Friday, December 22, 2023

Édouard Massaux on Similitude 9 of the Shepherd of Hermas and its interpretation of John 3:5

  

. . . I still give preference to a strong Johannine influence with a reminiscence of Mt. and Paul, and that is because of the following verse of Hermas in Sim. 9.12.4, which reads, “For that reason also, nobody enters the Kingdom of God without receiving the Name of His son (ουτω φησιν, εις την βασιλειαν του θεου ουδεις εισελευσεται, ει μη λαβοι το ονομα του υιου αυτου).” There is an important parallel to this statement in Jn. 3:5: ἐὰν μή τις γεννηθῇ ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος, οὐ δύναται εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεου. In Hermas, the expression λαβειν το ονομα του υιου του θεου is certainly linked to Christian baptism; now Jn. 3:5 also refers to Christian baptism. Furthermore, this Johannine text includes Hermas’s expression εισελθειν εις την βασιλειαν του θεου. It is, therefore, easy to assume that Hermas refers to this declaration of Christ to Nicodemus; he simply replaced the formula εαν μη γεννηθη εξ υδατος with one of his usual expressions to designate baptism.

 

. . .

 

Having commented on the Spirit in Hermas, and referring to the consideration of Sim. 9.12-16 in the literary climate of Jn. 3.5, I wonder whether Hermas finds in the Johannine text two elements necessary to enter the Kingdom: the first is baptism, and it corresponds to εξ υδατος in Jn.; the second, equivalent to εκ πνευματος, is what may be designated by a single expression: “acting according to the Spirit.” Hermas describes this second element in various forms, namely to put on the virgins’ garments, to bear their names, to carry their virtues, and to follow the commandments. But let us examine those texts.

 

First of all, the first element required to enter the Kingdom is baptism. Hermas expresses it with two formulas; in the first, it is necessary to bear or have to received the Name; in the second, it is necessary to carry or to have received the seal.

 

The first formula (it is necessary to carry or to have received the Name) reappears several times in the following chapters of the Shepherd: in Sim. 9.12.4: “For that reason also, nobody enters the Kingdom of God without receiving the Name of His Son”; in Sim. 9.12.5: “no human being can enter the Kingdom of God, except by means of the Name of His Beloved Son”; in Sim. 9.12.8: “Anyone who fails to receive His Name will not enter the Kingdom of God.”

 

The second formula (it is necessary to carry or to have received the seal) appears in Sim. 9.16.3: “Those, also, who were deceased so received the seal of the Son of God and entered the Kingdom of God”; in Sim. 9.16.4: “Therefore, this seal was proclaimed to them and they put it to use to enter the Kingdom of God.”

 

Yet this final element, baptism, does not suffice to enter the Kingdom. It is not enough to have the Name or the seal; something more is required to enter into the Kingdom. Considering the concept of the Spirit as it is formulated by Hermas, this is at least what emerges from certain texts of the Shepherd which mention a second necessary element that corresponds to an “action according to the Spirit,” and may correspond to εκ πνευματος in Jn. 3.5.  Listen to the Shepherd on this subject: Sim. 9.13.2: “no man will enter the Kingdom of God in any other way, unless they clothe him with their raiment.” “These virgins,” he says in the same verse, “are holy spirits, . . . (they) are the powers of the Son of God. If you bear the Name without His power, you are bearing the Name to no purpose.” Sim. 9.13.2: “Even the Son of God Himself bears the names of these virgins.” In Sim. 9.15.1-2, we find the list of the virgins: “Faith, Continence, Fortitude, Long-suffering, Simplicity, Innocence, Purity, Cheerfulness, Truth, Understanding, Concord, and Love.” A second element necessary to enter into the Kingdom must include, therefore, the garments of the virgins which must be worn, the virtue of the Son of God which we must possess, the names of the virgins which we must carry.

 

Both aforementioned elements, baptism and “action according to the Spirit,” must be present together in order to enter the Kingdom of God. Hermas says it best, namely in Sim. 9.13.2: “If you bear the Name (first element), without His power (second element), you are bearing the Name (first element) to no purpose.” The Shepherd established this last statement with the help of features he drew from the parable he set forth, namely in exposing the significance of the stones which were rejected: “Now, the stones which you saw rejected,” says Sim. 9.13.2-3, “are those who bore the Name (first element), but did not put on the virgins’ raiment (second element).” The Shepherd then resumes his statement: “Anybody who bears the Name of the Son of God (first element) is also bound to bear their names. Even the Son of God Himself bears the names of these virgins (second element).” This is how he then explains a part of his parable in Sim. 9.13.4: “All the stones . . . that you saw going into the building of the tower and distributed by the hands of the virgins to remain in the building are clothed with the power of the virgins (second element).” Hermas refers many times to this important statement, sometimes combining it with the Pauline image of the unity of the body: Sim. 9.13.4: “And so, those who believed in the Lord through His Son, and have clothed themselves with these spirits, will be one spirit, one body, with a single color to their garment.” Sim. 9.15.2: “The person who bears these names (the virgins’) (second element) and that of the Son of God (first element) can enter into the Kingdom of God.”

 

. . .

 

In short, Hermas, who is under the literary influence of Jn. 3.5 in Sim. 9.12-16, quite probably understands this Johannine teaching in his own personal way. He saw in the first part of the Johannine verse two conditions needed to enter into the Kingdom: water and the Spirit. The first of these conditions is baptism, which Hermas expresses with his own formulas: to bear or to receive the Name, to bear or to receive the seal. The second condition requires that man put on the garments of the virgins, that he put on their virtues, that he put on their spirits, that he bear their names, that he follows the commandments. The expression εκ πνευματος means all that to Hermas, because, as far as he is concerned, there is a close relationship between the Spirit and the virtues whose images are symbolic; they represent, in fact, the condition of the indwelling of the Spirit, and this is how Hermas can easily establish in his mind an identity between the presence of these virtues and that of the Spirit: where there are virtues, there is the Spirit. For Hermas, admission to the Kingdom is conditioned not only by receiving baptism but also by “acting according to the Spirit.” (Édouard Massaux, The Influence of the Gospel of Saint Matthew on Christian literature Before Irenaeus, Book 2: The Later Christian Writings [trans. Norman J. Belval and Suzanne Hecht; New Gospel Studies 5/2; Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 1990, 1992], 135, 138-40, 142)