaries.
Still,
like the teachers, they were indirectly of importance to the mission,
as their
charismatic office qualified them for preaching the word of God, and,
indeed,
put them in the way of such a task. Their inspired addresses were
listened to
by pagans as well as by Christians, and Paul assumes (1 Cor. xiv. p24),
not
without reason, that the former were specially impressed by the
prophet's
harangue and by his power of searching the hearer's heart. Down to the
close of
the second century the prophets retained their position in the church ;
\2/ but
the Montanist movement brought early Christian prophecy at once to a
head and
to an end. Sporadic traces of it are still to be found in later years,
\3/ but
such prophets no longer possessed any significance for the church ; in
fact,
they were quite summarily condemned by the clergy as false prophets.
-----------------------------------------
\1/
In the Gentile church they were steadily differentiated from the seers
or <g>
5G 'Tets </g> (cp. Hermas, Mand., xi. ; Iren. Fragm., 23 [ed.
Harvey]:
<g> ofrros obidTi i,s rpo~pfjT7js aAA' ws µdvTL1 Xoylo6fjQETa!).
</g> Still, the characteristics are not always distinctive or
distinct.
The faculty of prediction (" aliquid praenuntiare "), e.g., belongs
to the prophet as well as to the seer, according to Tertullian (de
Carne, ii.).
\2/
Tertullian (de Preescr., iii.) no longer reckons them as a special
class:
" Quid ergo, si episcopus, si diaconus, si vidua, si virgo, si doctor,
si etiam
martyr lapsus a regula fuerit ? " (" What if a bishop, a deacon, a
widow, a virgin, a teacher, or even a martyr, have fallen away from the
rule of
faith ? "). In a very ancient Christian fragment discovered by Grenfell
and Hunt (The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, I., 1898, No. 5, pp. 8 f. ; ep.
Sitzungsber.
der Preuss. Akad., 1898, pp. 516 f.) these words occur: <g>
Tὸ
rpopfTuKdY rYEVppa Tb ow,aaTEl6Y 90-TIP T7j$ rpoO7jTtKTS Tdj;EWS, P1
*TIP
Tὸ oaaa T7jS oapKὸs 'I7jooi xpurroi Tὸ
fw)4v Tf
dhOpwrdT7jT! S!a </g> The fragment perhaps belongs to Melito's
last
treatise <g> iEpl 7rpupnr€las, </g> but unfortunately it is
so
short and abrupt that no certain opinion is possible. For the
expression
<g> i1 7rpogrgTud Tdtis, </g> Cp. Serapion of Antioch's Ep.
ad
Cericum et Pentium (Eus., H. E., v. 19. 2): <g> 7j 4vEpyEia T7js
4/EVSOVS
TaVT7jr Td~EWS T7jS Er,As 'opev,gs Peas rpo¢7iTEias. </g> The
expression
must have been common about 200 A.D.
\3/ Cp. Firmilian
in
Cyprian's Epist. lxxv.
10.
========================
Like the apostles,
the prophets
occupied a delicate and risky position. It was easy for them to
degenerate. The
injunctions of the Didache (ch. xi.) indicate the sort of precautions
which
were considered necessary, even in the opening of the second century,
to
protect the churches against fraudulent prophets of the type sketched
by Lucian
in Proteus Peregrinus; and the latter volume agrees with the Didache,
inasmuch
as it describes Peregrinus in his prophetic capacity as now settled in
a
church, now itinerating in company with Christians who paid him special
honour-for prophets were not confined to any single church. Nor were
even
prophetesses awanting; they were to be met with inside the catholic
church as
well as among the gnostics in particular. \1/
The
materials
and sources available for a study of the early Christian prophets are
extremely
voluminous, and the whole subject is bound up with a number of
questions which
are still unsettled; for example, the relation of the Christian
prophets to the
numerous categories of the pagan prophets (Egyptian, Syrian, and Greek)
who are
known to us from the literature and inscriptions of the period, is a
subject
which has never yet been investigated . \2/ However, these materials
are of no
use for our immediate purpose, as no record of the missionary labours
of the
prophets is extant.
------------------------------------
\1/
From the Coptic version of the Acta Pauli (Paul's correspondence with
the
Corinthian church) we find that the prophet of the Corinthian church
who is
mentioned there was not a man but a woman (named Theonce, not Theonas).
Another
prophetess, called Myrte, occurs in these Acts. Origen writes (Hom. V.
2, in
judic., vol. xi. p. 250) : " Though many judges in Israel are said to
have
been men, none is mentioned as a prophet save Deborah. This very fact
affords
great comfort to the female sex, and incites them not to despair by any
means
of being capable of prophetic grace, despite the weakness of their sex
; they
are to understand and believe that purity of mind, not difference of
sex, wins
this grace" (Cum plurimi iudices viri in Israel fuisse referuntur, de
nullo eorum dlcitur quia propheta fuerit, nisi de Debbora muliere.
praestat et
in hoc non minimam consolationem mulierum sexui etiam prima ipsius
literae
facies, et provocat eas, ut nequaquam pro infirmitate sexus desperent,
etiam
prophetiae gratiae capaces se fieri posse, sed intelligant et credant
quod
meretur hanc gratiam puritas mentis non diversitas sexus).
\2/
As impostors mingled here and there with the prophets, no sharp
distinction can
have existed. Celsus (Orig., c. Cels. VII., ix., xi.) gives an extremely interesting
description of the prophets, as follows : "There are many who, though
they
are people of no vocation, with the utmost readiness, and on the
slightest
occasion, both within and without the sacred shrines, behave as if they
were
seized by the prophetic ecstasy. Others, roaming like tramps throughout
cities
and camps, perform in the same fashion in order to excite notice. Each
is wont
to cry, each is glib at proclaiming, ` I am God,' ` I am the Son of
God' (rais
Beoi)), or ' I am the Spirit of God,' ` I have come because the world
is on the
verge of ruin, and because you, 0 men, are perishing in your
iniquities. But I
would save you, and ye shall see me soon return with heavenly power !
