Other Early Christian Writings Influenced by Paul
The Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
The First Epistle of Clement is a letter addressed to the Christians in the city of Corinth.
The letter was composed at some time between AD 80 and AD 140, and ranks with the Didache as one of the earliest—if not the earliest—of extant Christian documents outside the canonical New Testament.
As the name suggests, a Second Epistle of Clement is known, but this is a later work by a different author. Neither 1 nor 2 Clement are part of the canonical New Testament, but they are part of the Apostolic Fathers collection.
Authorship and date
Although traditionally attributed to Clement of Rome, the letter does not include Clement's name, and is anonymous; it is addressed as "the Church of God which sojourneth in Rome to the Church of God which sojourneth in Corinth." Its stylistic coherence suggests a single author.
Scholars have proposed a range of dates, but most limit the possibilities to the last two decades of the 1st century, and no later than AD 140.
The traditional date for Clement's epistle is at the end of the reign of Domitian (c. AD 96): the phrase "sudden and repeated misfortunes and hindrances which have befallen us" (1:1) is taken as a reference to persecutions under Domitian.
The Epistle to the Hebrews' call for leadership from the church in Rome has been thought to have been influential.
Some scholars believe 1 Clement was written around the same time as the Book of Revelation (c. AD 95 – 97).
Content
The letter was occasioned by a dispute in Corinth, which had led to the removal from office of several presbyters. Since none of the presbyters were charged with moral offences, 1 Clement charges that their removal was high-handed and unjustifiable.
The letter was extremely lengthy—it was twice as long as the Epistle to the Hebrews—and includes many references to the Old Testament, of which he demonstrates a knowledge. Clement repeatedly refers to the Old Testament as Scripture.
New Testament references include admonition to “Take up the epistle of the blessed Paul the Apostle” (47:1) which was written to this Corinthian audience; a reference which seems to imply written documents available at both Rome and Corinth.
1 Clement also alludes to the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians; and may allude to Paul's epistles to the Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, and Philippians, numerous phrases from the Epistle to the Hebrews, and possible material from Acts, James, and I Peter.
In several instances, the author asks his readers to “remember” the words of Jesus, although they do not attribute these sayings to a specific written account. These New Testament allusions are employed as authoritative sources which strengthen the letter's arguments to the Corinthian church, but it never explicitly refers to them as “Scripture”.
The Epistle of Barnabas
The Epistle of Barnabas is a Greek epistle containing twenty-one chapters, preserved complete in the 4th century Codex Sinaiticus where it appears at the end of the New Testament.
It is traditionally ascribed to Barnabas who is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, although some ascribe it to another Apostolic Father of the same name, Barnabas of Alexandria, or simply attribute it to an unknown early Christian teacher.
A form of the Epistle, 850 lines long, is noted in the Latin list of canonical works in the 6th century Codex Claromontanus.
It is distinct from the Gospel of Barnabas.
Although the work is not Gnostic in a theological sense, the author, who considers himself to be a teacher to the unidentified audience to which he writes (see 9:9), intends to impart to his readers the perfect gnosis (knowledge), that they may perceive that the Christians are the only true covenant people, and that the Jewish people are no longer in covenant with God (3:7).
His polemics are, above all, directed against Judaizing Christians.
In no other writing of that early time is the separation of the Gentile Christians from observant Jews so clearly insisted upon. The covenant promises, he maintains, belong only to the Christians (e.g. 4.6–8), and circumcision, and the entire Jewish sacrificial and ceremonial system have been abolished in favor of "the new law of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2.8).
According to the author's conception, Jewish scriptures, rightly understood, serve as a foretelling of Christ and its laws often contain allegorical meanings.
He is a thorough opponent to Jewish legalism, but by no means an antinomist.
At some points the Epistle seems quite Pauline, as with its concept of atonement.
The Epistle explains many Torah laws as having a spiritual lesson as their main purpose. For example, the prohibition against eating pork is intended to forbid the people to live like swine, who supposedly grunt when hungry but are silent when full: likewise, the people are not to pray to God when they are in need but ignore Him when they are satisfied. Similarly, the prohibition against eating rabbit means that the people are not to behave in a promiscuous manner, and the prohibition against eating weasel is also to be interpreted as a prohibition of oral sex, based on the mistaken belief that weasels copulate via the mouth.
