Most believers are unfamiliar with the majority of what has been covered thus far. Some have an awareness of the church Fathers and Apologists discussed in the previous articles. Yet among these there is still a general ignorance of what they had to say. Even fewer have heard of the many Christian texts produced in the Post-apostolic era (beyond the 1st century). There are three texts pertinent to our discussion from this period: the Apocalypse of Peter, the Epistle of Barnabas, and the Didache. We will briefly overview these documents below.
[This article will be interacting with both Michael J. Gorman’s book Abortion and the Early Church, The Apocalypse of Peter in Context by Daniel C. Maier, Jörg Frey, and Thomas J. Kraus, as well as Dr. James A. Kleist’s work entitled The Didache, The Epistle of Barnabas, The Epistles and the Martyrdom of St. Polycarp, The Fragments of Papias, The Epistle of Diognetus.]
The Epistle of Barnabas
The Epistle of Barnabas is a text from the Post-apostolic era that is little known among modern Christians. Dr. James A. Kleist comments on its alleged enigmatic date and compositional frame of reference.
“We do not know who the author of the Epistle of Barnabas is, or when and where he wrote, or to what specific group of Christian readers he addressed his words of warning. Nor is the meaning of some allusions to his time beyond all doubt.
One thing is certain: it is only from this epistle that we learn the interesting fact that between the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 and the second catastrophe in Hadrian’s time, Judaism, which had been a disturber of peace from earliest times, raised its head so high as to become a grave danger to a certain Christian community.”
Kleist continues:
“No certainty regarding the purpose of this letter has as yet been reached, but a theory is gaining ground in recent years which fixes the date of composition definitely within Hadrian’s time, between 117 and 138.”
The Epistle of Barnabas deals with a number of issues facing its intended audience. It, like other letters, provides instruction regarding Christian morals and ethics. Based on its dating, the epistle echoes positions and stances of earlier writings. Of note is its similarities to that of the Didache (which will be covered later in this article), a late 1st century text, with regard to a tradition known as the “Two Ways,” as well as the practice of abortion.
Gorman comments:
“…the Epistle of Barnabas, in its practical section on the Way of Light, repeats exactly the same words in a list of “thou shalt (not)” statements including, just before the abortion prohibition, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor more than thy own life.” The fetus is seen, not as a part of its mother, but as a neighbor. Abortion is rejected as contrary to other-centered neighbor love.”
As we will see later, the Epistle of Barnabas maintains doctrinal, moral, and ethical stances that are assumed to have been passed down by the original apostles themselves.
The Apocalypse of Peter
The Apocalypse of Peter is another relatively unfamiliar Post-apostolic text. Scholars date the Apocalypse of Peter between 100 – 150 CE, with Richard Bauckham placing it in the period of the Bar Kokhba revolts of 132 – 136 CE.
The apocalypse is included among the Muratorian Fragment and quoted by the Sibylline Oracles. Its inclusion in the Muratorian Fragment “cannon” list (dated to the late 2nd century 160-200 CE), along with the compilers’ commentary regarding it, lends to the notion that its composition is likely closer to the terminus post quem of 100 CE. The date of its composition places it before the writing of the canonical epistles of 1st Peter and 2nd Peter. As such, it is likely the earliest of what scholars call the Petrine writings.
The content of the apocalypse was vivid and graphic in nature. So much so that it is said that many did not want it read in Christian gatherings. (It is an interesting coincidence that most modern Churches and congregants prefer the topic of abortion to not be discussed at their gatherings either.) The text describes an apocalyptic vision attributed to Peter that presents the various levels of “hell” and the different punishments experienced by each level’s occupants.
Pertinent to our discussion is the section that deals with those who practiced abortion and aborted children. The Akhmim Fragment of the apocalyptic text states that:
“And near that place I saw another gorge in which the discharge and excrement of the tortured ran down and became like a lake. And there sat women, and the discharge came up to their throats; and opposite them sat many children, who were born prematurely, weeping. And from them went forth rays of fire and smote the women on the eyes. And these were those who produced children outside marriage and who procured abortions.”
The Ethiopic text, a longer version, includes:
“And the children shall be given to the [caretaking, protecting] angel Temlakos. And those who slew them will be tortured for ever, for God wills it to be so.”
