Read Lost scriptures: books that did not make it into the New Testament Online
Authors: [edited by] Bart D. Ehrman
Tags: #Biblical Reference, #Bible Study Guides, #Bibles, #Other Translations, #Apocryphal books (New Testament), #New Testament, #Christianity, #Religion, #Biblical Commentary, #Biblical Studies, #General, #History
is this merciless and bitter shepherd, who
life, because they have also committed
is showing no compassion at all for these
blasphemy against the name of the Lord.
sheep?” “This,” he replied, “is the angel
Death therefore belongs to them.
of punishment. He is one of the upright
4
But the ones you saw that were not
angels, but he has been appointed to mete
leaping about but were grazing in one
out punishment.
place, these are the ones who have deliv
3
And so he takes those who have
ered themselves over to luxuries and destrayed from God and proceeded in the ceits, without committing blasphemy
desires of this age, and he punishes them
against the Lord. They have been ruined
with the various terrifying punishments
by falling from the truth. For these there
that each of them deserves.”
is a hope of repentance, and it can make
4
“I want to know, Lord,” I said, “what
them live. And so, those who have exsorts of punishments there are.” “Listen,”
perienced this kind of ruin have some
he said, “to the various torments and punhope of new life, but death brings eternal ishments. For the torments come in the
destruction.”
present life. Some people are punished
5
Then we went a little way ahead, and
with financial losses, others with deprihe showed me a large shepherd with a vations, various diseases, or every kind
wild kind of appearance, clothed in the
of disruption, or by being abused by
skin of a white goat, with a bag on his
miscreants and many other kinds of
shoulder, a very hard and knotty staff,
suffering.
and a great whip. He had an extremely
5
For many people undertake numerbitter look about him. I was afraid of him, ous projects but go back and forth in their
he had such a look.
minds, and nothing at all goes well for
6
This shepherd was taking the sheep
them. And they say that they do not prosfrom the young shepherd—those that per in what they do, but it never occurs
were frisky and luxuriously fed, but not
to them that they have done what is evil;
leaping—and driving them into an area
instead, they blame the Lord.
that was steep and filled with thorns and
6
And so, when they have suffered
thistles. And the sheep could not extricate
every affliction, they are handed over to
themselves from the thorns and thistles
me for good discipline, and they are made
but became entangled in them.
strong in the faith of the Lord, and they
7
And so they had to graze while being
serve as the Lord’s slaves the remaining
entangled among the thorns and thistles;
days of their lives, with pure hearts.
and they were being miserably beaten by
When they repent, they think about the
the shepherd. He was forcing them to
evil deeds they have done, and then they
move here and there, giving them no rest
give glory to God, because he is an upat all, so that those sheep were not at all right judge and each one has rightly suftranquil.
fered everything in light of what he has
278
NON-CANONICAL APOCALYPSES AND REVELATORY TREATISES
done. For the rest of their lives they will
your heart and serve God. Take care,” he
serve as the Lord’s slave with pure hearts,
said, “lest the time be fulfilled and you
and they will prosper in their every deed,
be found foolish. Listen, now,” he said,
receiving everything they ask from the
“to what you want to know, so that you
Lord. Then they glorify the Lord, bemay understand these things.
cause they have been delivered over to
3
The one who lives in luxury and deme, and they no longer suffer any evil.”
ceit for a single day, doing whatever he
wants, is clothed with great foolishness
(VI,
4)
and does not understand what he is doing.
64 I said to him, “Lord, explain The next day he forgets what he did the something else to me.” “What
day before. For luxury and deceit have
do you want to know?” he asked. “Are
no memories, because the person is
those who live in luxury and deceit,” I
clothed in foolishness. But when punishasked, “tormented for the same amount ment and torment cling to a person for a
of time they lived in luxury and deceit?”
single day, he is punished and tormented
He replied to me, “They are tormented
for a year, because punishment and torthe same amount of time.”
ment have great memories,
2
“Then they are tormented very little,
4
And so, when he is tormented and
Lord,” I said. “For those who have lived
punished over the course of the entire
in luxury like this and forgotten God
year, then he remembers his luxury and
should be tormented seven times as
deceit and he knows that he is suffering
long.”
because of these evil deeds. All those
3
He said to me, “You are a fool and
who live in luxury and deceit are tordo not understand the force of the tormented in this way, because even though ment.” “If I had understood it, Lord,” I
they are alive they have handed themreplied, “I would not have asked you to selves over to death.”
explain it to me.” “Listen,” he said, “and
5
“What sorts of luxuries, Lord,” I
I will tell you the force of both things.
asked, “are harmful?” He replied, “Ev
4
The time of luxury and deceit is a
erything that brings a person pleasure is
single hour. But an hour’s worth of tora luxury,” he said. “For even the foulment has the force of thirty days. And
tempered person who acts as he desires
so, if someone lives in luxury and deceit
enjoys a luxury. So too does the adulterer,
for a single day, and is then tormented
the drunkard, the slanderer, the liar, the
for a single day, that day of torment has
greedy, the defrauder, and anyone who
the force of an entire year. Thus, a person
does anything similar, as he desires, in
is tormented for the same number of
his own diseased way. Such a person,
years as the days he has lived in luxury.n
then, enjoys a luxury in what he does.
