Hermas (about 140 a.d.) seems to have used the epistle to the Ephesians and perhaps that to the Hebrews, as well as the epistle of James; but there is great uncertainty about the matter, for there is no express or certain quotation from any part of the New Testament. The writer often alludes to words of Jesus, found in Matthew's gospel, so that he may have been acquainted with it. Keim[150] and others have discovered references to the fourth gospel; but they are invalid. There is no allusion to the Acts in vis. iv. 2, 4. The only Scripture cited is the apocryphal book Eldat and Modat, now lost.[151] The writer seems to have known several Jewish Apocalypses.[152]
Barnabas (about 119 a.d.) has but one quotation from the New Testament, if, indeed, it be such. Apparently, Matthew xx. 16 or xxii. 14 is introduced by “as it is written,” showing that the gospel was considered Scripture.[153] This is the earliest trace of canonical authority being transferred from the Old Testament to Christian writings. But the citation is not certain. The original may be 4 Esdras, viii. 3; and even if the writer took the words from Matthew's gospel, it is possible that he used “it is written” with reference to their prototype in the Old Testament. Of such interchanges, examples occur in writers of the second century; and it is the more probable that this is one, from the fact that 4 Esdras is elsewhere considered a prophet and referred to in the same way as Ezekiel.[154] Barnabas's citation of a gospel as canonical is wholly improbable, since even Justin, thirty years after, never quotes the New Testament writings as Scripture. The thing would be anomalous and opposed to the history of the first half of the second century. When these post-apostolic productions appeared, the New Testament writings did not stand on the same level with the Old, and were not yet esteemed sacred and inspired like the Jewish Scriptures. The Holy Spirit was thought to dwell in all Christians, without being confined to a few writers; and his influence was the common heritage of believers. There are evidences of Barnabas's acquaintance with the Epistles to the Romans and Corinthians; nor is it improbable that he knew the canonical gospel of Matthew, though one passage appears to contradict Matthew xxviii. 10, &c., without necessarily implying ignorance of what lies in it, viz., that the ascension of Jesus took place on the day of his resurrection.[155] Strangely enough, Keim thinks that the writer had John's gospel before him; but this opinion is refuted by the end of Barnabas's fifth chapter.[156] Holtzmann has ably disposed [pg 067] of the considerations adduced by Keim.[157] Barnabas quotes the book of Enoch as Scripture;[158] and an apocryphal prophecy is introduced with, “another prophet says.”[159]
As far as we can judge from Eusebius's account of Papias[160] (about 150 a.d.), that writer knew nothing of a New Testament canon. He speaks of Matthew and Mark; but it is most probable that he had documents which either formed the basis of our present Matthew and Mark, or were taken into them and written over.[161] According to Andreas of Cæsarea he was acquainted with the Apocalypse of John; while Eusebius testifies to his knowledge of 1 Peter and 1 [pg 068] John. But he had no conception of canonical authority attaching to any part of the New Testament. His language implies the opposite, in that he prefers unwritten tradition to the gospel he speaks of. He neither felt the want nor knew the existence of inspired gospels.
We need not notice the three short Syriac epistles attributed to Ignatius, as we do not believe them to be his, but of later origin. Traces of later ideas about the canonicity of the New Testament appear in the shorter Greek recension of the Ignatian epistles (about 175 a.d.) There the Gospel and the Apostles are recognized as the constituents of the book.[162] The writer also used the Gospel according to the Hebrews, for there is a quotation from it in the epistle to the Smyrnians.[163] The second part of the collection seems to have wanted the epistle to the Ephesians.[164] The two leading parties, long antagonistic, had now become united; the apostles Peter and Paul being mentioned together.[165] In the Testaments of the twelve patriarchs (about 170 a.d.), Paul's life is said to be described in “holy books,” i.e., his own epistles and the Acts.[166]