It is likely that, due to the resurgence of Judaism in the early 2nd century, and the tolerance of the Roman emperor Hadrian, Christians, such as the text's author, felt a need to resist Jewish influences polemically.
In this case, the author seems to aim to demonstrate that Jewish understanding of the Mosaic legislation (Torah) is completely incorrect and can now be considered superseded, since in the author's view the Jewish scriptures foreshadowed Jesus and Christianity when rightly understood.
The author quotes liberally from the Old Testament, including the apocryphal books. He quotes from the New Testament gospels twice (4:14, 5:9), and is in general agreement with the New Testament presentation of salvation-history.
He quotes material resembling 4 Esdras (12.1) and 1 Enoch (4.3; 16.5), which did not become part of the Biblical canon except in some traditions (e.g. 1 Enoch is considered scriptural in the Ethiopian church).
The closing Two Ways section (chapters 18–21), which contains a series of moral injunctions, presents "another gnosis and teaching" (18.1) in relation to the body of the epistle, and its connection to the latter has given rise to much discussion. This section highly resembles the Didache.
The Acts of Paul and Thecla
The Acts of Paul and Thecla is an apocryphal story of Paul the apostle's influence on a young virgin named Thecla.
It is one of the writings of the New Testament apocrypha.
History of the text
It is attested no later than Tertullian (c 190), who says that a presbyter from Asia wrote the History of Paul and Thecla, and was deposed by John the Apostle after confessing that he wrote it.
Tertullian inveighed against its use in the advocacy of a woman's right to preach and to baptize.
Eugenia of Rome in the reign of Commodus (180-192) is reported in the Acts of her martyrdom to have taken Thecla as her model after reading the text, prior to its disapproval by Tertullian.
Jerome recounts the information from Tertullian, and on account of his great care to chronology, some scholars regard the text a 1st-century creation.
Many surviving versions of the Acts of Paul and Thecla in Greek, and some in Coptic, as well as references to the work among Church fathers show that it was widely disseminated.
In the Eastern Church, the wide circulation of the Acts of Paul and Thecla in Greek, Syriac, and Armenian is evidence of the veneration of Thecla of Iconium.
There are also Latin, Coptic, and Ethiopic versions, sometimes differing widely from the Greek. "In the Ethiopic, with the omission of Thecla's admitted claim to preach and to baptize, half the point of the story is lost."
The discovery of a Coptic text of the Acts of Paul containing the Thecla narrative suggests that the abrupt opening of the Acts of Paul and Thecla is due to its being an excerpt of that larger work.
Narrative of the text
The author sets this story during Paul the Apostle's First Missionary Journey, but this text is ideologically different from the New Testament portrayal of Paul.
Here, Paul is described as travelling to Iconium (Acts 13:51), proclaiming "the word of God about abstinence and the resurrection."
Paul is given a full physical description that may reflect oral tradition: in the Syriac text "he was a man of middling size, and his hair was scanty, and his legs were a little crooked, and his knees were projecting, and he had large eyes and his eyebrows met, and his nose was somewhat long, and he was full of grace and mercy; at one time he seemed like a man, and at another time he seemed like an angel."
Paul gave his sermons in the house of Onesiphorus (cp. 2Tim 1:16) in a series of beatitudes, by which Thecla, a young noble virgin, listened to Paul's "discourse on virginity" from her window in an adjacent house.
She listened, enraptured, without moving for days. Thecla's mother, Theocleia, and her fiancé, Thamyris, became concerned that Thecla would follow Paul's demand "that one must fear only one God and live in chastity", and they formed a mob to drag Paul to the governor, who imprisoned the apostle.
Thecla bribed a guard to gain entrance to the prison, and sat at Paul's feet all night listening to his teaching and "kissing his bonds."
When her family found her, both she and Paul were again brought before the governor. At her mother's request, Paul was sentenced to scourging and expulsion (see Acts 14:19, 2Tim 3:11), and Thecla to be killed by being burned at the stake, that "all the women who have been taught by this man may be afraid."
