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Richard BA UCKHAMUniversity of St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland.
THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER
A
JEWISH CHRISTIAN APOCALYPSEFROM THE TIME OF BAR KOKHBA
Dans cette etude, I' Apocalypse de Pierre, trap longtemps
negligee parles critiques, apres une mise en contexte litteraire et
historique, est presen-tee en insistant sur les nombreuses
thematiques concernant Ie jugementeschatologique.
The Apocalypse of Peter deserves to be rescued from the
extremescholarly neglect it has suffered. This is not because it is
a work of anygreat literary or theological merit. But, of course,
texts of historicalimportance for our understanding of the history
of religion frequentlyhave no great literary or theological
merit.
INTROD{!JCTION
1. Why study the Apocalypse of Peter?
The Apocalypse of Peter dese~es to be studied for the follow-ing
reasons:
1.- It is probably the most neglected of all Christian
workswritten before 150 C.E. It has, of course, suffered the
generalstigma and neglect accorded to apocryphal works by
comparisonwith those in the canon of the New Test~ment or even
thoseassigned to the category of the Apostolic Fathers. But
whereasother Christian apocryphal literature of the earliest period
-such as apocryphal Gospels or the Ascension of Isaiah -havevery
recently been studied in some depth and are beginning tobe rescued
as significant evidenQe of the early development ofChristianity,
the Apocalypse of Peter has been given very littleserious scholarly
attention. Sureltj for those who are interestedin Christian origins
any Christian work from the first century orso of Christian history
deserves the closest study.
Apocrypha 5,1994, p. 7-111
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R R. BAUCKHAM
2.- In section II of this book I shall argue that theApocalypse
of Peter derives from Palestinian Jewish Christianityduring the Bar
Kokhba war of 132-135 C.E. This makes it a veryrare example of an
extant work deriving from Palestinian JewishChristianity in the
period after the New Testament literature. Itdeserves an important
place in any attempt to consider the veryobscure matter of what
happened to Jewish Christianity inPalestine in the period after 70
C.E.
3.- Outside Palestinian Jewish Christianity, the Apocalypse
ofPeter evidently became a very popular work in the church as
awhole, from the second to the fourth centuries 1. It seems to
havebeen widely read in east and west. In some circles at least it
wastreated as Scripture. Along with the Shepherd of Hermas, it
wasprobably the work which came closest to being i:ncluded in
thecanon of the New Testament while being eventually excluded.After
an early period of popularity, however, it almost disappear-ed.
This must have been largely because in its major function -as a
revelation of the fate of human beings after death -it
wassuperseded by other apocalypses: in the Latin west and in
theCoptic and Syriac speaking churches of the east by theApocalypse
of Paul, in the Greek east by the Apocalypse of theVirgin Mary. For
a number of reasons these proved in the longrun more acceptable,
and the Apocalypse of Peter very nearlyperished altogether. But the
fact that for two or three centuriesit seems to have appealed
strongly to the Christian religiousimagination makes it an
important historical source.
4.- The Apocalypse of Peter preserves Jewish
apocalyptictraditions. Because of the prevalent artificial
distinction betweenthe Jewish apocalypses and the Christian
apocalypses, this is therespect in which the Apocalypse of Peter
has been neglectedeven more than in other respects. But there is in
fact relativelylittle that is distinctively Christian about the
Apocalypse of Pete!:Much of its content reproduces Jewish
apocalyptic traditions. Itcan therefore be used, of course with
appropriate caution, as asource for Jewish apocalyptic ideas of the
early second centuryC.E. And it reminds us how very much Judaism
and Christianityhad in common at that period.
1. R. BAUCKHAM, The Apocalypse of Peter: An Account ofResearch ,
in W. HAASE ed., Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischenWelt, vol.
2.25/6 (Berlin/New York: de Gruyter, 1988), p. 4739-4741;D. D.
BUCHHOLZ, Your Eyes Will Be Opened,' A Study of the Greek(Ethiopic)
Apocalypse of Peter (SBLDS 97; Atlanta, Georgia: ScholarsPress,
1988), p. 20-80.
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9APOCALYPSE OF PETER
As these four reasons for studying the Apocalypse of
Petersuggest, our study of the work in this article will focus on
the ori-ginal work in the context in which it was first written.
This isonly one aspect of the way in which the Christian
apocryphalliterature needs to be studied. Many Christian apocryphal
works(and the same is true of Jewish apocryphal literature) are
bestunderstood as developing literature: works which developed
asthey were transmitted over many centuries in a variety of
culturalcontexts. They were translated, expanded, abbreviated,
adapted.In some cases the attempt to reconstruct an original text
may bequite impossible or inappropriate. However, in the case of
theApocalypse of Peter we may fairly confidently assign it a
dateand place of origin, and also, despite the fact that most of
thetext does not survive in its original language, we may be
fairlyconfident of the content of the original work. There are
placeswhere we may not be able to be sure of the original text, but
byand large we can know what the first readers read. So in the
caseof the Apocalypse of Peter, the liistorical exercise of placing
thework in its original context is a justifiable one and will
yieldsignificant historical results.
2. The Text of the Apocalypse of Peter.
The Apocalypse of Peter was probably written originally inGreek
and certainly was known in Greek to the Church Fathers.(Whether a
Latin version was known in the Latin-speakingchurches in the early
centuries is much less certain.) Unfor-tunately, because, after an
initial period of popularity, theApocalypse of Peter fell out of
favour in most of the church, verylittle of it survives in Greek.
We have only two small manuscriptfragments (the Bodleian and Rainer
fragments) and a fewquotations in the Fathers. (For details on
these fragments andquotations, see the Bibliography below.) In
addition, there isone lengthy fragment in Greek (the Akhmim
fragment), but thisis a secondary, redacted form of the text, which
cannot be reliedon as evidence of the original form of the
Apocalypse of Peter(see below). For our knowledge 'of the
apocalypse we are there-fore largely dependent on the Ethiopic
version. This version,which contains the full contents of the
original second-centuryApocalypse of Peter, is the only version of
the Apocalypse ofPeter known to be extant. It was probably, like
most Ethiopicversions of apocryphal works, tr~slated from an Arabic
transla-tion of the Greek, but an Arabic yersion has not been
discovered.Any study of the Apocalypse of Peter must therefore
depend
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10 R. BAUCKHAM
heavily on the Ethiopic version. Probably this is one reason
why,since the identification of the Ethiopic version by M. R. James
in1911, the Apocalypse of Peter has received very little
scholarlyattention. Scholars have been dubious whether the
Ethiopicversion can be trusted to give us reliable access to the
second-century Apocalypse of Peter. Those who have studied the
matterwith some care, such as M. R. James himself and, more
recently,D. D. Buchholz, have not shared such doubts. But some
indicationof the reasons for trusting the Ethiopic version must be
givenhere, in order to justify our use of it in this book.
Only two, closely related manuscripts of the Apocalypse ofPeter
are known. (For details, see the Bibliography.) In bothmanuscripts
the Apocalypse of Peter is the first part of a longerwork < The
second coming of Christ and the resurrection of thedead ), the rest
of which was clearly inspired by the Apocalypseof Peter. This
continuation of the ancient apocalypse, whichprobably originated in
Arabic, would be of considerable interestif we were studying the
later history of the Apocalypse of Pete!:But for our present
intention of studying the Apocalypse ofPeter in its original, early
second-century context, the importantpoint is that we can be sure
that the text of the Apocalypse ofPeter itself has not been
affected by this later continuation of it.The section of the
Ethiopic work which is the ancientApocalypse of Peter can be
distinguished from the rest with nodifficulty. Whereas the
Apocalypse of Peter itself is written asthough by Peter in the
first person, the later continuation beginsby introducing Peter's
disciple Clement, who writes in the firstperson and reports what
Peter said to him (according to a literaryconvention of the later
Pseudo-Clementine literature). More-over, Buchholz has demonstrated
that the writer responsible forthe continuation of the Apocalypse
of Peter which we have inthe Ethiopic text did not tamper with the
content of theApocalypse of Peter itself. He merely added; he did
not modify 2.
The general reliability of the Ethiopic version as faithful
tothe original text of the Apocalypse of Peter can be
demonstratedby four main points:
1.- There is the general consideration that the
Ethiopictranslation of apocryphal texts seems, as a general rule,
to befaithful translation, and such works were not usually adapted
or
2. D. D. BUCHHOLZ, Your Eyes Will Be Opened, op. cit, p.
376-386.Buchholz argues for some minor changes, but I do not find
his argumentthat these are due to the author of the continuation at
all compelling.
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APOCALYPSE OF PETER 11
modified in the Ethiopic tradition. This contrasts with
someother languages in which apocryphal works have been
transmitted-such as Slavonic and Armenian -where creative
developmentof the text has often taken place in those traditions.
Of course, theEthiopic may well include erroneous translations and
textual cor-ruptions -and in the case of the Apocalypse of Peter
these arecertainly present -but deliberate adaptation of the text
is rare.
2.- The general reliability of the Ethiopic version isconfirmed
by the two small Greek fragments and the patristicquotations 3.
3.- There are passages in the second Sibylline Oracle,
probablyfrom the late second century, which are clearly closely
depend-ent on the Apocalypse of Peter as we know it from the
Ethiopicversion and confirm the reliability of the Ethiopic version
4.
4.- Detailed study of the Apocalypse of Peter repeatedlyconfirms
that the content of the work in the Ethiopic versionbelongs to the
period in which the ancient Apocalypse of Peterwas written. All the
parallels with other literature show this.There is hardly a single
idea in the Ethiopic Apocalypse of Peterwhich can only be
paralleled at a date much later than the earlysecond century.
These reasons for confidence in the general reliability of
theEthiopic version do not mean that it is reliable in every
detail.The translation is clearly sometimes erroneous and was
appar-ently. made by a translator whose command of Ge'ez was
verylimited 5, so that the Ethiopic text is frequently obscure.
Butsuch obscurities can often be clarified by careful use of
parallelsin ancient Jewish and Christian literature.
