The Shepherd of Hermas and The Didache

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EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

The Shepherd of Hermas was originally written somewhere between the last part of the first century and probably the first part of the second century. The Didache was written about that time, as well, although probably earlier. In that time period, most of the original Apostles had died --the last one, John, died AD 100--, and the cannon of scripture hadn't been fully agreed on yet. In other words, many people were still not sure exactly which epistles and gospels were really inspired New Testament scripture, and which weren't. It was only later on that the Leadership of the church decided more or less unanimously which books would make up the cannon of scripture. (It was definatly the wisdom of God that they did, as I, for one, would hate to see what would happen if such a decision were left to the church in the state we've been in ever since!)

The Didache is sort of a hand-book for early Christians -- especially those who didn't have copies of any of the gospels or epistles. It contains probably what someone like Apostle Peter, or James would have taught had they started a church in some town far from Jerusalem.

The Shepherd of Hermas is a series of visions, or revelations received by a slave, named Hermas, who lived in Rome. The "shepherd" is actually the angel of repentance who gives him most of the revelations in the second and third parts of the book. The Shepherd of Hermas made a great impression on the early church. In fact, many of the church fathers, such as Irenaeus, Origen, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian --thought he later changed his mind--, treatted it as though it were divinely inspired scripture. Again, it had not yet been agreed at that point, exactly which books were, in fact scripture.

My own experience in reading The Shepherd of Hermas, is probably like many other's. I was confused by some of the strange, powerful statements that were made, and put it down, and didn't read it again until many years later. Then, I began to get something out of it. In fact, the more I read it, the more I am convinced that there is a vital message for the twentieth century church.

Part of the problem in reading the full text of what now exists, is that it was written by hand, and subsequently copied by hand. Rome, at that time, not being a major centre of Christianity as it became later, they were probably not as careful in preserving the writings as they were in places such as Ephesus, Antioch and Alexandria, where what now are known as New Testament scriptures were kept. Therefore, as the book was copied, it's possible that some people's pet doctrines crept in. If they sincerely believed something to be so, some people felt perfectly justified in "correcting" someone else's literary work, or at least making marginal notes. Later copiests mistook the marginal notes for corrections, and added them in. Therefore, if you read the full text --available at the Christian History library web site -- you will find certain other ideas that don't seem to make sense, but were floating around during the second century.

Since I don't know the original languages, nor do I have access to the original texts, I am not a qualified textual critic. However, I have edited the English translation as much as I dare to. I've left out some of the parts that would confuse rather than edify, with the opinion that they might not have been in the original visions of Hermas to begin with. Therefore this isn't a "version" based on a textual edition, but rather, an "abridged reader's edition", meant solely for the purpose of edifying the Body of Christ in the twentieth century. What I did find, however, is that when the questionable texts are removed, the whole thing reads even more smoothly than before, as though they didn't belong in the first place!

In reading, you will find that Hermas and his shepherding angel were neither Calvinists nor dispensationalists. I really can't help it -- they really weren't! However, if you are one who believes that it's just possible that a document can fail to support those two relatively recent doctrines, and yet be true to Scripture, you should be edified by the reading of The Shepherd of Hermas. One of the overpowering themes is cleansing oneself of double-mindedness. One truth that is emphasized is that, by following the desires that come as a natural part of the born-again experience, one is able to overcome sin. In this desire is the fear of God. For the double-minded Christian, the Christian life is extremely difficult, especially when confronted with some of the hard sayings in The Shepherd...etc. However, once repentance is made, and the soul is cleansed of a double mind, following these things comes very naturally. There are also some striking statements about faith and unbelief that would seem to have been spoken by some of the more radical Bible teachers of our time. In all, the Shepherd will remind the reader of the book of James, only very much expanded.

The Didache has been presented in its entirety, with only the language of the translation updated --thees and thous changed to yous and yours.

Finally, I am in no way insinuating that these works be treated on a level with Holy Scripture. Though they were rejected from the cannon of scripture, they were never the less acknowdeged as profitible for personal edification; just as many books today, such as C.S.Lewis, A.W.Tozer, Martin Luther etc. are good reading, but definatly not part of the Bible. Moreover, many prophecies and visions by Elijah, the "sons of the prophets", Agabus, the believers in Corinth and many others were never included in Scripture (nor even suitable as such), though they were no doubt edifying to those who heard them. The Scritpure is already complete without them, and we must test what we read by comparing it to revealed truth in scripture.

I trust that you will do just that, and what you find to apply in the light of Truth, you will receive for edification.

May the Lord bless you as you read.
Robby Charters
bobcharters.blogspot.com

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