The author of the apocalypse was convinced that not only was abortion murder but that the eternal penalty for it was as grotesque as the act itself.
Gorman observes:
“These texts are important for their powerful presentation of the destiny of aborters and the aborted. It is evident that this picture is drawn, even with apocalyptic imagination, from deep ethical and emotional convictions. Especially gripping is the vision of the infants’ vengeance on their mothers. Whatever judgment on that idea is made, the theological basis for the entire text must be seen as an understanding of abortion as the culpable murder of a human being. Unborn children are viewed as living beings destined for immortality, and both men and women responsible for aborting them are guilty and worthy of eternal punishment. Methodius of Olympus and Clement of Alexandria were later inspired by this apocalyptic perspective.”
The Didache or the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles
The date of composition for the Didache is debated among scholars. Kleist states that:
“…since the Didache offers a somewhat modified form of the Apostolic decree (see 6. 2 and 3), some time must have elapsed between the year 50 and the date of composition. If we allow the space of a whole decade to have intervened between the two events, we reach the year 60, and it is impossible to disprove the statement of some scholars that the Didache was written, if not in whole, at least in part, between 60 and 70. Others prefer the period between 70 and 80, while still others cling to the following decade, 80–90. It should, therefore, be admitted that we have a thoroughly conservative, and altogether reliable, estimate in the statement of many leading scholars that the Didache was written “before the end of the first century”.”
This dating places the Didache at what is regarded to be the end of the Apostolic era yet still well within the 1st century. That puts the content of the Didache in proximity to the direct sphere of influence of the original apostles, though it is impossible to surmise if they participated in its written composition. Using Kleist’s date, the Didache represents the earliest Christian position on abortion.
It is important to note that the Didache was considered authoritative and used by generations of the Christian community until the late 4th to early 5th century.
Athanasius in his Festal Letter 39 makes this clear. It has been described as a manual for Christian life and doctrine, akin to catechistism. Scholars have offered their postulations, but there is no documented historical reason why it was excluded from the canon of scripture.
Among other doctrinal concerns, the Didache provides clear instruction regarding a number of moral and ethical issues. Abortion is one such issue. The document describes a tradition known as the “Two Ways”which contrasts Light and Darkness, or Life and Death. Gorman notes that:
“The Didache maintains that there is a “great difference” between these two ways. In an exposition of the second great commandment (“Love your neighbor as yourself”) as part of the Way of Life, the author makes a list of “thou shalt not” statements obviously modeled on, and in part quoting, the Decalogue of the Septuagint. The list of prohibitions includes murder, adultery, sodomy, fornication, theft, the use of magic and philters, infanticide and abortion.
Literally, it declares: “Thou shalt not murder a child by abortion/destruction.” (Ou phoneuseis teknon en phthora. That phthora, “destruction”, refers to abortion, not infanticide, is made clear from the following: oude gennēthen apokteneis).
In his essay “An Almost Absolute Value in History”, John T. Noonan argues that even therapeutic abortion is rejected by this joining of the abortion prohibition and the command to love one’s neighbor above oneself. With regard to the “Two Ways”, Gorman continues:
“On the other hand, the Way of Death, according to the Didache, is full of cursing, murders, adulteries, idolatries, robberies and hypocrisies. It is also filled with people who are “murderers of children,” an echo of the prohibition against abortion (though it may also refer to infanticide), and “corrupters of God’s creatures,” which a third-century Latin version renders abortuantes, reflecting knowledge of the use of the Greek term phthoreus for abortionists.”
What the Didache makes clear is that the disciples of the original apostles understood from their teaching that abortion was murder and a violation of the second greatest commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself.” So firm was their understanding of this as the apostolic, and therefore orthodox Christian position, that they did not deem it necessary to attribute this position to any subset within the Twelve. Rather they were content to present it as the view held by all.
Conclusion
What we learn from these 2nd and 1st century texts is that the anti-abortion stance, along with the belief that the fetus was a human life, can be traced back to the mid to late 1st century, well within the Apostolic era. This provides us with a contextual framework in which we can better understand the New Testament writers’ use of terminology that was associated with the practice of abortion.