As well as thus justifying our predominant reliance on
theEthiopic version in this book, it may be necessary also to
justifythe fact that little reference will be made to the Akhmim
Greekfragment. This fragment is part of a manuscript, probably of
theeighth or ninth century, which also contains a section of
theGospel of Peter (the only substantial section of this work
whichhas survived) and parts of 1 Enoch, and which was placed in
thegrave of a Christian monk. It is clear that the manuscript is
asmall collection of texts about the other world, and was placed
in
3. M. R. JAMES, A New Text of the Apocalypse of Peter , Journal
ofTheological Studies 12 (1911), p. 367-375, 573-583; K. PRIMM,
Degenuino Apocalypsis Petri textu: Examen testiUm iam notorum et
novifragmenti Raineriani , Biblica 10 (1929), p. 62-80; BUCHHOLZ,
YourEyes Will Be Opened, op. cit., p. 145-152,418-422.4. M. R.
JAMES, A New Text , op. cit., p. 39-44, 51-52.5. This is the
judgment of P. Marrassini.
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12 R. BAUCKHAM
a grave in accordance with the traditional Egyptian practice
ofproviding the dead with a guide to what they will encounter
afterdeath 6. The problem with the fragment of the Apocalypse
ofPeter is that it differs significantly in several ways from
theEthiopic version. But some of its important differences from
theEthiopic version are at points where the patristic quotations
andthe Bodleian fragment confirm the originality of the form of
thetext in the Ethiopic version 7. So it has now come to be
universallyaccepted by those who have examined the issue carefully
thatthe Akhmim fragment is a deliberately edited form of
materialfrom the Greek Apocalypse of Pete!: It may not even be, as
such,a fragment of the Apocalypse of Peter itself: it may well be
afragment of another work which utilized the Apocalypse of Peteras
a source. There is still a case to be made for the view of
someearlier scholars that it is actually another section of the
Gospelof Peter 8. In any case, although it may sometimes help us
toclear up an obscurity in the Ethiopic version of the Apocalypseof
Peter, it must be used with great caution in studying theApocalypse
of Pete!: Priority must be given to the Ethiopicversion.
3. Outline and Summary of the Apocalypse of Peter.
The Apocalypse of Peter can be divided into three main
sec-tions, whose contents can be briefly outlined as follows:
I. Discourse on the Signs and Time of the Parousia.1:1-3 The
disciples' enquiry.1:4-8 The parousia will be unmistakable.2 The
parable of the fig tree: the false Messiah and
the martyrs of the last days.II. Vision of the Judgment and its
Explanation.
3 Picture of the judgment and Peter's distress.4 The
resurrection.S The cosmic conflagration.6:1-6 The last
judgment.
6. M. TARDIEU, Arda Viraz Narnag et l'eschatologie grecque ,
Studialranica 14 (1985), p. 20.7. See references in n. 3 above.8.
See R. BAUCKHAM, The Apocalypse of Peter: An Account ofResearch,
op. cit., p. 4719-4720.
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13APOCALYP$ OF PETER
6:7-9 The judgment of the evil spirits.7-12 The punishments in
hell.13 The punishments confirmed as just.14:1 The prayers of the
elect save some.14:2-3 The elect inherit the promises.14:4-6
Peter's earthly future.
III. Visions of the Reward of the Righteous.15 Vision of Moses
and Elijah.16:1-6 Vision of Paradise.16:7-17:1 Vision of the true
T~mple and Audition about the
true Messiah.17:2-7 The ascension.
For readers coming fresh to the Apocalypse of Peter, a
fullersummary of its contents may be helpful.
I. Discourse on the Signs and Time of the Parousia(chapters
1-2):[Although it is not made clear by the opening of the work,
the
events take place after Jesus' resurrection.] Jesus and
hisdisciples are on the Mount of Olives. They ask him about
thesigns and the time of his parousia and the end of the world.
Jesuswarns them not to believe the false claimants to messiahship
whowill come. His own coming to judgment will be in
unmistakableglory.
In order to indicate the time of the end, Jesus gives them
theparable of the fig tree: when its shoots become tender, the
endof the world will come. When Peter asks for explanation,
Jesustells another parable of a fig tree: the barren fig tree which
willbe uprooted unless it bears fruit. The fig tree in both
parables isIsrael. The sprouting of the fig tree will take place
when a falsemessiah arises and Israel follows him. When they reject
him, hewill put many to death. They will be martyrs. Enoch and
Elijahwill show them that he is not the true messiah.
II. Vision of the Judgment and its Explanation (chapters
3-14)..Jesus shows Peter a vision of the judgment of all people at
the
last day. Peter is distressed at the fate of sinners, but his
claimthat it would have been better for them not to have been
createdis rejected by Jesus, who promises to show Peter the
sinners'deeds (in order to enable him to appreciate the justice of
theircondemnation).
A long prophecy (by Jesus) of the judgment of sinners follows.It
begins with an account of the resurrection, which must take
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14
R.
BAUCKHAM
place so that all humanity may appear before God on the day
ofjudgment. God's word will reclaim all the dead, because for
Godnothing is impossible. Then will follow the cosmic
conflagration,in which a flood of fire will consume the heavens and
the sea anddrive all people to judgment in the river of fire. Then
JesusChrist will come and be enthroned and crowned as judge.
Allwill be judged according to their deeds, which will appear
inorder to accuse the wicked. The river of fire through which
allmust pass will prove their innocence or guilt. The angels
willtake the wicked to hell. The demons will also be brought
tojudgment and condemned to eternal punishment.
There follows a long description of the punishments in hell.
Aspecific, different punishment is described for each of
twenty-onetypes of sinner. The types of sinner and their
punishments are:
1) those who blasphemed the way of righteousness -hung
bytongues;
2) those who denied justice -pit of fire;3) women who enticed
men to adultery -hung by necks;4) adulterers -hung by genitals;5)
murderers -poisonous animals and worms;6) women who aborted their
children -in a pit of excrement
up to the throat;7) infanticides -their milk produces
flesh-eating animals;8) persecutors and betrayers of Christ's
righteous ones ~
scourged and eaten by unsleeping worm;9) those who perverted and
betrayed Christ's righteousness ~
bite tongues, hot irons in eyes;10) those who put the martyrs to
death with their lies -lips cut
off, fire in mouth and entrails;11) those who trusted in their
riches and neglected the poor-
fiery sharp column, clothed in rags;12) usurers -in pit of
excrement up to the knees;13) male and female practising
homosexuals -fall from precip-
ice repeatedly;14) makers of idols -scourged by chains of
fire;15) those who forsook God's commandmnts and obeyed demons
-burning in flames;16) those who did not honour, their parents
-roll down fiery
precipice repeatedly;17) those who disobeyed the teaching of
their fathers and elders
-hung and attacked by flesh-eating birds;18) girls who had sex
before marriage -dark clothes, flesh
dissolved;19) disobedient slaves -bite tongues continuously;
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15APOCALYP$OFPETER
20) those who gave alms hypocritically -blind and deaf, coalsof
fire;
21) male and female sorcerers -: on wheel of fire in the river
offire.
The elect will be shown the p*ishments of the damned. Thelatter
cry for mercy, but the angel in charge of hell,Tartarouchos, tells
them it is now too late for repentance. Thedamned acknowledge the
justice of their punishment. But whenthe righteous intercede for
the daqrned, Jesus Christ the judge willgrant their prayers. Those
for w~om they pray will be baptisedin the Acherusian lake and will
Jshare the destiny of the elect.The elect will enter Jesus Chri t's
eternal kingdom, with thepatriarchs, and his promises to them will
be fulfilled.
Concluding the prophecy of judgment, Jesus now addressesPeter
personally about his future. He is to spread the Gospelthrough the
whole world. He is tq go to Rome, where he will diea martyr at the
hands of the soq of the one who is in Hades 9.
III. Visions of the Reward of t~e Righteous (chapters
15-17).-Jesus and the disciples go to the holy mountain , where
the
disciples are granted five revela~ons. The first is of Moses
andElijah, appearing in resplende t beauty as heavenly beings.When
Peter asks where the othe patriarchs are, they are shownthe
heavenly paradise. Jesus says that this destiny of thepatriarchs is
also to be that of those who are persecuted for
hisrighteousness.
When Peter offers to construct three tents for Jesus, Mosesand
Elijah, he is severely rebuked by Jesus, but promised avision and
an audition (the third and fourth of the five revela-tions) to
enlighten him. The v~sion is of the tent which theFather has made
for Jesus and the elect. The audition is of avoice from heaven
declaring Jesu~ to be God's beloved Son whoshould be obeyed.
Finally, the di$ciples witness the ascension ofJesus, with Moses
and Elijah, through the heavens. Jesus takeswith him people in the
flesh . The disciples descend themountain, glorifying God, who has
written the names of therighteous in the book of life in
heaven.
9. Quotations from the APocalYP~ of Peter (Ethiopic version)
are
based on a preliminary English tra slation by Paolo Marrassini,
from
his edition of the Ethiopic text. Thi edition and an improved
Englishtranslation will appear in the Cor us Christiano rum Series
Apocry-phorum volume on the Apocalypse 0 Peter.
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16 R. BAUCKHAM
I. THE LITERARY AND mSTORICAL CONTEXTS
1. Literary Context.
We cannot be sure whether the title Apocalypse of Peter
isoriginal. It does not occur in the Ethiopic version, which has
alengthy title or prologue which certainly does not belong to
theoriginal text. But the title Apocalypse of Peter is already used
bythe Muratorian Canon and by Clement of Alezandria, and so itmay
well be original. It is true that many of the works which nowbear
the title Apocalypse came to be so called only at a laterdate
(quite apart from those which have been so called only bymodern
scholars), but the period in which the Apocalypse ofPeter must have
been written -the early second century C.E.-is one in which it is
plausible to hold that the term &no1(l1-AU'l'1.~ could be being
used as the description of a literary workcontaining the account of
a revelation given by a supernaturalbeing to a prophet or
visionary.
