In my latest reading of By Light, Light: The Mystic Gospel of Hellenistic Judaism,
Erwin Goodenough referred to W. Bousset's treatment of the Apostolic
Constitutions, as well as interacted with the Apostolic Constitutions
himself. The Apostolic Constitutions was a fourth century Christian
document, whose provenance was probably Syria (see here).
The argument of Bousset and Goodenough is that there are parts of the
Apostolic Constitutions that were Hellenistic Jewish but that have
Christian interpolations. In this post, I will talk about the Sabbath
and the Mosaic law in the Apostolic Constitutions.
1. Regarding
the Sabbath, Goodenough quotes Apostolic Constitutions VII.36. I found a
translation of the Apostolic Constitutions on the New Advent site (see here), and that's what I will be quoting in this post. According
to Bousset, the Hellenistic Jewish part of VII.36 exalts the Sabbath as
a time for people to reflect upon creation, God's laws, and God's
blessings, as well as to desist from words of anger. It also refers to God bringing "our fathers" out of Egypt. But
a later Christian hand inserted stuff that says that God created the
world by Christ and that affirms that the Lord's Day is superior to the
Sabbath.
Armstrongite scholar Bob Thiel, in his article here,
refers to other parts of the Apostolic Constitutions that mention the
Sabbath. I will post those parts here and comment on them.
One passage is Apostolic Constitutions VII.23, which states:
"But
let not your fasts be with the hypocrites; for they fast on the second
and fifth days of the week. But do you either fast the entire five days,
or on the fourth day of the week, and on the day of the Preparation,
because on the fourth day the condemnation went out against the Lord,
Judas then promising to betray Him for money; and you must fast on the
day of the Preparation, because on that day the Lord suffered the death
of the cross under Pontius Pilate. But keep the Sabbath, and the Lord's
day festival; because the former is the memorial of the creation, and
the latter of the resurrection. But there is one only Sabbath to be
observed by you in the whole year, which is that of our Lord's burial,
on which men ought to keep a fast, but not a festival. For inasmuch as
the Creator was then under the earth, the sorrow for Him is more
forcible than the joy for the creation; for the Creator is more
honourable by nature and dignity than His own creatures."
This
passage exhorts Christians to observe the Sabbath and the Lord's Day,
and I do not think that it is a Hellenistic Jewish passage that has
Christian interpolations. The passage with which Bousset
interacts, Apostolic Constitutions VII.36, looks like a Jewish document
with blocks of Christian material inserted into it----you can actually
separate out the Christian parts, and it would make sense as a Jewish
document. But Apostolic Constitutions VII.23 looks Christian from
beginning to end. At the same time, there does appear to be
tension within Apostolic Constitutions VII.23, and I wonder if that
could be due to different Christian hands behind the passage. Apostolic
Constitutions VII.23 tells Christians to observe the Sabbath as a
memorial of creation, then it says that Christians should only observe
one Sabbath in the entire year----the fast that commemorates Jesus'
burial.
The other passage that Thiel cites is Apostolic Constitutions VIII.33:
"I
Peter and Paul do make the following constitutions. Let the slaves work
five days; but on the Sabbath day and the Lord's day let them have
leisure to go to church for instruction in piety. We have said that the
Sabbath is on account of the creation, and the Lord's day of the
resurrection. Let slaves rest from their work all the great week, and
that which follows it— for the one in memory of the passion, and the
other of the resurrection; and there is need they should be instructed
who it is that suffered and rose again, and who it is permitted Him to
suffer, and raised Him again. Let them have rest from their work on the
Ascension, because it was the conclusion of the dispensation by Christ.
Let them rest at Pentecost, because of the coming of the Holy Spirit,
which was given to those that believed in Christ. Let them rest on the
festival of His birth, because on it the unexpected favour was granted
to men, that Jesus Christ, the Logos of God, should be born of the
Virgin Mary, for the salvation of the world. Let them rest on the
festival of Epiphany, because on it a manifestation took place of the
divinity of Christ, for the Father bore testimony to Him at the baptism;
and the Paraclete, in the form of a dove, pointed out to the bystanders
Him to whom testimony was borne. Let them rest on the days of the
apostles: for they were appointed your teachers to bring you to Christ,
and made you worthy of the Spirit. Let them rest on the day of the first
martyr Stephen, and of the other holy martyrs who preferred Christ to
their own life."
This passage also appears to be Christian from beginning to end. It
says that slaves should rest on the Sabbath as a day to commemorate
creation and Christ's passion, as well as on other days (i.e., the
Lord's Day, the Ascension, Pentecost, and Epiphany).
2. Regarding
the Mosaic law, Goodenough refers to Apostolic Constitutions
VIII.12.6-27. According to Goodenough (and perhaps Bousset), the Jewish
Hellenistic part is saying that God gave the natural law to the
patriarchs, and that was sufficient for them, but God later gave the
Mosaic law to ordinary people , as a supplement to the natural law, and
this, along with Israel's possession of the Promised Land, seems to have
solved the problems of creation. Goodenough states that a
Christian hymn or prayer regards the law as inadequate, which was why
Christ had to come, and yet he notes that there is no heavy-handed
Christian interpolation in VIII.12.6-27, which has a couple of "through
Christ"s, and affirms that the logos whom Abraham saw was Jesus.
I'm
curious as to the audience of the Apostolic Constitutions. Syria, the
document's provenance, has been believed by many scholars to have been
the provenance of the Gospel of Matthew, which is deemed a
Jewish-Christian Gospel. Even John Meier, who believes that a Gentile
wrote Matthew, holds that the Gospel of Matthew comes from a church that
was Jewish-Christian in its early days and retained Jewish-Christian
traditions (see here). Could that be why the Apostolic Constitutions is open to Jewish customs?