Blessed
is he who now honours me ! All others I will commit to everlasting
fire, cities
and lands and their inhabitants. Those who will not now awake to the
punishments
awaiting them, shall repent and groan in vain one day. But those who
believe in me, I will preserve
eternally..’' These mighty
threats are further mixed up with
weird, half-crazy, and perfectly senseless words, in which no rational
soul can
discover any meaning, so obscure and unintelligible they are. Yet the
first
comer who is an idiot or an impostor can interpret them to suit his own
fancy !
. . . . These so-called prophets, whom more than once I have heard with
my own
ears, confessed their foibles to me, after I had exposed them, and
acknowledged
that they had themselves invented their incomprehensible jargon."
=========================
VI.
The
Didache
mentions teachers twice (xiii. 2, xv. 1-2), and, what is more, as a
special
class within the churches. Their ministry was the same as that of the
prophets,
a ministry of the word; consequently they belonged to the "honoured"
class, and, like the prophets, could claim to be supported. On the
other hand,
they were evidently not obliged to be penniless; \1/ nor did they
wander about,
but resided in a particular community.
These
statements
are corroborated by such passages in our sources (see above, pp. 336
f.) as
group apostles, prophets, and teachers together, and further, by a
series of
separate testimonies which show that to be a teacher was a vocation in
Christianity, and that the teacher enjoyed great repute not only in the
second
century, but partly also, as we shall see, in later years. First of
all, the
frequency with which we find authors protesting that they are not
writing in
the capacity of teachers (or issuing instructions) proves how serious
was the
veneration paid to a true teacher, and how he was accorded the right of
issuing
injunctions that were universally valid and authoritative.
-----------------------------------
\1/
When Origen, in the story told by Eusebius (FI.E., vi. 3), carried out
the
gospel saying, not to have two staves, etc., it was a voluntary resolve
upon
his part. Shortly before that, we are told how he purchased an annuity
by
selling his books, in order to free himself from all care about a
livelihood.
=====================
Thus Barnabas asserts
: <g>
eyw Se otix we && o-KaXos (AX' ws Ch ' OV v-tro8ei6w </g>
(i. 8,
" I am no teacher, but as one of yourselves I will demonstrate ");
and again, "Fain would I write many things, but not as a teacher"
<g> ,7roXXi Se OeXwv ypc t etv ovX tuq B&SarKaXos, </g>
iv. 9).
\1/ Ignatius explains, <g> ov'
&aTuTtrouat tiµiv Ws WV Tic 7rpoaAaXm uuiv vmq
o-uv&&atrKaXirats
µov </g> (" I do not command you as if I were somebody . . . . I
address you as my school-fellows," ad Eph., iii. 1); \2/ and Dionysius
of
Alexandria in the third century still writes (Ep. ad Basil.) :
<g> 'yW
tie MIX WAg && c-KaXos, aXX' W µera 7ruai7s a-trXOT'lTOS
7rpotri7Kov
i7µ is aXXI%Xots &aXeyec-Oat </g> (" I speak not as a
teacher,
but with all the simplicity with which it befits us to address each
other
"). \3/ The warning of the epistle of James (iii. 1): <g> µii
7roXXot
&8uTKaXot yiveoOe, </g> proves how this vocation was coveted
in the
church, a vocation of which Hermas pointedly remarks (Sim., IX. xxv. 2)
that
its members had received the holy Spirit.' Hermas also refers (Mand.,
IV. iii.
1) to a saying which he had heard from certain teachers with regard to
baptism,
and which the angel proceeds deliberately to endorse ; this proves that
there
were teachers of high repute at Rome in the days of Hermas. ( An
elaborate
charge to teachers is given in the pseudoClementine Epist. de Virgo
irritate
(I. 11) : " Doctores esse volunt et disertos sese ostendere . . . .
neque
adtendunt ad id quod licit [Scriptura] : 'Ne multi inter vos lint
doctores,
fratres, neque omnes sitis prophett3e.' . . . . Timeamus ergo iudicium
quod
imminet doctoribus ; grave enim vero iudicium subituri sent doctores
illi, qui
docents et non faciunt, et illi qui Christi nomen mendaciter assumunt
dicuntque
se docere veritatem, at circumcursant et temere vagantur seque exaltant
atque
gloriantur in sententia carnis suae Verumtamen
si accepisti sermonem scientiae aut sermonem doctrinae aut prophetias
aut
ministerii, laudetur dens . . . . illo igitur charismate, quod a deo
accepisti
(sc. <g> xaplo-,ua rc &8ax~r), </g> illo inservi
fratribus
pneumaticis, prophetis, qui dignoscant dei esse verba ea, quae
loqueris, et
enarra quod accepisti charisma in ecclesiastico conventu ad
aedificationem
fratrum tuorum in Christo" (" They would be teachers and show off
their learning . . . . and they heed not what the Scripture saith : `
Be not
many teachers, my brethren, and be not all prophets.' . . . . Let us
therefore
dread that judgment which hangs over teachers. For indeed a severe
judgment
shall those teachers undergo who teach but do not practise, as also
those who
falsely take on themselves the name of Christ, and say they are
speaking the
truth, whereas they gad round and wander rashly about and exalt
themselves and
glory in the mind of their flesh But
if
thou hast received the word of knowledge, or of teaching, or of
prophecy, or
of ministry, let God be praised ... Therefore with that spiritual gift
received
from God, do thou serve thy brethren the spiritual ones, even the
prophets who
detect that thy words are the words of God ; and publish the gift thou
hast
received in the assembly of the church to edify thy brethren in Christ
").
