Jesus, Prophet of Islam - The Islamic Bulletin

TheShepherd of Hermas 143

When the contents of the Bible became more accessible to peo­
ple, the books in the Apocrypha were then removed from the Bible,
at a time when only very few people had copies of these books
which were publidy being destroyed, along with those who were
found in possession of them. This, as with the Gospel of Barnabas,
was the fate of The Shepherd of Hermas. It was removed from the
New Testament, and, since the first 'cornrnand' in it created confu­
sion in the rninds of those who were being asked to believe in the
doctrine of theTrinity, attempts were made to destroy it completely.
These attempts proved unsuccessful, There are records of refer­
ences being made to it, but no one in the West had had the oppor­
tunity of reading it for a long time. Then, suddenly, in 1922, a third
century papyrus manuscript of the text carne to light.
It was found that the Greek used by Hermas was a simple ver­
nacular. The language could be understood by the cornrnon peo­
ple and it is dear that the book was written for everyone and not
just for an intel1ectual elite. His style was frank and informal and
he possessed an originality of expression which made the book
easy to read.
Hermas begins by telling of four visions he experieneed, the
last of which he calls a revelation since on this occasion an angel
visited him dressed as a shepherd. The angel informed Hermas
that he had been sent by the 'most reverend angel' (that is, the
angel Gabriel), to live with Hermas for the re~t.of-tIre-aaysof his
life.
The angel then ordered Hermas to write down all 'the Com­
mands and the Parables.' 5ince these were dictated to mm by the
angel, who only related what he was told to say by the 'most rever­
end angel', The Shepherd was accepted as a revealed book by the
earlier Christians.
The cornrnands he was told to write down were these:

1. First of all believe that God is One and that He
   created all things and organised them, and out of what
   did not exist made all things to be, and He contains all
   things but Alone is Himself uncontained. Trust Him
   therefore and fear Him, and, fearing Him, be self-con­
   trolled. Keep this cornrnand and you will cast away from
   yourself all wickedness, put on every virtue of upright­
   ness, and you will live to God ifyou keep this cornrnand­
   ment.