Hippolytus (c.170 - c.235)
VISITORS to the Lateran Museum in Rome are likely to see among other items of interest an impressive marble statue of Hippolytus. It was originally erected by his followers, probably in his burial vault. It was rediscovered in 1851 and presents a striking, venerable figure seated on a bishop’s chair. On the back of the chair is engraved the paschal cycle, or Easter table, devised by Hippolytusto determine the date of the festival celebrating Christ's resurrection. There is also a list — not altogether complete — of Hippolytus’s writings, including a treatise on the Book of Revelation which has not survived.
Hippolytus has sometimes been described as the Bishop of Rome, but in fact his see was that of Porto, or Portus Romanus, approximately fifteen miles to the north of the city. He was not himself Roman by birth, but evidently a native of the Greek East. He is said to have declared himself to be a disciple of Irenaeus. Origen heard him preach in Rome in the year 212. His sermon ‘On the praise of our Lord and Saviour’ was subsequently published.
Hippolytus was active in resisting the Sabellian heresy which failed to distinguish the persons of the Godhead, regarding the Son and the Spirit simply as modes or aspects of the divine Being. Hippolytus went so far as to charge two successive Roman bishops - Zephyrinus and Callistus - with theological error as well as with what he regarded as reprehensible laxity of conduct. Clearly there was no suggestion at this period that the Bishop of Rome was recognised as possessing superior authority. In the persecution under the Emperor Maximius Hippolytus was banished to Sardinia, where he was eventually martyred. It was reported that he had been thrown into a canal and drowned.
Biblical Writer
The most substantial work of Hippolytus runs to ten books of Philosophoumena or Refutation of all Heresies. It supplies a mine of information concerning early deviations from gospel truth. It may surprise us that even in the opening centuries of the Church's history so much false doctrine emerged. As J. H. MacMahon (who translated the Philosophoumena into English) has observed, Hippolytus reduces his critique of these many and diverse heresies to one common ground of censure — antagonism to Holy Scripture’. His complaint throughout is that these deviationists have derived their teaching, not from the Christian revelation in Gods written Word, but from the wisdom of the pagans’.
According to Professor Hans Lietzmann, the question of prophecy and its fulfilment dominates the thought of Hippolvtus. He was responsible for several books on the subject, including a commentary on Daniel and a Treatise on Christ and Antichrist. The former, in four volumes, is the oldest Christian exposition of an entire book of the Bible to survive intact. The latter has been hailed as the most outstanding treatment of prophetic themes to have been compiled in the third century. In these, as in all his works, Hippolytus draws from Scripture ‘as from a holy fountain, as he himself puts it.
Prophets and Prophecy
In the introduction to Treatise on Christ and Antichrist Hippolytus stresses the importance of prophecy. The prophets ‘foresaw through faith the mysteries of the Word, and became ministers of these things also to succeeding generations, not only reporting the past, but also announcing the present and the future. The prophet is not only one who speaks for the time being’ to his own contemporaries: he predicts what is to come so that those of all periods can benefit. It is indeed by this means that he is accredited as a genuine prophet. In a quaint comparison. Hippolytus claims that ‘the blessed prophets were made, so to speak, eyes for us’. The biblical prophets, Hippolytus explains, were furnished with the Holy Spirit and were ‘largely honoured by the Word Himself, that is, the pre-existent Son of God. Just as it is with instruments of music, so they had the Word always, like the plectrum, in union with them, and when moved by Him the prophets announced what God willed. For they spoke not of their own power (let there be no mistake as to that), neither did they declare what pleased themselves. But first of all they were endowed with wisdom by the Word, and then again were rightly instructed in the future by means of visions.’ As a result, when they themselves were fully convinced, they uttered oracles ‘revealed to them by God alone, and concealed from all others’.
For with what reason should the prophet be called a prophet, unless he in spirit foresaw the future? For if the prophet spoke of any chance event, he would not be a prophet then in speaking of things which were under the eye of all. But one who sets forth in detail things yet to be, was rightly judged a prophet; wherefore prophets were with good reason called from the very first seers’.
The Dream and the Visions
Both in his Treatise on Christ and Antichrist and more fully in his commentary on Daniel, Hippolytus deals with the prophetic content of Chapters Two and Seven in the Book of Daniel. They record Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, with its interpretation, and Daniel’s visions of the four beasts. Hippolytus sets them side by side and provides a combined exposition of the dream and the visions together in order to demonstrate ‘how concordant they are with each other, and how true.
The eagle's wings point to Nebuchadnezzar himself
who 'was lifted up and exalted against God.
But 'its wings were plucked off.
The first beast like a lion (Hippolytus has a lioness) with eagle’s wings (Dan. 7:4) represents the kingdom of Babylon, and this is also signified by the head of fine gold on the image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Dan. 2:32). The eagle’s wings point to Nebuchadnezzar himself who ‘was lifted up and exalted against God’. But ‘its wings were plucked off (Dan. 7:4) — Nebuchadnezzar's glory was destroyed and he was driven out of his kingdom. The words ‘a man’s heart was given to it’ and ‘it was made to stand on two feet like a man’ (Dan. 7:4) refer to the fact that he came to his senses, repented and recognised that he was only a man so as to give the glory to God.