---------------------------------
\1/
On the other hand, in ix. 9 he writes : <g> o7SEV b T3V Eµ¢vTOV
Swpeav
Tits SLSaXls a,TOv BEµevos ezs (, Iv </g> (" He knoweth, who hath
placed in you the innate gift of his teaching").
\2/
Note <g> SLaTd,rLroµaL </g> in this passage, the term used
by
Ignatius of the apostles (Trail, iii. 3, Ront., iv. 3 ; cp. "Tall.,
vii.
I, <g> a SLaTL£y)uaTa TWV aroo'Tdliwv). </g>
\3/
See further, Commodian, Inslruct., ii. 22. 15 : " Non sum ego doctor,
sed
lex docet "; ii. 16. I : " Si quidem doctores, dum exspectant munera
vestra aut timent personas, laxant singula vobis ; et ego non doceo."
\4/ <g>
GLSdo-KaAot of
SL dL az'r s dEµvWS Kaὶ
ayP S
The Ad7OV TOO KvplovKaO ,s Kal
rapEXa$ov
Tὸ rvEvµa Ti) &yioe. </g>
\5/ Cp. Did., xi.
10:
<g> rpOI)JT?]S, EL & SLSdo'KEL OV rOLEI, l/EVSorp0LfY) T7]s
?07L
</g> ("If a prophet does not practise what he teaches, he is a
false
prophet ").
====================
From this passage it
is plain
that there were still teachers (and prophets) in the churches, that the
former
ranked below the latter (or had to submit to a certain supervision),
and that,
as we see from the whole chapter, gross abuses had to be dealt with in
this
order of the ministry. As was natural, this order of independent
teachers who
were in the service of the entire church produced at an early period
prominent
individuals who credited themselves with an exceptionally profound
knowledge of
the <g> SLKatw'Aarra -rou Oeou </g> (ordinances of God),
and consequently
addressed themselves, not to all and sundry, but to the advanced or
educated,
i.e., to any select body within Christendom. Insensibly,
the charismatic teaching also passed over into the
profane, and this marked the point at which Christian teachers as
an
institution had to undergo, and did undergo, a change. It was
inevitable that
within Christianity schools should be founded similar to the numerous
contemporary schools which had been established by Greek and Roman
philosophers.
They might remain embedded, as it were, in Christianity ; but they
might also
develop very readily in a sectarian direction, since this divisive
tendency
beset any school whatsoever. Hence the efforts of itinerant Christian
apologists who, like Justin \1/ and Tatian, \2/ set up schools in the
larger
towns; hence scholastic establishments such as those of Rhodon and the
two
Theodoti at Rome; \3/ hence the enterprise of many so-called
"gnostics"; hence, above all, the Alexandrian catechetical school
(with its offshoots in Caesarea Palest.), whose origin, of course, lies
buried
in obscurity, \4/ and the school of Lucian at Antioch (where we hear of
<g>1vAXowciavwo--ral,</g>
i.e., a union similar to those of the philosophic schools). But
as a
direct counterpoise to the danger of having the church split up into
schools,
and the gospel handed over to the secular culture, the acumen, and the
ambition
of individual teachers, \5/ the
consciousness of the church finally asserted its powers, and the word
"school"
became almost a term of reproach for a separatist ecclesiastical
community.
\6/
-------------------------------------
\1/
Justin's are best known from the Acta Justin. He stands with his
scholars
before the judge Rusticus, who inquires, " Where do you meet? "
Justin at first gives an evasive answer ; his aim is to avoid any
suggestion of
the misleading idea that the Christians had a sacred spot for worship.
Then, in
reply to the urgent demand, " Where dost thou assemble thy scholars? "
he declares: <g> dym &dew,ACM TIAN MapT(vou Tov TyAWT(you
,SaAawe(ou,
Kal 7rapa 9rayTa TὸY Xpdvoy TOVTOYἐVC8(/(A7/Qa SE
Tt/ 'Ps
ea(wv adAEi TOVTO SE11TEpOV-0b y(vdrOKW 6AA77Y Tlva o'uyeAEVO'ivE( µ7}
T7}v
EKE(Yau </g> ("I stay above a certain Martinus at the Timotinian
bath, and during all the time-for this is my second visit to Rome-I
know of no
other meeting-place but this"). Justin had also a school at Ephesus.
\2/
On Tatian's school, which became sectarian, see Iren., i. 28: <g>
oh uvrt
SiSaOKaAou E7rapOEὶS . . . . fSzov XapaKT7fpa SLSaOKaAE(OV
OVYEOTs
craTo. </g> Tatian came from Justin's school.
\3/ For Rhodon,
see Eus., H.E., v. 13 (he came
from Tatian's school) ; for the Theodoti, whose school became sectarian
and
then attempted to transform itself into a church, see Eus., H.E., V.
28.
Praxeas, who propagated his doctrine in Asia, Rome, and Carthage, is
called a
"doctor" by Tertullian ; cp. also the schools of Epigonus, Cleomenes,
and Sabellius, in Rome.
\4/
Cp. Eus., H.E., v. 10: <g> 7/yE?ro ?v 'AAEtav4ps(r Ti)S T@V
7rlo'TWV
aurdOt StaTpi,Biis TWy a,rὸ 7raiSE(as ay>)p dazSotdTaTos,
Svoua
a"T( nayTaiyos, tt apxa(ou EBous &,&ao•KaAE(OV TWV (EpW? AdyWy
Trap' aVTOtS OUYEOTWTOS </g> (" The school of the faithful in
Alexandria was under the charge of a man greatly distinguished for his
learning
; his name was Pantunus. A school of sacred letters has been in
existence there
from early days, and still survives"). Jerome (Pir. Illust., 36)
remarks:
"Alexandriae Marco evangelista instituente semper ecclesiastici fuere
doctores" ("There have always been ecclesiastical teachers instituted
by Mark the evangelist at Alexandria") ; Clem., Strom., I. i. II.
