asserts. 1 Peter is a book more congenial to such a man as Polycarp, who was more fitted to be a simple recipient of the general tradition. And it is to be remembered that Polycarp takes us back to a time when the idea of a Canon of New Testament Scripture was in its infancy.
Our document is first quoted with the formula Peter or Peter in his Epistle says in the latter part of the second century.
Irenzus, the disciple of Polycarp, whose book Against Heresies was written while Eleutherus was Bishop of Rome (Α.Ρ. 175-189),} is the earliest witness to its reception as such. He appealed to it (for example) along with Paul and Isaiah: “ et Petrus ait in epistula : ? Quem non videntes diligitis, inquit, in quem nunc non videntes credt- distis, gaudebitis gaudio inenarrabili”’. Inanother place it is quoted after Moses and the Lord: “et propter hoc Petrus, ait, non vela- mentum malitiae habere nos libertatem* sed ad probationem et manifestationem fidei ”.
Tertullian, a little later, puts Peter on a level with Paul in respect of his inspiration, and explains their agreement as due to the fact that they were inspired by the same spirit: “de modestia quidem cultus et ornatus aperba praescriptio est etiam Petri cohibentis eodem ore quia eodem et spiritu quo Paulus, et vestium gloriam et auri superbiam et crinium lenoniam operositatem’’.® In his Antidote to the poison of the Gnostics, which may perhaps be dated Α.Ρ. 213, he cites 1 Peter as addressed to the natives of Pontus: “ Petrus quidem ad Ponticos, Quanta enim, inquit, gloria st non ut delin- quentes puniamini, sustinetis, Haec enim gratia est, in hoc et vocati estis, quoniam et Christus passus est pro nobis, relinquens vobis exemplum semetipsum, utt adsequamini vestigia ipsius. Et rursus Dilecti ne expavescatis ultionem quae agitur in vobis in temptationem, quasi novum accidat vobis; etenim secundum quod communicatis passionibus Christi, gaudete, uti et in revelatione gloriae eius gau- deatis exultantes: st dedecoramini nomine Christi, beati estis, quo- niam gloria et det spiritus requiescat in vobis, dum ne quis vestrum patiatur, ut homicida aut fur aut maleficus aut alieni -speculator. Si autem ut Christianus, ne erubescat, glorificet autem dominum in nomine tsto.®
1“ yoy δωδεκάτῳ τόπω τὸν τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς ἀπὸ τῶν ᾿Αποστόλων κατέχει κλῆρον Ελεύθερος.’ Irenzus, Adv. Haer., iii. 3. 3 (Harvey’s edition).
2 Adv. Haer. iv. 19, 2 1 Peter i. 8. 3 Adv. Haer. iv. 28. 41 Peter ii. 16.
5 De Oratione, xv. referring to 1 Peter iii. 3 and Tim. ii. 9; compare Clement of Alexandria, Paedagogus, III., xi. 66, quoted above.
6 Scorpiace xii. = 1 Peter ii. 20, 21 and iv. 12-15.