First Epistle of Peter. 391 



are to be found elsewhere, also that the context does not refer to 

 our Epistle. Mr. Crombie (Antenicene Fathers II, 47) sees here 

 a reference to I Peter, but Bishop Lightfoot fails to record it. 



(10) Sim. IX, xvi, 5 I Pt. 4 ; 6 



oOtoi 01 aizoazoXoi xal ol ^tBac- ol aTCoBo'xroLxjtv Xoyov T(o £TOI[j.o)5 

 xa>>oi 01 xTjp'JHavT-Si; to ovop.a tou xpivovTi ^oivTa? xol vexpou? * si? 



UlOU TOO 0£Oti, X0l[XY]8-£VT£? £V TOUTO Y'^'P '^'^^ v£xpoT? EUYiyyEXlfTQ-rj 



Buva[Ji£i xai m<7T£t toQ uioO toD tva xptd-wat [jlev xaxa avB^pcoAOu? 

 €)£oD £xr,p!j|av xal toT? xpox£xoi- o-apxi ^wat Bs xaira d"£ov 7iv£Ujj.aT:i. 

 jjLYi[i£voic, xai auTOi iBwxav atJiroT? 

 T7]v G-'-ppayTBa iro3 XYiptJY[j.aTo? 



Bigg thinks Hermas here is explaining I Pt. 4 ; 6, and bases his 

 argument largely on the occurrence of the " Petrine word ^wo- 

 -;;oi£Tv" just before the reference cited. This is indeed suggestive, 

 yet a dubious argument since the " Petrine word " is really a Pau- 

 line word. It occurs but once in our Epistle (3; 18), but Paul 

 uses it seven or eight times. Cf. Rom. 4; 17, 8; 11, I Cor. 15; 

 22, 36, 45, II Cor. 3; 6, Gal. 3 ; 21. See aJso I Tim. 6 ; 13, Jn. 5 ; 

 21a, and b, 6; 63. The thought of the passage is close to that 

 of I Peter, yet our Epistle no where speaks of the ocizorrxoloi xai 

 BiBoc'Txaloi preaching to the dead. Just above in I Pt. 3; 19 our 

 author has told of Christ preaching to the spirits in prison Pos- 

 sibly this may refer to I Peter, but the " harrowing of hell " 

 is a mythological loan of early Christianity not confined to our 

 Epistle. Drummond, Crombie and Lightfoot fail to record this as 

 a parallel. 



On the cumulative evidence of all the foregoing parallels it would 

 seem that we are justified in claiming a higher degree of probable 

 dependence of Hermas on our Epistle than Drummond, or even 

 Monnier, who says, after pointing out that Westcott, Gebhardt 

 and Harnack see striking resemblances, that : " On ne peut en dire 

 autant de I'ecrit de Pierre; mais il est fort possible pourtant 

 qu' Hermas le connaisse." 