\5/
Hermas boasts that the good teachers (Slim, ix. 25. 2) "kept nothing at
all back for evil intent- <g>µ,75i, JAWS Evoo'¢(vavTo Els
ir,Buulav
roYnpd,: </g> on such teachers as introduced <g> SLSaXal
t&Yau
</g> (strange doctrines), however, see Sim., ix. 19. 2-3, viii.
6. 5 ;
Vis., iii. 7. I. It is noticeable that in the famous despatch of
Constantine to
Alexandria, which was intended to quiet the Arian controversy, the
emperor
holds up the practice of the philosophic schools as an example to the
disputants (Eus., Vita Const., ii. 71) ; still, he does so in a way
that shows
plainly that nothing lay farther from him than any idea of the church
as a
philosophic school: <g>Yva wcp i rapaSE(yµaTL T4v uµETEpaV
o•u'veowY
uroµv4to'atµg, to-re 6, rov /Cal robs gnxoo hpous a?TOJs WS EYl p,bY
aravTcs
SoyµaTL O'uVT(BEVTa1, r0AX4Kls Si ErELsav Ei TM T@V a'ropdo€wv µEpct
15La0wvWOLY, El Kal Tl] T9tS ErloT'(tµt,s kpETp XWP(~'OYTaL, Ti7
/CEYTOL TOV
Soy1AaTOS EY4IOEL r4ALV ELs ἀAA, Aov 0-UlAm E000LY </g> (" Let me recall to your minds a slight
example of what I mean. You know, of course, that while the
philosophers all
agree in one principle, they often differ in details of their argument.
Yet,
for all their disagreement upon the virtue of knowledge, the unity of
their
principles seems to reconcile them once more "). The distinction drawn
between it <g> XrapiCouo'a T~s L3r7OVnµrts ap€Tft and n Toy S6
yµaTOs tvw
its </g> is interesting.
\6/
The Theodotian church at Rome was dubbed a school by its opponents (cp.
Euseb.,
H.E., V. 28) ; Hippolytus inveighs against the church of Callistus, his
opponent, as a <g> 8iSao•KaAe ov </g> (Philos., ix. 12, p.
458. 9 ;
p. 462. 42) ; and Rhodon similarly mentions a Marcionite <g>
SLSao•LraAEio,' </g> (Eus., HE., v. 13. 4).
======================
Yet the "doctors"
<g> (81840Kaaot) </g> - I mean the charismatic teachers
who were
privileged to speak during the service, although they did not belong to
the
clergy-did not become extinct all at once in the communities ; indeed,
they
maintained their position longer than the apostles or the prophets.
From the
outset they had been free from the "enthusiastic" element which
characterized the latter and paved the way for their suppression.
Besides, the
distinction of "milk" and "strong meat," of different
degrees of Christian <g> voota, TuveTLs, s7riTTrjatj, </g>
and
<g> yvcoTts, </g> was always indispensable. \1/ In
consequence of
this, the <g> &&ZTKaXot </g> had naturally to
continue in
the churches till the bulk of the administrative officials or priests
came to
possess the qualification of teachers, and until the bishop (together
with the
presbyters) assumed the task of educating and instructing the church.
In
several even of the large churches this did not take place till pretty
late,
i.e., till the second half of the third century, or the beginning of
the
fourth.
------------------------------------
\1/
Cp. the Pauline epistles, Hebrews, Barnabas, etc., also Did. Xi. 2. :
<g>
SLSdo'LCELY ELI Tὸ WPOT8 iYat SLLLaLooUYf]Y Lcal yviaow
xvp(ov
</g> (" Teach to the increase of righteousness and the knowledge
of
the Lord ").
==========================
Up to that period
"teachers" can still be traced here and there. \1/ Beside the new and
compact organization of the churches (with the bishops, the college of
presbyters, and the deacons) these teachers rose like pillars of some
ruined edifice
which the storm had spared. They did not fit into the new order of
things, and
it is interesting to notice how they are shifted from one place to
another. Tertullian's
older \2/ (de Prwscr., iii.) is: "bishop, deacon, widow, virgin,
teacher,
martyr"! Instead of putting the teacher among the clergy, he thus ranks
him among the spiritual heroes, and, what is more, assigns him the
second place
amongst them, next to the martyrs-for the order of the list runs up to
a
climax. In the Acta Perpetuce et Felic., as well as in the Acta
Saturnini et
Dativi (under Diocletian ; cp. Ruinart's Acta Martyr., Ratisbon, 1859,
p. 418),
both of African origin, we come across the title "presbyter doctor,"
and from Cyprian (EP. xxix.) we must also infer that in some churches
the
teachers were ranked in the college of presbyters, and entrusted in
this
capacity with the duty of examining the readers. \3/ On the other hand,
in the
account given by Hippolytus in Epiph., Haer., x1ii. 2 (an account which
refers
to Rome in the days of Marcion), the teachers stand beside the
presbyters (not
inside the college of presbyters): <g> ἐ7rteuceic
',rpeTRuTepot
Kaὶ &BaTKaXoL, </g> a position which is still
theirs in
Egyptian villages after the middle of the third century. Dionysius of
Alexandria (Eus., H.E., vii. 24. 6), speaking of his sojourn in such
villages,
observes, " I called together the presbyters and teachers of the
brethren
in the villages" <g> (ouveaaXecra rovS 7rpeo QuTepOuc Kai &
ackaXous rtvv ἐv Talc Kaiµacs </g> As there were no
bishops in
these localities at that period, it follows that the teachers still
shared with
the presbyters the chief position in these village churches.
--------------------------------------------
\1/
Cp. Bonwetsch's remarks on Melito (Festschrift f. Oettingen, 1898, p.
