The Making of the New Testament

by Benjamin Wisner Bacon

PSEUDO-APOSTOLIC EPISTLES

We cannot wonder that an epoch of the church's history which followed upon the martyrdom in rapid succession of all its remaining great leaders, should at first be poor in literary products. James the Lord's brother was stoned to death by a mob in Jerusalem in the year 61-2. His namesake, brother of John, had been beheaded early in 44 by Herod Agrippa I. Among the "others" who, as Josephus informs us, perished along with James in 61, we may, perhaps, reckon John, who stands beside him in Paul's list of the Pillars. This John, son of Zebedee, brother of the other James, is reckoned a martyr in the same sense as his brother in the earliest gospels. The brothers are assured that they shall drink the same cup of suffering as the Lord, though they may not claim in return pre-eminent seats in glory (Mark x. 39 f.). John did not suffer with his brother James in 44, because he is present at the conference in 46-7 (Gal. ii. 9); but one of the traditions of the Jerusalem elders reported by Papias declared that he was "killed by the Jews" in fulfilment of the Lord's prediction, and this early tradition must be accepted in spite of its conflict with one which gradually superseded it after John came to be regarded as author of Revelation and the Fourth Gospel. The statement that he was killed "together with James his brother" may be due merely to the (not infrequent) confusion of the two Jameses.

Paul's decapitation in Rome occurred not more than a year or two later, and was followed there in 64, according to very ancient and trustworthy tradition, by the martyrdom of Peter. The death of all the principal leaders explains why the Jerusalem church when it reassembled after the overthrow of city and temple in the year 70, put forward no more prominent candidates for the leadership than a certain Symeon, son of Clopas, one of the group of 'relatives of the Lord' who are traceable "until the time of Trajan," and a certain unknown Thebuthis. Symeon, according to Eusebius, who takes his account from Hegesippus (165), was the representative of "those of the apostles and disciples of the Lord that were still living, together with the Lord's relatives." Thebuthis is said to have sprung from one of the heretical Jewish sects and to have organized a schism in consequence of his disappointment. All we can be sure of is that Jerusalem 'down to the time of Trajan' continued to regard itself as the seat of apostolic authority and arbiter of orthodoxy, on account of its succession of disciples and relatives of the Lord. Among the latter the leading, if not the only, representatives of the seed of David, when "search was made" in the persecution under Domitian (81-95), were two grandsons of Jude, the Lord's brother. Jude himself, then, was no longer living. Luke (c. 100), Papias (145), and Hegesippus (165) successively exhibit the growing authority of the "tradition handed down," especially that of "the apostles and elders in Jerusalem." But what Papias records of the traditions of these "elders" does not rise above the level of Jewish midrash, and the epistles which bear the names of James and Jude have little intrinsic value, and enjoyed from the beginning only the most meagre acceptance. At Rome tradition attaches to the name of Peter, but besides the bare fact of his martyrdom "at the same time with Paul" (64-5) it has little of value to relate. We cannot safely go beyond the tradition reported by Porphyry that Peter fed the lambs (at Rome) for a few months before his martyrdom, and that reported by Papias that Mark, who had been Peter's assistant, compiled there the Gospel which bears his name, basing it upon his recollections of Peter's preaching. Of this vitally important work (c. a.d. 75) we must speak in another connection. We are concerned at present with writings which directly reflect the development of Christian life and doctrine in this sub-apostolic period, especially that in the Pauline mission-field.

Except for the appearance of the Gospel of Mark at Rome (c. 75) there remains nothing to break the silence and darkness of twenty years after the deaths of James and Peter and Paul. The writings which finally did appear were almost inevitably anonymous or pseudepigraphic, because apostolic authority stood so high that no other could secure circulation. Hebrews (c. 85) has an epistolary attachment at the close of its "exhortation," but either never had an address or superscription, or else has been deprived of it. All the Synoptic writings are anonymous, though Luke-Acts (c. 100) is dedicated to a literary patron. Revelation (c. 95) is boldly asserted to be the work of the Apostle John in the prefatory chapters and the epilogue (i. 2, 4, 9; xxii. 8). But the body of the work, though of Palestinian origin, has a totally different standpoint, and claims the authority of a prophet, not that of an apostle. Similarly the Fourth gospel when finally published received an appendix (ch. xxi.) which cautiously suggests the Apostle John as its author; but the three Epistles by the same writer are anonymous. The homily called James (90-100) has a superscription which superficially connects it with the chief authority in Jerusalem, and the Epistle of Jude prefixes to itself the name which stood next in the same class. But even in antiquity they had a precarious standing, and neither is a real letter. Finally there are the Epistles to Timothy and Titus, purporting to be written by Paul, and a whole series of every kind, epistles, gospel, acts, and apocalypse, written in the name of Peter, of which only two secured final adoption into the canon. Of all these only 1st Peter and the so-called Pastoral Epistles (1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus) have some claim to be considered genuine; for 1st Peter is certainly of early origin (c. 85), and was undisputed in antiquity; while the Pastorals, though rejected by Marcion, and as a whole of late date (90-110), are made up on the basis of some authentic Pauline material.

