As I mentioned before, one of the classes I have this semester is New Testament Backgrounds. The chief goal of this course is to acquaint us with the primary literature from the centuries before and after the time of Christ. I’ve mentioned previously some of my readings in the Apocrypha, but I haven’t had time or interest to mention some of the others. This week we ‘re reading in the Apostolic Fathers. One general observation: though tons of people wrote in biblical times, nobody wrote as good as the Bible writers. There is a major difference between the worst book of the Bible and the best of the rest. That’s subjective, but I don’t know any objective measure.
The Apostolic Fathers were the first Christian writers after the New Testament. These guys did not take long to get off track. The allegorical interpretational approach of Alexandria, for instance, was quickly adopted by some.
There are certainly edifying portions, and I include one portion for your benefit. This is the ending of 2 Clement, a sermon (loosely) based on Isaiah 54:1, and written c. AD 130.
But do not let it trouble your mind that we see the unrighteous possessing wealth while the servants of God experience hardships. (2) Let us have faith, brothers and sisters! We are competing in the contest of a living God, and are being trained by the present life in order that we may be crowned in the life to come. (3) None of the righteous ever received his reward quickly, but waits for it. (4) For if God paid the wages of the righteous immediately, we would soon be engaged in business, not godliness; though we would appear to be righteous, we would in fact be pursuing not piety but profit. And this is why the divine judgment punishes a spirit that is not righteous, and loads it with chains.
(5) “To the only God, invisible,” the Father of truth, who sent forth to us the Savior and Founder of immortality, through whom he also revealed to us the truth and the heavenly life, to him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
A good introduction to the Apostolic Fathers is Clayton N. Jefford, Reading the Apostolic Fathers: An Introduction, 1996. A good translation of the writings themselves can be in Michael W. Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers, 2007. (If you know my wife’s maiden name, check out the preface.)