51)
"The teachers still occupy a prominent position in the church,
alongside
of the bishop. Together with him, they constitute the fixed order of
the
church. The same monition applies to both, that they nourish themselves
on
sacred knowledge and be heavenly minded. Teachers are also described
as
experts in Scripture, and tenants of the teacher's chair, who are
exposed by
their position to the danger of self-assumption. The bishops also
occupy the
teacher's chair, as the same passages show ; but the teachers were able
to
retain their special position alongside of them, perhaps because not
all
bishops as yet possessed the teaching gift."
\2/ In de Przscr.,
xiv., the
"doctor " is also mentioned.
\3/
Cyprian (loc. cit.) also speaks of "doctones audientium," but it is
impossible to determine the relationship which he implies between these
and the
readers. As catechists, the doctors were now and then ranked among the
clergy,
and, in fact, in the college of presbyters. As against Lagarde, no
comma is to
be placed in Clem. H'mil. III. 71 after <g> Tpeo,BUTipOUS :
TLµaTE
rpEO$UTEpOVS LCaT1]Xn7dS, SLa,U(vouS Xprto(p.ous, Xftpas ES $E/3LWKU
</g>
(as (cp. above, p. 158).
=========================
This item of
information reaches
us from Egypt ; and, unless all signs deceive us, we find that in Egypt
generally, and especially at Alexandria, the institution of teachers
survived
longest in juxtaposition with the episcopal organization of the
churches
(though their right to speak at services of worship had expired; see
below).
Teachers still are mentioned frequently in the writings of Origen, \1/
and what
is more, the "doctores " constitute for him, along with the "
sacerdotes," quite a special order, parallel to that of priests within
the
church. He speaks of those " who discharge the office of teachers
wisely
in our midst" c. Cels., IV. lxxii.), and of "doctores ecclesiae"
(Hom. XIV. in
Gen., vol. ii. p. 97). In Hom. II. in
Num. (vol. ii. p. 278) he remarks :
"It often happens that a man of low mind, who is base and of an earthly
spirit, creeps up into the high rank of the priesthood or into the
chair of the
doctorate, while he who is spiritual and so free from earthly ties that
he can
prove all things and yet himself be judged by no man-he occupies the
rank of an
inferior minister, or is even left among the common throng" (" Nam
saepe accidit, ut is qui humilem sensum gerit et abiectum et qui
terrena sapit,
excelsum sacerdotii gradum vel cathedram doctores insideat, et ille qui
spiritualis est et a terrena conversatione tam liber ut possit
examinare omnia
et ipse a nemine iudicari, vcl inferioris ministerii ordinem teneat vel
etiam
in plebeia multitudine relinquatur "). \2/ In Hom. VI. in Levit (vol.
ix.
p. 219) we read : " Possunt enim et in ecclesia sacer dotes et doctores
filios generare sicut et ille qui dicebat (Gal. iv. 19), et iterum
alibi dicit
(1 Cor. iv. 15).
-----------------------------------
\1/
And in those of Clement. According to Quis Div. Salt'. xli., the
Christian is
to choose for himself a teacher who shall watch over him as a
confessor. In
Peed. III. 12. 97 Clement discusses the difference between a pedagogue
and a
teacher, placing the latter above the former.
\2/
Here " spiritalis " <g> (yvwQTiKGs, ,rMEu raTu c6s) </g>
is in contrast to the teachers as well as to the priests. According to
Clement
of Alexandria, the "spiritual" person is apostle, prophet, and
teacher, superior to all earthly dignitaries-a view which Origen also
favours.
====================
Isti ergo doctores
ecclesiae in
huiusmodi generationibus procreandis aliquando constrictis femoralibus
utuntur
et abstinent a generando, cum tales invenerint auditores, in quibus
sciant se
fructum habere non posse!" \1/ These passages from Origen, which might
be
multiplied (see, e.g., Hom. II. in
Ezek. and Hom.
III. for the difference between magistri and presbyteri), show that
during the
first thirty years of the third century there still existed at
Alexandria an
order of teachers side by side with the bishop, the presbyters, and the
deacons. But indeed we scarcely need the writings of Origen at all.
There is
Origen himself, his life, his lot-and that is the plainest evidence of
all. For
what was the man himself but a <g> &&fa-KaXoc .rI'
elucXrlo-las,
</g> busily travelling as a teacher upon endless missions, in
order to
impress true doctrine on the mind, or to safeguard it ? What was the
battle of
his life against that " ambitious " and utterly uneducated bishop
Demetrius, but the conflict of an independent teacher of the church
with the
bishop of an individual community ? And when, in the course of this
conflict,
which ended in a signal triumph for the hierarchy, a negative answer
was given
to this question among other things, viz., whether the "laity" could
give addresses in the church, in presence of the bishops-was not the
affirmative answer, which was still given by bishops like Alexander and
Theoktistus, who pointed to the primitive usage, \2/ simply the final
echo of
an organization of the Christian churches older and more venerable than
the
clerical organization which was already covering all the field?
---------------------------------------
\1/
" For even in the church, priests and doctors can beget children, even
as
he who wrote Gal. iv. 19, and again in another place i Cor. iv. 15.
Therefore
such doctors of the church refrain from begetting offspring, when they
find an
irresponsive audience ! "
\2/
Eus., H.E., vi. rg. Their arguments prove that the right of "laymen"
(for the teachers were laymen) to speak at services of worship had
become
extinct throughout Egypt, Palestine, and most of the provinces, for the
two
bishops friendly to this proposal had to bring evidence for the
practice from a
distance, and from comparatively remote churches. They write thus: "
Wherever people are to be found who are able to profit the brethren,
they are
exhorted by the holy bishops to give addresses to the congregation ;
as, for
example, Euelpis has been invited by Neon in Laranda, Paulinus by
Celsus in
Iconium, and Theodorus by Atticus in Synnada, all of whom are our
blessed
brethren. Probably this has also been done in other places unknown to
us."