The bear in Daniel 7:5 denotes the Persians, who held sovereign power after the Babylonians. The ‘three ribs in its mouth represent the three provinces of the Medo-Persian empire - Babylonia, Persia and Media, also indicated by the chest and arm of silver in the image (Dan. 2:32).
The third beast in the likeness of a leopard (Dan. 7:6) means the Greeks, for after the Persians Alexander the Great conquered all of the Western Asia when Darius was overthrown. It is paralleled by the ‘belly and thighs of bronze’ in Daniel 2:32. The four wings on the leopard’s back refer to the partition of the Greek empire on the death of Alexander, when four of his generals shared power — the ‘four heads’ in Daniel’s vision.
The fourth beast dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong’ (Dan. 7:7) stands for the Roman empire, as do the ‘legs of iron in Daniel 2:32. With its huge iron teeth Rome crushed and devoured the countries it overcame. The ten horns’ (Dan. 7:7) and the feet partly of iron and partly of clay (Dan. 2:33) anticipate the states that arise out of the Roman empire, leading up to the little horn of Daniel 7:8 — none other than the Antichrist himself.
The Antichrist
Hippolytus sees the Antichrist as the imitator of Christ. Like the devil himself, the Antichrist endeavours to supplant the Messiah by claiming to fulfil His functions. The very name Antichrist suggests not only that the usurper will oppose the true Messiah but that he will aim to take His place. ‘The deceiver seeks to liken himself in all things to the Son of God. Christ is a lion, so Antichrist is also a lion. Christ is a King, so Antichrist is also a king. The Saviour was manifested as a lamb, so he too, in like manner, will appear as a lamb, although within he is a wolf. The Saviour came into the world in the circumcision, and he will come in the same. The Lord sent apostles among all nations, and he in like manner will send false apostles. . The Lord gave a seal to those who believed on Him, and he will give one in like manner. The Saviour appeared in the form of a man, and he too will come in the form of a man.’
According to Hippolytus, the Antichrist will be of Jewish extraction, descended from the tribe of Dan. Christ was of David’s line in the house of Judah, described as ‘a lion’s whelp’ (Gen. 49:9). A similar expression is used with reference to Dan (Deut. 33:22). Hippolytus sees here a further instance of the Antichrist’s imitation of the Messiah even in His tribal roots. ‘Dan shall be a serpent by the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider shall fall backward, declared Jacob
Hippolytus sees the Antichrist as the imitator of Christ.
(Gen. 49:17). The serpent, Hippolytus believes, is the Antichrist, the deceiver of Genesis 3:1 who seduced Eve and supplanted Adam. There are, of course, other passages of Scripture which may be taken to indicate that the Antichrist will be a Gentile ruler and the debate as to his precise identity continues among students of prophecy. For Hippolytus the Jewish provenance of the Antichrist was compatible with his spurious imitation of the genuine Messiah.
The Beast and his Number
The beast from the sea in Revelation 13:1-10 Hippolytus recognised as being the Roman empire, like the fourth beast in Daniel. The beast from the land in Revelation 13:11-18 represents the kingdom of Antichrist, with the two horns (vii) denoting himself and the false prophet. The fact that the horns were ‘like a lamb’ (v.11) means that he will make himself a pseudo-Christ, and his speaking like a dragon suggests that he is untruthful. ‘For, being full of guile and exalting himself against the servants of God, with the wish to afflict them and persecute them out of the world, because they give not glory to him, he will order incense pans to be set up by all everywhere, that no men among the saints may be able to buy or sell without first sacrificing.’ Hippolytus was no doubt reflecting the circumstances of his own age in some of the details in his interpretation, but the substance of his view of the Antichrist is not invalidated.
In discussing the number of the beast in Revelation 13:18 Hippolytus follows his teacher Irenaeus in his Against Heresies in listing the names of Teitan and Evanthas as adding up to 666 in the numerical equivalent of the Greek letters involved. Without being dogmatic about the matter, Hippolytus inclines towards Lateinus with the implication that the Antichrist is in some way associated with Rome,
The Second Coming
Hippolytus realises that the appearance of the Antichrist is to be followed by the Lord’s return. ‘These things, then, being come to pass, beloved, and the one week being divided into two parts, and the abomination of desolation being manifested then, and the two prophets and forerunners of the Lord having finished their course, and the whole world finally approaching the consummation, what remains but the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ from heaven, for whom we have looked in hope, who shall bring the conflagration and just judgement upon all who have refused to believe on Him?’
It is then that, as we learn from Daniel 12:2, the dead will rise: first of all the saints to everlasting life, and then the rest ‘to shame and everlasting contempt’. Though quoting I Thessalonians 4:17, Hippolytus does not deal at any length with the rapture of the Church nor with the early Millennium as such, although he clearly believes that the return of Christ will precede the establishment of the Kingdom. It must be admitted, in conclusion, that his treatment of prophetic chronology is not always reliable.
Nevertheless, as Dr L. F. Froom observes, ‘his was a remarkable grasp as concerns the leading prophetic symbols, and the outline prophecies terminating in the advent’. Indeed, Dr Froom regards this as the peak of prophetic witness before the attacks on the Christian hope set in and the reversal of premillennial interpretation which occurred after the Council of Nicaea in 325.
YT 08/91
