The Origin and Significance of The Angelomorphic Christology in The Ascension of Isaiah

THE ORIGIN AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE
ANGELOMORPHIC CHRISTOLOGY
IN THE ASCENSION OF ISAIAH
JONATHAN KNIGHT
Katie Wheeler Research Trust and York St. John University
jonathanknight5@hotmail.com
Abstract
The conclusion of the Ascension of Isaiah, 11.323, a carefully staged scen-
ario, is determinative for the exegesis of the entire text. It picks up the
notion of Christs journey to the right hand of God from first-century
Christology and embellishes it with a formal description of pre-existence,
commission, and descent which the authors composed in the light of
Jewish apocalypticism. They introduced the disguised descent and
Trinitarian vision, setting these within the context of the seven-storied cos-
mology. The Beloved Ones subordination to the Most High determines the
way in which all other beings in the cosmos are described. This explains the
strong emphasis on hierarchy in the text. The description of the disguised
descent derives from the Jewish angelological pattern held in common with
the Apocalypse of Abraham. The result is a unique synthesis which elucidates
one of the ways in which first-century Christianity explained its beliefs
about Jesus and should inform future discussion of christological origins.
Source-critical work still needs to address the present form of the Ascen.
Isa. and the relationship of its different elements, including the possibility
of historical change and development.
THE exhaustive study of christological origins and development
in recent times has found good reasons for questioning the
assumption that Jewish angelology contributed little to the emer-
gence of beliefs about Jesus.
1
In many ways this is a good
1
Among the literature on christological origins see Gordon D. Fee, Pauline
Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study (Peabody, MA, 2007); Andrew
Chester, Messiah and Exaltation: Jewish Messianic and Visionary Traditions and
New Testament Christology (WUNT, 207; Tu bingen, 2007); and Andrew T.
Lincoln and Angus Paddison (eds.), Christology and Scripture: Interdisciplinary
Perspectives (LNTS; London, 2007). On the specic issue of angelology, besides
the literature cited elsewhere in this essay, see Matthias R. HoVmann, The
Destroyer and the Lamb: The Relationship between Angelomorphic and Lamb
Christology in the Book of Revelation (WUNT, 203; Tu bingen, 2005), and Earl
C. Muller, A Distinctive Feature of Early Roman Angelomorphic Christology,
in Jane Ralls Baun, Averil Cameron, M. J. Edwards, and Markus Vinzent (eds.),
The Journal of Theological Studies, NS, Vol. 63, Pt 1, April 2012
The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com
doi:10.1093/jts/fls060

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example of how New Testament scholarship moves in circles.
The Second World War witnessed a heated debate between
Martin Werner and Wilhelm Michaelis on precisely this point;
Werner clearly overstated the importance of a Jewish angel-
messianology which inuenced Paul, while Michaelis rejected
this line of argument on the basis of a more restricted study,
which itself left many questions unanswered.
2
The publication
of James Dunns very inuential Christology in the Making re-
asserted the view that angelology did not contribute substantially
to Christology.
3
That in turn was challenged by scholars such
as Loren Stuckenbruck, Charles Gieschen, Darrell Hannah, and
myself in respect of various early Christian texts and through
examination of the nature of the language involved.
4
It would
now appear impossible to deny this strand of inuence on emer-
ging Christology, even though it may equally be acknowledged
that no early Christian writer simply equated the heavenly Christ
with an angel. Hebrews is the classic demonstration of this last
point.
5
Nonetheless, several texts apply language and imagery
derived from Jewish angelology to their description of the
events surrounding Jesus, both on earth and in heaven, in a
way which indicates that this was indeed a fruitful source for
Christology. The early second-century apocalypse known as the
Ascension of Isaiah (Ascen. Isa.) features prominently in this
body of literature. Because this text has been neglected in the
past, its contents deserve fresh examination to see what light can
be shed on the wider problem as I have introduced it.
The purpose of this essay is to attempt a new assessment of
the Ascen. Isa. Christology and to reconsider the extent to which
Studia patristica, 45: Ascetica; liturgica; Orientalia; critica et philologica. The
First Two Centuries (SP, 45; Louvain, 2010), pp. 28590.
2
Martin Werner, Die Entstehung des christlichen Dogmas, problemgeschichtlich
dargestellt. Mit einer Bildbeilage (Bern, 1941); Wilhelm Michaelis, Zur
Engelchristologie im Urchristentum (Bern, 1942).
3
Originally published London, 1980. No New Testament writer thought
about Christ as an angel (p. 158).
4
Loren T. Stuckenbruck, Angel Veneration and Christology: A Study in Early
Judaism and in the Christology of the Apocalypse of John (WUNT, 70; Tu bingen,
1995): Charles A. Gieschen, Angelomorphic Christology: Antecedents and Early
Evidence (AGJU, 42; Leiden, 1998); Darrell D. Hannah, Michael and Christ:
Michael Traditions and Angel Christology in Early Christianity (WUNT, 109;
Tu bingen, 1999); and Jonathan Knight, Disciples of the Beloved One: The
Christology, Social Setting and Theological Context of the Ascension of Isaiah
(JSPSup 18; SheYeld, 1996).
5
See the essays included in Richard Bauckham, Daniel Driver, Trevor Hart,
and Nathan Macdonald (eds.), The Epistle to the Hebrews and Christian Theology
(Grand Rapids, MI, 2009).
ANGELOMORPHI C CHRI STOLOGY 67

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it is appropriate to claim that categories drawn from Jewish
angelology served as a resource for the portrait of the heavenly
Christ in this neglected apocalypse.
6
This in turn will contribute
to the study of developing Christology more widely, both
in terms of the need to consider all the available evidence and
of the inexplicable lack of interest in this text of early date,
where angelomorphic categories stand to the fore. If it can be
shown that the apocalypse oVers evidence for angelomorphic
Christologywhich I think that it canit will then be possible
and indeed helpful to make some suggestions about how this
evidence aVects our knowledge of christological origins from a
unique though undervalued standpoint.
I. A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO tHE TEXT
The rst stage is to introduce the Ascen. Isa. and to justify its
importance with reference to its content and date.
7
A substantial reason for scholarly neglect of the apocalypse lies
in its diYcult textual state. The text was written, almost certainly,
in Greek but only a fragmentary Greek version has survived. The
Ascen. Isa. exists for the most part in a number of translations of
which the Ethiopic (E) is the most complete. It is supported by
more than one Coptic version, albeit fragmentary again, in reading
all 11 chapters of the apocalypse. This matter is complicated by
the fact that chapters 611 exist in two diVerent versions, one
represented by E on the one hand and by Slavonic (S) and Latin
(L2) translations on the other. This problem aVects Christology
among other topics, for S and L2 have a marked tendency to
remove those traces of angelic inuence which are found in E and
to conform the textespecially its christological titlesto later
and more orthodox usage.
8
It is therefore necessary at every
stage to try to establish the most reliable form of text before
attempting exegetical deductions of any kind. This makes study of
6
For earlier studies see Knight, Disciples of the Beloved One, ch. 2; and
Darrell D. Hannah, Isaiahs Vision in the Ascension of Isaiah and the Early
Church, JTS 50 (1999), pp. 80101; as well as other literature cited in this
essays.
7
I cite the Ascen. Isa. in the translation prepared by Michael Knibb,
Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah, in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha,
ed. James H. Charlesworth, vol. 2 (London, 1985), pp. 14376.
8
P. C. Bori detects anti-Montanist tendencies behind the redaction repre-
sented by S and L2; Lesperienza profetica nellAscensione di Isaia, in M.
Pesce (ed.), Isaia, il Diletto e la chiesa: Visione ed esegesi profetica
cristiano-primitiva nellAscensione di Isaia. Atti del convegno di Roma, 910
aprile 1981 (TRSR, 20; Brescia, 1983), pp. 13354.
J ONATHAN KNI GHT 68

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the Ascen. Isa. a time-consuming though indeed a very important
and rewarding business. The problems with this apocalypse, let it
be said, are more substantial than those which attend the study of
much if not most of the New Testament literature.
9
They must be
consistently addressed to discover what the work contributes to
the development of the early christological tradition.
A further reason for the neglect of the Ascen. Isa. is the
inuence throughout most of the last century of the edition
published by R. H. Charles in 1900,
10
based on premisses which
in the main would not be and are not accepted today. The very
welcome publication of the new critical edition by an Italian
research team in 1995, together with the Commentary of the same
date by Enrico Norelli, did much to redress this balance:
11
both
because it nally became possible to access a reliable text of the
Ascen. Isa. and because Norelli articulates a critical theory which
now serves as the consensus view for scholarship in the present
millennium.
Norelli views the Ascen. Isa. as a work of two halves of diVerent
content and date. He draws on earlier research (notably by Mauro
Pesce) which sees the authors as the free creators of much of their
material, although he concedes that they worked with a variety of
sources which were mainly oral in nature.
12
Norelli thinks that
chapters 611 were written rst, probably in Syria in the late rst
9
Though they are analogous to the diYculties in studying the Jewish and
Christian pseudepigrapha. See further James A. Davila, The Provenance of the
Pseudepigrapha: Jewish, Christian, or Other? (JSJSup, 105; Leiden, 2005).
10
The Ascension of Isaiah (London, 1900).
11
Ascensio Isaiae: Textus, ed. P. Bettiolo, A. Giambelluca Kossova, E. Norelli,
and L. Perrone (CCSA, 7; Turnhout, 1995); E. Norelli, Ascensio Isaiae:
Commentarius (CCSA, 8; Turnhout, 1995). By Norelli see also LAscensione di
Isaia: Studi su un apocrifo al crocevia dei cristianesimi (Origini NS 1; Bologna,
1994); LAscension du prophe`te Isa e (Turnhout, 1993); Sulla pneumatologia
dellAscensione di Isaia, in Pesce (ed.), Isaia, pp. 21176; Interpretations nou-
velles de lAscension dIsaiu e, REAug 37 (1991), pp. 920; LAscensione di
Isaia nel quadro del profetismo cristiano, in R. Penna (ed.), Il profetismo da
Gesu` di Nazaret al montanismo: Atti del IV Convegno di studi neotestamentari,
Perugia, 1214 settembre 1991 (RStB, 2; Bologna, 1993), pp. 12348; Ascension
dIsaiu e, in Francois Bovon and Pierre Geoltrain (eds.), E
crits apocryphes chre-

tiennes I (Paris, 1997), pp. 499545; and The Political Issue of the Ascension of
Isaiah: Some Remarks on Jonathan Knights Thesis, and Some Methodological
Problems, in David H. Warren, Ann Graham Brock, and David W. Pao (eds.),
Early Christian Voices in Texts, Traditions and Symbols (BIS, 66; Leiden, 2003),
pp. 26779.
12
M. Pesce, Presupposti per lutilizazzione storica dellAscensione di Isaia:
Formazione e tradizione del testo: genere letterario: cosmologia angelica, in
Pesce (ed.), Isaia, pp. 1376. Also from Italy come two books by A. Acerbi,
Serra lignea: Studi sulla fortuna della Ascensione di Isaia (Rome, 1984); and

