The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

V. Testimony of the Shepherd of Hermas

The Shepherd of Hermas was a collection of so-called visions, commandments, and parables, originally written in Greek during the rise of Montanism. It is first mentioned in the Muratorian Fragment (c. A.D. 170). At Jerusalem, Christian doctrine was being grafted onto the Jewish ritual, while at Rome, a legalizing spirit was busy building a substitute for the Mosaic system. Hermas was concerned over the outward rites of the church, and insisted on the necessity of works—though the lawgiver now was Christ. His treatise consists of a system of Christian ethics based on ecclesiastical concepts. It enjoins fasting, voluntary poverty, meritorious works, and the sin-atoning virtue of martyrdom. It contained no direct quotations from either Old or New Testament, though there are frequent allusions to and paraphrases of New Testament language. ²⁶ PFF1 212.1

The Shepherd of Hermas was one of the most popular treatises in the Christian church of the second and third centuries, obviously written in Rome by a layman. It is quoted by Irenaeus in Gaul, Tertullian in North Africa, and Origen in Alexandria, and mentioned three times by Clement. By some of the early writers it was regarded almost as inspired. It was written in Greek, and the text from which the English translations are made is based on extant Greek manuscripts, and also Latin and Ethiopic versions. The date is uncertain, but, according to Lightfoot, the work was in general circulation about the middle of the second century. There are several citations from the Apocalypse but the whole work follows the apocalyptic form, teaching by precept and allegory. It occupied a position analogous to that of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, or Dante’s Divine Comedy. The introduction to one edition says among other things: PFF1 212.2

“The Shepherd of Hermas is in form an apocalypse. It consists of a series of revelations made to Hermas by the Church, who appears in the form of a woman, first old, and afterwards younger; by the shepherd, or angel of repentance; and by the great angel, who is in charge of Christians. Each revelation is accompanied by an explanation.” ²⁷ PFF1 212.3

Five quotations must suffice. First, this allusion to the coming tribulation: PFF1 213.1

“Blessed are ye, as many as endure patiently the great tribulation that cometh, and as many as shall not deny their life. For the Lord sware concerning His Son, that those who denied their Lord should be rejected from their life, even they that are now about to deny Him in the coming days.” ²⁸ PFF1 213.2

Next, the coming removal of the heavens and the earth in fulfillment of the promise to the elect: PFF1 213.3

“He removeth the heavens and the mountains and the hills and the seas, and all things are made level for His elect, that He may fulfil to them the promise which He promised with great glory and rejoicing, if so be that they shall keep the ordinances of God, which they received, with great faith.” ²⁹ PFF1 213.4

Then the growth and perfection of the church are likened to the building of a tower, with stones of character. We read: “Whensoever therefore the tower shall be finished building, the end cometh.” ³⁰ PFF1 213.5

Fourth, the impending persecution by the great prophetic “beast” is portrayed, with the church represented as a “woman“: PFF1 213.6

“The fourth vision which I saw, brethren, twenty days after the former vision which came unto me, for a type of the impending tribulation. I was going into the country by the Campanian Way .... And I went on a little, brethren, and behold, I see a cloud of dust rising as it were to heaven, and I began to say within myself, ‘Can it be that cattle are coming, and raising a cloud of dust?’ for it was about a stade [stadium, a Greek measure of distance current in the East from the time of Alexander the Great—about a furlong] from me. As the cloud of dust waxed greater and greater I suspected that it was something supernatural. Then the sun shone out a little, and behold, I see a huge beast like some sea-monster, and from its mouth fiery locusts issued forth. And the beast was about a hundred feet in length, and its head was as it were of pottery. And I began to weep, and to entreat the Lord that He would rescue me from it. And I remembered the word which I had heard, ‘Be not of doubtful mind, Her Having therefore, brethren, put on the faith of the Lord and called to mind the mighty works that He had taught me, I took courage and gave myself up to the beast. Now the beast was coming on with such a rush, that it might have ruined a city .... PFF1 213.7

“Now after I had passed the beast, and had gone forward about thirty feet, behold, there meeteth me a virgin arrayed as if she were going forth from a bride-chamber, all in white and with white sandals, veiled up to her forehead, and her head-covering consisted of a turban, and her hair was white. I knew from the former visions that it was the Church, and I became more cheerful. She saluteth me, saying, ‘Good morrow, my good man’; and I saluted her in turn, ‘Lady, good morrow.’ She answered and said unto me, ‘Did nothing meet thee?’ I say unto her, ‘Lady, such a huge beast, that could have destroyed whole peoples: but, by the power of the Lord and by His great mercy, I escaped it.’ ‘Thou didst escape it well,’ saith she, ‘because thou didst cast thy care upon God, and didst open thy heart to the Lord, believing that thou canst be saved by nothing else but by His great and glorious Name. Therefore the Lord sent His angel, which is over the beasts, whose name is Segri, and shut its mouth, that it might not hurt thee. Thou hast escaped a great tribulation by reason of thy faith, and because, though thou sawest so huge a beast, thou didst not doubt in thy mind. Go therefore, and declare to the elect of the Lord His mighty works, and tell them that this beast is a type of the great tribulation which is to come. If therefore ye prepare yourselves beforehand, and repent (and turn) unto the Lord with your whole heart, ye shall be able to escape it, if your heart be made pure and without blemish, and if for the remaining days of your life ye serve the Lord blamelessly.” ³¹ PFF1 214.1

Finally, the coming world for the righteous is pictured: PFF1 214.2

“‘For this life is a winter to the righteous, and they do not manifest themselves, because they dwell with sinners: for as in winter trees that have cast their leaves are alike, and it is not seen which are dead and which are living, so in this world neither do the righteous show themselves, nor sinners, but all are alike one to another.’ ... PFF1 214.3

“‘Those,’ he [the Shepherd] said, ‘which are budding are the righteous who are to live in the world to come; for the coming world is the summer of the righteous, but the winter of sinners.’” ³² PFF1 214.4