Stripped naked, Thecla was put on the fire, but she was saved by a miraculous storm which God sent to put out the flames.
Reunited, Paul and Thecla then traveled to Pisidian Antioch (see Acts 14:21), where a nobleman named Alexander desired Thecla and offered Paul money for her.
Paul claimed not to know her, and Alexander then attempted to take Thecla by force. Thecla fought him off, assaulting him in the process, to the amusement of the townspeople.
Alexander dragged her before the governor for assaulting a nobleman and, despite the protests of the city's women, Thecla was sentenced to be eaten by wild beasts.
To ensure that her virtue was intact at her death, Queen Tryphaena took her into protective custody overnight.
Thecla was tied to a fierce lioness, and paraded through the city. She was then stripped and thrown to beasts, which were provided by Alexander.
The women of the city again protested against the injustice.
Thecla was protected from death, first by the lioness who fought off the other beasts, and then by a series of miracles until finally the women of the city and Queen Antonia Tryphaena intervened.
The way in which Thecla was said to have baptized herself in the arena was quite strange and unique (the account of this is found in chapter 9 of the Acts of Paul and Thecla and also in the Acts of Thecla). While in the arena, she saw a vat of water that contained seals/sea-calves. Since she thought it might be her last chance to be baptized, she jumped into the vat and proclaimed that she was baptizing herself. A miracle occurred and all the seals/sea-calves were killed by lightning before they could eat her.
Thecla returned to Paul unharmed.
She later returned to Iconium to convert her mother.
She went to live in Seleucia Cilicia. According to some versions of the Acts, she lived in a cave there for 72 years, becoming a healer.
The Hellenistic physicians in the city lost their livelihood and solicited young men to rape Thecla at the age of 90. As they were about to take her, a new passage was opened in the cave and the stones closed behind her.
She was able to go to Rome and lay beside Paul's tomb.
An Early Noncanonical Witness to Early Christian Life: The Teaching (Didache) of the Twelve Apostles
Structure
The Two Ways (1-6)
The Way of Life
The Way of Death
Ritual Sacraments (7-10)
Baptism
Fasting
Daily Prayer
Communion
The Ministry and Traveling Prophets (11-15)
Brief Apocalypse (16)
Contents
The Didache also known as The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, is a brief anonymous early Christian treatise, dated by most modern scholars to the first century.
The first line of this treatise is "The teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles (or Nations) by the twelve apostles."
The text, parts of which constitute the oldest extant written catechism, has three main sections dealing with Christian ethics, rituals such as baptism and Eucharist, and Church organization.
The opening chapters describe the virtuous Way of Life and the wicked Way of Death.
The Lord's Prayer is included in full.
Baptism is by immersion, or by affusion if immersion is not practical.
Fasting is ordered for Wednesdays and Fridays.
Two primitive Eucharistic prayers are given.
Church organization was at an early stage of development.
Itinerant apostles and prophets are important, serving as "chief priests" and possibly celebrating the Eucharist.
Meanwhile, local bishops and deacons also have authority and seem to be taking the place of the itinerant ministry.
The Didache is considered the first example of the genre of Church Orders.
The Didache reveals how Jewish Christians saw themselves and how they adapted their practice for Gentile Christians.
The Didache is similar in several ways to the Gospel of Matthew, perhaps because both texts originated in similar communities.
The opening chapters, which also appear in other early Christian texts, are likely derived from an earlier Jewish source.
The Didache is considered part of the group of second-generation Christian writings known as the Apostolic Fathers.
The work was considered by some Church Fathers to be a part of the New Testament, while being rejected by others as spurious or non-canonical. In the end, it was not accepted into the New Testament canon. However, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church "broader canon" includes the Didascalia, a work which draws on the Didache.
Lost for centuries, a Greek manuscript of the Didache was rediscovered in 1873 by Philotheos Bryennios, Metropolitan of Nicomedia, in the Codex Hierosolymitanus. A Latin version of the first five chapters was discovered in 1900 by J. Schlecht.
