asi deo" on the part of the Christians. Hermas has no
doubt that the Chosen Servant, after finishing his work, will be adopted
as God's Son, and therefore has been destined from the beginning,
[Greek: eis exousian megalen kai kurioteta], Sim. V. 6. 1. But that
simply means that he is now in a Divine sphere and that one must think
of him as of God. But there was no unanimity beyond that. The formula
says nothing about the nature or constitution of Jesus. It might indeed
appear from Justin's dialogue that the direct designation of Jesus as
[Greek: theos] (not as [Greek: o theos]) was common in the communities,
but not only are there some passages in Justin himself to be urged
against this but also the testimony of other writers. [Greek: Theos],
even without the article, was in no case a usual designation for Jesus.
On the contrary, it was always quite definite occasions which led them
to speak of Christ as of a God or as God. In the first place there were
Old Testament passages such as Ps. XLV. 8, CX. 1 f. etc. which as soon
as they were interpreted in relation to Christ led to his getting the
predicate [Greek: theos]. These passages, with many others taken from
the Old Testament, were used in this way by Justin. Yet it is very well
worth noting that the author of the Epistle of Barnabas avoided this
expression in a passage which must have suggested it (12, 10, 11 on Ps.
CX. 4) The author of the Didache calls him "[Greek: o theos Dabid]" on
the basis of the above psalm. It is manifestly therefore in liturgical
formulae of exalted paradox or living utterances of religious feeling
that Christ is called God. See Ignat. ad Rom. 6. 3, [Greek: epitrepsate
moi mimeten einai tou pathous tou theou mou] (the [Greek: mou] here
should be observed), ad Eph. 1. 1 [Greek: anazopuresantes en aimati
theou], Tatian Orat. 13 [Greek: diakonos tou peponthotos theou]. As to
the celebrated passage 1 Clem. ad Cor. 2. 10 [Greek: ta pathemata autou]
(the [Greek: autou] refers to [Greek: theos]) we may perhaps observe
that that [Greek: o theos] stands far apart. However, such a
consideration is hardly in place. The passages just adduced shew that
precisely the union of suffering (blood, death) with the concept
"God"--and only this union--must have been in Christendom from a very
early period, see Acts XX. 28 [Greek: ten ekklaesian tou theou hen
periepoiesato dia tou haimatos tou idiou], and from a later period
Melito, Fragm (in Routh Rel Sacra I. 122