The three persons mentioned in this passage are the last of the "
ancient
" teachers who are known to us.
========================
During the course of
the third
century, thc "teachers" were thrust out of the church, i.e., out of
the service; \1/ some of them may have even been fused with the
readers. \2/ No
doubt, the order of teachers had developed in such a way as to incur at
a very
early stage the exceptionally grave risk of sharply Hellenizing and
thus
secularizing Christianity. The <g> 8[8a?KaXot </g> of the
third century
may have been very unlike the <g> &8c ,,caXot </g> who
had
ranked as associates of the prophets. But Hellenizing was hardly the
decisive
reason for abolishing the order of teachers in the churches; here, as
elsewhere, the change was due to the episcopate with its intolerance of
any
office that would not submit to its strict control and allow itself to
be
incorporated in the simple and compact organization of thc hierarchy
headed by
the bishop. After the middle of the third century, not all, but nearly
all, the
teachers of the church were clerics, while the instruction of the
catechumens
was undertaken either by the bishop himself or by a presbyter. The
organizing
of the catechetical system gradually put an end to the office of
independent
teachers.
The
early teachers
of the church were missionaries as well ; \3/ a pagans as well as
catechumens
entered their schools and listened to their teaching. We have definite
information upon this point in the case of Justin (see above), but
Tatian also
delivered his "Address" in order to inform the pagan public that he
had become a Christian teacher, and we have a similar tradition of the
missionary work done by the heads of the Alexandrian catechetical
school in the
way of teaching.
--------------------------------
\1/
In this connection reference may perhaps be made to the important
statement of
Alexander, bishop of Alexandria (in Theodoret's HE., i. 3), that Lucian
remained outside the church at Antioch <g> (arovuvaywyor)
</g>
during the regime of three bishops. Lucian was the head of a school.
\2/
On this order and office, originally a charismatic one, which under
certain
circumstances embraced the further duty of explaining the Scriptures,
cp. the
evidence I have stated in 7exte u. Untersucla., ii. 5, pp. 57 f., "On
the
Origin of the Readership and the other Lower Orders" [Eng. trans. in Sources of the Apostolic Canons, by Wheatley
and Owen
(Messrs A. & C. Black)].
\3/
Tertullian complains that the heretical teachers, instead of engaging
in
mission work, merely tried to win over catholic Christians ; cp. de Passer„ xlii.: " De verbi autem
administratione
quid dicam, cum hoc sit negotium haereticis, non ethnicos convertendi,
sed
nostros evertendi. Ita fit, ut ruinas facilius operentur stantium
aedificiorum
quam exstructionern iacentium ruinarum" (" But concerning the
ministry of the word, what shall I say? for heretics make it their
business not
to convert pagans but to subvert
our
people. Thus they can effect the
ruin of
buildings which are standing more easily than the erection of ruins
that lie
low "). See also adv. Marc., ii. i. I shall return to this complaint
later
on.
======================
Origen, too, had
pagan hearers
whom he instructed in the elements of Christian doctrine (cp. Eus.,
II.E., vi.
3); indeed, it is well known that even Julia Mamtea, the queen-mother,
had him
brought to Antioch that she might listen to his lectures (Eus., H.E.,
vi. 21).
Hippolytus also wrote her a treatise, of which fragments have been
preserved in
a Syriac version. When one lady of quality in Rome was arraigned on a
charge of
Christianity, her teacher Ptolemaeus <g> (&Sa6KaXoc
EKetv>7s Twv X
ptaTtav)v raOnmµ ,r-wv yevo,uevoc) </g> was immediately arrested
also
(Justin, Apol., II. ii.). In the African Acta Saturnini et Dativi,
dating from
Diocletian's reign, we read (Ruinart's Acta Mart., Ratisbon, 1859, p.
417) the
following indictment of the Christian Dativus, laid by Fortunatianus
(“vir
togatus ") with regard to his sister who had been converted to
Christianity : "This is the fellow who during our father's absence,
while
we were studying here, perverted our sister Victoria, and took her away
from
the glorious state of Carthage with Secunda and Restituta as far as the
colony
of Abitini ; he never entered our house without beguiling the girls'
minds with
some wheedling arguments" (" Hie est qui per absentiam patris noster,
nobis hit studentibus, sororem nostram Victoriam seducens, hint de
splendidissima Carthaginis civitate una cum Secunda et Restituta ad
Abitinensem
coloniam secum usque perduxit, quique nunquam domutn nostram ingressus
est,
nisi tunc quando quibusdam persuasionibus puellares auimos
illicicbat").
This task also engaged the whole activity of the Christian apologists.
The
effects upon the inner growth of Christianity we may estimate very
highly. \1/
But we know nothing of the scale on which they worked among pagans. We
have no
information as to whether the apologies really reached those to whom
they were
addressed, notably the emperors ; or, whether the educated public took
any
notice of them. Tertullian bewails the fact that only Christians read
Christian
literature ("ad nostras litteras nemo venit nisi iam Christianus," de
Testim., i.), and this would be true of the apologies as well. Celsus,
so far
as I know, never takes them into account, though there were a number of
them
extant in his day. He only mentions the dialogue of Aristo of Pella ;
but that
cannot have been typical, otherwise it would have been preserved.