But whether or not its title is original, the Apocalypse of
Petercertainly belongs to that rather broad genre of ancient
literaturewhich we call apocalypses. Indeed, its date -in the early
secondcentury C.E. -places it in a golden age, perhaps the golden
ageof Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature. The period
bet-ween the two great Jewish revolts (between 70 and 132
C.E.)produced the greatest of all the Jewish and Christian
apoca-lypses: the Book of Revelation, 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch -works
inwhich the genre of apocalyptic became the vehicle for truly
greatliterature and truly profound theology. A considerable
numberof other extant Jewish and Christian apocalypses also date
fromthe late first and early second centuries: the Apocalypse
ofAbraham, the Ladder of Jacob, the Ascension of Isaiah, theGreek
Apocalypse of Baruch (3 Baruch), the Shepherd ofHermas, and quite
probably also the Parables of Enoch, theSlavonic Apocalypse of
Enoch (2 Enoch), and so-called 5 Ezra.It is hard to be sure whether
thi& period really was exceptionallyproductive of apocalypses,
or whether that impression is due tothe accidents of survival.
There certainly were more Jewish apoc-alypses in earlier periods,
such as the early first century C.E.,than have survived, and it is
always very important to rememberthat all extant ancient Jewish
apocalypses, with the exception ofDaniel and the apocalyptic works
found at Qumran, have beenpreserve.d by Christians. Many which were
not congenial toChristian use may not have survived. With due
allowance forthese factors, however, it does seem probable that the
writing of
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17APOCALYP~E OF PETER
apocalypses especially flourished in the period from 70 C.E.
toabout the middle of the secon century. The reasons will bepartly
that the destruction of erusalem and the temple in70 C.E. posed for
Judaism issu s of theodicy and eschatologywhich were most suitably
wres led with or answered in theliterary genre of apocalypse, a d
partly that much of earlyChristianity remained during this eriod a
strongly eschatologicalreligious movement which theref re found one
of its most naturalforms of expression in the apoc lypse. I do not
make the mis-take of considering eschatology t e sole content of
apocalypses 1,but most of the apocalypses I h ve mentioned do in
fact focusespecially on matters of eschatol gy, as the Apocalypse
of Peteralso does. Of course, during t e same period -the
secondcentury -the genre apocalypse was also adopted and adaptedby
Christian Gnostics as a vehi Ie for the kind of revelationsthey
wished to present.
The Apocalypse of Peter has so e close links, by way of
themesand traditions, with some of the J wish apocalypses of its
period:4 Ezra, 2 Baruch, the Parables 0 Enoch. If, as I shall
argue, theApocalypse of Peter is a Palestini n Jewish Christian
work, theselinks with contemporary Palestini n Jewish apocalypses
are espe-cially interesting. They help to e plain the preservation
of theseJewish works by Christians, b showing us the context
ofPalestinian Jewish Christian apo alyptic in which these
Jewishapocalypses would have been of i terest. It was doubtless in
suchChristian circles as those from hich the Apocalypse of
Petercomes that Jewish apocalypses such as 4 Ezra were read and
thenpassed on to the wider church whi h later preserved them.
That there is actual literary de endence by the Apocalypse
ofPeter on any extant Jewish apoc ypse is much less certain.
Thelinks which exist are explicable as common apocalyptic
tradition,current in Jewish and Christia apocalyptic circles of
thatperiod. It is an important genera feature of the apocalypses
ofthis period that they are all de ndent on blocks of
traditionalapocalyptic material 11. The mor one studies the way the
sametraditions reappear in various apocalypses, the more it
becomesimpossible to suppose that literary borrowing from one
apoca-lypse to another can fully explai~ the recurrence of
traditional
\10. This mistake has been correcte especially by C. ROWLAND,
TheOpen Heaven (London: SPCK, 1982)11. Cf., e.g., M. E. STONE,
Fourth zra (Hermeneia; Minneapolis:Fortress Press, 1990), p. 21-22,
on suqh blocks of traditional material in4 Ezra. I
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18
R.
BAUCKHAM
material. Apocalyptic traditions must have existeq in some
form,oral or written, independently of the apocalypses in which
suchtraditions are now incorporated. (Of course, such
traditionalmaterial is also sometimes preserved in works which are
notapocalypses, such as the Biblical Antiquities of Pseudo-Philo
orthe letters of Paul.) We do not know the sociological context
inwhich these apocalyptic traditions were handed on, whether asoral
traditions in circles of apocalyptists or as written notespassed
between learned individuals. But certainly what passedfrom one
apocalyptist to another was not just ideas, but blocksof
tradition.
Every apocalypse is therefore a mixture of tradition and
origin-ality. The truly great apocalypses -Revelation and 4 Ezra,
forexample -are works of remarkable creativity, in both literaryand
theological terms. The traditional material they
certainlyincorporate is used in highly creative ways. In these
works theuse of tradition is consistent with considerable
originality andwith very carefully studied composition. In other
cases, traditionalmaterial has been put together by a much less
gifted writer and amuch less profound thinker. In one sense, the
Apocalypse ofPeter is one of the least original of the apocalypses.
Blocks oftraditional material seem to be incorporated often more or
lessas they stand. Virtually all the contents of the Apocalypse
ofPeter probably already existed in some form, some as
Gospeltraditions, most as Jewish apocalyptic traditions. Probably
nopassage of more than a few verses was freely composed by
theauthor. But this does not mean that the author is a mere
compil-er of traditions. The combination and redaction of his
materialhas been done with a certain real skill. His creative
redactionalactivity has made of the traditional material he used a
particularwhole with a coherent message. While the Apocalypse of
Peter isnot a great example of the genre, while its literary and
theologicalmerit is small, it is nevertheless a literary work in
its own right. Ifwe are to appreciate what it meant to its
contemporaries andlater readers, we must study its traditional
components not onlyas blocks of tradition, but as they relate to
each other in thisparticular literary whole.
So the Apocalypse of Peter turns out to have a double
interest.Because of its very conservative preservation of
apocalyptic trad-itions, it is actually a source of knowledge of
Jewish apocalyptictraditions. It has rarely been treated in this
way, because of theartificial distinction which is prevalent
between the apocalypseswhich belong to the so-called Old Testament
Pseudepigraphaand those which belong to the so-called New
TestamentApocrypha. So far as apocalypses go, this distinction
between
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19APOCALYP~E OF PETER
Old Testament Pseudepigrapha dnd New Testament Apocrypha
is wholly artificial. The Christian tradition of writing
apocalypses
was almost entirely continuous with the Jewish tradition. In
the
second century, as I have indicated, even Jewish apocalypses
recently written were read an imitated by Christians. The
Jewish and Christian apocalypse of the period must be
studied
together. Moreover, there is 0 useful distinction between
Christian apocalypses written un er the name of Old
Testament
figures such as Ezra and those ritten under the name of New
Testament figures such as Peter The latter are no less
closely
related to Jewish apocalypses tha are the former.
So the Apocalypse of Peter is of interest for its preservation
of
those apocalyptic traditions which were common to Christian
and non~Christian Jews of the period. But it is also of interest
as
a work in its own right, with a me sage of its own. As such, it
was
no doubt read mostly by Chris ians, though it may also have
functioned as missionary literat re used by Christian Jews
in
their mission to non-Christian J ws. In any case, it reached
not
only its immediate readership 0 Jewish Christians but a wide
Christian readership througho t the church for a century or
more after it was written. Some hing about it evidently
proved
popular and relevant.
One important literary feature does distinguish the
Apocalypse of Peter as a Christi n apocalypse from the
Jewish
apocalypses to which it is closely akin. It is a revelation of
Jesus
Christ to the apostle Peter. In eing pseudonymous, it
differs
from the Johannine Apocalypse and the Shepherd of Hermas,
whose authors broke with Jewi h apocalyptic tradition by not
hiding behind an ancient pseud nym but writing in their own
names as recipients of revelation as Christian prophets. But
like
those Christian apocalypses, it 's a revelation given by
Jesus
Christ. The Apocalypse of Peter is probably the earliest
extant
Christian apocalypse which use an apostolic pseudonym. The
difference which this makes to its .terary form is that the
narrative
framework -which most apoca ypses have -is in this case a
Gospel narrative framework. f begins with Jesus and the
disciples on the mount of Olive; it ends with Jesus' ascension
to heaven. The revelation is thus placed within the Gospel
story
of Jesus, specifically within the pe iod of the resurrection
appear-
ances. It purports in fact to ecord Jesus' final revelatory~
U. On this point, see R. BAUCKHf ' The Apocalypses in the
NewPseudepigrapha , Journal for the St y of the New Testament 26
(1986),p.105-106,111-113. ,
-
20 R. BAUCKHAM
teaching to his disciples prior to his departure to heaven. In
asense this gives it the character of a testament of Jesus, but
itwould be a mistake to make too much of this testamentarycharacter
of the Apocalypse of Peter: apart from revelation ofthe future, it
shares none of the standard features of the Jewishtestament
literature. It is better to think of it as an apocalypseset at the
end of the Gospel story of Jesus.
As an apocalypse set at the end of the Gospel story of Jesus,the
Apocalypse of Peter is an example of a genre of
Christianapocalypses which seems to have become very popular in
thesecond and third centuries: the revelatory discourse of Jesus
toone or more disciples or the revelatory dialogue of Jesus withthe
disciples after the resurrection. Like the Apocalypse of Peter,such
works are often set on the mount of Olives or some othermountain
13; they often end with an account of the ascension 14.Unlike the
Apocalypse of Peter they usually begin with anaccount of the risen
Jesus' appearance to the disciples; in thisrespect, the Apocalypse
of Peter is rather peculiar. The way itdoes open makes it unlikely
that an account of an appearance ofJesus has been lost at the
beginning, but means that there isactually no way of knowing that
the scene is set after the resur-rection until one reaches the
account of Jesus' ascension at theend of the work.
The genre of the post-resurrection revelatory dialogue is
oftenthought of as a Gnostic literary geme. It did indeed become
verypopular with the Gnostics. But it did not originate with
them.Non-Gnostic examples of the geme -such as the Apocalypse
ofPeter, the Epistle of the Apostles, the Testament of our Lord
andthe Questions of Bartholomew -are not imitations of the
Gnosticuse of the geme. They show that the geme itself originated
beforeGnostics adopted it. Those who wished to attribute to
JesusChrist further revelations additional to those known from
theGospel traditions evidently found it appropriate to place
suchrevelations in the period of the resurrection appearances.
Thiswas because these additional revelations presupposed
theteaching of Jesus already given in the Gospel traditions.