Other Texts
The Letter of Polycarp to the Philippians
In section nine of the letter of Polycarp to the Philippians, we are able to get a glimpse into the mind of Polycarp, and to a certain extent his views on martyrdom and the suffering of the saints.
He calls upon the Philippians to be “obedient to the word of righteousness and to exercise all patient endurance…” (9:1). He is telling them that even when they are persecuted, they must stand firm and not deny Christ in the face of their oppressors. He calls them to continue in their commitment and their obedience to Christ not only in thought but in action.
He refers to a few different individuals by name who have already suffered for Christ. The Philippians were familiar with these people that he mentions.
He mentions, first of all, Ignatius, whom many would consider to be Polycarp’s own mentor in the faith. Ignatius, having been inspired by the example of the apostles Peter and Paul, wrote many letters on his way to his martyrdom in Rome. He also spent a significant amount of time with Polycarp, and likely influenced his views on martyrdom. As Ignatius was making his way to Rome, where Peter and Paul had been martyred, he stopped at Smyrna where Polycarp was Bishop. It is recorded that “Ignatius spent several days there, and enjoyed the society of Polycarp, who had been a pupil of John […] His mind was set on the idea of martyrdom, and on the two martyr-apostles, Peter and Paul, who had taken the road from Antioch to Rome before him.” It is likely that this sort of preoccupation with martyrdom evidenced in the life and writings of Ignatius had strong influence over Polycarp himself.
In his letter, Polycarp also mentions two people he refers to as Zosimus and Rufus. This Rufus may be mentioned by Paul in one of his letters, but it is unknown whether this Rufus is the same Rufus that Paul mentions. This may also be the Rufus mentioned in the Gospels who was the brother of Alexander and the son of Simon of Cyrene who was called upon by the Romans to carry the cross of Jesus when it became too much for him to bear. If this is the case, then Polycarp may have been attempting to call to mind an example of someone who understood what it was like to suffer for Christ, someone who was related to someone who had witnessed the crucifixion of Christ. The image would perhaps be one of being called to carry the cross, which is what Jesus had told his followers they must do.
Polycarp also mentions other people, but not by name, saying that these individuals were known to the Philippians, having been members of their own congregation, and that they had suffered for their faith. We are inclined to believe that these people had been killed in the persecution. This letter was written at a time of crisis, in which Christians were being killed.
Also, Polycarp mentions in his list the suffering of the Apostle Paul, who is believed to have been beheaded by the Emperor Nero. He also mentions the “rest of the apostles” who had also been killed. Polycarp refers to Paul and the other apostles, saying that he is “persuaded that all these ‘did not run in vain’ (9:1).
The Martyrdom of Polycarp
The Martyrdom is the story of a persecution of Christians in Smyrna in Asia Minor, some of whom have voluntarily put themselves forward for death in the arena, which reaches its height and conclusion in the hunting down and execution of the distinguished 86-year-old bishop Polycarp. The account is written in the form of a letter of the church of the Smyrnaeans to the church of Philomelium commending Polycarp's restrained 'witness according to the Gospel', as against those who willfully led others into danger by seeking out martyrdom.
The account of the martyrdom states that there had been a fanatical man, likely a member of the Montanist sect, who had led a group of others to go with him to volunteer to be put to death for illegally being Christians. The account claims that when this man saw the wild beasts, he became afraid and was persuaded to deny Christ and offer the sacrifice to Caesar. The writer then goes on to say, “For this reason, therefore, brethren, we do not praise those who come forward of their own accord, since the gospel does not teach us so to do.”
The account also mentions a man named Germanicus who was made to fight wild beasts in the arena. The account says that “when the proconsul, wishing to persuade him, bade him have pity on his youth, he forcibly dragged the wild beast toward himself, wishing to obtain more quickly a release from their wicked and lawless life.” It was because of this act of heroics that the crowd became amazed and called for the capture of Polycarp, the leader of the Christians.
The writer records Polycarp as having not been afraid of this warrant issued for his arrest and that he wanted to stay in the city and carry on with his daily responsibilities. However, his friends convinced to flee to a nearby farm for protection. In this, the writer seeks to show how Polycarp is neither desirous of martyrdom nor is he afraid of it. He appears to be content with whatever happens to him. He is not a coward who will deny Christ at the threat of death, and he is not a fanatic who believes he can get God to give him a better reward by getting himself and others killed in the name of Christ.
