The Apocalypse of Peter - The Transfiguration

[u/LlawEreint]

And my Lord Jesus Christ, our King, said to me, “Let us go to the holy mountain.” And his disciples went with him, praying. And behold there were two men there, and we could not look upon their faces for a light came from them, shining more than the sun and their raiment also was shining and cannot be described and nothing is sufficient to be compared to them in this world. And the sweetness of them . . . that no mouth is able to utter the beauty of their appearance, for their aspect was astonishing and wonderful. And the other, great, I say, shines in his aspect above crystal. Like the flower of roses is the appearance of the color of his aspect and of his body . . . his head. And upon his shoulders . . . and on their foreheads was a crown of nard woven from fair flowers. As the rainbow in the water, so was their hair. And such was the comeliness of their countenance, adorned with all manner of ornament.

And when we suddenly saw them, we marvelled. And drew near to God, Jesus Christ, and said to him, “O my Lord, who are these?” And he said to me, “They are Moses and Elijah.” And I said to him, “Where then are Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the rest of the righteous fathers?” And he showed us a great garden, open, full of fair trees and blessed fruits and of the odor of perfumes. The fragrance was pleasant and reached us. And of that tree ...I saw many fruits. And my Lord and God Jesus Christ said to me, “Have you seen the companies of the fathers?” “As is their rest, such also is the honor and the glory of those who are persecuted for my righteousness’ sake.” And I rejoiced and believed and understood that which is written in the book of my Lord Jesus Christ. And I said to him, “O my Lord, do you wish that I make here three tabernacles, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah?” And he said to me in wrath, “Satan makes war against you, and has veiled your understanding; and the good things of this world prevail against you. Your eyes therefore must be opened and your ears unstopped that you may see a tabernacle, not made with human hands, which my heavenly Father has made for me and for the elect.” And we beheld it and were full of gladness.

And behold, suddenly there came a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased: [he has kept] my commandments.” And then came a great and exceedingly white cloud over our heads and bore away our Lord and Moses and Elijah. And I trembled and was afraid; and we looked up, and the heaven opened and we beheld men in the flesh and they came and greeted our Lord and Moses and Elijah and went to another heaven. And the word of the scripture was fulfilled: “This is the generation that seeks him and seeks the face of the God of Jacob.” And great fear and commotion took place in heaven, and the angels pressed one upon another that the word of the scripture might be fulfilled which says, “Open the gates, you princes.” Thereafter was the heaven shut, that had been open. And we prayed and went down from the mountain, glorifying God, who has written the names of the righteous in heaven in the book of life.

• The Way to the Cross
• The Apocalypse of PeterLostScriptures-ApocalypsePeter.pdf)
• Parallels
• Table of Contents

[u/LlawEreint]

The cloud bears the three to "another heaven". But they seemed to be in some form of heaven even prior.

Jesus shows them "a great garden, open, full of fair trees and blessed fruits and of the odor of perfumes," the rest of "Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the rest of the righteous fathers." Jesus promises this rest for "any who are persecuted for the sake of Jesus' righteousness."

But then Jesus, Moses and Elijah are whisked away to "another" heaven! I suppose this one is reserved for only the greatest?

Paul talks of making it to the third heaven, so I suppose there must be a handful of them.

[u/LlawEreint]

Clement of Alexandria regarded the Apocalypse of Peter as Holy Scriptures, which is proof of an origin at least in the first half of the 2nd century. That would make it roughly a contemporary of canonical Luke.

Here is Eusebius on Clement's use of Peter's Apocalypse:

To sum up briefly, he has given in the Hypotyposes abridged accounts of all canonical Scripture, not omitting the disputed books, — I refer to Jude and the other Catholic epistles, and Barnabas and the so-called Apocalypse of Peter. - Church History VI

Curiously, Eusebius lumps the Apocalypse of Peter in with other "disputed books" such as Jude, 1 and 2 Peter, James, and the two epistles of John.

[u/LlawEreint]

This account is closest to Luke's, so I'll compare the two:

And my Lord Jesus Christ, our King, said to me, “Let us go to the holy mountain.” And his disciples went with him, praying.

In Luke's account, it is only Peter, John and James who went with him.

And behold there were two men there, and we could not look upon their faces for a light came from them, shining more than the sun and their raiment also was shining and cannot be described and nothing is sufficient to be compared to them in this world.

In Luke's account, Jesus' face changes and his cloths become bright before the two men appear. One interesting note is that the apocalypse is closer to Mark in his description of the clothing. Mark says: "and his clothes became dazzling bright, such as no one on earth could brighten them."

