ers of
this period. The difference in the answers to the question, How far and
by what means, Jesus procured salvation? was very great, and the
majority undoubtedly never at all raised the question, being satisfied
with recognising Jesus as the revealer of God's saving will (Didache,
10. 2: [Greek: eucharistoi men soi, pater hagie, huper tou agiou
onomatos sou, ou kateskenosas en tais kardiais hemon kai huper tes
gnoseos kai pisteos kai athanasias, hes egnorisas hemin dia Iesou tou
paidos sou]), without reflecting on the fact that this saving will was
already revealed in the Old Testament. There is nowhere any mention of a
saving work of Christ in the whole Didache, nay, even the _Kerygma_
about him is not taken notice of. The extensive writing of Hermas shews
that this is not an accident. There is absolutely no mention here of the
birth, death, resurrection, etc., of Jesus, although the author in Sim.
V had an occasion for mentioning them. He describes the work of Jesus as
(1) preserving the people whom God had chosen. (2) purifying the people
from sin, (3) pointing out the path of life and promulgating the Divine
law (c. c. 5. 6). This work however, seems to have been performed by the
whole life and activity of Jesus; even to the purifying of sin the
author has only added the words: [Greek: (kai autos tas hamartias auton
ekatharise) polla kopiasas kai pollous kopous entlekos] (Sim. V. 6. 2).
But we must further note that Hermas held the proper and obligatory work
of Jesus to be only the preservation of the chosen people (from demons
in the last days, and at the end), while in the other two articles he
saw a performance in excess of his duty, and wished undoubtedly to
declare therewith, that the purifying from sin and the giving of the law
are not, strictly speaking, integral parts of the Divine plan of
salvation, but are due to the special goodness of Jesus (this idea is
explained by Moralism). Now, as Hermas, and others, saw the saving
activity of Jesus in his whole labours, others saw salvation given and
assured in the moment of Jesus' entrance into the world, and in his
personality as a spiritual being become flesh. This mystic conception,
which attained such wide-spread recognition later on, has a
representative in Ignatius, if one can at all attribute clearly
conceived doctrines to this emotional confessor. That something can be
declared of Jesus, [Greek: kata pneuma] and [Greek: kata sarka]--this is
the mystery o