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In the Apocalypse of Peter Jesus ends his argument for the resurrection by telling Peter that the earth will be judged along with heaven. A pagan critic quoted by Macarius Magnes cites that sentence by name, attacking it as Christian scripture.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Apocalypse of Peter 1:17
Revelation of Peter
Early Christian
16 And this that dies, that is sown as seed in the earth and will become alive and be restored to life, is man. 17 How much more will God raise up on the day of decision those who believe in him and are chosen by him, for whose sake he made the world? The earth will restore all things on the day of decision, for it also will be judged with them, and the heaven with it. 18 This will come at the day of judgment upon those who have fallen away from faith in God and who have committed sin: floods of fire will be let loose; and darkness and obscurity will rise up and clothe and veil the whole world. The waters will be changed and turned into coals of fire, and all that is in them will burn, and the sea will become fire. Under the heaven there will be a sharp fire that cannot be quenched, that flows to fulfill the judgment of wrath. And the stars will fly into pieces by flames of fire, as if they had never been created, and the powers of the heaven will pass away for lack of water and will be as though they had never been. The lightnings of heaven will be no more, and by their enchantment they will terrify the world. The spirits of the dead bodies will be like them and will become fire at the commandment of God.
Apocalypse of Peter 2:4
Revelation of Peter
Early Christian
4 From the Apocritica of Macarius Magnes, fourth century, of whom we know little. His book consists of extracts from a pagan opponent's attack on Christianity — Porphyry and Hierocles are named as possible authors of it — and his own answers. The pagan writer says: As an additional point, let this also be cited from what is said in the Apocalypse of Peter. He introduces the Heaven, to be judged along with the earth, this way: The earth, he says, will present all people to God to be judged on the day of judgment, being itself also judged along with the heaven that surrounds it.
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Notes and References
“... Sozomen in the fifth century, HE 7. 19 (ed. J. Bidez and G. C. Hansen, GCS 50 (Berlin, 1960), p. 331), refers to its being used in public worship on Good Friday. (It is not listed in the Gelasian Decree.) Thus it is clear that the book was popular and widespread in use in the early centuries of Christianity and hovered on the edges of canonical scripture. [...] Citations from the ancient apocalypse have been identified in Clement of Alexandria, Methodius, Macarius, and possibly in Theophilus of Antioch (and these are set out below): Macarius and Clement name the source. A fourth-century Latin homily cited below (A 7) also gives the source of a quotation as the Apocalypse of Peter. The citations have been verified by the discovery and publication of the text. ...”
Elliott, J. K.
The Apocryphal New Testament: A Collection of Apocryphal Christian Literature in an English Translation
(p. 593) Clarendon Press, 1993
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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