Theyinterpreted and developed the teaching of Jesus that was
already
13. lApJas (CG V,3) 30:18-31:2; EpPetPhil (CG VIII,2)
133:14-17;SophJesChr (CG 111,4) 90:14-20 (ct. 91:18-20); Pistis
Sophia;QuestBarth 4:1; ApPaul (Coptic conclusion); HistJos 1.14.
ApocrJas (CG 1,2) 15:5-16:2; EpApp 51; Testament of ourLord 2:27;
ct. SophJesChr (CG 111.4) 119:10.
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21APOCALYPrSE OF PETER
known. They often refer back tio the teaching Jesus had
given
before his death and offer furth~r explanation of what Jesus
had
meant or further information pn subjects that Jesus'
earlierteaching had not sufficiently covered. Such further
revelation
may be eschatological, as it is ih the Apocalypse of Peter, in
a
large part of the Epistle of the Apostles, and in the oldest,
apoca-
lyptic part of the Testament of our Lord. The Gnostics then
found this genre the obvious literary vehicle for conveying
the
esoteric, Gnostic meaning of Jes ; s' teaching. In the
Apocalypse of Peter th re is one very explicit reference
back to the earlier teaching of esus in the Gospel
traditions,
whose full meaning is now revealed to Peter by further
revela-
tion. This is in 16:5-6. Jesus has given Peter a vision of
paradise,
which is said to be a revelation of the honour and glory of
those who are persecuted for my righteousness (16:5).
Petercomments: Then I understood that which is written in the
scripture of our Lord Jesus Chri t . The reference is certainly
to
Matthew's Gospel, evidently the only written Gospel the
author
of the Apocalypse of Peter us d 15, and to the beatitude in
Matthew 5:10: Blessed are hose who are persecuted for
righteousness' sake, for theirs i the kingdom of heaven .
The
Matthean saying, and the subs quent reference to reward in
heaven, leaves the nature of the heavenly reward
undeveloped.
The apocalyptic revelation of par dise in the Apocalypse of
Peter,
precisely the kind of apocalyp ic revelation which is
notably
absent from the Gospel traditio s, is thought by the author
of
the Apocalypse of Peter to be n eded to fill out the mere
hints
given in the pre-resurrection tea hing of Jesus.
We should understand the wa the Apocalypse of Peter begins
in a rather similar way:
As he was sitting on t e Mount of Olives, his own
approached him. We bowed own and begged him privately
and asked him, saying, "Tell s, what will be the signs of
your
coming and of the end of the orld? -so that we may know
and understand the time of our coming, and instruct those
who will come after us, thos to whom we shall preach the
word of your Gospel and w om we shall put in charge of
your church, so that they too ay hear and apply themselves
to understand the time of you coming" (ApPet 1:1-3).
I
15. See R. BAUCKHAM, The ApoLalypse of Peter: An Account
ofResearch , op. cit., p. 4723-4724. r
-
22 R. BAUCKHAM
Ostensibly this does little more than reproduce, with a
littleexpansion and adaptation, the opening of the
eschatologicaldiscourse of Jesus in Matthew 24. But the author is
not intendingto give, as it were, a version of that eschatological
discourse,moving it from its Matthean place before the resurrection
to apost-resurrection setting. Rather he is intending to
representJesus, in response to the disciples' questions, as taking
up thesame subject again and this time going into much more detail
onmany aspects of the eschatological events. The whole of
Jesus'discourse, which continues to chapter 14, is intended to
developwhat is undeveloped and to add what is lacking in the
Mattheaneschatological discourse. The way in which this is done, of
course,is by resort to Jewish apocalyptic traditions.
Just as the eschatological discourse of Jesus in chapters 1-14
isnot a version of the Matthean eschatological discourse,
butanother post-resurrection eschatological discourse, intended
tosupplement the first, so the narrative of chapters 15-17, which
ismodelled on the Matthean account of the transfiguration ofJesus
should not be mistaken for a version of the
transfigurationnarrative 16. It gives no support to the idea that
the transfigurationwas originally a post-resurrection tradition,
transferred in ourSynoptic Gospels into the ministry of Jesus.
Chapters 15-17 ofthe Apocalypse of Peter actually do not describe a
transfigura-tion of Jesus at all. It is the glorious appearance of
Moses andElijah which is featured, not the glory of Jesus. The
point is thatthe author is simply using material from the
transfigurationnarrative in order to develop a new account of an
apocalypticrevelation of the glorious destiny of the elect. He saw
inthe Matthean transfiguration narrative hints which could
bedeveloped further in a post-resurrection setting. Again he
drawson Jewish apocalyptic traditions in order to develop them.
In summary we can say that the Apocalypse of Peter is a
revel-ation by the risen Christ to Peter and the disciples, set
withina post-resurrection Gospel narrative framework. It
borrowsmaterials from the Gospel traditions which were especially
sus-ceptible to development in an apocalyptic direction. It
developsthem by means of Jewish apocalyptic traditions, which form
thegreater part of its content.
16. Ct. ibid., p. 4735-4736.
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23APOCALYPfSE OF PETER
Apocalypse of Peter 1-2 Matthew 24
3 When he was sitting on theMount of Olives,the disciples came
to him,
privately, saying, Tell us,when will this be, and whatwill be
the sign of yourcoming and of the end of theage?
4 Jesus answered them, Bewarethat noone leads you astray.
5 For many will come in myname, saying, "1 am theMessiah !"
(...)23,26(...) do not believe it (...)
1 1 As he was sitting on theMount of Olives,his own approached
him. Webowed down and begged himprivately 2 and asked him,saying,
Tell us, what will bethe signs of your coming andof the end of the
world? -so that we may know andunderstand the time of yourcoming,
and instruct thosewho will come after us,3 those to whom we
shallpreach the word of yourGospel and whom we shallput in charge
of your church,so that they too may hearand apply themselves
tounderstand the time of yourcoming . 4 Our Lord answer-ed us,
saying to us, Be care-ful not to be led into error,not to become
doubtful andnot to worship other gods.5 Many will come in myname,
saying that they arethe Messiah.Do not believe them, and donot
approach them, 6 becau-se, as for the coming of theSon of God, it
will [not] berecognized, but like a bolt oflightning which is
visiblefrom the east to the west, soshall I comeon a cloud of
heaven, withgreat power in my glory, withmy cross going before me.7
I shall come in my glory,shining seven times morebrightly than the
sun. I shallcome in my glory with all myholy angels, when my
Father
27 For as the lightning comesfrom the east and flashes asfar as
the west, so will be thecoming of the Son of man.30b (...) and they
will see theSon of man comingon the clouds of heaven withpower and
great glory.30a Then the sign of the Sonof man will appear in
heaven(...)[16 27 For the Son of man isto come with his angels
inthe glory of his Father,
-
24
R.
BAUCKHAM
and then he will repay every-one for what has been done.]
sets a crown on my head, sothat I may judge the livingand the
dead, 8 and so that Imay repay everyone accor-ding to his deeds.21
As for you, learn from thefig tree its parable. As soonas its
shoots have sproutedand its twigs have becometender, at that time
will bethe end of the world.
32 From the fig tree learn itslesson: as soon as its
branchbecomes tender and putsforth its leaves,you know that summer
isnear.
24 For false messiahs andfalse prophets will appear(...) 5
saying, "I am theMessiah !"(...)
7 (...) Indeed, I have said toyou, "when its twigs havebecoI;ne
tender", [meaningthat] in the last time falseMessiahs will come, 8
andthey will promise, "I am theMessiah, who have come intothe
world".(...)11 (...) Many will die andthere will be martyrs,
12because Enoch and Elijahwill be sent to make themunderstand that
he is theimpostor who is to come intothe world and who will
per-form signs and wonders inorder to deceive.
24 (...) and produce greatsigns and omens, to leadastray, if
possible, even theelect.
2. Historical Context
It is unusual to be able to give a precise date and place of
ori-gin for an ancient apocalypse, but I think that in the case of
theApocalypse of Peter we can do so with considerable confidence.In
this section I shall argue that the Apocalypse of Peter can bedated
during the Bar Kokhba war, i.e. during the years 132-135C.E., and
that it was written in Palestine, deriving from theJewish Christian
churches. If this is correct, it makes theApocalypse of Peter a
very significant document for the historyof Palestinian Jewish
Christianity. It is perhaps the only work of
-
APOCALYPSE OF PETER 25
second-century Palestinian Jewish Christianity which survives
inits complete and original form.
The argument for the date and place of the Apocalypseconcerns
especially the first two chapters and the last two chaptersof the
work 17. In chapters 1-2 the author has adapted andexpanded parts
of the Synoptic apocalyptic discourse as found inMatthew 24. The
wording of the Apocalypse of Peter in thesechapters is in several
places very close to the specificallyMatthean redaction of the
Synoptic apocalyptic discourse, andso we can be sure that the
author knew the text of Matthew 24itself. But he has used Matthew
24 very selectively: he has in factdrawn on only eight verses of
that chapter -or, to put it an-other way, he has used only two
sections of Matthew 24: v. 3-5and v. 24-32. To these borrowings
from Matthew 24 he has addedadditional traditional material from
other sources in order todevelop those themes in Matthew 24 in
which he was interested.So by observing his selection and expansion
of material fromMatthew 24 we can see how his apocalyptic
expectations werefocussed. As we shall see, they are focussed, in
these first twochapters of the Apocalypse, on just two themes.
The first three verses of the Apocalypse of Peter are
thedisciples' question, to which the rest of the first two chapters
areJesus' response:
As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his own approached
him. We bowed down and begged him privately and asked him, saying,
"Tell us, what will be the signs of your coming and of the end of
the world? -so that we may know and understand the time of your
coming, and instruct thosewho will come after us, those to whom we
shall preach theword of your Gospel and whom we shall put in charge
of your church, so that they too may hear and apply themselvesto
understand the time of your coming" (ApPet 1:1-3).The setting and
question follow closely Matthew 24:3, except
that in the Apocalypse the disciples ask about the time of
theparousia, not simply so that they themselves should
understandit, but also so that their successors should understand
it. Clearlythe author writes in a post-apostolic period: the
generation ofthe apostles has passed and it is now a subsequent
generation
17. Most of the following argument so far as it concerns
chapters 1-2was presented in more detail in R. BAUCKHAM, The Two
Fig TreeParables in the Apocalypse of Peter , Journal of Biblical
Literature 104(1985), p. 269-287.