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century CE, and that chapters 15 were added in the early second
century to address a more pessimistic situation where it was felt
that the position adopted by chapters 611 needed reassertion, but
also fresh introduction and commentary.
The only substantial challenge to this approach at present is a
relatively minor one by Richard Bauckham.
13
Bauckham sees the
Ascen. Isa. as more of a unity than Norelli and dates it in entirety
to the rst century (7080 CE). While this approach is exceptional
among recent work on the apocalypse, it does conrm the early
date of the apocalypse, which by universal consent contains
rst-century elements. This encouraging consensus now permits
further and substantial work on the apocalypse.
I agree with Norellis approach but have modied it in several
respects.
14
I think that the correspondence between Pliny and
Trajan in the second decade of the second century does much to
explain the works focus on martyrdom, itself unusual in an early
Christian text but consistent with the evidence of Ignatius.
15
I
also think that chapter 6the narrative introduction to the
mystical ascensionmay have been added in the second-century
compilation and that what we nd in the earliest stratum of the
Ascen. Isa. is an original rst-person account of heavenly
ascension written by an unknown author in the rst century CE
(chapters 711). These matters are tangential here, although
debate about the origins of the apocalypse is itself a healthy sign of
life. In this essay I shall concentrate on the works Christology,
which is principally aVected by the problem of the diVerences
between the two branches of the textual tradition in chapters 611,
and not by any particular theory of composition as such.
While dating is in some respects a subjective matter, the general
recognition among scholars that the Ascen. Isa. contains
rst-century elements is remarkable and makes the neglect of
this text quite astonishing. Nothing in chapters 711 seems to
demand a date beyond the rst century, while the correspondence
LAscensione di Isaia: Cristologia e profetismo in Siria nei primi decenni del II
secolo (Studia patristica Medolanensia, 17; Milan, 1989).
13
The Fate of the Dead (NovTSup, 93; Leiden, 1998), ch. 14.
14
Knight, Disciples, ch. 1. I am currently completing a detailed Commentary
on the Ascension of Isaiah where these theories will be articulated.
15
e.g. Ign. Smyrn 14.2. I have been much struck by the forcefulness of the
statement in Ascen. Isa. 3.18 that those who believe in his cross will be saved.
Where I once thought the Ascen. Isa. a docetic text, I am now inclined to see this
as an anti-docetic reference. The authors call on the readers to follow the path of
Isaiahs suVering, which itself follows the path of the Beloved Ones suVering
(3.1318; 11.1920). A mediator who did not really suVer makes no sense in this
context.

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in certain respects with texts such as Ephesians and even the
Fourth Gospel might be thought very much to support that
approach.
16
The contrast between chapters 611 and 15 in terms
of the situation they address is a prominent feature of interpret-
ation. Since chapters 611 are placed last and in a context where
they are now introduced by chapters 15, they seem to have the
status of earlier and authoritative literature on which the intro-
ductory material comments. This observation draws attention not
least to the Christology of this section as likely to oVer evidence
for the developing rst-century understanding.
I feel it necessary to add one further caveat to Norellis research.
This is that, if chapters 611 were written in the rst century but
incorporated only in the early second century, we cannot be sure
that we have the original form of text of this material, including
the issue noticed in respect of chapter 6. Besides the diYcult
textual problems in this part of the Ascen. Isa., we must bear in
mind the possibility that neither branch of the tradition in this
section records the original rst-century text. More than one issue
must therefore be considered by those who set out to decode this
apocalypse. That does not make for easy reading.
In sum: we have a work of two halves and two centuries. The
original part of the Ascen. Isa. comes from the period when the
later New Testament documents were being writtenthe late rst
century CE. The second half comes from a more acute situation of
crisis in the early second century, when the authors felt attracted
by the Isaiah narrative with its interest in martyrdom. By looking
especially at the rst-century material, I want to argue that we are
placed in touch with a unique synthesis of belief which goes
beyond the New Testament literature in many respects and which
shows how the connection between the earthly Jesus and the
heavenly Christ, together as it happens with an overarching theory
of the cosmos, was explained by these very creative authors at that
time. This evidence can then be compared with more familiar
literature to make some comments about the state of emerging
Christology at the end of the New Testament period.
16
Notably in terms of the emerging interest in the heavenly world and in the
descent-ascent pattern of Christology. There are also important similarities with
the Jewish mystical tradition and diVerences from the Gnostic literature which I
intend to explore on another occasion. The rudimentary nature of the
Trinitarianism in chs. 611 in my view places this material earlier rather than
later in the history of Christian literature. A rst-century date for this material is
accepted by both Norelli and Bauckham in the references cited.

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II. THE ASCENSIO ISAIAE CHRISTOLOGY IN OVERVIEW
There now follows a survey of the Ascen. Isa. Christology in
broad compass. This will tell us what we are looking for and
suggest some lines of enquiry.
On the view proposed here, which represents the new scholarly
consensus, chapters 15 were written in the light of chapters 611,
include their distinctive terminology (notably the christological
title Beloved One), and seem to presuppose that material as an
authoritative resource from the rst century CE.
17
Chapters 611
oVer an expanded version of the central christological myththe
story of the Beloved Ones descent and ascensionwhich chapters
15 present only in abbreviated form.
18
Chapters 15, however,
introduce a futurist eschatology which is all but lacking in
chapters 611. The diVerences between the two halves of the
apocalypse should thus not be minimized even though their
Christology is essentially similar in outlook. It raises the question,
which is by no means easy to answer, of what the silences in the
apocalypse eVectively signify.
1.5 mentions the ascension of the Beloved One; 3.1318
contains a kerygmatic summary of the wider scheme of descent,
transformation, and ascension which forms the basis of chapters
611.
19
This occurs as the rst member of an apocalyptic
historical review whose goal is the assertion of the hope for the
Beloved Ones parousia in 4.1418. The purpose of this material is
to provide assurance about eschatological salvation at a time when
it seems from the Isaiah narrative, from 3.2131, and from 4.113
that things may have been diYcult for pious Christians and that
17
On the origin and signicance of the Beloved One title in the apocalypse
see Norelli, Studi, pp. 25364. Rather obviously, it signies a unique relationship
between the mediator and the Most High which is only partially explained by the
words potential messianic associations. This hierarchical relationality is reected
in both the works cosmology and its soteriology.
18
The seminal study of this strand in early Christian belief is Charles H.
Talbert, The Myth of a Descending-Ascending Redeemer in Mediterranean
Antiquity, NTS 22 (1972), pp. 41839. Important also is Alan F. Segal,
Heavenly Ascent in Hellenistic Judaism, Early Christianity and their
Environment, in Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt, II.23.2 (Berlin,
1980), pp. 133394, and the book by Himmelfarb mentioned below.
19
On the genre of the kerygmatic summary see Richard Bauckham,
Kerygmatic Summaries in the Speeches of Acts, in B. Witherington (ed.),
History, Literature and Society in the Book of Acts (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 185
217, esp. pp. 191204. A kerygmatic summary, as the name implies, is a for-
mulaic description of Jesus which explains his importance for a particular context
or clientele. The content of these summaries was in consequence wide-ranging in
the world of early Christianity.