-------------------------------------
\1/
It was the task of apologists and teachers to exhibit the Christian
faith in
its various stages, and to prove it. Rhodon (Eus., H. E., v. t3) says
of the
gnostic Apelles: <g> SilaeKaxor eivac AEywv obK ~3e& r6
siMa,Oµevov
ur' aoroi Kparu`vety </g> (" Though calling himself a teacher, he
knew not how to confirm what he taught"). "Non difficile est
doctori," says Cyprian (Ep. lxxiii. 3), "vera et legitima insinuare
ei qui haeretica pravitate damnata et ecclesiastica veritate comperta
ad hoc
venit -at discat, ad hoc discit ut vivat" (" It is not hard for a
teacher to instil what is true and genuine into the mind of a man who,
having
condemned heretical evil and learnt the church's truth, comes to learn,
and
learns in order that he may live"). Everyone knows
the importance of
apologetic to the propaganda of Judaism, and Christians entered on a
rich
inheritance at this and at other points, since their teachers were able
to take
over the principles and material of Jewish apologetic. Directly or
indirectly,
most of the Christian apologists probably depended on Philo and the
apologetic
volumes of selections made by Alexandrian Judaism as well as
philosophical
compendia of criticisms upon ancient mythology. As for the
dissemination of
apologies throughout the church, Justin's at least was read very soon
in very
different sections of the church ; Irenaeus knew it in Gaul, Tertullian
in
Carthage, probably Athenagoras in Athens and Theophilus in Antioch. By
the end
of the second century Tertullian had a whole corpus of apologetic
writings at
his command ; cp. de Testir., i. : " Nonnulli quidem, quibus de
pristina litteratura et curiositatis labor et memoriae tenor
perseveravit, ad
eum modum opuscula penes nos condiderunt, commemorantes et
contestificantes in
singula rationem et originem et traditionem et argumenta sententiarum,
per quae
recognosci possit nihil nos aut novum aut portentosum suscepisse, de
quo non
etiam communes et publicae litterae ad suffragium nobis patrocinentur,
si quid
aut erroris eiecimus aut aequitatis admisimus" (" Some, indeed, who
have busied themselves inquisitively with ancient literature, and kept
it in
their memories, have published works of this very kind which we
possess. In
these they record and attest the exact nature, origin, tradition, and
reasons
of their opinions, from which it is plain that we have not admitted any
novelty
or extravagance, for which we cannot claim the support of ordinary and
familiar
writings; this applies alike to our exclusion of error and to our
admission of
truth").
======================
The
apologists
set themselves a number of tasks, emphasizing and elucidating now one,
now
another aspect of the truth. They criticized the legal procedure of the
state
against Christians ; they contradicted the revolting charges, moral and
political, with which they were assailed ; they criticized the pagan
mythology
and the state-religion ; they defined, in very different ways, their
attitude
to Greek philosophy, and tried partly to side with it, partly to oppose
it; \1/
they undertook an analysis of ordinary life, public and private ; they
criticized the achievements of culture and the sources as well as the
consequences of conventional education. Still further, they stated the
essence
of Christianity, its doctrines of God, providence, virtue, sin, and
retribution, as well as the right of their religion to lay claim to
revelation
and to uniqueness. They developed the Logos-idea in connection with
Jesus Christ,
whose ethics, preaching, and victory over demons they depicted.
Finally, they
tried to furnish proofs for the metaphysical and ethical content of
Christianity, to rise from a mere opinion to a reasoned conviction, and
at the
same time-by means of the Old Testament-to prove that their religion
was not a
mere novelty but the primitive religion of mankind. \2/ The most
important of
these proofs included those drawn from the fulfilment of prophecy, from
the
moral energy of the faith, from its enlightenment of the reason, and
from the
fact of the victory over demons.
The
apologists
also engaged in public discussions with pagans (Justin, Apol. II., and
the
Cynic philosopher Crescens ; Minucius Felix and Octavius) and Jews
(Justin,
Dial. with Trypho ; Tertull., adv. Jud., i.). In their writings some
claimed
the right of speaking in the name of God and truth ; and although
(strictly
speaking) they do not belong to the charismatic teachers, they describe
themselves as " taught
of God." \3/
---------------------------------------------
\1/
Three different attitudes to Greek philosophy were adopted: it
contained real
elements of truth, due to the working of the Logos ; or these were
plagiarized
from the Old Testament; or they were simply demonic replicas of the
truth, as
in the case of pagan mythology.
\2/ Literary
fabrications, which were not
uncommon in other departments (cp. the interpolation in Josephus,
etc.), played
a role of their own here. But the forgeries which appeared in the
second
century seem to me to be for the most part of Jewish origin. In the
third
century things were different.
\3/ Compare,
e.g., Aristides, Apo1Z ii. : "
God himself granted me power to speak about him wisely." Diogn., Ep. I
:
<g> TOO O of TOO Kal TD Ae,yeiv Iral TD ἀxo, E{V 7JyI'
Xopr7yO"vPTOS aiTOVµat SoBi)Pat gµol µEP EI7rEiV OiiTtus, K.T.A.
</g> ("God, who supplies us both with speech and hearing, I pray
to
grant me utterance so as," etc.).
===========================
The
schools
established by these teachers could only be regarded by the public and
the
authorities as philosophic schools; indeed, the apologists avowed
themselves to
be philosophers \1/ and their doctrine a philosophy, \2/ so that they
participated here and there in the advantages enjoyed by philosophic
schools,
particularly in the freedom of action they possessed. This never can
have
lasted any time, however. Ere long the Government was compelled to
note that
the preponderating element in these schools was not scientific but
practical,
and that they were the outcome of the illegal " religio Christiana."
\3/
VII
"Plures
efficimur quotiens metimur a vobis; semen est sanguis Christianorum . .
. .
illa ipsa obstinatio, quam exprobratis magistra est "-so Tertullian
cries
to the authorities (Apol., 1.: "The oftener we are mown down by you,
the
larger grow our numbers. The blood of Christians is a seed
That very obstinacy which you reprobate is
our instructress "). The most numerous and successful missionaries of
the
Christian religion were not the regular teachers but Christians
themselves, in
virtue of their loyalty and courage. How little we hear of the former
and their
results ! How much we hear of the effects produced by the latter !