-
26 R. BAUCKHAM
which needs to be able to recognize the signs that the parousia
isimminent. Moreover, whereas Matthew refers to the time of
thbdestruction of Jerusalem and the temple, as well as to the time
ofthe parousia, in the Apocalypse of Peter it is only the time of
theparousia that is of interest. Evidently the author lives
afterC.E. 70, and he is not interested in providing post
eventumprophecies of events, such as the fall of Jerusalem, which
lay bet-ween the time of Jesus, the supposed date of the prophecy,
and hisown time. He is interested only in his readers' immediate
situationand the events which he believes to lie in their immediate
futur~.
The rest of the material he derives from Matthew 24 readilyfalls
into three categories:
a) There is the warning about false Messiahs, This subje toccurs
twice in the apocalyptic discourse in Matthew 24:3-(where it is the
opening subject of the discourse) and 24:23-2(where the subject
recurs immediately before the description fthe parousia itself).
The author of the Apocalypse of Peter hdrawn on both these passages
and ignored everything that comin between them in Matthew, He has
therefore rightly identifiea major theme of the Matthean discourse,
and he has also, as weshall see, rightly understood the way this
theme of false Messiahsis connected in Matthew 24 with the
parousia. But as far asMatthew's account of the events that will
precede the parousia isconcerned, he has selected only this one
theme, It must havebeen the prominence of this theme in Matthew 24
which drewhim to this chapter and led him to make it the basis of
the open-ing of his Apocalypse. The theme of the false Messiahs and
thewarning against being led astray by these imposters who
makdeceptive claims is one of his main interests.
But there are two further, very important points about thway he
uses this material from Matthew 24, which we can see 'fwe look
closely at the texts in the Apocalypse of Peter, Thwords of Jesus
in the Apocalypse of Peter, as in Matthew 2 ,begin with this
theme:
Our Lord answered us, saying to us, "Be careful not to bled into
error, not to become doubtful and not to worshi other gods. Many
will come in my name, saying that they arthe Messiah. Do not
believe them, and do not approacthem" (ApPet 1:4-5).But he then
returns to the theme in 2:7-8:
(...) false Messiahs will come, and they will promise, "~am the
Messiah, who have come into the world" (...) I
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APOCALYPSE OF PETER 27
And again towards the end of chapter 2 :
Enoch and Elijah will be sent to make them understandthat he is
the impostor who is to come into the world andwho will perform
signs and wonders in order to deceive.(ApPet 2:12: the reference to
the deceptive signs andwonders there is taken from Matthew
24:24.)In those passages the false messianic claim and the
false
Messiah's potential to deceive, of which Christians must
beware,derive from Matthew 24. But we should notice, first,
thatwhereas Matthew 24:24 speaks of false Messiahs and
falseprophets ('i'Eu86XP1CJ'tOl Kat 'i'Eu80npo
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28 R. BAUCKHAM
Elijah to expose him as a deceiver (2:12) was probably
alsoalready a traditional apocalyptic feature 18. May not the
authorsimply be putting together Matthew 24's predictions of the
falseMessiahs and other traditional material in which a
singleAntichrist was expected? No doubt, he is doing this. But we
stillneed to explain why his interest in the events preceding
theparousia is so selective, so overwhelmingly focussed on
thefigure of the false Messiah. That this is because an actual
messian-ic claimant threatened the church of his time and place
willbecome clearer as we proceed.
b) The second of the three categories of material that ourauthor
has drawn from Matthew 24 is the prediction of themanner of the
parousia:
As for the coming of the Son of God, it will not be re-
cognized, but like a bolt of lightning which is visible from the
east to the west, so shall I come on a cloud of heaven, withgreat
power in my glory, with my cross going before me. Ishall come in my
glory, shining seven times more brightly than the sun. I shall come
in my glory with all my holy angels,when my Father sets a crown on
my head, so that I mayjudge the living and the dead (ApPet
1:6-7).Here the author depends on Matthew 24:27,30, and perhaps
also on Matthew 16:27, but he has both selected from theMatthean
depiction of the parousia and expanded it with othertraditional
material. The elements here which do not come fromMatthew can all
be shown to be very probably already tradi-tional in Christian
depiction of the parousia. Nothing here is ori-ginal19, but the
author has both selected from Matthew andadded from other
apocalyptic tradition in order to make veryemphatically two points
about the parousia. One is that Christwill come with divine
authority to exercise judgment: Whenmy Father sets a crown on my
head, so that I may judge theliving and the dead, stet so that I
may repay everyone accordingto his deeds (1:7b-8). This is the
point at which the author
18. See R. BAUCKHAM, The Martyrdom of Enoch and Elijah: Jewishor
Christian? , Journal of Biblical Literature 95 (1976), p.
447-458;K. BERGER, Die Auferstehung des Propheten und die Erhohung
desMenschensohnes (SUNT 13; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht,1976) Part 1.19. For the parallels, see R. BAUCKHAM, The
Two Fig Tree Parables ,op. cit., p. 273-275; R. BAUCKHAM, Jude and
the Relatives of Jesus in theEarly Church (Edinburgh: T. & T.
Clark, 1990), p. 101-102.
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APOCALYPSE OF PETER 29
introduces the central theme of the Apocalypse of Peter,
whichwill be expounded at length in chapters 3-14. But of
moreimmediate interest to us is the second point about the parousia
:that it will be unmistakably the parousia of Jesus Christ. This
ishow the depiction of the parousia in v. 6 connects with the
warn-ing against false Messiahs in v. 5. The coming of the
trueMessiah will be evident to all people. The disciples should not
bedeceived by the claims of the false Messiahs, because the
comingof the true Messiah will be unmistakable. This point the
authorhas taken from Matthew, who also places the saying about
thelightning immediately after the misleading claims about the
falseMessiahs in order to make the point that the parousia, like
thelightning which flashes across the sky from east to west, will
beevident to all (24:27). Matthew contrasts this with the
misleadingclaim that the Messiah is out in the desert or is in the
innerrooms (24:26): the Apocalypse of Peter drops this
point.Evidently the false Messiah who concerns this author is
notgathering his followers in the desert (like some of the
messianicclaimants before 70 C.E.) or hiding in secret in houses.
But hisappearance can be easily distinguished from the
unmistakablecharacter of the parousia of Jesus Christ, as expected
inChristian tradition.
As well as the simile of the lightning, the Apocalypse of
Peterlabours the unmistakableness of the parousia by emphasizing
theglory of the coming Christ, of course a well-established
tradition-al aspect of the parousia. Three times Jesus says I shall
come inmy glory (1:6-7), and this is reinforced, the first time,
with ona cloud of heaven, with great power; the second time, with
shining seven times more brightly than the sun ; the third
time,with with all my holy angels . These details make the
parousiaan unmistakably supernatural, transcendent occurrence. But
onefurther detail makes it unmistakably the parousia of Jesus
Christ:my cross going before me (1:6). This appearance of the
crossat the parousia -perhaps an interpretation of Matthew's signof
the Son of man (24:30), certainly a stock feature of earlyChristian
expectation (EpApp 16; ApElijah 3:2; SibOr 6:26-28;Hippolytus, In
Matt. 24:30; cf. Did 16:6) -serves here to make itclear that, by
contrast to any other messianic claim, the onlyappearance of the
Messiah which Christians can expect is un-mistakably the coming of
Jesus, the crucified, in glory. So we cansee that the author's
depiction of the manner of the parousia isvery closely connected
with his interest in the figure of the falseMessiah. It is designed
to counter the false Messiah's potential todeceive those of the
Apocalypse's readers who were evidentlytempted to accept his claim
to messianic status.
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30 R. BAUCKHAM
c) The third and final category of material which the author
hastaken from Matthew 24 is the parable of the fig tree, which
2:1borrows from Matthew 24:32 :
As for you, learn from the fig tree its parable. As soon as its
shoots have sprouted and its twigs have become tender, at that time
will be the end of the world. It is in this parable that the author
of the Apocalypse of
Peter finds the real answer to the disciples' question about
thetime of the parousia. The end of the world will come when thefig
tree sprouts. But what is the meaning of the sprouting of thefig
tree? Peter is understandably puzzled and has to ask for
aninterpretation (v. 2-3).
Peter's request for an interpretation shows that for the
authorof the Apocalypse of Peter the meaning of the parable of
thebudding fig tree is not to be found within Matthew 24 itself.
Hedoes not accept the indication in Matthew 24:33 that by
thesprouting of the fig tree is meant simply all these things
-allthe events which Matthew 24 has depicted as preceding
theparousia. The author of the Apocalypse of Peter requires a
morespecific interpretation. The sprouting of the fig tree must
besome specific sign of the end. So he seeks the
interpretationelsewhere and finds it in another Gospel parable
about a fig tree,which he reproduces in 2:5-6. This is the parable
of the barrenfig tree, elsewhere found only in Luke's Gospel
(13:6-9). I haveargued elsewhere tliat the author has drawn this
parable notfrom Luke, but from some independent tradition of
theparable 2. The important point, however, is that the author
isdoing what other early Christian interpreters of the parablesalso
sometimes did: he is assuming that the imagery common tothe two
parables must have a common meaning. Therefore oneparable can be
used to interpret the other.
The second parable, the barren fig tree, tells how for manyyears
the fig tree failed to produce fruit. The owner proposes thatit be
rooted out, but the gardener persuades him to allow it onemore
chance of fruiting. This fruiting of the fig tree is treated byour
author as equivalent to the sprouting or budding of the figtree in
the parable of Matthew 24. He correctly perceives that inthe
parable of the barren fig-tree the fig tree represents Israel,
andthe contribution which this parable makes to the interpretation
ofthe other is that it establishes that the fig tree is Israel.
Jesus'
20. R. BAUCKHAM, The Two Fig Tree Parables op. cit., p.
280-283.
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APOCALYPSE OF PETER 31
interpretation of the parable begins: Do you not know that
thefig tree is the house of Israel? (2:4). Then after quoting
theparable of the barren fig tree, he repeats: Did you not
under-stand that the trunk of the fig tree is the house of Israel?