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apostasy had become a convenient temptation for many in the
churchor so these authors claim.
20
Chapters 611 are unique in the corpus of rst-century
Christian writings, even when compared with the New Testament
Apocalypse, which shares the device of mystical ascension
(Rev. 4:1).
21
Their content is a discursive treatment of Christian
salvation in which the topics of the Beloved Ones heavenly
journey and the eschatological destiny of the righteous feature
prominently (chapters 911 especially).
22
Within that panorama,
we have a very restricted vision of the heavenly mysteries when
compared with the Jewish apocalypses (chapters 78), in which
Isaiahs mystical ascension to the seventh heaven is followed by
his vision of the three divine beings (chapter 9) and the Beloved
Ones descent in disguised form (chapters 1011).
23
It follows that
Christology dominates the perspective of this vision and that the
Beloved Ones saving activity is the major feature of this material.
Futurist eschatology features only marginally here in 10.1213.
The eschatology is otherwise of a strongly realized perspective.
24
This seems to constitute the actual purpose of the material in
question.
20
In my view Ascen. Isa. 3.2131 needs careful interpretation. We should not
rush to conclude that what the authors claim is the case was actually the case in
the situation addressed. The purpose may, for instance, have been rhetorical.
21
On the nature of the apocalypse genre the classic study is John J. Collins,
Apocalypse: Morphology of a Genre, Semeia 14 (1979).
22
This mythological pattern dominates the Ascen. Isa. A similar pattern of
Christology is alluded to in Johns Gospel, but its presence there is allusive and
by no means central within the Gospel. Three important studies of this strand in
John are Peder Borgen, Gods Agent in the Fourth Gospel, reprinted in his
Logos Was the True Light (RelieV, 9; Trondheim, 1983), pp. 12132; J.-A.
Bu hner, Der Gesandte und sein Weg im vierten Evangelium (WUNT, 2;
Tu bingen, 1977); and Jey J. Kanagaraj, Mysticism in the Gospel of John: An
Inquiry into its Background (JSNTSup, 158; SheYeld, 1998).
23
The restriction of heavenly mysteries in the Ascen. Isa. is noticed by
Bauckham in Fate of the Dead, ch. 14. It is worth noting in this context that
no early Christian apocalypse really attains the breadth of Jewish apocalyptic
interest suggested by 2 Baruch 59.
24
On the meaning of the term realized eschatology Todd Stills article is
helpful: Eschatology in Colossians: How Realized is It?, NTS 50 (2004),
pp. 12538. To say that the eschatology of this apocalypse is realized is to
assert that it describes the Beloveds nished achievement and, at least in chs.
611, rather little concession is made to a traditional future eschatology. That
impression is counterbalanced by 4.1418, however, from the later part of the
Ascen. Isa. As in both Colossians and Ephesians, the emphasis on what had been
achieved is accompanied by an increased interest in the heavenly world when
compared with other writings.

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What we nd at the heart of this section is a cosmology that is
hierarchically determined and where one heavenly being tran-
scends another until the seer momentarily glimpses the Most
High, who is perceived in full by the transformed righteous alone
and is himself transcended by none other (9.378).
25
Recognition
of this hierarchical interest in the cosmology is essential to
interpreting the Christology, as indeed I believe most other
features of chapters 611. I will argue that the relationship
between the Most High and the Beloved One is the key to this
hierarchical understanding and that everything else in the Ascen.
Isa. derives from it, so that the cosmology is constructed
hierarchically downwards, so to speak. The question of what
stands behind the Christology is in many ways the central
hermeneutical aspect of the apocalypse, which in turn has broader
ramications.
26
Isaiahs revelation is a signicant one which involves his journey
to the inaccessible region of the seventh heaven. Chapter 9
indicates that this is not just a heavenly journey as such but in fact
nothing less than the anticipatory experience of salvation for the
visionary in question.
27
A fusion of spatial and temporal categories
takes place at this point which is essential for understanding how
the Christology operates.
28
The material in chapters 611 is not
just esoteric knowledge imparted for its own sake but saving
knowledge which explains and to that extent determines the future
25
The signicance of cosmology in early Christian literature is examined by
Hans Bietenhard, Die himmlische Welt im Urchristentum und Spa tjudentum
(WUNT, 2; Tu bingen, 1951), and Jonathan T. Pennington and Sean M.
McDonough, Cosmology and New Testament Theology (LNTS, 355; London,
2008). See also the essay by Pesce in his edited collection cited above, and
Adela Yarbro Collins, Cosmology and Eschatology in Jewish and Christian
Apocalypticism (JSJSup, 50; Leiden, 1996), with its review of earlier literature.
26
On the unique position that the Ascen. Isa. enjoys among early Christian
writings see Christopher Rowland and Christopher Morray-Jones, The Mystery
of God: Early Jewish Mysticism and the New Testament (CRINT, 12; Leiden,
2009), pp. 189201.
27
Ascen. Isa. 7.25 asserts that Isaiahs face was transformed as he ascended
through the heavens; 9.15 in both versions makes the Beloved One give Isaiah a
robe to facilitate his entrance into the seventh heaven. This is thus not simply
a travelogue like many of the early Jewish apocalypses but what I might call a
literary investigation of eschatology whose function in bringing heaven down to
earth, so to speak, is similar to that of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrice from
Qumran. The background to these issues is explored by Martha Himmelfarb,
Ascent to Heaven in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses (New York, 1993), esp.
pp. 558. We should not ignore the literary function of the Ascen. Isa. in pre-
serving and interpreting this type of mystical experience.
28
The signicance of this fusion for the developing apocalyptic tradition is
explored by Christopher Rowland, The Open Heaven (London, 1982).

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destiny of the righteous.
29
Although the point requires formal
demonstration, it seems likely that the structure of the lower
heavens (chapter 7) anticipates and is modelled on the Trinitarian
vision Isaiah achieves in 11.323 and which is prepared for by his
vision of the three divine beings in chapter 9.
30
In these lower
heavens Isaiah sees a throne (possibly unoccupied in the rst
heaven) surrounded to left and to right by angels. The angels on
the right are said in every case to transcend the angels on the left
but themselves to be transcended by the enthroned angel.
Similarly, in 9.356 the Spirit is said to be standing on the left
of the standing Beloved One. The diVerence between chapters 9
and 11 is that, after his saving journey, the Beloved is said to be
seated at the right of the merkabah and the Spirit is seated on the
left (11.323).
31
This diVerence signies the fact of eschatological
completion while at the same time making an important statement
of Christology and indeed of Trinitarianism, which is essentially
that the three divine beings stand in hierarchical relationship to
each other even though each is entitled to worship. The parallel-
ism between the theology and the cosmology in this respect
demands careful consideration and shows these authors substan-
tial creativity.
32
It follows that the material we need to examine falls in the main
between chapters 9 and 11, which describe Isaiahs vision of the
seventh heaven; though there are important christological aYrm-
ations and anticipations in chapters 7 and 8 which we must also
consider in this assessment.
29
The place of saving knowledge in the antecedents to the so-called
Gnosticism has been explored by David Brakke, The Gnostics: Myth, Ritual,
and Diversity in Early Christianity (Cambridge, MA, 2010). There are, however,
serious problems with Andrew K. Helmbold, Gnostic Elements in the Ascension
of Isaiah, NTS 18 (1972), pp. 2227.
30
See further Paula Gooder, Only the Third Heaven? 2 Corinthians 12.110 and
Heavenly Ascent (LNTS, 313; London, 2006), pp. 10620. She discusses the
correspondence between the cosmology and the theology with a good summary
of earlier literature.
31
The signicance of merkabah mysticism for the Ascen. Isa. is explored by
Ithamar Gruenwald, Apocalyptic and Merkabah Mysticism (AGJU, 14; Leiden,
1980), esp. pp. 328 for the Jewish background, and pp. 5762 for the Ascen. Isa.
itself. The diVerence between chs. 9 and 11 is essential to the Christology of the
apocalypse. See further Bietenhard, Die himmlische Welt.
32
Their creativity is noticed, inter alios, by Loren T. Stuckenbruck, The Holy
Spirit in the Ascension of Isaiah, in Graham N. Stanton, Bruce W. Longenecker,
and Stephen C. Barton (eds.), The Holy Spirit and Christian Origins: Essays in
Honor of James D. G. Dunn (Grand Rapids. MI and Cambridge, 2004),
pp. 30820.

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The content of chapters 611 can be explained very briey.
Isaiah ascends to the seventh heaven essentially to witness the
vision of the Beloved Ones descent and ascension. At the end of
chapter 9 he sees the three divine beings, who appear to him in the
hierarchical order described here. He then sees the Beloved One
descend in disguised form through the cosmos and appear on earth
as Jesus (chapters 1011). The signicant feature of the soteriology
is that it operates primarily on the cosmic and not the human level
as such: only after leaving the earth does the Beloved reveal his true
identity (11.22 V.).
33
What is described here is the deliberate
deception of the angel world and humankind in which that
identity remains concealed until the ascension (chapters 10 11).
While the death of Jesus is a real event in both halves of the
apocalypses, marking a diVerence in this respect from some of the
docetic systems of the second century,
34
this assertion of actual
deception is in my view enough to distinguish the Ascen. Isa. from
the New Testament writings, though the hidden descent is a
feature of the Physiologos and indeed of the Epistula Apostolorum
also.
35
III. EXEGESIS OF THE CHRISTOLOGY
This brings us now to exegesis of the Christology in more
detail. One of the consequences of the terse narrative style in
chapters 711 is that it is easy to discern the progress of thought in
the ascension and to understand what the authors are trying to say.
33
See below for a discussion of the Beloved Ones commission by the Most
High in ch. 10. This section omits a reference to the appearance as Jesus alto-
gether, showing the extent to which mythology dominates the works Christology.
On the sociological implications of this observation, see the interesting compara-
tive article by Wayne Meeks, The Man from Heaven in Johannine
Sectarianism, JBL 91 (1972), pp. 4472.
34
On these see G. Bardy, Docetisme, DSAM 3 (1957), cols. 14618; J. G.
Davies, The Origins of Docetism, SP 6 (1962), pp. 1335; N. Brox,
Doketismus: Eine Problemanzeige, ZKG 95 (1984), pp. 30114; B. Studer,
Docetism, ODCC, vol. 1, p. 244a; G. Stroumsa, Christs Laughter: Docetic
Origins Reconsidered, JECS 12 (2004), pp. 26788; and R. Goldstein and G.
Stroumsa, The Greek and Jewish Origins of Docetism: A New Proposal, ZAC
10 (2006), pp. 42341. My own view is that the Beloved Ones death is a real
event in the Ascen. Isa. and that ch. 11 attempts to marry the tradition of the
virgin birth with that of the disguised descent from heaven, not least by report-
ing the confused reaction of the bystanders. On this, see the article by Darrell
Hannah mentioned below.
35
Noted by Jean Danielou, The Theology of Jewish Christianity (ET London,
1964), pp. 13440. The early date of the Ascen. Isa. is an important factor in this
comparative assessment.