You see,” he said, “that the time of luxury
6
All these luxuries are harmful to the
and deceit is very brief, but that of punslaves of God. Those who are punished ishment and torment is long.”
and tormented, therefore, suffer because
of these deceitful practices.
(VI,
5)
7
But there are also luxuries that save
65 I said, “Lord, since I have not people. For many people who do what is completely understood about
good enjoy luxury by being borne along
the times of deceit and luxury and torment, explain them to me more clearly.”
2
He answered me, “You are persistently foolish and do not wish to cleanse nNote: the calculations are based on a twelve-hour day
THE SHEPHERD OF HERMAS
279
by their own pleasure. And so this kind
4
“But look, Lord,” I said, “they have
of luxury can be profitable for the slaves
in fact repented from their whole heart.”
of God, and provides life to such a per
“I myself know they have repented from
son. But the harmful luxuries that I mentheir whole heart,” he replied. “But do tioned before provide torments and punyou think,” he said, “that the sins of those ishments. If people remain in them
who repent are forgiven on the spot? Not
without repenting, they provide death for
at all! But the one who repents must
themselves.”
torment his own soul and become mightily humble in his every deed and be afflicted with many and various afflictions.
Parable
Seven
And if he should endure the afflictions
that come upon him, the one who created
(VII)
and empowered all things will be fully
66 After a few days I saw him in compassionate and bring him some the same plain where I had seen
healing.
the shepherds, and he said to me, “What
5
This will certainly happen if he sees
are you looking for?” “I have come here,
that the heart of the one who repents is
Lord,” I said, “to ask you to order the
pure from every evil deed. And it is to
punishing angel to leave my house, beyour advantage, and to your household’s, cause he is afflicting me terribly.” “You
to be afflicted now. But why am I telling
need to be afflicted,” he replied, “because
you so much? You must be afflicted, just
this is what the glorious angel comas that angel of the Lord commanded, the manded for you. For he wants you to be
one who delivered you over to me. Give
put to the test.” “What evil thing have I
the Lord thanks for this—for he considdone, Lord, to be handed over to this ered you worthy to have the affliction
angel?” I asked.
explained in advance, that by knowing
2
“Listen,” he said, “your sins are
about it in advance you could endure it
many, but not enough for you to be
strongly.”
handed over to this angel. But your
6
I said to him, “Lord, be with me and
household has committed great sins and
I will be able to endure every affliction.”
lawless acts, and the glorious angel is
“I will be with you,” he said. “And I will
embittered by their deeds. This is why he
also ask the punishing angel to afflict you
commanded you to be afflicted for a time,
less severely. You will be afflicted for a
to lead them to repent and cleanse thembrief time, and you will again be restored selves from all worldly desires. When
to your place. But continue by being
they repent and are cleansed, then the
humble, serving the Lord with a pure
punishing angel will leave.”
heart, you, your children, and your
3
I said to him, “Lord, even if they are
household, and proceed in my commandacting in ways that embitter the glorious ments, which I have given you, and your
angel—what have I done?” “It cannot be
repentance will be able to be strong and
otherwise,” he said. “They cannot be afpure.
flicted unless you are as well, since you
7
And if you guard these matters,
are the head of the household. For if you
along with your household, every afflicare afflicted, of necessity they are too; tion will leave you. And affliction will
but if you are flourishing, they can exleave everyone who proceeds in these my perience no affliction.”
commandments.” . . .
The Apocalypse of Peter
Three different apocalypses surviving from ancient Christianity claim to have been written by Peter. The one presented here was discovered in 1887
in the tomb of a Christian monk, along with the Gospel of Peter; it was subsequently found in a fuller Ethiopic translation.1 This apocalypse was well-known in early Christianity; some churches counted it among the New Testament Scriptures.2 Eventually, though, it came to be excluded from the canon, in part because Christians realized that it was pseudonymous. Even then, however, the book continued to exercise a significant influence on Christian thought. This is the first Christian writing to describe a journey through hell and heaven, an account that inspired a large number of successors, including, ultimately, Dante’s
Divine
Comedy.
The book begins with Peter and the other disciples on the Mount of Olives listening to Jesus deliver his “apocalyptic discourse” (see Mark 13).
Peter asks about the coming judgment. Jesus responds by describing the terrifying events that will occur when the world is destroyed by fire at the last judgment. He then details the eternal torments that await those destined for hell and the perpetual blessings of those bound for heaven.
There is some ambiguity over whether Jesus actually takes Peter on a journey through these two abodes of the dead or simply describes them in such vivid detail that it feels as if Peter is seeing them. There is no ambiguity, however, concerning the respective fates of those destined for one place or the other. In an unsettling way, the horrific punishments of the damned are made to fit their crimes (chaps. 7–12). Those who have followed Christ and kept the commandments of God, however, will be brought into the eternal kingdom, where they will enjoy the blissful life of heaven forever. The book ends with Peter describing first-hand what he saw on the Mount of Transfiguration, possibly in order to validate the legitimacy of the rest of his vision (cf. 2 Pet 1:17–18). The ultimate goal of this first-hand description of hellish and heavenly realities is reasonably clear: the way to escape eternal torment is to avoid sin.