Also, in this account of his death, three days before his capture and execution Polycarp has a dream in which the pillow on which he slept was blazing with fire. From this he concluded that he was going to be burned as a martyr. The fact that this was revealed to him in a dream indicates that his death was not something that he had decided for himself. It was something that God was going to allow happen to him. This shows the difference between the view of martyrdom held by the fanatics and the view of martyrdom held by Polycarp. Polycarp believed that God would be using him in his death, rather than believing as the fanatics did that their actions would cause God to favor them over others.
Another point made in the account is Polycarp’s sense of hospitality. Polycarp shows the true nature of a Christian and a martyr when the soldiers come to the farm to capture him and he offers to serve them a meal. Instead of taunting the men or behaving like a coward, Polycarp shows them kindness. Polycarp’s views on martyrdom include the idea that martyrdom is an honor. The apostles before him had been martyred for their faith and they had received their reward from Christ. Martyrdom was not something to be feared. However, martyrdom was also not something to be desired. The time of ones death was up to God to decide. Most importantly, a Christian ought to glorify God in both life and death. Polycarp believed that we represented Christ in the actions of our daily living and that true martyrs represented Christ in the actions surrounding their death.
The Shepherd of Hermas
The Shepherd of Hermas is a Christian literary work of the late 1st or mid-2nd century, considered a valuable book by many Christians, and considered canonical scripture by some of the early Church fathers such as Irenaeus.
The Shepherd was very popular amongst Christians in the 2nd and 3rd centuries.
The work comprises five visions, twelve mandates, and ten parables. It relies on allegory and pays special attention to the Church, calling the faithful to repent of the sins that have harmed it.
The book was originally written in Rome, in the Greek language, but a first Latin translation, the Vulgata, was made very shortly afterwards. A second Latin translation, the Palatina, was made at the beginning of the fifth century. Of the Greek version the last fifth or so is missing.
The book consists of five visions granted to Hermas, a former slave. This is followed by twelve mandates or commandments, and ten similitudes, or parables.
It commences abruptly in the first person: "He who brought me up sold me to a certain Rhoda, who was at Rome. After many years I met her again, and began to love her as a sister."
As Hermas was on the road to Cumae, he had a vision of Rhoda. She told him that she was his accuser in heaven, on account of an unchaste thought the (married) narrator had once had concerning her, though only in passing. He was to pray for forgiveness for himself and all his house.
He is consoled by a vision of the Church in the form of an aged woman, weak and helpless from the sins of the faithful, who tells him to do penance and to correct the sins of his children.
Subsequently he sees her made younger through penance, yet wrinkled and with white hair; then again, as quite young but still with white hair; and lastly, she shows herself as glorious as a Bride.
This allegorical language continues through the other parts of the work. In the second vision she gives Hermas a book, which she afterwards takes back in order to add to it.
The fifth vision, which is represented as taking place 20 days after the fourth, introduces "the Angel of repentance" in the guise of a shepherd, from whom the whole work takes its name. He delivers to Hermas a series of precepts (mandata, entolai), which form an interesting development of early Christian ethics.
One point which deserves special mention is the assertion of a husband's obligation to take back an adulterous wife on her repentance.
The eleventh mandate, on humility, is concerned with false prophets who desire to occupy the first seats (that is to say, among the presbyters). Some have seen here a reference to Marcion, who came to Rome c. 140 and desired to be admitted among the priests (or possibly even to become bishop of Rome).
After the mandates come ten similitudes (parabolai) in the form of visions, which are explained by the angel.
The longest of these (Similitude 9) is an elaboration of the parable of the building of a tower, which had formed the matter of the third vision. The tower is the Church, and the stones of which it is built are the faithful. But in the third vision it looked as though only the holy are a part of the Church; in Similitude 9 it is clearly pointed out that all the baptized are included, though they may be cast out for grave sins, and can be readmitted only after penance.
In spite of the grave subjects, the book is written in a very optimistic and hopeful tone, like most early Christian works.