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The textual problems apart, this is helpful for explaining the
Christology.
The works Christology is a matter of revelation discerned
through mystical ascension.
36
This makes its disclosure similar in
genre to that of the New Testament Apocalypse, though we
should note that there is nothing in the Ascen. Isa. to match the
visual description of the heavenly Christ in Revelation 1.
37
There
are further comparisons to be made with the evidently mystical
setting of the Transguration narrative in Mark 9 and parallels,
though again the visual description of Christ there contrasts with
the absence of any such material in chapters 9 and 11 of the Ascen.
Isa.
38
This I hold to be indicative of the background against which
the works Christology was shaped and to have implications for
the wider topic on which we are engaged.
The contrast shows that, in terms of the mystical orientation of
some rst-century Christology,
39
something quite distinctive is
being asserted in the Ascen. Isa. because the authors choose to
diVer from the predominantly visual symbolism deployed else-
where, with its roots in the biblical theophanies and angelopha-
nies. The function and relative status of the angels is regularly
described in the Ascen. Isa., but their appearance is never
described apart from the word glory.
40
It seems that an interest
in describing the heavenly hierarchy has displaced this visual
interest, as the authors concentrate on providing an overall
36
For the parallels in this with Johannine Christology see Kanagaraj,
Mysticism in the Gospel of John. The diVerence, of course, is that the mediator
descends to bring revelation in John, representing what John Ashton has called
an apocalypse in reverse in Understanding the Fourth Gospel (Oxford, 1991),
p. 371.
37
On the latter see Christopher Rowland, The Vision of the Risen Christ,
JTS 31 (1980), pp. 111, and id., Visions of God in Apocalyptic Literature,
JSJ 10 (1979), pp. 13854.
38
See Christopher Rowland, A Man Clothed in Linen: Daniel 10:56 and
Jewish Angelology, JSNT 24 (1985), pp. 99110, and the same authors Open
Heaven, pp. 989.
39
It is interesting that both the Ascen. Isa. and Revelation come from the end
of the New Testament period, suggesting that the mystical elementalthough
diYcult to evaluate due to the lack of evidencedid not diminish in the rst
century CE. A most interesting article is Alan F. Segal, Paul and the Beginnings
of Jewish Mysticism, in John J. Collins and Michael A. Fishbane (eds.), Death,
Ecstasy and Other-Worldly Journeys (Albany, NY, 1995), pp. 95122. Of further
interest in this book are the articles by Adela Y. Collins, The Seven Heavens in
Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, pp. 5793, and Guy G. Stroumsa, Mystical
Descents, pp. 13753. By Yarbro Collins see also Cosmology and Eschatology,
passim.
40
On the meaning of this noun in the Ascen. Isa. see Norelli, Studi,
pp. 24952.

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impression of the cosmos, with its emphasis on hierarchical
diVerence, and much less on describing individual elements
within that panorama, still less on the appearance of the heavenly
beings concerned.
This approach determines what is said about the heavenly
Christ when Isaiah rst sees him in 9.27: And I saw one standing
(there) whose glory surpassed that of all, and his glory was great
and wonderful. S and L2 have partially reworked this description
though without introducing visual elements: Et conversus vidi
Dominum in gloria magna. The agreement between the versions
concerning the lack of visual description is signicant, but there
remains the question of whether or not the lost Greek original
described the Beloved in comparative (E) or merely static terms
(S and L2).
41
Isaiah sees (or does not see) the two other divine beings at the
end of chapter 9. The Holy Spirit is described as an angel and
made to stand on the left of the Lord (9.336).
42
He is introduced
as another glorious (person) who was like him (9.33). This
identies him as a being of unparalleled status whose glory,
nonetheless, was not as great as that of the Beloved One. Isaiah
clearly sees the angel of the Holy Spirit and the Beloved. In 9.37
8, it seems that he momentarily glimpses the Most High but is
denied a protracted vision; S and L2 deny him even the former.
Isaiah sees only the righteous as they beheld with great power the
glory of that one (9.37).
43
This is in all probability a eeting
glimpse of the deity but not a vision as such. The latter is reserved
for the fullment of the eschatological hope. The Most High
himself is no more described visually than are the Beloved and the
angel of the Holy Spirit.
44
The passage at 9.2732 is a key christological aYrmation from
the end of the rst century CE. Something very signicant is said
in the E text of 9.30. E states that the Beloved One was
transformed and became like an angel; S and L2 read the rst
person singular to imply that Isaiah was transformed in this way.
45
41
See further below.
42
See Stuckenbruck, The Holy Spirit in the Ascension of Isaiah. An import-
ant study is Norellis Sulla pneumatologia dellAscensione di Isaia.
43
The signicance of this passage for the development of Christian mysticism
has all but been ignored in the commentaries. It alludes to the post-mortem
Trinitarian vision of the righteous of a kind which stands at the fountainhead
of the later tradition.
44
This marks a diVerence from the biblical theophanies and the reworking of
that tradition in Rev. 4:3. See further Rowland in the publications mentioned.
45
See the discussion of Norelli, Commentarius, pp. 4837.

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In many ways 9.30 oVers a key to the diVerence between the
versions for in both versions of 9.15 Isaiah is given a robe which
facilitates his entrance into the seventh heaven. This means that
he has no further need of transformation in 9.30, which is
eVectively what the E text implies in that verse. This strongly
suggests that the parent of S and L2 has made an amendment at
this point and that this was done to remove the suggestion that the
Beloved could be construed as an angel. The E text is clearly to be
preferred at this point.
On the best text of 9.30, therefore, the Beloved whose glory
surpassed that of all (9.27), transformed himself into an angel at
the moment that Isaiah saw him. This was done to aid the
prophets vision and apparently as the rst stage of his descent
from the seventh heaven.
46
Such a transformation distinguishes
the Beloved One from the Holy Spirit, who is formally said to be
an angel in 9.36 and elsewhere. The diVerence is that the Beloved
must transform himself to become an angel, while the Spirit
actually is an angel. The deity is eVectively invisible except to the
transformed righteous, who seem to rank above the angels of
the seventh heaven and have nally severed their connections with
the esh.
47
Thus we have the interesting scenario that Isaiah
cannot really see Godthough such vision is implicitly promised
to him in the afterlifebut he does see the Beloved One in his
actual and pre-transformational state in the seventh heaven (9.27).
More than that: the Beloved purposefully helps the prophets
vision by transforming himself at the required moment, just as he
will later appear to the angels of the lower heavens as one of their
number and on earth as Jesus of Nazareth (chapters 1011).
The Beloveds patent visibility contrasts so obviously at this
point with the deitys eVective invisibility that it seems an
important theological point is being made here with reference to
the Christology. This is that, in a hierarchically structured cosmos
which is much more substantial than in other Christian texts and
where the deity is eVectively invisible, the Beloved One is a
transformable and visible divine being whose visibility compen-
sates to that extent for the fact of divine invisibility. He functions,
46
This verse has obvious potential for the exegesis of New Testament
Christology. John 1:18, 6:46 spring to mind in this connection; 2 Cor. 4:6
almost certainly also. While I am not suggesting it is a precise cognate to these
passages, it nonetheless deserves to be mentioned when exploring them.
47
The background to this understanding is surveyed by James H.
Charlesworth, The Portrayal of the Righteous as an Angel, in John J. Collins
and George W. E. Nickelsburg (eds.), Ideal Figures in Ancient Judaism (Chico,
CA, 1980), pp. 13551. Dan. 12:23 is an obvious source for this view.

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so to speak, as the visible presence of the invisible deity.
48
This is
true both of 9.30 (with 9.27 before it) and of the descent narrative
in chapters 10 and 11, despite the disguise adopted on the latter
occasion. The Beloved is seen by those who need to see him
principally the angelswhile the record of his appearance is
maintained in the Christian community on earth who learn of it
through revelation and, it would seem, are enabled to make the
mystical journey to the seventh heaven to view their eschatological
destiny every time that the text is read in worship.
49
The latter is
the hermeneutical function attributed to the Holy Spirit in the
Ascen. Isa. (4.212; 9.36). I hold it an important function of the
apocalypse and a likely indication of its earliest usage.
The Christology thus takes its cue from the belief that one
divine being can reveal another within the context of a hierarch-
ically structured universe. The Spirit ts into this perspective on
the grounds that he inspires the prophets who announce and
maintain the temporally determined revelation and is himself
divine in the terms explained by chapter 9. Despite the language
used, the diVerence between the Beloved One and the Spirit, I
suggest, is primarily functional, for the crucial factor is that both
are included in worship and the Beloved is himself transcended by
the Most High so that hierarchy is a determinative factor within
the overall theology.
50
The Trinitarian understanding of this text
is more explicit than anything found in contemporary
Christianity.
51
It would be wrong, in my view, to see the Spirit
as somehow being downgraded here. It is nearer the truth to say
that his status is still in course of denition, as is suggested by
more than one passage in the New Testament itself.
The special function of the Beloved One in the apocalypse is
indicated by references in chapters 7 and 8, where he seems
distinguished from the Spirit and the other occupants of the
seventh heaven. The opening part of chapter 7 contains an
important christological aYrmation: And he said to me, Do you
48
The similar orientation of Johannine Christology is explored by Kanagaraj,
Mysticism, ch. 17. There is important comparative material in Gieschen,
Angelomorphic Christology, who discusses the theophoric implications of the
apocalypse when compared with other texts.
49
The importance of the liturgical function of the Ascen. Isa. is noted by
Himmelfarb in Ascent to Heaven.
50
There is an interesting discussion of this point by Stuckenbruck in The
Holy Spirit in the Ascension of Isaiah.
51
A fortiori in terms of its early date. See further Georg Kretschmar, Studien
zur fruhchristlichen Trinita tstheologie (BHT, 21; Tu bingen, 1956), pp. 62124;
2203.