(2:7).So it is the house of Israel which must sprout as the final
sign ofthe end. But we still do not know what the sprouting or
fruitingof the fig tree is. To explain this the author returns to
the themeof the false Messiah, who (we are now told) will put to
deaththose who refuse to accept his claim to messiahship. The
sprout-ing of the fig tree represents the many martyrs of the house
ofIsrael who will die at the hands of the false Messiah.
So finally we see that the author's third principal interest in
thesechapters -along with the false Messiah and the
unmistakablemanner of the coming of the true Messiah -is martyrdom.
Thisis the theme which dominates the second half of chapter 2,where
we are repeatedly told of the many martyrs who will dieat the hands
of the false Messiah. Like the other two themes,this theme of the
martyrs of the last days is anchored inMatthew 24, by means of the
author's interpretation of theparable of the fig tree. By means of
skilful selection of materialfrom Matthew 24 and expansion of this
material from other tra-ditional sources, the author has found
dominical authority for avery clearly focussed apocalyptic
expectation. He depicts a situa-tion in which a false Messiah puts
to death those who are notdeceived by his claims because they know
that the true Messiah,Jesus Christ, will come in unmistakable
glory. The deaths ofmany martyrs of the house of Israel at the
hands of the falseMessiah will be the last sign that the end of the
world and theparousia of Jesus Christ as judge of the world are
imminent.
We could reduce the dominant concerns of these first twochapters
of the Apocalypse of Peter to two closely connectedconcerns: a) the
question of the true and false Messiahs, andb) martyrdom. The two
concerns are closely connected becausethose who are not deceived by
the claims of the false Messiah areto be put to death by him. This
means, of course, that those whoheed the warning against believing
and following false Messiahswith which Jesus' words begin (1:4-5)
are going to incur martyr-dom. By contrast with Matthew 24, where
martyrdom is mention-ed (24:9) but is not a major theme and is not
connected with thefalse Messiahs, in the Apocalypse of Peter
martyrdom at thehands of the false Messiah completely dominates the
expectationof what must happen before the parousia. We have to
concludethat the author envisaged his readers having to discern and
resistthe claims of a false Messiah and facing martyrdom as a
result.The question arises: Are the readers already in this
situation ~
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32 R. BAUCKHAM
has the false Messiah appeared, is he already
persecutingChristians -or is his appearance and persecution still
future?This is the familiar problem of identifying the point at
which anapocalyptic prediction moves from the present into the
futQre.
The writer's exclusive concern with the false Messiah and
thepersecution he carries out must indicate that this persecution
isalready under way. If these were simply features of a
traditionalapocalyptic scenario which the author reproduces as
expecta-tion for the future, the exclusion of all other features of
suchtraditional apocalyptic scenarios would be inexplicable.
Thefalse Messiah must be already a threat; the Apocalypse'sreaders
must be already tempted to believe his claim; some ofthose who, out
of loyalty to the Messiah Jesus, refuse to followhim must have
already been put to death. This impression givenus by the first two
chapters is confirmed by the evidence whichthe rest of the
Apocalypse of Peter provides that it was writtenin a situation of
persecution. There are two main pieces ofevidence of this kind:
a) In the account of the punishments in hell after the
lastjudgment. As we shall see later (in our section 1I.7, below),
theApocalypse of Peter, in the long account of the many catego-ries
of sinners and the specific punishments each receives inhell
(chapters 7-12), is certainly taking over traditional apoca-lyptic
material. We have many other similar accounts of thepunishments in
hell, which derive from common streams ofapocalyptic tradition. The
literary relationships among theseso-called tours of hell are
debatable and complex, but therecan be no doubt that, here as
elsewhere, the Apocalypse ofPeter takes over traditional material.
The other tours of hellshow us the kind of material which was the
Apocalypse ofPeter's source for 7-12. By this means we can be
confident thatmost of the categories of sinners which the
Apocalypse of Peterdepicts in hell were traditional. By and large,
the author didnot decide which sins to mention in his account of
hell: hetook them over from apocalyptic tradition. But there are
threecategories of sinners in hell in the Apocalypse of Peter
whichcannot be paralleled in other tours of hell and which occur
insuccession as a group of three in 9:1-4. The first group arethose
who persecuted and betrayed my righteous ones -i.e. those who put
the martyrs to death. The second group arethose who blasphemed and
perverted my righteousness -probably those who apostatized in order
to escape martyrdom.The third group are those who caused death by
their falsewitness -presumably those who informed on the
martyrs.
-
APOCALYPS~ OF PETER 33
The unique 21 inclusion of these three categories of sinners in
anaccount of the punishments in hell must indicate a situation
ofpersecution and martyrdom as the Sitz im Leben of theApoca.lypse
of Peter.
b) In chapter 16, when the disciples are given a vision of
para-dise, Peter is told by Jesus that this is the honour and glory
ofthose who are persecuted for my righteousness (16:5). Thismakes
it clear that the concern with paradise in the latter part ofthe
Apocalypse of Peter is primarily a concern for the rewardthat
awaits the martyrs in the next life.
If chapter 2 therefore refers to a persecution by a falseMessiah
which has already begun, we may note two furtherpoints about the
martyrs. In the first place, they are Jews, as2:11 insists < It
is at that time that the twigs of the fig tree, whichalone is the
house of Israel, will have become tender. There willbe martyrs at
his hand). Secondly, the persecution can onlyhave begun. Presumably
v. 12 refers to an event still in the future: Enoch and Elijah will
be sent to make them understand that heis the impostor who is to
come into the world... Unless wesuppose that the author identified
two of his contemporaries asEnoch and Elijah, of which he gives no
hint, we must supposethat the enlightenment as to the falsity of
the false Messiah'sclaim which Enoch and Elijah will bring to many
of those whoare to be martyred still lies in the future. Probably,
a few of theauthor's fellow Jewish Christians have already been
martyred:they are those who, because of their faith in Jesus as
Messiah,already recognize the deception of the false Messiah. But
theauthor expects many more Jews -those who are not yet believersin
Jesus -to reject the false Messiah when Enoch and Elijahexpose him.
These will be the majority of the martyrs and theirmartyrdom lies
still in the immediate future. Thus 2:13 explains:This is why [i.e.
because Enoch and Elijah have demonstratedthat the false Messiah is
the deceiver] those who [then] die at hishand will be martyrs, and
will be numbered with the good andrighteous martyrs who have
pleased the Lord with their lives[that is, with those who have
already died as martyrs] . Thismeans that the currently unbelieving
Jews who, enlightened by
21. The only parallel I know is in one of the medieval Hebrew
apoca-lypses translated by M. GASTER, Hebrew Visions of Hell
andParadise , reprinted from Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
(1893),p. 571-611, in M. GASTER, Studies and Texts, vol. 1 (London:
Maggs,1928), p. 136 (Revelation of Moses A, 43): they have
delivered uptheir brother Israelite to the Gentile .
-
34 R. BAUCKHAM
Enoch and Elijah, will die at the hands of the false Messiah
inthe future, are going to be numbered with the Jewish
Christianmartyrs who have already suffered death at his hands.
Who then is the false Messiah who is already persecutingJewish
Christians and who can be expected to turn against otherJews if
they too reject his messiahship? The historical situationof the
early church and other early Christian literature suggestsonly two
possibilities: a Roman emperor or a Jewish messianicpretender.
Against the first possibility, we may note that theauthor's quite
explicit limitation of horizon to Jewish Christiansand Jews would
be very surprising if a Roman persecution ofChristians were in
view. But more decisively, when earlyChristian apocalyptic
associates the persecuting Antichrist figurewith the Roman imperial
power there is always allusion to theRoman imperial cult. The
Antichrist is then said to claim divinityand to require worship.
The false Messiah of the Apocalypse ofPeter merely claims to be the
Messiah, and all the emphasis isput specifically on the issue of
who is the true Messiah (1:5;2:7-10). This points to an
inner-Jewish context: a debate bet-ween the Christian claim that
Jesus is Messiah and the claims ofa Jewish messianic claimant..
If then, the false Messiah of the Apocalypse of Peter is aJewish
messianic pretender of the period after 70 C.E. (since
theApocalypse of Peter must be dated later than 70), there are
onlytwo possible identifications:
In the first place, we cannot neglect the possibility that the
falseMessiah is the leader of the Jewish revolt in Egypt and
Cyrenaicain the years 115-117 in the reign of Trajan 22. Though we
knowvery little about it, it is clear that this revolt was on a
considerablescale. Of its leader we know (from Eusebius) only his
nameLucuas and the fact that Eusebius calls him their king
(Hist.Eccl. 4.2.4). A major Jewish revolt against Rome at this
periodmust have had a messianic character, and a leader of such a
revoltdescribed as king must have been seen as a messianic figure.
Ourmeagre sources tell us nothing of any persecution of
Christiansduring this revolt, and we may note that Eusebius, had he
knownof such persecution, would certainly have mentioned it. But
onthe other hand, we know that the rebellious Jews massacred
22. On this revolt and its messianic character, see especiallyM.
HENGEL, Messianische Hoffnung und politischer "Radikalismus"in der
"judisch-hellenistischen Diaspora" , in D. HELLHOLM
ed.,Apocalypticism in the Mediterranean World and the Near
East(Tubingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1983), p. 655-686 (with references
to otherliterature ).
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35APOCALYP~E OF PETER
Gentiles in large numbers. It is likely enough that
JewishChristians who refused to join the Tevolt would also have
suffered.
One feature of the Apocalypse of Peter could support a
sug-gestion that it originated among Jewish Christians in
Egyptduring the revolt of 115-117. In 10:5, one category of the
sinnersin hell are the manufacturers of idols. The idols they made
aredescribed as the idols made by human hands, the images
whichresemble cats, lions and reptiles, the images of wild animals
.This has often been taken to refer specifically to Egyptian
religionand therefore to point to an origin for the Apocalypse of
Peter inEgypt. Images of gods in the form of animals were of
courseespecially characteristic of ancifnt Egypt, and of the
specificanimals mentioned the first, dats, would infallibly
suggestEgyptian religion. Other Jewish texts which certainly or
prob-ably originated in Egypt have similar references to
animalimages (Wisd 12:24; 15:18; SibOr5 :278-280; Philo, Decal.