Justin Martyr (150 a.d.) knew the first and third of the synoptic gospels. His use of Mark's does not appear. His knowledge of the fourth is denied by many, and zealously defended by others. Thoma finds proofs that Justin knew it well, and used it freely as a text-book of gnosis, without recognizing it as the historical work of an apostle; an hypothesis encumbered with difficulties.[167] Whatever be said about Justin's acquaintance with this gospel; its existence before 140 a.d. is incapable either of decisive or probable proof; and this father's Logos-doctrine is less developed than the Johannine, because it is encumbered with the notion of miraculous birth by a virgin. The Johannine [pg 069] authorship has receded before the tide of modern criticism; and though this tide is arbitrary at times, it is here irresistible. Apologists should abstain from strong assertions on a point so difficult, as that each “gospel is distinctly recognized by him;” for the noted passage in the dialogue with Trypho does not support them.[168] It is pretty certain that he employed an extra-canonical gospel, the so-called gospel of the Hebrews. This Petrine document may be referred to in a passage which is unfortunately capable of a double interpretation.[169] He had also the older Acts of Pilate. Paul's epistles are never mentioned, though he doubtless knew them. Having little sympathy with Paulinism he attached his belief much more to the primitive apostles. The Apocalypse, 1 Peter, and 1 John he esteemed highly; the epistle to the Hebrews and the Acts he treated in the same way as the Pauline writings. Justin's canon, as far as divine authority and inspiration are concerned, was the Old Testament. He was merely on the threshold of a divine canon made up of primitive Christian writings, and attributed no exclusive sanctity to those he used because they were not to him the only source of doctrine. Even of the Apocalypse he says, “A man among us named John, &c., wrote it.”[170] In his time none of the gospels had been canonized, not even the synoptists, if, indeed, he knew them all. Oral tradition was the chief fountain of Christian knowledge, as it had been for a century. In his opinion this tradition was embodied in writing; but the documents in which he looked for all that related to Christ were not the gospels alone. [pg 070] He used others freely, not looking upon any as inspired, for that idea could arise only when a selection was made among the current documents. He regarded them all as having been written down from memory, and judged them by criteria of evidence conformable to the Old Testament Scriptures. Though lessons out of Gospels (some of our present ones and others), as also out of the prophets, were read in assemblies on the first day of the week,[171] the act of converting the Christian writings into Scripture was posterior; for the mere reading of a gospel in churches on Sunday does not prove that it was considered divinely authoritative; and the use of the epistles, which formed the second and less valued part of the collection, must still have been limited.
Justin's disciple, Tatian (160-180 a.d.), wrote a Diatessaron or harmony of the gospels, which began, according to Ephrem Syrus, with John i. 1; but our knowledge of it is uncertain. The author omitted the genealogies of Jesus and everything belonging to His Davidic descent. He seems also to have put into it particulars derived from extra-canonical sources such as the Gospel according to the Hebrews. Doubtless he was acquainted with Paul's writings, as statements made in them are quoted; but he dealt freely with them according to Eusebius, and even rejected several epistles, probably first and second Timothy.[172]
In Polycarp's epistle (about 160 a.d.), which is liable to strong suspicions of having been written after the death of the bishop,[173] there are reminiscences of the synoptic gospels; and most of Paul's epistles as well as I Peter were used by the writer. But the idea of canonical authority, or a peculiar inspiration belonging to these writings, is absent.
The author of the second Clementine epistle (about 150-160) had not a New Testament canon made up of the four [pg 071] gospels and epistles. His Scripture was the Old Testament, to which is applied the epithet “the Books” or “the Bible;” and the words of Christ. “The Apostles” immediately subjoined to “the Books,” does not mean the New Testament, or a special collection of the apostolic epistles, as has been supposed.[174] The preacher employed a gospel or gospels as Scripture; perhaps those of Matthew and Luke, not the whole documents, but the parts containing the words of Christ.[175] He also used the Gospel of the Egyptians as an authoritative document, and quoted his sources freely. With the Johannine writings he seems to have been unacquainted.[176]
Athenagoras of Athens wrote an apology addressed to Marcus Aurelius (176 a.d.). In it he uses written and unwritten tradition, testing all by the Old Testament which was his only authoritative canon. He makes no reference to the Christian documents, but adduces words of Jesus with the verb “he says.” It is not clear whether he quoted from the Synoptics; perhaps the passages which are parallel to Matthew v. 44, 45, 46,[177] and Mark x. 6,[178] were taken from these; but the matter is somewhat uncertain. His treatise on the resurrection appeals to a passage in one of Paul's epistles.[179]
Dionysius of Corinth ( 170 a.d.) complains of the falsification of his writings, but consoles himself with the fact that the same is done to the “Scriptures of the Lord,” i.e., the gospels containing the Lord's words; or rather the two parts of the early collection, “the gospel” and “the apostle” together; which agrees best with the age and tenor of his letters.[180] If such be the meaning, the collection is put on a par with the Old Testament, and regarded as inspired.