The post-apostolic epistles may be grouped into two classes, according as they are predominantly occasioned (a) by internal dangers of heresy and moral laxity; or (b) by the external peril of persecution. To the former (a) must be reckoned (1) the so-called Pastoral Epistles; (2) Jude; (3) 2nd Peter. All these concern themselves outspokenly with a type of false doctrine which has certain more or less definite traits, and is tending toward the Gnostic heresies of the second century, if not yet clearly identifiable with them. But the inspired genius of Paul is wanting. The age is not creative, but conservative. Its writers are ecclesiastics and church teachers, not apostles and prophets. Their distinctive note is appeal to apostolic authority. Whether the name by which they cover their own insignificance be that of "Paul," or "Jude the brother (son?) of James," or "Peter," they have little or no independent message. They hark back to the "pattern of sound words" the "deposit," "the faith once for all delivered to the saints," "the words spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandments of the Lord and Saviour through your apostles," in particular the "wisdom of our beloved brother Paul" who (in the Pastoral Epistles) had predicted the heresy, and "in all his epistles" had spoken of the resurrection and judgment. Second Peter, which refers in the passage just quoted (2nd Pet. iii. 2, 15 f.) to the Pauline Epistles alongside "the other Scriptures" belongs to a very late period (c. 150). In fact this Epistle, now almost universally recognized to be pseudonymous, merely reëdits the Epistle of Jude, supplying a prefix (ch. i.) and an appendix (ch. iii.) to make special application of its denunciations to the case of the false teachers who were "denying the (bodily) resurrection and the judgment." Neither plagiarism nor pseudonymity were recognized offences at the time; so that we bring no indictment against the author of 2nd Peter, were he the Apostle or not. Still our conception of the Galilean fisherman will be higher without this example of pulpit rhetoric than with it.

Of the nature of the heresies controverted in this series of writings we must speak later. As to the region whence they originate something can be made out already. Not indeed from 2nd Peter, which is of too late date to be of service. True the readers addressed are assumed to be the same as in the first epistle, in other words the Pauline mission-field of Asia Minor (1st Pet. i. 1), and there is reason to think "Asia" was the region first affected. "Ephesus" and "Asia" are in fact the regions affected in 1st and 2nd Timothy (1st Tim. i. 3 f.; 2nd Tim. i. 15). Moreover it is in this same region that we find Polycarp (110-117) adverting to those who "pervert the sayings of the Lord to their own lusts, and deny the resurrection and judgment." To the same region and the same period belong the letters of "the Spirit" in Rev. i.-iii. (c. 95) with their denunciation of the Balaamite and Nicolaitan heretics, and still further 1st-3rd John and the Epistles of Ignatius, which are also polemics against a Gnostic heresy (Doketism) tending to moral laxity. It is doubtful, however, in view of the general address (2nd Pet. i. 1), whether the author of 2nd Peter really has a definite circle in mind, and does not rather in iii. 1 mistakenly treat 1st Peter as a general epistle. Denial of the resurrection and judgment was not limited to one locality or period. Hegesippus regards it as a pre-Christian heresy combated already by James. Equally precarious would be the assumption that Jude, with its similar general address, was necessarily intended for Asia Minor. The false teachers resemble those we know of there, and the denunciation is incorporated by 2nd Peter, but 'Cainites' and 'Balaamites' were not confined to the regions of 1st John and Revelation, and Jude might have almost any date between 90 and 120. The most that can be said is that before the death of Paul the last view we obtain of his mission-field shows it exposed, especially in the region of Ephesus, to a rising flood of superstition and false doctrine, while documents that can be dated with some definiteness in 95-117, such as Revelation, the Johannine and Ignatian Epistles, and the letter of Polycarp, show a great advance of heretical teaching in the same region. The later heresy corresponds in several respects to that combated in the Pastorals, Jude and 2nd Peter, but becomes at last more distinctly definable as Doketism, whose most obnoxious form comes to be denial of the (bodily) resurrection and judgment. The three Pastoral Epistles, Jude and 2nd Peter may, therefore, be taken as probably reflecting the growing internal danger confronted by the churches of Asia (if not by all the churches) in the sub-apostolic age.

