Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

SHEPHERD OF HERMAS*

Volume composed by Hermas. Not much is known of Hermas other than the details he includes of himself in his work The Shepherd. In this story, Hermas states that he was originally a slave. He eventually gained his freedom, married, started a business, lost nearly everything, watched his children stray, and finally reunited his family. Hermas indicates that he knew Clement, the first-century bishop of Rome. From internal evidences, it is impossible to tell whether this biography is fictional or not. As to external facts, references to Hermas are contradictory. In the third century, Origen thought Hermas was the individual Paul mentioned in Romans 16:14. Other authorities, including the second-century Muratorian Canon, identified Hermas as a brother of Pius, bishop of Rome around 150. Most scholars today favor this second position. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, provided the first recorded reference to The Shepherd in 185.

In The Shepherd Hermas describes a series of visions about Christian life and morality. Throughout the story, Hermas is both the hero and the narrator. The story is set in Rome and is divided into three parts: 5 visions, 12 mandates, and 10 similitudes, or parables.

Five visions in the book allegorize Christian ethical truths with such symbolism as a tower under construction and an older woman who becomes youthful. The visions begin with Hermas as he is smitten by the beautiful Rhoda, to whom he is sold as a slave. In the second vision Rhoda reappears as an old woman, representing the church. This old woman becomes more youthful each time she appears. The visions portray the church growing and spreading, purified by suffering and, in the fourth vision, by the terrors of judgment.

It is in the fifth vision, while Hermas is in his own house, that he no longer sees the church, but a bright, glowing man appears dressed like a shepherd. The man has been sent to live with Hermas to teach him until his death. The man is “the Shepherd, the angel of repentance” who gives Hermas 12 mandates and 10 similitudes, which form the remaining sections of the work.

In brief, the 12 mandates depict Christian virtues—humility, chastity, truthfulness, long-suffering, simplicity, respectfulness, and good cheer. The mandates also exhort believers to purity and repentance. Prominent here is the “Two Ways” pattern of moral instruction (the way of life and the way of death). This mirrors the Didache and other early Christian ethical writings.

Finally, the 10 similitudes describe principles by which the Christian virtues may be attained. The similitudes consider such topics as Christians as strangers, the rich and the poor, the sinners and the righteous, blossoming and withered trees, the purpose of the commandments, fasting, and punishment. They also include long parables about branches, a tower, maidens, and mountains. The 10th similitude is not a parable but a concluding chapter to sum up the work of the Shepherd. Here Hermas sums up the focus of the book: “I, too, sir, declare to every person the mighty works of the Lord; for I hope that all who have sinned in the past, if they hear these things, will gladly repent and recover life.”

Throughout the early church, leaders gave Hermas’s book high respect. Eusebius of Caesarea noted that The Shepherd was read widely in the early church. Some important leaders, such as Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria, even considered it canonical Scripture. For Athanasius, the work was not Scripture, but it did offer, like the Didache, help for Christian learners. Because of its simplicity and candor, some have compared Hermas’s work with Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. The Shepherd serves as a valuable index to Christian ethics and moral instruction in Christianity’s earliest decades.

Hermas’s work exists in some Greek manuscripts and in many medieval Latin translations. Printed editions of the book began to appear in the early 1500s.