Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.29.1-3 reads as follows:
"From
the twelfth, white mountain are believers like these: they are like innocent
babies, for whom no evil arises in their heart nor do they even know what evil
is, but they remain always in innocence. People like these will dwell in the
kingdom of God without hesitation because they did not defile the commandments
of God in any way, but remained in innocence all the days of their life in the
same attitude. Those who remain," he said, "and will be like babies,
having no evil, will be held in greater honor than all those already mentioned.
All babies are honored before God and hold first place with him. Blessed are
you who have removed evil from yourselves and have put on innocence. You will
live to God before all the rest." (Carolyn Osiek, The Shepherd of Hermas
[Hermeneia—A Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible; Minneapolis,
Minn.: Fortress Press, 1999], 243-44)
Commenting on this passage, Osiek
noted that
The twelfth mountain is all
white and from it come the innocents, a vision of an ideal church and ideal
believers with which Hermas is not dealing directly. It has a general
parallel in Vis. 3.5.3. It is not clear what is the difference between
them and the guileless ones of the seventh mountain (chap. 24) except that
there the emphasis was on the peaceful and effective aspect of their social
relationships, whereas here the emphasis is on their own personal innocence and
the complete absence of any evil tendency in their hearts-sure evidence that
here we are dealing with the strictly ideal. Verse 3a-b is addressed to a
hypothetical group that probably finds no actual correspondence in the
community: the completely innocent. It is something of a puzzle that Hermas
would interject such an ideal at the end of a heartening portrayal of real
people with real problems, except that perhaps he thought he had to say it
under the influence of the Christian ideal of childlike innocence. ss
"Simplicity" (απλοτης) and "innocence" (ακακια) are
among the seven or twelve virtues symbolized by the young women who help build
the tower, but the term in vv. 1-2 is νηπιστης ("like a very small
child"). The presentation serves no paraenetic purpose except to introduce
v. 3c, the real message, a makarism on those who have distanced evil from
themselves (οσοι αν αρητε αφ' εαυτων την πονηριαν) and put on innocence (ακακια),
a virtue that can be gained after falling. Then, surprisingly in view of
the previous verses, such people will have first priority in heavenly life (πρωτοι
παντων ζησεσθε τω θεω) rather than the martyrs of the previous chapter. (Ibid.,
252)