Unfortunately, literary relations sometimes interfere with historical classification, and we are, therefore, compelled to defer treatment of 1st-3rd John and the Epistles of "the Spirit" to the churches (Rev. i. 3), which really belong to our present group (a) of writings against the heresies of (proconsular) Asia. Their relation to the special canon of Ephesus, whose writings are all ascribed to John, makes it convenient to consider them in another connection. The reader should bear in mind, however, that the group extends continuously down to the Epistles of Ignatius and centres upon Ephesus, where, according to Acts xx. 29 f., the "grievous wolves" were to enter in after Paul's departing.

Similar considerations affect the grouping of the Epistle of James, which almost demands a class by itself. It might be called anti-heretical, except that its nature is the reverse of controversial, and its author seems to have no direct contact with the false teachers. In a remote and general way he deplores the vain talk and disputation which go hand in hand with a relaxation of the practical Christian virtues. On the whole it seems more correct to class James with 1st Peter and Hebrews, particularly as it displays direct literary dependence on the former, if not on both.

Our second group (b) consists of writings not primarily concerned with heresy. Its first and best example speaks in the name of Peter as representative of "apostolic" Christianity at Rome. But the doctrine, and even the phraseology and illustrations of 1st Peter are largely borrowed from the greater Epistles of Paul, particularly Romans and Ephesians. Nothing even remotely suggests an author who had enjoyed personal relations with Jesus, or could relate his wonderful words and deeds. On the contrary the doctrine is Paul's gospel minus the sting of the abolition of the Law. In view of the known internal conditions of the churches to which 1st Peter is addressed in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia it is remarkable how completely the subject of heresy or false doctrine is ignored. Their adversary the devil is not at present taking the form of a seducing serpent (2nd Cor. xi. 3), but of a "roaring lion" openly destroying and devouring (1st Pet. v. 8 f.), and the same sufferings the Asiatics are called upon to endure are being inflicted upon their brethren throughout the world. A systematic, universal "fiery persecution" is going on, which has come almost as a surprise (iv. 12) and may compel any believer, after having made "defence" before the magistrate of "the hope that is in him," to "suffer as a Christian" and to "glorify God in this name." The author exhorts to irreproachable conduct as citizens, and kindness and good order in the brotherhood. If such blamelessness of living be combined with patient endurance of the unjust punishment, Christians who still must sanctify in their hearts Christ (and not the Emperor) as Lord, will ultimately be left unharmed.

Superior as is this noble exhortation to patient endurance of suffering in the meekness of Christ to the controversial rhetoric of 2nd Peter, immeasurably better as is its attestation in ancient and modern times, even the most conservative modern critics are compelled to regard it as at least semi-pseudonymous. It might be just possible to carry back the conditions of persecution presupposed to the time of Nero. But if it be Peter writing from Rome after the recent martyrdoms of James and Paul, why is there no allusion to either? Again, we might possibly prolong the life of Peter (against all probability) down to the beginning of the reign of Domitian (81-95). In that case the absence of any allusion to the great events of recent occurrence in Palestine would be almost equally hard to explain. Moreover, with any dating the real author remains a literary man, a Paulinist, a Grecian Jew, and the share attributable to Peter personally becomes most shadowy. The simpler, and (as the present writer has come to believe) the more probable view is that 1st Peter, like the later writings which assumed the name, is wholly pseudonymous. If, however, it appeared (as we are persuaded) some twenty years after the Apostle's death, among those perfectly aware of the fact, assuming no other disguise, but frankly dealing with the existing situation, this is a kind of pseudonymity which should be classed with literary fictions and conventions which are harmless because (at the time) perfectly transparent. Letters written under fictitious names were in fact a very common literary device of the age.