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rejoice because I have spoken kindly to you? And he said, You
will see one greater than me, how he will speak kindly and gently
with you; and the Father of the one who is greater you will also
see, because for this purpose I was sent from the seventh heaven,
that I might make all this clear to you (7.78). Crucially, S and
L2 at this point support the comparative description of the
mediator: Et maiorem me videbis et humiliorem et sapientiorem
volentem loqui tecum (L2). S then adds a reference to maiorem
maiore (equivalent) which L2 lacks. This evidence conrms that a
reference to Christ as greater than the angelus interpres stood at
this point in the lost Greek original in the introductory stages of
Isaiahs ascension. It means that when the Beloved One is rst
introduced in chapters 611, that introduction is in angelo-
morphic terms, by which I mean that he is described through
comparison with the angel world.
52
This description paves the
way for the description of the Beloved as one whose glory
surpassed that of all (9.27), where the authenticity of the E text
against S and L2 at this point seems aYrmed by the evidence of S
and L2 in the earlier reference.
The passage at 7.912 outlines the problem that the Beloved
Ones descent is undertaken to remedy. This is that the rmament
is occupied by angels who seem oblivious to the cosmic regions
above them. They quarrel and vie with each other for position. In
7.12 the angelus interpres tells the mystic that this strife will
continue until the one you will see comes to destroy it, outlining
the mythological problem which sets the Christology in perspec-
tive. The angel also makes the enigmatic statement: And as above,
so also on earth, for the likeness of what (is) in the rmament is
here on earth (7.10). This seems to indicate, though without
detailing the logic, that the angelic behaviour in the rmament
somehow determines human events on earth. This view is
developed in the later part of the apocalypse through the
expectation that Beliar will descend from the rmament and
pose an eschatological challenge to faithful believers on earth
52
The meaning and signicance of the adjective angelomorphic are discussed
by Gieschen in Angelomorphic Christology. See also C. H. T. Fletcher-Louis,
LukeActs: Angels, Christology and Soteriology (WUNT, 94; Tu bingen, 1997).
Fletcher-Louis denes the adjective angelomorphic thus: We propose the use
of the term angelomorphic wherever there are signs that an individual or com-
munity possess specically angelic characteristics or status, though for whom
identity cannot be reduced to that of an angel. In this case we understand the
word angel to be dened by the constellation of characteristics and motifs which
commonly occur across a broad spread of Jewish texts from the second Temple
and early rabbinic periods (pp. 1415).

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(4.1-13). Chapters 611 thereby describe a full-blown mytho-
logical drama which includes a setting, a problem, and a remedy.
The hierarchical nature of the cosmos explains how this problem
occurred, the Most High telling the Beloved in 10.1213 that these
angels had denied him and proclaimed themselves the supreme
cosmic authorities. The conclusion of the apocalypse with the
Beloved Ones enthronement has both eschatological and an-
thropological consequences for it explains the self-identity of
those who hold fast to the revealed knowledge concerning the
mediators submission of the rebellious angels.
7.17 names the Beloved together with God as the recipient of
worship from the angel world. 7.23 is an important Trinitarian
reference which makes the Most High and his Beloved the object
of aVection from the human world and attributes to the Spirit the
function of a psychopomp.
53
8.7 says of the rst two:
From the sixth heaven and upwards there are no longer those on the
left, nor is there a throne placed in the middle, but [they are directed]
by the power of the seventh heaven, where the One who is not named
dwells, and his Chosen One, whose name is unknown, and no heaven
can learn his name.
8.18 like 7.23 is a Trinitarian reference: And there they all
named the primal Father and his Beloved, Christ, and the
Holy Spirit, all with one voice.
The most obvious feature of this evidence is that Trinitarian
and binitarian references are intermingled in chapters 78, though
7.23 is indicative of the Spirits function in the Ascen. Isa. in the
apparent distinction that it makes between the Spirit and the
Beloved One. While the status of the Spirit in the apocalypse
needs further thought, it is in fact true to say that overall the
works theology, including its Trinitarianism, has a certain
amount of clarity. This is given by the structure of the lower
heavens and especially by the evidence of 9.2742 and 11.323.
The cosmos is clearly arranged in threes and not in twos.
54
The
Spirit belongs with the other divine beings. Christology assumes a
degree of prominence in these references because of the emphasis
on the Beloveds victory over the angel world concluding in his
53
There is an interesting aYnity in this with the portrait of Michael in the
Testament of Abraham. Michaels function within Jewish angelology is examined
by Hannah in Michael and Christ.
54
A point noticed by G. C. Stead, Origins of the Doctrine of the Trinity,
Theology 77 (1974), pp. 50817 and 5828.

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enthronement in 11.32.
55
However, the crucial function of the
Spirit is to make the revelation relevant to the contemporary
world. Thus it is true to say that the Christology has no meaning
for the authors and the readers until interpreted by the Spirit,
especially in view of the temptation to apostasy described by 3.21
31. A pastoral and theological inevitability surrounds the emer-
gence of Trinitarian belief in the Ascen. Isa.
The main part of chapters 611 is the narrative of the Beloved
Ones descent, which occurs after Isaiah has entered the seventh
heaven in chapter 9. Wide-ranging restriction of mystical interest
is a deliberate feature of the apocalypse. The authors have made
use of a Jewish formthat of mystical ascensionand borrowed
for reworking the seven heavens of Jewish apocalyptic cosmology.
However, they have departed from the broad model of apocalyptic
knowledge specied by the contemporary 2 Baruch 59 and
described the seers ascension through a rudimentary universe
to witness the descent and ascent of the mediator which forms the
principal and indeed the only theme of chapters 10 and 11.
56
The descent itself has some unique features when compared
with any other passage from the literature of rst-century
Christianity. The most obvious of these is given by the command
of the Most High in 10.910: And you shall make your likeness
like that of all who (are) in the ve heavens, and you shall take care
to make your form like that of the angels in the rmament and also
(like that) of the angels who (are) in Sheol. This is a descent in
disguised form whose principal purpose is to deceive those
heavenly beings through whom the mediator passes on his
downwards journey. That ruse is sustained during the Beloved
Ones appearance as Jesus, of which is said: And they were all
blinded concerning him; they all knew about him, but they did not
know from where he was . . . It was hidden from all the heavens
and all the princes and every god of this world (11.14, 16). There
are parallels in this with Johannine Christology, though John has
nothing to match the notion of the disguised descent or in fact any
description of the descent at all.
Only in the Beloved Ones ascension is the disguise cast aside.
This means that, on the evidence of the E text in chapter 11 (and
potentially of S and L2 also), the Beloved One successfully escapes
55
See Ugo Bianchi, LAscensione di Isaia: Tematiche soteriologiche di des-
census/ascensus, in Pesce (ed.), Isaia, pp. 185210. The mythological basis of the
works soteriology is noteworthy.
56
Thus the vision of the three divine beings in ch. 9 is preparatory for the
vision of chs. 1011. The main merkabah vision in the Ascen. Isa. is that of ch. 11
and not of ch. 9. The latter is modelled on the former.

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the recognition of all who meet the human Jesus, leaving some
clearly unanswered (and indeed unasked) questions about the
formation of the Christian community and the means by which
Jesus was perceived by even his followers at this point in the
apocalypse.
57
It seems not to have concerned the authors of the
original rst-century writing to deal with these matters, for they
focus on the mythological aspect of Christology to the detriment
of a Synoptic-type description of the life of Jesus.
There is a(nother) textual problem just where we would have
liked not to nd one, in 11.235, where the E text makes the
angels of the rmament recognize the Beloved and worship
him.
58
E then describes the mediators entrance into the second
heaven. However, the entire sense of chapters 611 demands
that the Beloved One obtains the submission of the previously
hostile beings in this way. It would seem that a homoioteleuton
has occurred here.
59
The angels arrogance had undergirded
the words of the Most High when commissioning the Beloved
in 10.13: They have denied me and said, We alone are, and
there is no one besides us. The ascending Beloved One obtains
the submission of these beings, rectifying the cosmic problem
which 7.912 implies has ramications for people on earth.
The works soteriology has neither meaning nor context if
the rmament angels do not worship the Beloved One in
chapter 11.
Thus it is the ascension and neither the Beloved Ones descent
through the heavens nor even his appearance as Jesus as such
which marks the crucial moment in the Ascen. Isa. Christology.
The ascension reveals the Beloved for what he is, showing that he
has discharged the commission imparted by the Most High in
chapter 10. The returning Beloved takes his seat at the right hand
of God (11.32) in what appears to be a reworked version of the
rst-century christological tradition deriving from Ps. 110:1
LXX, which inuences more than one passage in the New
Testament.
60
The statement that the Spirit is seated on the left
(11.33) seems to derive from this view by extension, as the more
57
For an examination of the Jesus traditions see Bauckham, Kerygmatic
summaries, and Jonathan Knight, The Portrait of Mary in the Ascension of
Isaiah, in F. Stanley Jones (ed.), Which Mary? The Marys of Early Christian
Tradition (SBS, 10; Atlanta, GA, 2002), pp. 91106.
58
See Norelli, Commentarius, pp. 5804.
59
See Bauckham, Fate of the Dead, p. 377.
60
The background to this type of Christology has been explored by Christoph
Markschies, Sessio ad dexteram: Bemerkungen zu einem altchristlichen
Bekenntnismotiv in der christologischen Diskussion der altchristlichen

