Shepherd of Hermas — Mandate 9 · Chapter 1
Mandate 9.1.1
Greek
Mandate 9.1.1 He says to me, “Remove double-mindedness from yourself, and do not be at all double-minded about asking God for anything, saying within yourself, ‘How can I ask the Lord and receive, when I have sinned so much against Him?’
Textual & reception notes
Mandate 9.1.1 — Textual: The hesitation concerns asking after one's own many sins. The negative follows the disclosed editorial normalization of the printed particle. Reception: No section-specific reception verified in the sources checked.
Mandate 9.1.2
Greek
Mandate 9.1.2 “Do not reason this way. Instead, turn to the Lord with your whole heart and ask Him without hesitation, and you will know His great compassion: He will certainly not abandon you, but will fulfill your soul’s request.
Textual & reception notes
Mandate 9.1.2 — Textual: Wholehearted return and unhindered petition are joined. The emphatic negative promises that God will not abandon the petitioner. Reception: No section-specific reception verified in the sources checked.
Mandate 9.1.3
Greek
Mandate 9.1.3 “For God is not like people who hold grudges; He bears no grudge and has compassion on His creation.
Textual & reception notes
Mandate 9.1.3 — Textual: God's compassion is contrasted with human grudge-bearing, answering the fear that past sins make petition impossible. Reception: No section-specific reception verified in the sources checked.
Mandate 9.1.4
Greek
Mandate 9.1.4 “Cleanse your heart, then, from all the vanities of this age and from the things previously spoken of to you, and ask the Lord. You will receive everything and lack none of your requests, if you ask the Lord without hesitation.
Textual & reception notes
Mandate 9.1.4 — Textual: The broad promise of reception follows cleansing from worldly vanities and the previously named evils; that moral setting is retained. Reception: No section-specific reception verified in the sources checked.
Mandate 9.1.5
Greek
Mandate 9.1.5 “But if you hesitate in your heart, you will certainly receive none of your requests. For those who hesitate toward God are the double-minded, and they obtain absolutely none of their requests.
Textual & reception notes
Mandate 9.1.5 — Textual: The emphatic negative denies success to divided petition. The repeated wording identifies hesitation toward God as double-mindedness. Reception: No section-specific reception verified in the sources checked.
Mandate 9.1.6
Greek
Mandate 9.1.6 “But those who are complete in faith ask for everything with confidence in the Lord and receive, because they ask without hesitation, without being double-minded in anything. For every double-minded person will be saved only with difficulty, unless he repents.
Textual & reception notes
Mandate 9.1.6 — Textual: Wholeness in faith is contrasted with double-mindedness; the latter's difficult salvation remains qualified by the possibility of repentance. Reception: No section-specific reception verified in the sources checked.
Mandate 9.1.7
Greek
Mandate 9.1.7 “Cleanse your heart, then, from double-mindedness, and put on faith, because it is strong. Trust God that you will receive all the requests you ask for. And if, after asking the Lord for something, you receive it more slowly, do not become double-minded because you did not quickly receive your soul’s request. For certainly it is because of some trial or some transgression of which you are unaware that you receive your request more slowly.
Textual & reception notes
Mandate 9.1.7 — Textual: Delayed reception is distinguished from denial. The source names trial or unrecognized transgression as its explanation without changing the promise. Reception: No section-specific reception verified in the sources checked.
Mandate 9.1.8
Greek
Mandate 9.1.8 “Do not stop asking for your soul’s request, then, and you will receive it. But if you lose heart and become double-minded while asking, blame yourself and not the One who gives to you.
Textual & reception notes
Mandate 9.1.8 — Textual: Persistence is required despite delay. The command places responsibility for abandoning petition on the petitioner rather than the giver. Reception: No section-specific reception verified in the sources checked.
Mandate 9.1.9
Greek
Mandate 9.1.9 “Watch this double-mindedness, for it is wicked and senseless and uproots many from faith—even very faithful and strong people. For this double-mindedness is a daughter of the devil and acts very wickedly against God’s servants.
Textual & reception notes
Mandate 9.1.9 — Textual: Double-mindedness can uproot the apparently strong. Lake's daughter image gives it a hostile parentage rather than neutral uncertainty. Reception: No section-specific reception verified in the sources checked.
Mandate 9.1.10
Greek
Mandate 9.1.10 “Despise double-mindedness, then, and master it in every matter, having put on strong and powerful faith. For faith promises everything and accomplishes everything, but double-mindedness, having no confidence in itself, fails in all the works it undertakes.
Textual & reception notes
Mandate 9.1.10 — Textual: Faith and double-mindedness are personified through contrasting efficacy: one accomplishes, the other fails its own undertakings. Reception: No section-specific reception verified in the sources checked.
Mandate 9.1.11
Greek
Mandate 9.1.11 “You see, then,” he says, “that faith is from above, from the Lord, and has great power. But double-mindedness is an earthly spirit from the devil, having no power.
Textual & reception notes
Mandate 9.1.11 — Textual: The opposition of above and earthly identifies the respective origins of faith and double-mindedness within the exhortation. Reception: No section-specific reception verified in the sources checked.
Mandate 9.1.12
Greek
Mandate 9.1.12 “Serve faith, therefore, which has power, and keep away from double-mindedness, which has no power, and you will live to God. And all who think in this way will live to God.”
Textual & reception notes
Mandate 9.1.12 — Textual: The closing command makes service to faith and abstention from double-mindedness complementary responses; life is promised to all sharing this disposition. Reception: No section-specific reception verified in the sources checked.