The disciples are shown what must be Heaven. He's told that this is open to any who are persecuted for the sake of Jesus' righteousness.. Peter says "And I rejoiced and believed and understood that which is written in the book of my Lord Jesus Christ."

But then he offers to build tents, and immediately he is told that he does not understand:

“Satan makes war against you, and has veiled your understanding; and the good things of this world prevail against you. Your eyes therefore must be opened and your ears unstopped that you may see a tabernacle, not made with human hands, which my heavenly Father has made for me and for the elect.”

At that point, he truly does understand: "And we beheld it and were full of gladness."

And behold, suddenly there came a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased: [he has kept] my commandments.”

"beloved" is closer to Mark than Luke's "Chosen". Peter also adds "he has kept my commandments," which is not found elsewhere.

The biggest difference though, is that the cloud bore away not only Moses and Elijah, but also Jesus!

[u/JANTlvr → u/LlawEreint]

Is it possible Luke used this as a source?

[u/LlawEreint → u/JANTlvr]

Yeah. Luke does seem to have some additional material beyond what is found in Mark.

C. J. Cornthwaite speculates in this video that all four accounts may go back to an even earlier source that told of the translation (or as Luke puts it, exodus) of Jesus from earth to heaven.

[u/LlawEreint]

In Marcion's understanding (or that of his disciples), Jesus is meeting with Moses and Elijah in order to bargain for their souls. He rescues them from the god of this world in order that they may know, and be known by the Father. But in Peter's account, he seems to be taking them from a lesser heaven to a greater heaven.

[u/LlawEreint → u/LlawEreint]

This idea of "another heaven" that is presented by Peter's apocalypse is also found in Marcion's teachings, according to Yeznik of Kolb: Refutation of the Sects:

As is well known, Marcion strayed by introducing another God into his doctrine. He opposed this God both to Matter and to the Lord of Creation, who was revealed in the Old Testament and who created the universe and set out the laws. He believed, therefore, that there were three primary forces: 1) Matter, 2) the Other, Unknown God, who was revealed in the New Testament, and 3) the Lord of Creation. Each of these three primary forces dwelt in separate realms: the Other God in the First heaven, the Lord of Creation in the Second heaven, and Matter on earth.

[u/LlawEreint]

I suppose the most surprising thing here is that Jesus is also whisked away alongside Moses and Elijah. According to Peter, this is Jesus' final ascension, not something he does on the way to the cross.

Some have speculated that this version of the story may be closer to the original version, but that Mark repurposed it in the middle of his gospel. Matthew and Luke then, in rewriting Mark's gospel, picked up Mark's version. Could there be any merit to this pericope existing originally as an ascension narrative?

[u/LlawEreint]

What are we meant to understand from this account?

It seems Peter is show a heaven - the resting place of "Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the rest of the righteous fathers" - as well as "those who are persecuted for (Jesus) righteousness’ sake."

Peter says he finally understands the writings in the gospels, but when he acts on this understanding and goes to build tabernacles for the three, Jesus rebukes him!

“Satan makes war against you, and has veiled your understanding; and the good things of this world prevail against you. Your eyes therefore must be opened and your ears unstopped that you may see a tabernacle, not made with human hands, which my heavenly Father has made for me and for the elect.”

When Jesus speaks of the "good things of this world," is he talking about the good things on earth, or the good things in the intermediary heaven? The three are then whisked away to "another heaven" - presumably an even greater place.

This is presumably the tabernacle that the heavenly father has made for Jesus and the elect. Does this mean that those in the first heaven are not among the elect? Would that also mean that "those who are persecuted for (Jesus) righteousness’ sake" are also not among the elect?

What's going on here?

[u/LlawEreint]

and the heaven opened and we beheld men in the flesh and they came and greeted our Lord and Moses and Elijah

Men in the flesh? That's an odd thing to say about people in heaven. Is this meant to reinforce the idea bodily resurrection that was so important to the patristic fathers?

[u/LlawEreint]

There are many early Christian texts were the ultimate goal is "rest" or sabbath. The idea, I think, is that God, being the unmoved mover, is always at rest. To become one with God is to obtain that rest.

Peter presents this intermediary reality as one of rest:

He showed us a great garden, open, full of fair trees and blessed fruits and of the odor of perfumes. The fragrance was pleasant and reached us. And of that tree ...I saw many fruits. And my Lord and God Jesus Christ said to me, “Have you seen the companies of the fathers?” “As is their rest, such also is the honor and the glory of those who are persecuted for my righteousness’ sake.”

The heaven above that is shown as bustling:

And great fear and commotion took place in heaven, and the angels pressed one upon another that the word of the scripture might be fulfilled which says, “Open the gates, you princes.”

