He is the "only begotten God" [———],(5) equivalent to the "Second God" [———] of Philo, and, throughout, his absolutely divine nature is asserted both by the Evangelist, and in express terms in the discourses of Jesus.(6) Nothing could be more opposed to the principles of the Clementines.
According to the Homilies, the same Spirit, the [———], appeared in Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and finally in Jesus, who are the only "true prophets" and are called the seven Pillars [———] of the world.(1) These seven(2) persons, therefore, are identical, the same true Prophet and Spirit" who from the beginning of the world, changing names and forms, passes through Time,"(3) and these men were thus essentially the same as Jesus.(4) As Neander rightly observes, the author of the Homilies "saw in Jesus a new appearance of that Adam whom he had ever venerated as the source of all the true and divine in man."(5) We need not point out how different these views are from the Logos doctrine of the fourth Gospel.(6) In other points there is an equally wide gulf between the Clementines and the fourth Gospel. According to the author of the Homilies, the chief dogma of
6 It is very uncertain by what means the author of the
Homilies considered this periodical reappearance to be
effected, whether by a kind of transmigration or otherwise.
Critics consider it very doubtful whether he admitted the
supernatural birth of Jesus (though some hold it to be
probable), but at any rate he does not explain the matter:
Uhlhorn, Die Homilien, p. 209 f.; Neander, K. G., ii. p.
618, anm. 1; Credner thought that he did not admit it, 1. c.
p. 253; Schliemann, whilst thinking that he did admit it,
considers that in that case he equally attributed a
supernatural birth to the other seven prophets: Die
Clementinen, p. 207 ff.
true Religion is Monotheism. Belief in Christ, in the specific Johannine sense, is nowhere inculcated, and where belief is spoken of, it is merely belief in God. No dogmatic importance whatever is attached to faith in Christ or to his sufferings, death, and resurrection, and of the doctrines of Atonement and Redemption there is nothing in the Homilies,(1)—everyone must make his own reconciliation with God, and bear the punishment of his own sins.(2) On the other hand, the representation of Jesus as the Lamb of God taking away the sins of the world,(3) is the very basis of the fourth Gospel. The passages are innumerable in which belief in Jesus is insisted upon as essential. "He that believeth in the Son hath eternal life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him "(4)...."for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins."(5) In fact, the "whole of Christianity according to the author of the fourth Gospel is concentrated in the possession of faith in Christ.(6) Belief in God alone is never held to be sufficient; belief in Christ is necessary for salvation; he died for the sins of the world, and is the object of faith, by which alone forgiveness and justification before God can be secured.(7) The same discrepancy is apparent in smaller details. In the Clementines the Apostle Peter
is the principal actor, and is represented as the chief amongst the Apostles. In the Epistle of Clement to James, which precedes the Homilies, Peter is described in the following terms: "Simon, who, on account of his true faith and of the principles of his doctrine, which were most sure, was appointed to be the foundation of the Church, and for this reason his name was by the unerring voice of Jesus himself changed to Peter; the first-fruit of our Lord; the first of the Apostles to whom first the Father revealed the Son; whom the Christ deservedly pronounced blessed; the called and chosen and companion and fellow-traveller (of Jesus); the admirable and approved disciple, who as fittest of all was commanded to enlighten the West, the darker part of the world, and was enabled to guide it aright," &C.(1) He is here represented as the Apostle to the Heathen, the hated Apostle Paul being robbed of that honourable title, and he is, in the spirit of this introduction, made to play, throughout, the first part amongst the Apostles.(2) In the fourth Gospel, however, he is assigned a place quite secondary to John,(3) who is the disciple whom Jesus loved and who leans on his bosom.(4) We shall only mention one "other point The Homilist, when attacking the Apostle Paul, under the
name of Simon the Magician, for his boast that he had not been taught by man, but by a revelation of Jesus Christ,(1) whom he had only seen in a vision, inquires: Why, then, did the Teacher remain and discourse a whole year to us who were awake, if you became his Apostle after a single hour of instruction?(2) As Neander aptly remarks: "But if the author had known from the Johannine Gospel that the teaching of Christ had continued for several years, he would certainly have had particularly good reason instead of one year to set several."(3) It is obvious that an author with so vehement an animosity against Paul would assuredly have strengthened his argument, by adopting the more favourable statement of the fourth Gospel as to the duration of the ministry of Jesus, had he been acquainted with that work.