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simple Christology of passages such as Rom. 8:34 and 1 Pet. 3:22
has been further adapted to allow for these new considerations.
This closing scene appears to explain the form taken by the lower
heavens (chapter 7) as well.
This exegesis of the Ascen. Isa. Christology has drawn attention
to some crucial themes which distinguish this work from other
rst-century writings. The most obvious of these is the cosmology,
which stands at the heart of the apocalypse. It has seven storeys
but includes a dominant hierarchical element which represents a
development from and not a straight perpetuation of Jewish
apocalyptic cosmology. Another is the explicit Trinitarianism,
related to the cosmology, which includes the distinctive christo-
logical title Beloved One (Chosen One in 8.7) and identies the
Holy Spirit as an angel. Within this panorama the Christology is
clearly distinctive as well. It includes the presentation of Christ in
angelomorphic terms (7.78; 9.27 E; 9.30 E) and an idiosyncratic
view of his activity in which the disguised descent is the crucial
feature of the action. While there are textual problems at every
point in the apocalypse, there is no compelling reason to suppose
that the E text has been substantially altered from the
rst-century writing even though it may contain some minor
additions and emendations. By contrast, we have found good
reason to see S and L2 as a secondary form of text. We may have
condence in supposing that the original authors of chapters 611
did think of Christ in angelomorphic terms, albeit speculatively
and perhaps with deliberate self-consciousness. The question now
is to investigate where this type of understanding came from.
IV. THE SOURCES OF THE CHRISTOLOGY
Martin Hengels great insight on the development of
Christology was that it did not take the form of a strictly linear
process.
61
The question of where the Ascen. Isa. stands in respect
of the emerging christological tradition is thus a relative one,
albeit determined by chronology and by the likely origin of
chapters 711 towards the end of the rst century CE. We can look
back and look around; but, when this has been done, we must
acknowledge a considerable authorial creativity in giving new
shape to emerging material; and we should comment on the
possible implications of this new view for the subsequent
Theologen, in M. Philonenko (ed.), Le Trone de Dieu (WUNT, 69; Tu bingen,
1993), pp. 252317.
61
The Son of God: The Origin of Christology and the History of
Jewish-Hellenistic Religion (ET; London, 1976).

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development of Christology in the second century CE, not to
mention the exegesis of certain key texts from the rst century CE.
It goes without saying, I hope, that the authors are indebted to
the earlier christological tradition.
62
Their story about the
Beloved vanquishing the aerial powers agrees in essentials with
the more simple form of story told in 1 Peter 3,
63
while the
emerging Trinitarianism (although more explicit) is not out of
place in the literature of late rst-century Christianity. Their
notion that a heavenly mediator descended to earth is arguably if
not certainly anticipated in Paul (Gal. 4:4; Rom. 8:3; 2 Cor. 8:9); it
agrees with the essentials of the Johannine Christology (John 3:13;
6:62).
64
What our authors have done is to take the developing
tradition of Christology and to present it in a new shape and light
where the hierarchical cosmology and the notion of the disguised
descent take centre stage, bonded by the Trinitarian vision that
Isaiah achieves in chapters 9 and 11. The result is a new
perspective in which authorial creativity and the distinctive stance
of this text when compared with all other writings must be
acknowledged and made a major feature of its interpretation.
The question of where tradition left oV and creativity took over
is by no means easy to answer. We can assume that the authors
knew the basic narrative of the descending-ascending Saviour
because this formed part of the common kerygmatic stock of
rst-century Christianity (as indeed of wider currents in Judaism
and paganism). This material is found across too many New
Testament sources, albeit in diVerent forms, for this point to be
gainsaid. The issue therefore turns on the use made of this
mythology in the Ascen. Isa., and so on the issues of pattern,
function, and terminology which feature there. To address these
issues, we need to clarify what is distinctive about the form of
62
This point is acknowledged by more than one of the contributors to Pesces
edited collection; and also by Robert G. Hall in various articles. See his The
Ascension of Isaiah: Community Situation, Date, and Place in Early Christianity,
JBL 109 (1990), pp. 289306; Isaiahs Ascent to See the Beloved: An Ancient
Jewish Source for the Ascension of Isaiah?, JBL 113 (1994), pp. 46384; and
Disjunction of Heavenly and Earthly Times in the Ascension of Isaiah, JSJ 35
(2004), pp. 1726.
63
On which see Bo Reicke, The Disobedient Spirits and Christian Baptism
(Uppsala, 1946); and W. J. Dalton, Christs Proclamation to the Imprisoned
Spirits (AB, 23; Rome,
2
1989).
64
See Talberts discussion of these passages in The Myth of a
Descending-Ascending Redeemer and Godfrey C. Nicholson, Death as
Departure: The Johannine DescentAscent Schema (SBLDS, 83; Chico, CA,
1983).

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mythology in the apocalypse and to relate that to what is known
about the emerging tradition of Christology more generally.
The distinctive elements in the Ascen. Isa. are the seven-storied
cosmology, the works Trinitarian outlook, which involves a par-
ticular view of the Beloved One and the angel of the Holy Spirit,
and the notion of the disguised descent. The works cosmology is
in many ways subservient to its theology and gives spatial
expression to the nature of that theology by augmenting the
impression of transcendence. All of this places great emphasis on
the Beloved Ones journey, which presupposes his heavenly status
as the most distinctive element in the apocalypseissues of
ecclesiology and futurist eschatology in chapters 15 apart.
We can see the unique nature of this view by comparing the
apocalypse rst with New Testament texts (Paul, Hebrews, and
John) where a more oblique pattern of Christology is found, and
then with some second-century Christian texts which also make
use of the descent-ascent pattern and which include the notion of
the disguised descent, albeit by no means uniformly across the
literature. Space forbids a full description of this evidence; a
summary description will suYce in this context.
There is an implied pattern of descent and ascent in Paul,
notably in Galatians, Romans, and Philippians, but nothing
specically to match the parallelism of this motion in the Ascen.
Isa. or the language used to describe it, still less the notion of the
disguised descent.
65
Even in Phil. 2:611, which is Pauls last
expression of Christology, the specic language of descent and
ascension is absent and any suggestion that the mediator was
transformed into human likeness is not made explicit and has to be
inferred, if it possibly can, from the text.
The Christology of Hebrews implies pre-existence (1:2) and
speaks of the Son as coming into the world (10:5), being made like
his brothers in every respect (2:17).
66
He entered the heavenly
sanctuary at the moment of his death (7:26; 9:1112; 10:1920) in
an implied view of the ascension which raises diYcult questions
about the place of the resurrection in Hebrews.
67
However, this
65
Two major studies of Phil. 2:611, among a multitude of others, are R. P.
Martin, Carmen Christi: Philippians ii. 511 in Recent Interpretation and in the
Setting of Early Christian Worship (SNTSMS, 4; Cambridge, 1967), and Otfried
Hous, Der Christushymnus Philipper 2, 611: Untersuchungen zu Gestalt und
Aussage eines urchristlichen Psalms (WUNT, 17; Tu bingen,
2
1991).
66
See the edited collection mentioned in n. 5 above.
67
See further Otfried Hous, Der Vorhang vor dem Thron Gottes: eine
exegetisch-religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchung zu Hebraer 6, 19 f. und 10, 19 f.
(WUNT, 14; Tu bingen, 1972).

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also does not match the precisely articulated view of the
mediators descent and ascension in the Ascen. Isa., where both
are described in the form of a counterbalance within diVerence
and again, there is no tradition of a disguised descent in Hebrews.
John alludes to the Son of Mans descent from heaven (3:13) and
to the possibility of his subsequent return to that region (6:62).
68
Once again, however, these are mentioned so to speak en passant
and represent a contrast to this extent with the centrality of the
pattern as it is found in the Ascen. Isa. There is no suggestion that
Johns Jesus deceived the angel world in the act of descending
from heaven, nor that he vanquished rebellious angels in the act of
ascending to heaven.
Compared with these other rst-century texts, the Ascen. Isa.
describes the Beloved Ones descent and ascension as a specic
parabola-type movement in which the emphasis falls on the
ascension and where the notion of the disguised descent has
evidently been introduced to explain how the mediator managed to
escape recognition until this time.
69
In the logic of the apocalypse,
the descent is subservient to the ascension so that one is almost
bound to detect authorial creativity in the introduction of the
notion of the disguise. The authors have picked up some diVuse
elements from the rst-century christological tradition and
produced a new synthesis not found elsewhere which is
determined by its explicit perspective on heavenly events and by
the notion that the angel world was deceived when the mediator
descended from heaven in order to permit his victorious ascen-
sion, which forms the heart of the soteriology. If the authors were
inuenced by the existing tradition of Christology reected also in
Rom. 8:34 and 1 Pet. 3:22,
70
which seems very diYcult to deny on
the basis of 11.323, they have taken that tradition further by
linking the mediators ascension with his pre-existent state,
introducing the notion of the disguised descent to supply the
necessary logic when this is done. This means that the Ascen. Isa.
is of outstanding importance for the development of the doctrine
68
This strand in Johns Gospel is examined by Francis J. Moloney, The
Johannine Son of Man (BSR, 14; Rome, 1975).
69
Indeed, this is the rst time in the history of Christology that descent and
ascension have been combined in this way at the heart of a scheme of salvation.
See further Bianchi, LAscensione di Isaia, and also my Disciples, ch. 2.
70
A strand examined by Markschies in the article mentioned. An interesting
background study is Antti Laato, A Star is Rising: The Historical Development of
the Old Testament Royal Ideology and the Rise of the Jewish Messianic Expectations
(University of South Florida International Studies in Formative Christianity and
Judaism, 5; Atlanta, GA, 1997).