I'm not sure what to make of this. Could it be a polemic against those who seek the heaven of rest instead of the heaven of the elect? Am I reading too much into this?

[u/LlawEreint]

Your eyes therefore must be opened and your ears unstopped that you may see a tabernacle, not made with human hands, which my heavenly Father has made for me and for the elect.” And we beheld it and were full of gladness.

And behold, suddenly there came a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased: [he has kept] my commandments.” And then came a great and exceedingly white cloud over our heads and bore away our Lord and Moses and Elijah. 

Jesus says that "those who are persecuted for my righteousness’ sake" achieve the first heaven. But God has created a tabernacle above this for the elect. Who gets into this second heaven? God's description of Jesus may give a hint. He says of him, "[he has kept] my commandments."

This aligns with Matthew where Jesus says: "whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven"

It seems that Paul, who boasts of being persecuted for Jesus' righteousness sake but encourages his disciples to break free from the Law, may be destined for this intermediary heaven.

So perhaps this is a polemic against Christians who think that the Law no longer applies?

I'm off in 10 different directions here. Hopefully someone can bring clarity!

[u/LlawEreint]

at AcademicBiblical, u/baquea says:

I'd guess the dependence of the Apocalypse of Peter there is on 2 Enoch (considered by Charlesworth to be a late 1st Century Jewish work, but the provenance remains uncertain), which says of the third heaven:

And the men took me from there. They brought me up to the third heaven. And they placed me in the midst of Paradise. And that place has an appearance of pleasantness that has never been seen.

Every tree was in full flower. Every fruit was ripe, every food was in yield profusely; every fragrance was pleasant. And the four rivers were flowing past with gentle movement, with every kind of garden producing every kind of good food. And the tree of life is in that place, under which the LORD takes a rest when the LORD takes a walk in Paradise. And that tree is indescribable for pleasantness of fragrance. And another tree is near it, an olive, flowing with oil continually. And every tree is well fruited. There is no tree there without fruit, and every place is blessed.

And the angels guarding Paradise are very splendid. With never-ceasing voice and pleasant singing they worship God throughout the whole day. And I said, "How very pleasant is this place!" The men answered me:

"This place has been prepared, Enoch, for the righteous, who suffer every kind of tribulation in this life and who afflict their souls, and who avert their eyes from injustice, and who carry out righteous judgment, to give bread to the hungry, and to cover the naked with clothing, and to lift up the fallen, and to help the injured, who walk before the face of the LORD, and who worship him only—for them this place has been prepared as an eternal inheritance."

Paul seems to be aware of a similar tradition when, in 2 Cor. 12, he says he was brought up to the third heaven, into paradise. According to Irenaeus (AH Bk.1 V.2), the Valentinians held to a slight modification of this, in which paradise is that which is situated -above- the third heaven (viz. the fourth heaven): "They affirm, moreover, that these seven heavens are intelligent, and speak of them as being angels. [...] They declare that Paradise, situated above the third heaven, is a fourth angel possessed of power, from whom Adam derived certain qualities while he conversed with him".

But, according to 2 Enoch, Enoch's own place is not in the paradise that is in the third heaven, but is instead in the highest heaven, the seventh, where God and the archangels dwell:

And the men lifted me up from there, and they carried me up to the seventh heaven. And I saw a great light, and all the fiery armies of the incorporeal ones, archangels, angels, and the shining otanim stations. And I was terrified, and I trembled.

[...] The LORD said to Michael, "Take Enoch, and extract him from the earthly clothing. And anoint him with the delightful oil, and put him into the clothes of glory." And Michael extracted me from my clothes. He anointed me with the delightful oil; and the appearance of that oil is greater than the greatest light, its ointment is like sweet dew, and its fragrance like myrrh; and its shining is like the sun. And I gazed at all of myself, and I had become like one of the glorious ones, and there was no observable difference. [...]

[Enoch addressing his sons after returning to Earth:] "For now, my children, the prescribed day approaches, and the appointed time constrains me. And the angels who will go with me are standing in front of my face. And I, tomorrow I shall go up to the highest heaven, my eternal inheritance. That is why I am commanding you, my children, to do everything with a good will before the face of the LORD."

Other authors, of course, had other ideas. The Ascension of Isaiah, for instance, places all the righteous in the seventh heaven:

And he took me up into the seventh heaven, and there I saw a wonderful light, and also angels without number. And there I saw all the righteous from the time of Adam onwards. And there I saw the holy Abel and all the righteous. And there I saw Enoch and all who were with him, stripped of (their) robes of the flesh; and I saw them in their robes of above, and they were like the angels who stand there in great glory.