The question now arises, not so much from whom, but when, did he receive
this view of Christ and His system. I do not mean, of course, the more
minute features, but the substance. To what period must his
reminiscences as a Christian extend? What time must his experiences
cover? Irenaeus, in the place I have quoted, speaks of him as the
companion of Apostles, Clement of Alexandria as an Apostle, Eusebius and
Origen as the fellow-labourer of St. Paul. Now, I will not at present
insist upon the more than likelihood that such was the fact. I will, for
argument's sake, assume that he was some other Clement; but, whoever he
was, one thing respecting him is certain--that the knowledge of
Christianity was not poured into him at the moment when he wrote his
Epistle, nor did he receive it ten--twenty--thirty years before. St.
Peter and St. Paul were martyred in A.D. 68; the rest of the Apostolic
College were dispersed long before. This Epistle shows little or no
trace of the peculiar Johannean teaching or tradition of the Apostle who
survived all the others; so, unless he had received his Christian
teaching some years before the Martyrdom of the two Apostles Peter and
Paul, that is, some time before A.
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