More of Clement’s Preaching of Peter

[robert j]

Continuing from another thread (Weakness of Carrier/Doherty Heavenly Sacrifice) my presentation of passages of the Preaching of Peter from the Stromata of Clement of Alexandria ---

I've again highlighted what I believe to be direct quotations from the Preaching of Peter in red, leaving the running commentary by Clement in regular font.

"Therefore Peter says that the Lord said to the apostles: 'If then any of Israel will repent, to believe in God through my name, his sins shall be forgiven him: (and) after twelve years go out into the world, lest any say we did not hear'." (Stromata Book 6, chapter. 5). (Beware of apologetic translations)

The missionary focus of Peter's discovery is first designated for those "of Israel". The missionary activity "out into the world" is specifically delayed for 12 years.

This delay supports Paul’s status as a wild-card with his self-appointed mission of evangelism deep into Gentile territory. Exhibiting some Pauline consistency, Paul admits that even after more than 14 years, Peter and his companions were still just engaged among “the circumcised” (Galatians 2:7 and 2:9). Perhaps things weren’t going too well in the homelands.

Another association with a Pauline work is the “lest any say we did not hear”, which is reflected in Romans 10:14-18. Or perhaps that last phrase was commentary added by Clement based on his familiarity with the passage in Romans.

Might this delay represent early tradition behind the more highly developed tale now found in Matthew?

First, early in his ministry, according to the Gospel of Matthew,

"Jesus sent forth these twelve having instructed them saying, 'Do not take the road to the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. Instead, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel'." (Matthew 10:5-6).

But Matthew compressed the time lag. After the resurrection, Jesus instructs the eleven,

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations …" (Matthew 28:19).

robert j.

[robert j]

The Last of Clement’s Preaching of Peter

In the remaining passages cited by Clement of Alexandria in the Stromata, the running commentary of Clement (regular font) can again be readily separated from what I believe to be direct quotations from the Preaching of Peter (in red).

Clement provides a long quotation from the Preaching in which Peter criticizes the worship practices of the Greeks, and then takes aim at Jews (Stromata, Book 6, chapter 5),

“And that the most notable of the Greeks know God, but not with perfect knowledge, but by indirect expression, Peter says in the Preaching: ‘Know then that there is one God, who made the beginning of all things, and has power over their end; and the invisible, who sees all things; incapable of being contained, who contains all things; needing nothing, of whom all things are in need, and for whose sake they exist; incomprehensible, everlasting, uncreated, who made all things by the word of His power’, that is, according to the gnostic scripture, His Son.

Then he (Peter) adds: ‘Worship this God not as the Greeks,’ signifying that the notable Greeks worship the same God as we, but not according to the perfect knowledge that was delivered by the Son. "Do not worship," he did not say, “the God whom the Greeks worship”, but "as the Greeks," -- changing the manner of the worship of God, not announcing another God. What, then, is meant by "not as the Greeks? Peter himself shall explain, for he adds: ‘Carried away by ignorance’ (and know not God’ as we do, according to the perfect knowledge); ‘giving shape to the things He gave them the power for use -- stocks and stones, brass and iron, gold and silver – forgetting their material and proper use -- and setting up things which are subservient for their use and possession, and worship them. And what God has given them for food -- the fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea, and the creeping things of the earth, wild beasts and four-footed cattle of the field, weasels and mice, cats and dogs and apes --- even their own proper food -- they sacrifice to animals that can be eaten; and offering dead things to the dead, as if to gods. They are unthankful to God, denying His existence by these practices.’ He thinks that we and the Greeks know the same God, though not in the same way.”

Peter's characteizations of god have many similarities with those of Philo. The Wisdom of Solomon (13) is clearly reflected here in Peter’s polemics on the worship practices of the Greeks. Peter immediately after continues his polemics, this time aimed at his own people,

“He (Peter) continues, ‘Neither worship him as the Jews; for they thinking they alone know God, do not know Him --- serving angels and archangels, the month and the moon; and if the moon is not visible, they do not celebrate what is called the first Sabbath, nor keep the new moon, nor the days of unleavened bread, nor the feast, nor the great day.’ Then he gives the finishing stroke to the question: 'So then learn in a holy and righteous manner what we deliver to you; keep them, worshipping God in a new way, through Christ. For we have found in the Scriptures how the Lord says: “Behold, I make with you a new covenant, not as I made with your fathers in Mount Horeb”. He made a new one with us; for what belonged to the Greeks and Jews is old. But we, who worship Him in a new way, in the third form, are Christians. For clearly, as I think, he showed that the one and only God was known by the Greeks in a Gentile way, by the Jews Judaically, and in a new and spiritual way by us."

The polemics against the Jews is revealing. This Peter clearly identifies himself as Jewish (“… not as I made with your fathers in Mount Horeb”) and is concerned with internal Jewish affairs. He opposes the method by which those in power at the time are interpreting or using the appearances of the moon to establish the festival calendar. This would imply that this Peter saw himself and his group as a sect in opposition to the current Jewish power structure.

robert j.

[robert j]

Concluding here with a summary of the doctrines and concepts exhibited in what appear to be direct quotations from the Preaching of Peter in the Stromata of Clement of Alexandria.

In the Preaching, Peter and his companions ---

1) knew Jesus Christ only through the scriptures, saying, “without the scriptures we say nothing”,
2) believed Jesus Christ suffered and died at the hands of ancient Jews, and was resurrected and rose into the heavens sometime in the distant past, all "…. before Jerusalem was founded",
3) claimed that belief in the Christ was a new way to worship the god of the Jews,
4) believed the new knowledge of Jesus Christ represented a new covenant with the god of the Jews to renew or replace the covenant god made with their "... fathers in Mount Horeb,",
5) claimed that those who believed in god through the Christ will have their sins forgiven,
6) accepted responsibility for missionary activity, first only among the people of Israel, then after 12 years, out into the world,
7) exhibited Jewish self-identification, but criticized Jews for worshiping angels, and
8) criticized the Jewish establishment for their interpretation of lunar observations in their determination of the Jewish holy days.

robert j.