-----------------------------------------
\1/ Some of them
even
retained the mantle of the philosopher ; at an early period in the
church
Justin was described as " philosopher and martyr."
\2/
<g> TI -yip, </g> says Justin's (Dial, c. Tryph., i.)
Trypho, a
tropos of contemporary philosophy, <g> oUx' O1 p X6ao por irepl
Oe3U TI1V
f17rarre iroto&Ter A6yov, Kal 7rEpl ftovapx(as a,roir Kal 7rpopofas
at
Crsosis yiyPovrat EKdaTOTE; 'I OV TOUTO Ep7O1JO-1-1 pAoao¢(as, E~ETdCEW
7rEpl
Toi eeiov; </g> ("Why not? do not the philosophers make all their
discourses turn upon the subject of God, and are they not always
engaged in
questions about his sole rule and providence? Is not this the very
business of
philosophy, to inquire concerning the Godhead?"). Cp. Melito's phrase,
<g>Ka9' juas 4uXoao¢(a.</g> Similarly others.
\3/
The apologists, on the one hand, complain that pagans treat
Christianity at
best as a human philosophy, and on the other hand claim that, as such,
Christianity should be conceded the liberty enjoyed by a philosophy.
Tertullian
(Apol, xlvi. f.) expatiates on this point at great length, Plainly, the
question was one of practical moment, the aim of Christians being to
retain, as
philosophic schools and as philosophers, at least some measure of
freedom, when
a thoroughgoing recognition of their claims could not be insisted upon.
"
Who forces a philosopher to sacrifice or take an oath or exhibit
useless lamps
at noon? No one. On the contrary, they pull down your gods openly, and
in their
writings arraign your religious customs, and you applaud them for it !
Most of
them even snarl at the Czesars." The number of sects in Christianity
also
confirmed well-disposed opponents in the belief that they had to deal
with
philosophic schools (c. xlvii.).
==========================
Above all, every
confessor and
martyr was a missionary; he not merely confirmed the faith of those who
were
already won, but also enlisted new members by his testimony and his
death. Over
and again this result is noted in the Acts of the martyrs, though it
would lead
us too far afield to recapitulate such tales. While they lay in prison,
while
they stood before the judge, on the road to execution, and by means of
the
exccution itself, they won people for the faith. Ay, and even after
death. One
contemporary document (cp. Euseb. vi. 5) describes how Potamitena, an
Alexandrian martyr during the reign of Septimius Severus, appeared
immediately
after dcath even to non-Christians in the city, and how they were
converted by
this vision. This is by no means incredible. The executions of the
martyrs
(legally carried out, of course) must have made an impression which
startled
and stirred wide circles of people, suggesting to their minds the
question :
Who is to blame, the condemned person or the judge? \1/ Looking at the
earnestness, the readiness for sacrifice, and the steadfastness of
these
Christians, people found it difficult to think that they were to blame.
Thus it
was by no means an empty phrase, when Tertullian and others like him
asserted
that the blood of Christians was a seed.
Nevertheless, it was
not merely
the confessors and martyrs who were missionaries. It was characteristic
of this
religion that everyone who seriously confessed the faith proved of
service to
its propaganda. \2/ Christians are to "let their light shine, that
pagans
may see their good works and glorify the Father in heaven." If this
dominated all their life, and if they lived according to the precepts
of their
religion, they could not be hidden at all ; by their very mode of
living they
could not fail to preach their faith plainly and audibly. \3/ Then
there was
the conviction that the day of judgment was at hand, and that they were
debtors
to the heathen. Furthermore, so far from narrowing Christianity, the
exclusiveness of the gospel was a powerful aid in promoting its
mission, owing
to the sharp dilemma which it involved.
------------------------------------------
\1/
In the ancient epistle of the Smyrniote church on the death of
Polycarp, we
already find Polycarp a subject of general talk among the pagans. In
the Vita
Cypriani (ch. i. ), also, there is the following allusion : " Non quo
aliquem gentilium lateat tanti viri vita" ("Not that the life of so
great a man can be unknown to any of the heathen").
\2/
" Bonum huius sectae usu iam et de commercio innotuit," says
Tertullian (ApolM xlvi.) very distinctly(' The worth of this sect is
now well
known for its benefits as well as from the intercourse of life ") ; de
Pallio, vi.: " Elinguis philo. sophia vita contenta est" (" Life
is content with even a tongueless philosophy"). What Tertullian makes
the
pallinm say (ch. v.) is true of Christians (cp. above, p. 310). Compare
also
what has been already specified in Book II. Chap. IV., and what is
stated
afterwards in Chap. IV, of this Book.
\3/ In the Didasc.
Apost.
(cp. Achelis in Texte u. Untersuchungen, xxv. 2. pp. 276, 8o, 76 f.) we
find
that the church-widows made proselytes.
========================
We
cannot
hesitate to believe that the great mission of Christianity was in
reality
accomplished by means of informal missionaries. Justin says so quite
explicitly. What won him over was the impression made by the moral life
which
he found among Christians in general. How this life stood apart from
that of
pagans even in the ordinary round of the day, how it had to be or ought
to be a
constant declaration of the gospelall this is vividly portrayed by
Tertullian
in the passage where he adjures his wife not to marry a pagan husband
after he
is dead (ad Uxor., II. iv.-vi.). We may safely assume, too, that women
did play
a leading role in the spread of this religion (see below, Book IV.
Chap. II.).
But it is impossible to see in any one class of people inside the
church the
chief agents of the Christian propaganda. In particular, we cannot
think of the
army in this connection. Even in the army there were Christians, no
doubt, but
it was not easy to combine Christianity and military service. Previous
to the
reign of Constantine, Christianity cannot possibly have been a military
religion, like Mithraism and some other cults. \1/
-----------------------------------
\1/
Africa is the only country where we may feel inclined to conjecture
that the
relations between Christianity and the army were at all intimate.
====================