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of pre-existence in rst-century Christianity since it explicitly
provides certain logical and narrative elements which are not
present in this form in the New Testament literature, but which
are required when the form of Christology in Romans and 1 Peter
is set against the, also developing, view in the pre-existence of the
Christian Messiah which is found in the later New Testament
writings. This is an excellent indication of why the Ascen. Isa.
cannot be ignored any longer in research into the origins of New
Testament Christology.
Much closer to the Ascen. Isa. is the Christology of
second-century Christianity, notably that advocated by Justin
Martyr c.135 CE in his Dialogue with Trypho.
71
Justin speaks of
Christs descent as something that cannot be declared (Dial. 76)
and he frequently alludes to his ascension as well (Dial. 32, 36, 38,
39, etc.). Thus we nd the tradition of the hidden descent and the
ascension perpetuated in second-century Christianity, albeit not in
the same form as in our apocalypse. Further material is found in
Sibylline Oracle 8 from the second half of the second century. Sib.
Or. 8.458 states that Coming from heaven, he put on a mortal
form; 8.469, that a Word ew to Marys womb. While the thought
here is suggestive, Epistula Apostolorum 13 (mid second-century
CE) comes very close to the outlook of the Ascen. Isa. in asserting:
When I come from the Father, and pass through the heavens, and
am clothed with the Wisdom of the Father and with his Power,
then am I like to the heavenly beings, the angels and archangels.
When I pass through the heavens in their form, then am I as one
of them.
72
This range of material draws further attention to the unique
portrait of the disguised descent in the Ascen. Isa. The nearest
parallel is the Epistula Apostolorum, which seems to have know-
ledge of the same tradition, though it uses diVerent terminology to
express it and is a somewhat later text. Justin also knows the
tradition while the Sibylline Oracles, whose language is allusive,
probably knows it as well. This second-century literature again
marks a diVerence from the New Testament writings and helps to
clarify the status of the Ascen. Isa. in respect of both strands of
material. The issues present themselves acutely here. The Ascen.
Isa. is the only text from the rst century to articulate this view of
71
See Talbert in The Myth of a Descending-Ascending Redeemer, and
Silke-Petra Bergjan, Qualifying Angel in Justins Logos Christology, in
Frances M. Young, Mark J. Edwards, and P. M. Parvis (eds.), Studia Patristica
(Leuven 2006), pp. 35357.
72
For the background to these ideas, see Julian Hills, Tradition and
Composition in the Epistula Apostolorum (HTS, 57; Cambridge, MA, 2008).

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the disguised descent and (by comparison with the second-century
literature) it does so in a quite unique form. This draws further
attention to the issue of authorial creativity and shows the
importance of the Ascen. Isa. Christology as bridging the gap, so
to speak, between rst- and second-century Christology in this
development.
Before exploring the origin of the disguised descent, I want to
consider the other distinctive aspect of the Ascen. Isa.: the
Trinitarian theology of chapters 9 and 11, which permits the view
of the Beloved One as the divine subordinate within an hierarch-
ical cosmos and nds room for the angel of the Holy Spirit within
that equation.
73
The Trinitarianism, as we have seen, determines
the cosmology and articulates a view in which only the Most High
(also known as the Great Glory) is not transcended by another
being in the cosmos. He transcends the Beloved One who in turns
transcends the angel of the Holy Spirit who in turn transcends the
righteous in the seventh heaven; and so on down the heavens. The
distinction between the Beloved and the Spirit nds its meaning in
this context, this being expressed by the designation of the Spirit
as an angel in 9.36 and the statement that the Beloved transforms
himself into angelic likeness in the E text of 9.30; not to mention
the diVerentiated Trinitarianism of 7.23, where the Spirit is
attributed the function of a psychopomp.
The result is the focus on the special relationship between the
Most High and the Beloved symbolized by the choice of Beloved
One as a recurrent christological title and the responsibility of the
Beloved to discharge the Most Highs will in chapters 1011 by
undertaking the disguised descent.
74
While of course a relation-
ship between God and Christ in heaven is a feature of some if not
most of the New Testament literature, Hebrews, John, and Paul
all supplying examples of this, once again the terminology that is
used to describe the heavenly Christ, and the events which lead to
his descentspecically, the Most Highs commission in chapter
73
On this aspect see Werner, Michaelis, and Stead in the literature cited.
There is material also in Darrell D. Hannah, The Ascension of Isaiah and
Docetic Christology, Vig. Christ. 53 (1999), pp. 16596; though I shall argue
at the end of this essay that exegesis of Isaiah 6 as such is an unlikely explanation
of the origin of our works theology. Hannahs article in other respects is a most
important challenge to the view that the Ascen. Isa. necessarily incorporates a
docetic Christology.
74
See Norelli, Studi, pp. 25661. Norelli interestingly raises the question of
whether there are diVerent levels of christological understanding in the text,
signied by the various titles deployed. The answer seems to be that such a
hypothesis is likely.

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10are distinctive features when the Ascen. Isa. is compared with
other rst-century literature.
The key to this Christology is given by what is said about the
Beloved One in the E text of 9.27: I saw one standing (there)
whose glory surpassed that of all. We saw that S and L2 partially
support this reading by declining to add any visual description of
the mediator but that they omit the comparison with the angels,
which is the crucial feature of the E text at this point.
While all textual judgements concerning the apocalypse to some
extent are provisional, more than one argument supports the view
that the E text should be preferred in 9.27 against the reading of S
and L2. The rst is the diYculty of accepting the latters version
of 9.30 where the notion that the Beloved was transformed into
angelic likeness constitutes the harder reading and makes the
better sense. Moreover, S and L2 introduce three references to
Michael in chapter 9 which are not found in E and which look
intrinsically suspect in that context. The second is immediately
afterwards, in 9.29: Et Michael appropinquans adoravit, et cum eo
omnes angeli adoraverunt et cantaverunt (L2). The rst is in the
second half of 9.23, where L2 reads: Et interrogavi angelum: Quis
est praeeminens omnes angelos in gloria sua? Et respondens dixit
mihi: Iste est magnus angelus Michael deprecans semper pro
humanitate et humilitate. The third is in 9.42, which insists that
Michael joined or led the angels in the worship of the Most High.
When read against their version of 9.27, the reference to
Michael in the S and L2 text of 9.29 looks like an attempt to
distinguish the Beloved from the angel world by locating Michael
and not the Beloved One in that position. However, S and L2 give
the game away in their version of 7.78 where they read the same
comparative found in E when describing the Beloved One: Et
maiorem me videbis. This evidently conrms that the lost Greek
original spoke in angelomorphic or comparative terms about the
Beloved One much as it clearly used specic angel language to
describe the Holy Spirit. This is important evidence with which to
approach the E text of 9.27. Again, I prefer E to S and L2 for the
reasons stated here.
This evidence signies that the Beloved One in the Ascen. Isa. is
a subordinate divine being: the second most important being in a
hierarchically determined cosmos where angelology has a diVer-
entiated character and the number of the heavens reinforces the
impression of theological transcendence.
75
This is a somewhat
75
This aspect of the Ascen. Isa. makes for a link with subsequent Jewish
mysticism. The issues here are examined by Gruenwald in his Apocalypticism,

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diVerent Christology from the visual imagery, itself derived from
Jewish angelology, that we observed in more than one strand of
New Testament literature. The notion that three divine beings of
increasing importance stand at the summit of a hierarchically
determined cosmos is also unique in rst-century literature, with
suYcient diVerences from even the New Testament Apocalypse to
conrm that this represents a new and independent strand of
thought entirely.
We are now in a position to address the question of what stands
behind this unique Christology: specically, the angelomorphic
presentation of the Beloved One and the notion of his disguised
descent. The strong implication of what has been said so far is that
the existing tradition of New Testament Christology contributed
to the portrait but that by itself it is insuYcient to explain the
precise contours of this form of belief. The works cosmology with
its roots in its theology is an indication that this is so. We must
speak of a distinctive interpretation of the emerging tradition of
Christology which incorporated certain items of common belief
(the kerygma) but which eshed out the Christian story of
salvation in a way that included some key new elements.
The cosmology looks like a deliberate retrospection to the world
of Jewish apocalypticism.
76
The number of the heavensseven
and the fact that there is no obvious indication these are linked to
the planetary system are indications of this. Jewish apocalyptic
cosmology has been reworked in the apocalypse, resulting in a new
synthesis which represents a thoroughgoing attempt to link the
portrait of the enthroned divine beings to an understanding of the
cosmic system.
Within that cosmology the distinctive featurein fact, almost
the only featureis angelology. The interest in the angels, the
manner of their description, and the aYnities between the
angelological arrangement in the lower heavens (chapter 7) and
the three divine beings in the seventh heaven (chapter 9) show that
the cosmos is conceived according to the nature of its inhabitants
in which Isaiahs vision of the angel world (chapters 78) prepares
him for his vision of the three divine beings in chapters 911 (and
pp. 5762. The presence of the individual merkabah in the heavens is picked up
in the later text known as The Visions of Ezekiel, which is described by
Gruenwald in that context. The signicance of our works eschatology within
the Jewish mystical tradition is discussed by Peter Schafer, The Origins of Jewish
Mysticism (Princeton and Oxford, 2009), pp. 939.
76
This in my view is a preferable hypothesis to the dubious theory of a Jewish
Urtext for chs. 611, which is discussed by Gruenwald and Hall in the references
cited.

