εὐδοδιδάσκαλος does not occur in the report of our rd’s words in Mt, or indeed anywhere in the NT
expent in2P. But in Christian circles, where the 8
words wWevdddedgos, ψευδαπόστολος, ψευδολόγος, ψευ- δομάρτυς, ψευδοπροφήτης, ψευδόχριστος were all current (all occurring in NT), and where a διδάσκαλος was closely allied to a προφήτης, the word ψευδοδιδάσ- xaos Was sure to arise, and its occurrence in two writers cannot be taken to imply literary obliga- tion. In Ep. Polyc. 7 we find ras ψευδοδιδασκαλίας, and in Didaché 13%? διδάσκαλος ἀληθινός ppp as well as προφήτης ἀληθινός---ὃι phrase which implies ψευδοδιδάσκαλος. (2) A parallel is drawn in Justin, as in 2P, between the false teachers in the Chris- tian Church and the false prophets in Israel. But it will be observed (a) that the comparison is very natural in a discussion of the presence of prophetic gifts in the Church ; (8) that Justin does not speak of it as part of the warning for which he quotes the Lord’s authority. There is a similarity between the passage in 2 P and that in Justin, but it justi- fies no other conclusion in the case of Justin than that which we reached in the case of Hermas.
(i) Melito.—A passage is quoted from a fragment of Melito’s Apology, which has been preserved in a Syriac translation (Cureton, Spicilegium Syriacum,
. 5Uf.), of which the principal clauses are as Ἐπότες ‘There was once a flood and wind, and the chosen men were destroyed by a mighty north wind... but, again, at another time there was a flood of waters, and all men and living crea- tures were destroyed by the multitude of waters, and the just were preserved in an ark of wood, by the ordinance of God. So also it will be at the last time; there shall be a flood of fire, and the earth shall be burnt up together with its moun- tains, and men shall be ἘΠΕ up together with the idols which they have made... and the sea, together with its isles, shall be burnt; and the just shall be delivered from the fury, like their fellows in the ark from the waters of the Deluge.’ It should be noticed that earlier in the fragment
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(p. 50) there had been an allusion to the judgment of fire: ‘Fear Him who shaketh the earth... and removeth the mountains from their place; Him who can make Himself like fire, and burn up everything.’ Further, it will be observed (a) that Melito refers not only to the Flood and the great judgment by fire, but also to the destruction of the Tower of Babel; and (8) that the destruction of the Tower has a place in the Sibylline Oracles ili. 97 ff., while in the immediately preceding con- text (iii. 82 ff.) there is a prophecy of the destrue- tion of the world by fire. In line 109 there is an incidental allusion to the Flood, a subject which is treated at length in bk. i., the early date, how- ever, of this book not being so fully established as that of bk. iii. (Schiirer, WJ P τὰ. iii. p. 287). There are no links of phraseology or of characteristic ideas which connect Melito with 2 P. The verdict, therefore, of Westcott (Canon p. 223 n.) seems to be the only reasonable one: ‘It is impossible therefore to aflirin that the reference in Melito is to 2 Peter, and not rather to the Sibyllines or to the wide- spread tradition on which they rested.’
(k) Theophilus of Antioch.—Two passages have been pointed out in Theophilus ad Autolychum, which, it is urged, have all the appearance of being reminiscences of 2 P. (i.) ii. 9, of δὲ rod θεοῦ ἄνθρωποι, πνευματοφόροι * πνεύματος ἁγίου καὶ προφῆται γενόμενοι x.t.A. Compare 2 P 15} ὑπὸ πνεύματος ἁγίου φερόμενοι ἐλάλησαν ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἄνθρωποι (οἱ ἅγιοι θεοῦ ἄνθρωποι, NA, etc.). But it must be noticed that the key-word of the passage (xvevparopdpos) is derived from the LXX ae Hos 97 (ὁ προφήτης... ὁ πνευματοφόροΞς), Zeph 3"; that Theophilus uses the word in the sense of ‘an inspired speaker’ in ii. 22 (al ἅγιαι γραφαὶ καὶ πάντες ol πνευματοφόροι), iii. 12 (διὰ τὸ τοὺς πάντας πνευματοφόρους ἑνὶ πνεύματι θεοῦ λελαληκέναι) ; that language similar to that under discussion is habitual in Theophilus; see ii. 33, 35, iii. 17, ef. Justin, Apol. i. 33; and, lastly, that the phrase ‘man of God’ is very common in the OT (occurring some 50 times) in reference to a prophet. Thus a reference to other passages in Theophilus shows that here he is using LXXx language in reference to the Prophets. (ii.) ii. 13. In his treat- ment of the Divine command, ‘ Let there be light,’ Theophilus observes, ἡ διάταξις οὖν τοῦ θεοῦ, τοῦτό ἐστιν ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ, φαίνων ὥσπερ λύχνος ἐν οἰκήματι συνεχομένῳ, ἐφώτισεν τὴν ὑπ᾽ οὐρανόν. The metaphor is thought to be derived from 2P 1}, But the word οἴκημα is suggested by the previous context— ἄνθρωπος yap κάτω ὧν ἄρχεται ἐκ τῆς γῇ οἰκοδομεῖν ---- the human building is contrasted with the Divine. The metaphor of the λύχνος is obviously su rgested by the subject under discussion—the light kindled by man is contrasted with the light kindled by God. If it is thought necessary to find a ‘source’ for a metaphor so obvious in the context, 2 Es 12" (‘Tn enim nobis superasti ex omnibus pro- yhetis, sicut Zucerna in loco obscuro’) is as near to ‘heoph. as is 2 P. ’