76-80;De vita con temp. 8; Leg. 139; 163), often specifying cats
andreptiles (LetAris 138; SibOr 3:30-p1; SibOr Frag
3:22,27-30).
Since the Apocalypse of Peter qtost probably reached Ethiopiavia
Egypt, it is possible that the rfference to idols in the form
ofanimals is a later gloss introduced I into the text of the
Apocalypseof Peter in Egypt. The reference is missing in the
parallel passageof the Akhmim text. On the other hand, there are
few otherpoints in the Ethiopic version of the Apocalypse of Peter
wherethere is any very good reason to suspect a gloss, so that we
shouldbe very cautious about resorting to this explanation. In
fact, thereis no Teal difficulty in supposing that this description
of idolscould have been written by a P~lestinian Jew (cf. TMos
2:7;LAB 44:5, for references to anim~l idols in a Palestinian
context).Paul in Romans 1:23 refers to idol~ as images resembling
mortalman or birds or animals or reptiles , and Justin refers to
the wor-ship of animals in a general discussion of idolatry,
evidently usingspecifically Egyptian forms of idolatry as an
instance of idolatryin general (Apol. 1.24). A Jewish Christian
opponent of idolatrymight well have considered the worship of
animal forms the mostdegrading form of idolatry (as lat;er
Christian writers did) 23 andsingled it out for mention for this
teason. At this period Egyptiancults were practised outside Egypt,
and the Egyptian venerationof cats must have been very well known
24,
23. E.g. Aristides, Apol. 12.1; Theophilus, Ad Auto/. 1.10;
Tertullian,Ad Nat.2.8; Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. 6.10.24. For the
general reputation of Egypt for animal worship, see K. A.D. SMELIK
and E. A. HEMELRIJK, "Who knows not what monstersdemented Egypt
worships ?" : Opinions on Egyptian animal worship in
-
36 R. BAUCKHAM
That the Apocalypse of Peter originated in Egypt during
theJewish revolt under Trajan is a possibility which perhaps cannot
beentirely excluded. However, there are stronger grounds for
identi-fying the false Messiah of the Apocalypse of Peter with the
leaderof the Jewish revolt in Palestine in the years 132-135 C.E.,
theleader whose real name we now know to have been Shim'on
barKosiva, but who is still generally known by his messianic
nicknameBar Kokhba. The arguments for seeing a reference to Bar
Kokhbain the Apocalypse of Peter and therefore for the origin of
the workin Palestine during the Bar Kokhba revolt, are as
follows:
a) First, it is necessary to defend the view that Bar Kokhbawas
seen by many of his supporters as the Messiah, since thisview has
been contested by some recent writers 25. For ourpurposes we do not
need to know whether Bar Kokhba himselfmade a messianic claim, only
that such a claim was made on hisbehalf by his supporters 260 In
favour of this, there is, first, therabbinic evidence, most
importantly the well-known tradition(yo Ta'ano 68d) 27 that Rabbi
Aqiva declared Bar Kokhba to bethe King Messiah, and connected his
name with the prophecy ofthe star (kokhav) that will come forth
from Jacob (Num 24:17),a favourite messianic text of the period.
Whether this view ofBar Kokhba is correctly attributed to Aqiva is
unimportant forour purpose. What is significant is that such a view
ofBar Kokhba could certainly not have originated afterBar Kokhba's
defeat and death. The tradition must preserve anidentification of
Bar Kokhba as the Messiah and the star of
Antiquity as part of the ancient conception of Egypt , in
Aufstieg undNiedergang der romischen Welt, 2.17/4, ed. W. HAASE
(Berlin/NewYork: de Gruyter, 1984), p. 1852-2000.25. L. MILDENBERG,
The Coinage of the Bar Kokhba Revolt(Aarau/Frankfurt am Main/
Salzburg: Sauerliinder, 1984), p. 75-76; andcf. B. ISAAC and A.
OPPENHEIMER, The Revolt of Bar Kokhba:Ideology and Modern
Scholarship , Journal of Jewish Studies 36(1985), p. 57; A.
RHEINHARTZ, Rabbinic Perceptions of Simeon barKosiba , Journal for
theStudy of Judaism 20 (1989), p. 173-174, forreferences to others
who deny that Bar Kokhba was seen in messianicterms.26. A.
RHEINHARTZ, Rabbinic Perceptions , op. cit., argues that theclaim
was made during the war, as an explanation of Bar Kokhba's
suc-cess, by some of his supporters, though not by all.27. On this
tradition, see P. SCHAFER, Der Bar-Kokhba-Aufstand(TSAJ 1;
Tubingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1981), p. 55-57; P. LENHART andP. VON DEN
OSTEN-SACKEN, Rabbi Akiva (ANTZ 1; Berlin: InstitutKirche und
Judentum.1987). D. 307-317.
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37APOCALYPfE OF PETER
Jacob which was made during the revolt 28. Second, fromChristian
sources, beginning with Justin, who was writing onlytwenty years
after the revolt, we know that Bar Kosiva musthave been quite
widely known as Bar Kokhba < son of thestar ) 29. This pun on
his real name is explicable only as an iden-tification of him as
the messianic star of Jacob (Num 24:17) andthus corroborates the
rabbinic tradition attached to the name ofAqiva. Thirdly, rabbinic
traditions which explicitly deny thatBar Kokhba was the Messiah and
Christian sources which depicthim as a false messianic pretender
indirectly confirm that duringthe revolt he was regarded by many as
the Messiah. If it is un-likely that Christian writers would
represent as a false Messiah aJewish leader for whom messianic
claims had never beenmade, it is even less likely that. rabbinic
traditions hostile toBar Kokhba would have invented a messianic
claim for him inorder to deny it 30. Fourthly, the fact that in the
recently discoveredBar Kokhba documents he is treated as a purely
human militaryand political leader is not, as some have supposed,
in contradictionto the claim that he was regarded as Messiah.
Messianic expecta-tions of the time certainly included the purely
human figure whowould restore Jewish national sovereignty by force
of arms.
b) Turning to more detailed correlations between what weknow of
Bar Kokhba and the Apocalypse of Peter, we knowfrom Justin (1 Apol.
31.6) that Bar Kokhba ordered thatChristians who would not deny
Jesus as the Messiah should bepunished severely. This is very early
evidence of persecution ofJewish Christians by Bar Kokhba and there
is no reason at all todoubt it. The Bar Kokhba letters show that
the rebel governmenttook strong action against Jews who failed to
support the revolt,and it is therefore intrinsically likely that
Jewish Christians, whocould not acknowledge Bar Kokhba's political
authority withoutaccepting his messiahship, would suffer. It is
true that there isnot much evidence that the revolt extended to
Galilee 31, whereprobably the majority of Jewish Christians who
lived west of theJordan at this time were to be found. But there is
no difficulty insupposing that there were also Jewish Christians in
Judrea, whileour interpretation of the Apocalypse of Peter does not
require
28. So A. RHEINHARTZ, Rabbinic P~rceptions , op. cit.,
p.176-177.29. The treatment of this evidence liy MILDENBERG,
Coinage, op. cit.,p. 79-80, is irresponsible.30. A. RHEINHAR1Z,
Rabbinic Perceptions , op. cit., p.177.31. P. SCHAFER, Der
Bar-Kokhba-Aufstand, op, cit., p.102-134; B. ISAACand A.
OPPENHEIMER, The Revolt of Bar Kokhba , op. cit., p. 53-54.
-
38 R. BAUCKHAM
there to have been very large numbers of Jewish Christianskilled
by Bar Kokhba's troops. A small number of martyrswould sufficiently
explain the expectation that many moremartyrdoms would soon
follow.
c) Apocalypse of Peter 2:12 calls the false Messiah the
impos-ter who is to come into the world and who will perform
signsand wonders in order to deceive . This is a traditional
expecta-tion of the Antichrist, taken here from Matthew 24:24.
Theauthor may have understood the signs and wonders as BarKokhba's
military success which no doubt persuaded many toregard him as the
Messiah. But it is also noteworthy that laterChristian tradition
about Bar Kokhba attributed to him thedeceptive miracles expected
of the Antichrist. Eusebius, in astatement that may well be based
on Aristo of Pella and maytherefore preserve Palestinian Jewish
Christian tradition, saysthat Bar Kokhba claimed to be a star which
had come downfrom heaven to give light to the oppressed by working
miracles (Rist. Eccl. 4.6.2). Jerome (Ad Rufin. 3.31) says that Bar
Kokhbapretended to breathe fire by means of a lighted straw in
hismouth. These statements cannot, of course, be taken as
evidencethat Bar Kokhba really claimed to work miracles, but they
doreveal a Christian tradition of identifying Bar Kokhba with
thefalse Messiah who works miracles, a tradition which may well
goback to the Apocalypse of Peter, written during the revolt
itself.
d) There seem to have been two punning variations on Shim'onbar
Kosiva's name. One was the messianic nickname Bar Kokhba< son of
the star). The other was a derogatory nickname,denying his
messianic claim. This derogatory version is formedby spelling his
name not with a samek but with a zayin: barKoziva < son of the
lie [kozav]), that. is, liar . This spelling(Koziva) is
consistently used in rabbinic literature. It has some-times
recently been regarded as no more than an alternativespelling 32,
but the Bar Kokhba letters consistently spell thename either with a
samek Of, occasionally, with a sin, and so it islikely that the
spelling with a zayin originated as a derogatorypun 33. The fact
that rabbinic traditions use it even in positivestatements about
Bar Kokhba, such as that attributed to Aqiva,merely indicates that
it had become the only designation of
32. E.g. A. RHEINHARTZ, Rabbinic Perceptions , op. cit., p.
191.33. P. SCHAFER, Der Bar-Kokhba-Aufstand, op. cit., p. 51-52; P;
LENHARTand P. VON DEN OSTEN-SACKEN, Rabbi Akiva, 0]). cit., p.
312-313.
