Getting the Whole Picture, Part 5:The Post-Paul Use of Authente

We are working through 1 Timothy and Paul’s corrections of pagan influences (false teachings and practices) that are infiltrating the Way due to the many new believers converting from paganism but have not yet left some of their old beliefs behind. There's lots of confusion here!

We are wrestling with Paul’s use of an unusual word, authentein, that has caused confusion since within a few decades after he included it in his letter to Timothy. The previous post presented what the authente word family meant pre-Paul with a predominance of a forceful, violent action that harms others, most often murder. Now we will take a closer look at how this crucial word and related cognates are used post Paul. 

When we look at the post Paul list (see list posted in my comment below), in the first 100-200 years after Paul, there is a mix of different meanings from various astrological, gnostic and Christian sources. Clement of Alexander (150-212 AD) uses both meanings of murder and supreme authority in his writings. Chrysostom (347-407 AD) has both positive and negative meanings with his 100+ uses. It depends on the context!

There is so much written on this rare word and women in the Church, again ironic for a word family used less than 500 times from 600BC to 1500+ AD. Mike Winger alone has hours and hours of video, which is refuted with pages and pages of responses, let alone input from numerous others such as George Knight 3, Albert Wolters, Andreas Kostenberger, Marg Mowscko and other both comp and egal scholars and theologians weighing in (Preston Sprinkle’s new book From Genesis to Junia was added to the volumes of insights on March 3, 2026). 

For now, I will highlight four fascinating post Paul writers/sources that used some form of authentes, including one “golden mouth” preacher quite prolifically compared to everyone else. These four and others will be included and expanded on in the next post “The Shift” as well.

FIRST: Hermas, a Christian, and brother to Bishop/Pope Pius 1 of Rome who opposed emerging Gnosticism, wrote The Shepherd of Hermas based on visions he had (140-155AD). The Shepherd of Hermas: A Window into Early Christian Faith and Practice - History of Christianity

Hermas’ writing was pretty popular and widely read with the early church, as well as considered scripture for a time, by some of the early Church Fathers such as Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen. 

The reason it came to my attention is this Greek source is listed by some as one of the uses of the authente family. I almost dismissed it because somewhere it was noted that the authente meant builder of a tower, & seemed like a strange outlier for this rare word that very few scholars & theologians even acknowledge. What I discovered is it is an allegory of Jesus Christ and the Church!

So, knowing nothing about this author/source, other than authente is used one time in some ancient text called the Shepherd of Hermas, I did some reading and research. For now, I will simply share that Hermas uses authente to refer to Jesus as Author/ Builder/ Inspector/ Lord/ Master/Owner /Son of God of an allegorical tower symbolizing His Church. 

I will share more later in this series!

SECOND: Irenaeus of Lyons (130-202 AD), a church father, wrote Against Heresies around 180 AD, specifically using authente when writing about early gnostics Cerinthus (student of Simon Magus / the Sorcerer, active around 50-100AD, the Apostle John had a run in with Cerinthus at a bath house in Ephesus per Polycarp, John’s student, and written down by Irenaeus - John and Cerinthus – NASSCAL) and Saturninus (student of proto gnostic Menander, and gnostic teacher roughly 100-120AD). There is no written usage by Cerinthus or Saturninus, but Irenaeus (via Polycarp) uses authente to indicate how both Cerinthus and Saturninus were referring to their gnostic divine being as the ultimate supreme deity (See chapters 23, 24, 26 *Irenaeus of Lyons Against the Heresies Book I.pdf ). 

Irenaeus was part of the same anti gnostic religious milieu in Rome with Pope Pius and Hermas during the rise of gnostics such as Valentinus and Marcion. Irenaeus, in Against Heresies, refers to these men along with Cerinthus and Saturninus. He also directly quotes from the Shepherd of Hermas as scriptural (which was listed in an early Muratorian fragment along with other NT books, but was later dismissed as non-canonical). Against Heresies was a powerful and influential anti gnostic attack on the harmful elitist, secret, hidden teachings, dangerous distortions, passed on privately (supposedly from the apostles) that threatened church unity, sound doctrine and the goodness of creation, compared to the accessible and public teachings of the Church.

THIRD: Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD), a Church father and philosopher, another person and sources that I knew nothing about, but amazed at what I discovered. Clement admits he was involved in pagan philosophy and practices before converting to Christianity, uses authente words five times in his Stromatas (miscellaneous writings dating 193-194 AD) that have both positive and negative uses. Clement’s students include Origen and Hippolytus.

Stay tuned for the next part of this series to learn how the pre-Paul (murder) and post-Paul (Divine omnipotent authority) meanings indicating overlapping meanings for this word in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. 

FOURTH: Chrysostom (347-407), Church Father, one of the greatest pulpit orators the church has known, who has by far the most uses of the “authente” family. Dr. Leland Wilshire mentioned the TLG data bank (in 1988) had 124 citations plus 24 uses in spurious works attributed to Chrysostom. The TLG Computer - Women in the Church p 127

I ran the root word “authent” through the free version of TLG - Home, and found that there are over 120 uses of authente (along with various cognates) attributed specifically to Chrysostom. I have been working through the TLG list. Most often, Chrysostom is referring positively to God, Jesus Christ, or Holy Spirit as Absolute, Sovereign, Supreme Lord and Master. 

Chrysostom also includes negative uses. One such use I found especially interesting is in his letter to Pope Innocent when Chrysostom is being deposed (403 AD) as archbishop in Constantinople. He referrs to leaders abusing their power to kick him out. And, spoiler: was reinstated the next day because of the peoples’ response! 

Context matters! Timing matters!

Lots more on Chrysostom, etal coming up next as these pieces are put together: PART 6, GETTING THE WHOLE PICTURE: THE SHIFT