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This is obviously the doctrine of supererogation in germ. If a believer does more than
God ordains, he piles up for himself, as it were, a reserve of goodness and glory which,
Romanism later asserted, could be drawn upon for others who were not so good! This is
a flagrant contravention of the N.T.
Hermas not only knows nothing of salvation by grace apart from works, but he was
ignorant of Christ as the one Mediator. For him, angels were the intermediaries through
whom protection and revelation may be made. He believed that every man has two
angels, "one of righteousness, and one of wickedness" (Com. 6.1:2).
Not only this, but he clearly held and taught baptismal regeneration. In Vision 3.3:5,
the woman who represents the church says to him:
"Hear then, why the tower is built on waters. It is because your life has been saved
and will be saved by water."
And in Parable 9.16:3, Hermas addresses the angel and asks:
"Why sir", said I, "did the stones come up from the deep places, and why were they
put into the building of the tower . . . . .?"
"They had to come up through water" said he, "to be made alive, for they could not
enter the kingdom of God in any other way . . . . . So the water is the seal. They go down
into the water dead, and they come up alive."
Even those who fell asleep before Christ must be baptized before they can enter the
kingdom, and the Apostles and teachers are represented as preaching the Name of the
Son of God to them (9.16:5). Not once do we read of salvation or atonement resting on
the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is self-justification, penance, and law-keeping.
He even puts these words into the mouth of the explaining angel:
"Listen", said he, "all who have ever suffered for the Name are glorious in the sight of
God and the sins of all of them have been taken away, because they have suffered for the
Name of the Son of God" (Parable 9.28:3).
If this is not salvation by works and merit, what is it? Regarding cleansing, this writer
apparently knows nothing of cleansing by the blood of Christ (I John 1: 7). Again and
again, the reader is exhorted to `cleanse himself' to make himself fit for the kingdom of
God.
This apostolic writing makes melancholy reading when one compares it with the clear
and pure doctrine of the N.T., and again one is forcibly reminded of how quickly must
have been the falling away from the truth so faithfully made known by the Apostle Paul
and those associated with him.
The Second Epistle of Clement.
The last of the writings of the Apostolic Fathers we shall consider is the second epistle
of Clement. Strictly speaking, this is not an epistle at all, but a sermon, and has no
connection with 1 Clement.