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39APOCALYP$E OF PETER
Bar Kokhba in rabbinic tradition. From the rabbinic evidencewe
cannot tell whether this derogatory pun on the leader's
nameoriginated only after his defeat and the general discrediting
ofhis messianic claim or whether it was already in use during
therevolt by those Jews who refused to support him. But there isone
statement in the Apocalypse of Peter which would gain par-ticular
force if the derogatory pun Bar Koziva was already inuse. 2:10
declares: As for that liar, he is not the Messiah . Theword in the
Ethiopic is different from imposter in 2:12, andpresumably
translates the Greek \j/Eucr"tT1
-
40 R. BAUCKHAM
Matthew 16:23, this sharp rebuke of Peter for his proposal
tobuild the three tents is rather surprising. Why is Peter's
proposalevidence that his mind is veiled by Satan, who has
conqueredhim with matters of this world? We shall see. But
following therebuke, Peter is promised a revelation: specifically,
a two-partrevelation consisting of a vision < your eyes will be
opened)and of an audition < your ears will be opened ). The
vision is ofthe one tent, not made with human hands, which God has
madefor Jesus and his elect (16:9). The audition is the voice
declaringJesus to be God's beloved son, whom the disciples must
obey(17:1). By this double revelation -of the tent not made
withhands and of Jesus as God's son -the veil Satan has cast
overPeter's mind is removed and he is shown the truth.
The importance of the audition (the words of the heavenlyvoice)
is clearly that it makes clear the identity of the trueMessiah.
Whereas in chapter 1 we were told only that theparousia of Jesus
Christ will make his identity as the Messiahunequivocally clear,
here at the climax of the whole book Jesus'messiahship is already
declared by the divine voice. Clearly weare back in the same
context of issues as chapters 1 and 2presuppose.
Less obvious is the significance of the vision: the one tent,
notmade with human hands, contrasted with the three tents
Peterproposes to make. The tent not made with human hands (theGreek
must have been O"lCllvli l1XEtpo7toill'tll) reminds us ofMark
14:58, where Jesus' prophecy of the destruction of thetemple
contrasts the present temple, made with hands, and
theeschatological temple, not made with hands. It also
resemblesHebrews 9:11, which contrasts the earthly tent (the
tabernacle),made with hands, and the heavenly sanctuary: the
greater andperfect tent, not made with hands, that is, not of this
creation .Our text is not dependent on either of these passages but
movesin the same world of ideas. The tent not made with human
handswhich the Father has made for Jesus and his elect is the
heavenlytemple. It is God's heavenly dwelling-place in which he
willdwell with his people in the eschatological age, when
God'sdwelling -God's O1(llVll- will be with his people (Rev 21:3).
InJewish and Jewish Christian Greek O"lCllVll was used as
equiva-lent to mishkan because of the correspondence of the
conso-nants of O"lCllVll with the Hebrew root shakan. So it really
meant,not so much tent , as dwelling-place : the tabernacle or
thetemple as the divine dwellingplace. (In Tobit 13:11 0"1C1lvf1 is
usedfor the temple which is to be rebuilt in the eschatological
age.)So the connexion is easily made between the three tents or
dwel-lings which Peter proposes to build for Jesus, Moses and
Elijah,
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41APOCALYPSE OF PETER
and the heavenly temple which is to be the real
eschatologicaldwelling-place of Jesus and his elect with God.
Peter's error is topropose to build earthly tents himself, instead
of the heavenlytemple, not made with human hands, which God has
made.
But why is Peter so severely rebuked for this error, and why
isit corrected, not simply by the vision of the heavenly temple,
butalso by the voice which makes clear the identity of the
falseMessiah? Peter's proposal is taken to show that Satan has
blindedhis mind both to the identity of the true Messiah and to
thenature of the eschatological temple. The point must be that
theproposal to build earthly tents, made with human hands,
asso-ciates Peter with the false Messiah. The whole passage
makesexcellent sense and connects with the concerns of the
openingchapters if we assume that the messianic pretender whom
theApocalypse of Peter opposes was intending to rebuild the
templein Jerusalem. The author understands Peter's proposal to
buildthe three tents as, so to speak, endorsing this project of the
falseMessiah. By contrast, the temple in which God will dwell
withthe true Messiah Jesus and his people is not an earthly
temple,constructed by human hands, but the heavenly temple, made
byGod himself. Thus the distinguishing of the true Messiah fromthe
false is closely linked with understanding the kind of templethat
each promises to his people. The climactic revelation of
theApocalypse of Peter, by revealing both the true Temple and
thetrue Messiah, counters the satanically inspired temptation
tofollow the false Messiah in his proposal to build an earthly
temple.
This interpretation of the passage is further confirmed
andreinforced when we notice the location of the scene. For this
wemust go back to 15:1. The first fourteen chapters of
theApocalypse of Peter were located, like Matthew's
eschatologicaldiscourse, on the Mount of Olives. But in 15:1, there
is a changeof location: Jesus says to Peter: Let us go to the holy
moun-tain . The last three chapters of the apocalypse are thus
locatedon the holy mountain. Which mountain is meant? It is true
that2 Peter (1:18) locates the transfiguration on the holy
mountain,and the author of the Apocalypse of Peter probably knew 2
Peter.But this does not mean that he would not have intended
aspecific mountain. He would probably have understood, in2 Peter's
reference to the transfiguration, the deliberate allusionsto Psalm
2, where God says: I have set my king on Zion, myholy mountain 34.
Moreover, he would have known that the
34. R. BAucKHAM, Jude, 2 Peter (Word Biblical Commentary 50;
Waco,Texas: Word Books, 1983), p. 219-221.
-
42
R.
BAUCKHAM
only mountain which the Old Testament ever calls the
holymountain is mount Zion, the temple mount. So in Apocalypseof
Peter 15:1, Jesus is proposing that he and the disciples crossthe
Kidron valley from the Mount of Olives to the Templemount. Thus the
visions that follow are located where, forexample, in the Syriac
Apocalypse of Baruch (13:1), Baruchreceives revelations from God
about the eschatological future-revelations which answer Baruch's
anguish and perplexityabout the destruction of Jerusalem and the
Temple (cf. also3 Baruch: introduction). Baruch received his
revelations amidthe ruins of the Temple (cf. 2 Bar 8-9). The author
of theApocalypse of Peter, of course, knew that at the fictional
time atwhich his own work is set the second Temple was still
standing,but he passes over it in silence. He thus allows the
implicationthat it is actually on the site of the temple that Peter
proposes toerect the three tents. In this climax of his work, our
author isactually offering his own answer to the issue that
preoccupiedthe Jewish apocalyptists of his time: in the divine
purpose whatis to replace the second temple? Like some of them -for
hisanswer is distinctively Christian only in making a connexion
withthe messiahship of Jesus -he turned from all thought of ahuman
attempt to rebuild the earthly temple in favour of atranscendent
temple provided by God.
This argument about the meaning of Apocalypse of Peter 16:7-17:1
really requires that the rebuilding of the temple inJerusalem was a
central policy of the messianic movement theApocalypse opposes.
From the coins of the Bar Kokhba revoltwe know that this was indeed
the case with Bar Kokhba's cam-paign. There is no need for us to
decide the debated question ofwhether the rebels succeeded in
capturing Jerusalem 35. In anycase, the intention to liberate
Jerusalem was undoubtedly thecentral proclaimed intention of the
revolt. But this carried withit the intention to rebuild the temple
36. From the beginning ofthe revolt, a representation of the temple
featured on all thetetradrachma coins of the regime. Various
objects associatedwith the worship of the temple featured on other
coins 37. Thetemple and its worship seem to have been one of,
perhaps thecentral symbol of the revolt. Anyone asking the purpose
of therevolt might well have been told: to liberate Jerusalem,
to
35. Cf. B. ISAAC and A. OPPENHEIMER, The Revolt of Bar Kokhbaop.
cit., p. 54-55.36. Cf. ibid., p. 47-48.37. Cf. ibid., p. 49.
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43APOCALYPSE OF PETER
rebuild the temple, to restore the temple worship. It was
thiscentral religious as well as political purpose which united
mostPalestinian Jews in support of Bar Kokhba 38 and
presumablyencouraged them to see him as the Messiah anointed by God
tofulfil this purpose.
Understood against this background, the Apocalypse of Petervery
interestingly reveals to us that the Jewish Christians ofPalestine
-or, at least, those who took the same view as ourauthor -not only
could not acknowledge Bar Kokhba asMessiah, but also that they had
no sympathy for his central aimof rebuilding the temple. For them
an earthly temple had nofurther place in the divine purpose. To any
who were tempted tojoin their fellow-Jews in this aim of rebuilding
the temple, theApocalypse of Peter says that Satan has veiled their
minds. Itsapocalyptic revelation of the true Messiah and the true
Templeis designed to open their eyes and uncover their ears, as it
didPeter's.
II. JUDGMENT
The dominant theme in the Apocalypse of Peter is the
escha-tological judgment. The concern with this theme of
judgmentrelates to the situation which the Apocalypse of Peter
addresses,as we considered it in the last chapter. It is a
situation in which afalse Messiah is putting to death those who
refuse to supporthim out of their loyalty to the true Messiah. The
persecutors andapostates flourish, while those who follow the way
of righteous-ness suffer persecution and martyrdom. It is the
classic apocalyp-tic situation, which we can trace right back to
the Book ofDaniel. It is the classic apocalyptit problem of
theodicy. It is pre-cisely the context in which the cla$sic early
Jewish expectation ofthe resurrection and judgment of the dead, the
achievement ofjustice in the end by means of eschatological rewards
andpunishments, had taken shape. Thus the author of theApocalypse
of Peter was heir tb a long tradition which hadaddressed precisely
such a situation as his and had developed ascenario of
eschatological judgment which he was able to re-present by means of
a series of highly traditional themes.Nothing in the Apocalypse of
Peter's account of eschatological
38. L. MILDENBERG, Coinage, op. cit.,p. 31-48.
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44 R. BAUCKHAM
judgment is specifically Christian except the identification of
thedivine judge as Jesus Christ in his parousia. The interest of
theaccount lies in its exceptionally detailed and complete
compilationof traditional apocalyptic themes on this subject.
In this chapter we shall study the various themes connectedwith
eschatological judgment in the first fourteen chapters of
theApocalypse of Pete!: For the most part, we shall consider them
in