Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 4.3.6 (31.6)

Hermas · Shepherd of Hermas: Mandates · ca. 100–150 · Rome · Read in context

Summary: After baptism there is one repentance; repeated sin and repentance is of no use.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:84

ἀλλὰ ἐγώ σοι λέγω, φησί, μετὰ τὴν κλῆσιν ἐκείνην τὴν μεγάλην καὶ σεμνὴν ἐάν τις ἐκπειρασθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου ἁμαρτήσῃ, μίαν μετάνοιαν ἔχει· ἐὰν δὲ ὑπὸ χεῖρα ἁμαρτάνῃ καὶ μετανοήσῃ, ἀσύμφορόν ἐστι τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τῷ τοιούτῳ· δυσκόλως γὰρ ζήσεται.

English · Claude translation

But I tell you,” he said, “if after that great and holy calling someone is tempted by the devil and sins, he has one repentance; but if he sins repeatedly and repents, it is of no profit to such a person; for he will live with difficulty.”

About this passage

Source: Lake, LCL 25:84 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 2, LCL 25 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1913), 70–137 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912-1913), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Translation: Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Lake (LCL 25, 1913); made independently of existing English translations.
Topics: Baptism

Notes

Translation notes

“That great and holy calling”: baptism.
“He will live with difficulty”: his salvation is doubtful, not impossible.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (punctuation slip in the digital text): φησί μετὰ τὴν κλῆσιν → φησί, μετὰ τὴν κλῆσιν.

Cite this passage

Herm. Mand. 4.3.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/4/3/6/).

Plain text

Herm. Mand. 4.3.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/4/3/6/).

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