[Footnote 72: Four passages may be chiefly appealed to in support of the
opposite view, viz., 2 Peter III. 16; Polycarp ep. 12. 1; Barn. IV. 14;
2 Clem. II. 4. But the first is put out of court, as the second Epistle
of Peter is quite a late writing. The second is only known from an
unreliable Latin translation (see Zahn on the passage: "verba 'his
scripturis' suspecta sunt, cum interpres in c. II. 3 ex suis inseruerit
quod dictum est"), and even if the latter were faithful here, the
quotation from the Psalms prefixed to the quotation from the Epistle to
the Ephesians prevents us from treating the passage as certain evidence.
As to the third passage ([Greek: mepote, hos gegraptai, polloi kletoi,
oligoi de eklektoi heurethomen]), it should be noted that the author of
the Epistle of Barnabas, although he makes abundant use of the evangelic
tradition, has nowhere else described evangelic writings as [Greek:
graphe], and must have drawn from more sources than the canonic Gospels.
Here, therefore, we have an enigma which may be solved in a variety of
ways. It seems worth noting that it is a saying of the Lord which is
here in question. But from the very beginning words of the Lord were
equally reverenced with the Old Testament (see the Pauline Epistles).
This may perhaps explain how the author--like 2 Clem. II. 4: [Greek:
hetera de graphe legei hoti ouk elthon kalesai dikaious alla
hamartolous]--has introduced a saying of this kind with the same formula
as was used in introducing Old Testament quotations. Passages, such as
Clem. XIII. 4: [Greek: legei ho theos: ou charis humin ei agapate
k.t.l.] would mark the transition to this mode of expression. The
correctness of this explanation is confirmed by observation of the fact
that the same formula as was employed in the case of the Old Testament
was used in making quotations from early Christian apocalypses, or
utterances of early Christian prophets in the earliest period. Thus we
already read in Ephesians V. 14: [Greek: dio legei: egeire ho katheudon
kai anasta ek ton nekron kai epiphausei soi ho Christos]. That,
certainly, is a saying of a Christian prophet, and yet it is introduced
with the usual "[Greek: legei]". We also find a saying of a Christian
prophet in Clem. XXIII. (the saying is more complete in 2 Clem. XI.)
introduced with the words: [Greek: he graphe haute, hopou legei]. These
examples may be multiplied still further. From all this we may perhaps
assume that the trite formulae of quotation "[Greek: graphe], [Greek:
gegraptai]," etc., were applied wherever reference was made to sayings
of the Lord and of prophets that were fixed in writings, even when the
documents in question had not yet as a whole obtained canonical
authority. Finally, we must also draw attention to the following:--The
Epistle of Barnabas belongs to Egypt; and there probably, contrary to my
former opinion, we must also look for the author of the second Epistle
of Clement.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account