Shepherd of Hermas — Similitude 5 · Chapter 7
Similitude 5.7.1
Greek (Lake printed text, including explicitly identified versional reconstructions)
Similitude 5.7.1 “Sir,” I said, “I was delighted to hear this interpretation.” “Listen now,” he said. “Keep this flesh of yours pure and undefiled, so that the spirit dwelling in it may testify for it, and your flesh may be justified.
Textual & reception notes
Similitude 5.7.1 — Textual: The exhortation makes the spirit a witness concerning the flesh's purity and links their condition with the flesh's justification. Reception: No section-specific reception verified in the sources checked.
Similitude 5.7.2
Greek (Lake printed text, including explicitly identified versional reconstructions)
Similitude 5.7.2 “Take care that the thought never rises in your heart that this flesh of yours is perishable, leading you to misuse it in some defilement. If you defile your flesh, you will also defile the Holy Spirit; and if you defile the flesh, you will not live.”
Textual & reception notes
Similitude 5.7.2 — Textual: The argument forbids abusing supposedly perishable flesh: defiling flesh also defiles the Holy Spirit. The final reference to flesh is retained rather than conjecturally changed. Reception: No section-specific reception verified in the sources checked.
Similitude 5.7.3
Greek (Lake printed text, including explicitly identified versional reconstructions)
Similitude 5.7.3 “But, sir,” I asked, “if some earlier wrongdoing arose through ignorance before these sayings were heard, how may the person who defiled his flesh be saved?” “Concerning earlier wrongs committed in ignorance,” he said, “God alone can grant healing, for all authority is His,
Textual & reception notes
Similitude 5.7.3 — Textual: Hermas asks about earlier deeds committed in ignorance. The answer reserves healing to God; longer assurances in other versions are not added to the reading text. Reception: No section-specific reception verified in the sources checked.
Similitude 5.7.4
Greek (Lake printed text, including explicitly identified versional reconstructions)
Similitude 5.7.4 “provided you no longer defile your flesh or the spirit. For both share together, and neither can be defiled apart from the other. Keep both pure, therefore, and you will live to God.”
Textual & reception notes
Similitude 5.7.4 — Textual: The promise depends on avoiding further defilement. Flesh and spirit participate together, so the passage's distinction between them does not permit separate moral treatment. Reception: No section-specific reception verified in the sources checked.