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supremely in 11.323). The Holy Spirit is said to be an angel (9.36
and elsewhere); the Beloved One is greater than the angelus
interpreshis glory surpasses that of all the angels (9.27, E text).
All of this strongly suggests that the authors have turned to the
tradition of Jewish apocalyptic angelology to esh out their
emerging Trinitarian portrait, with its interest in the relationship
between the Most High and the Beloved One whereby two of
three divine beings transcend another in a universe which is
hierarchically determined and where mysticism assumes a central
importance.
The diVerences from the New Testament Christology in this
respect are twofold. As noted, there is no visual description of the
heavenly Christ to match the evidence of Mark 9 and parallels and
Revelation 1. This suggests that a diVerent understanding of
angelology pertains in the apocalypse. Moreover, a text such as
Hebrews contains clear anti-angel polemic to the extent that we
must consider more precisely the nature of the angelomorphic
language being used about the Beloved One in the Ascen. Isa. Is he
an angel, or is he something rather diVerent?
The answer to this question, I believe, lies in the diVerence
between what is said about the Beloved One and the Spirit in
9.2742 and the form of language in both 7.78 and 9.27. Whereas
the Spirit is ordinarily said to be an angel, the Beloved Ones
appearance as an angel is held a matter of transformation in the E
text of 9.30. 7.78, where the two branches of the tradition agree,
coheres with the E text of 9.27 is making the Beloved the most
glorious being in the seventh heaven, with the exception of the
Most High himself. The Beloved is thus a high heavenly power
ranking above the angels, including the angel of the Holy Spirit.
His presence in the seventh heaven is nonetheless described in
language which, like the works cosmology, nds its setting
in Jewish apocalypticismand specically, I suggest, in the
development of an exalted angel in Jewish apocalyptic literature.
The latter strand has received increasing attention in research
over the past number of years. Christopher Rowland has shown
that the gure of the linen-clothed man in Daniel 9, which itself
incorporates elements from the theophany in Ezekiel 1, stands
behind more than one New Testament passage.
77
Despite the
anti-angelic tendency of a work such as Hebrews, both the
Transguration narratives and Revelation 1 embody an angelo-
morphic Christology. This tendency is developed in the second
77
In the articles cited. See also Gieschen, Hannah, Fletcher-Louis, and
Knight in the works cited.

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century in writers as diverse as Justin Martyr and the author of
The Shepherd of Hermas. My suggestion is that the authors of the
Ascen. Isa. have reworked this Jewish tradition in a unique and
distinctive way to yield the portrait of Christ as the divine
subordinate within a cosmos that is dominated by hierarchical
considerations and where the Spirit is formally described as an
angel.
The material in question is now quite well known and need not
be described in great detail here.
78
SuYce it to say that a
burgeoning angelology is a feature of much Jewish post-biblical
literature and that a number of texts locate an exalted angel on a
heavenly throne or describe him in terms which visually recall the
deity in a way that raises questions about the understanding of
monotheism in pre-Christian mystical Judaism.
79
Examples of
this strand include the angelic mediators who appear in Daniel 7
and 10, the gure of the Son of Man-Elect One in The Similitudes
of Enoch, notably the portrait of Jaoel in Apocalypse of Abraham
1011, and the angel who appears in Joseph and Asenath 14.
A parallel strand describes the elevation of transformed patriarchs
to supreme status in heaven following the enigmatic clue oVered
about Enoch in Gen. 5.24 and the explicit nature of the Sinai
theophany described in Exodus 24. Most importantly, even Philo
described the Logos as an angel among other signicant titles
(Conf. 146). This varied material shows the extent to which belief
in an exalted angel had penetrated the thought-worlds of
pre-Christian Jewish apocalypticism.
The unique feature of the Ascen. Isa. is that its portrait of the
Beloved One seems inexplicable without the inuence of the
earlier christological tradition and this strand of Jewish angel-
ologyboth of these together. In their portrayal of the Beloved as
the divine subordinate, the authors choice of language is
indicative: notably the statements about his transcendence of the
angelus interpres in 7.78 and his all-surpassing glory in the E text
of 9.27. These represent a clear attempt to describe the Beloved
with reference to the angel world while the likely secondary
character of S and L2 shows the changes that were made to the
78
See Knight, Disciples, ch. 2, for my own summary and discussion of it.
79
The issue of monotheism is surveyed by Larry Hurtado, One God, One
Lord: Early Christian Devotion and Ancient Jewish Monotheism (Edinburgh,
2
1998); id., Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity (Grand
Rapids, MI and Cambridge, 2003); and James Davila, Carey Newman, and
Gladys S. Lewis (eds.), Monotheism and the Worship of Jesus: Papers from the
Proceedings at the International Conference on the Origins of the Worship of Jesus in
St. Andrews University (Leiden, 1999).

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text at a later period when this understanding of Christ was found
unsatisfactory.
The hierarchical cosmology oVers further evidence in the wake
of what Philo had said about the Logos as the second divine and
mediating power. Everything in the Ascen. Isa. points upwards.
Chapter 7 is full of statements about how each heaven transcends
its immediate inferior and what Isaiah will see when he enters the
seventh heaven. Isaiah is encouraged to see as much as he can, the
Beloved providing a garment for him to enter the seventh heaven
(9.15) and then transforming himself to aid the prophets vision
(9.30). Isaiah knows he has reached the highest region when he
cannot actually see the Great Glory for more than a eeting
second (9.378). In seeing the Beloved, he sees one whose glory
surpasses that of all the angels in a comparative sense (9.27 E), but
whose connection with the angel world is signied by his place in
the heavenly hierarchy, where he transcends the angel of the Holy
Spirit but is himself transcended by the Most High; and where
transformation into angelic likeness is held an appropriate activity
for one who mediates revelation on behalf of the Most High.
The authors have added this outlook to the tradition of
rst-century Christology and included an explicit Trinitarianism
which depends on hierarchy and where Jewish mysticism and
angelology have supplied the impetus for the emerging descrip-
tion of the three divine beings. Where the authors of the Gospels
and Revelation turned to a visual strand of Jewish angelology, the
Christology of the Ascen. Isa. is more hierarchical and conceptual
in orientation and involves the presentation of Christ as a high
heavenly power within a cosmos and a Trinitarianism that comes
to this kind of expression for the rst time in Christian literature.
The term angelomorphic is appropriate to describe this type of
Christology because it preserves the comparative sense found in
7.78 and 9.27 (E), allowing for the depiction of Christ in angelic
categories while preserving the sense that he is not merely an angel
of the seventh heaven for which 9.30 (E) supplies the crucial
evidence. In many ways it matters rather less to come up with a
suitable descriptive for this type of Christology than to compre-
hend the hierarchical nature of the works cosmology, which
provides the true understanding of the Christology. The Beloved
is transcended only by the Most High and stands to him in the
position of next-most-high being who shares his worship, appears
it would seem as his visible aspect, and responds obediently to his
command. The foundations of this Christology lie in the authors
reinterpretation of the christological tradition with reference to
Jewish apocalyptic angelology and a reworked apocalyptic

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cosmology. This unique form of material stems in all probability
from the late rst century CE.
Angelomorphic Christology is a prominent feature of some
second-century Christian literature.
80
Philos description of the
logos as angel (Conf. 146) is applied to Christ by Justin Martyr in
the Dialogue (e.g Dial. 34, For Christ is King, and Priest, and
God, and Lord, and angel, and man, and captain, and stone, and a
Son born, and rst made subject to suVering, then returning to
heaven). The Shepherd of Hermas regularly portrays Christ as an
exalted angel gure. It is possible, but not certain, that this
identication features in Sibylline Oracles 8, while in Epistula
Apostolorum 14 Christ himself takes the form of Gabriel and
appears to the virgin Mary. This evidence conrms that the Ascen.
Isa. Christology anticipates at least to some extent the Christology
of these second-century writers, though Justin goes beyond what
is said here by using the noun angelalthough of course the
meaning of his language is a matter for considerable reection.
The willingness to portray Christ as an angel seems to mark a
diVerence in outlook between the Christologies of the rst and the
second century CE, the Ascen. Isa. representing an important link
between these two rather diVerent expressions of belief and
spanning, as I suggested, the two centuries in this regard.
It follows that further research attention must be accorded the
works cosmology, Trinitarianism, and pneumatology in the light
of this conclusion. The Ascen. Isa. is a close-knit text where these
diVerent aspects all relate very directly to each other. My
suggestion in this essay is that all of them can be explained on
the basis of the central relationship between the Most High and
the Beloved One and this relationship reworks the existing
christological tradition under the inuence of Jewish angelology.
The result is an entirely new form of belief which is of great
importance for understanding the intellectual development of the
earliest Christianity; including, most importantly, the prehistory
of the Arian controversy.
81
80
See Talbert, The Myth of a Descending-Ascending Redeemer, and
Richard W. Longenecker, The Christology of Early Jewish Christianity (SBT,
17; London, 1970), pp. 2632.
81
The Jewish background of the latter is explored by R. Lorenz, Arius judai-
zans?: Untersuchungen zur dogmengeschichtlichen Einordnung des Arius (FKD, 31;
Gottingen, 1980).

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V. THE DESCENT STRAND IN THE CHRISTOLOGY
With this point established, we must now investigate the origin
of the descent strand in the Ascen. Isa. Once again, it is clear that
our authors were not the rst to suggest that the sending of the
divine subordinate by the Father formed the essence of Christian
soteriology. The origins of this belief lie in the pre-Pauline
formula included with variations in Gal. 4:4 and Rom. 8:3, this
view being developed as the New Testament unfolds until it
reaches mature expression in the Fourth Gospel (and by impli-
cation in Hebrews). The contribution of the Jewish wisdom
tradition to the Pauline view of this topic has been articulated by
Schweizer and Kramer.
82
The widespread assumption that Jewish
wisdom categories explain early pre-existence Christology
make it important to re-examine what is said about the Beloved
Ones descent in the Ascen. Isa. in the light of what we have seen
about its angelomorphic Christology.
The diVerence between the Ascen. Isa. and say Paul, without
being over-reductionist, is that in Paul we nd a formula whereas
in the Ascen. Isa. we nd a coherent narrative: a narrative, let it be
said, which goes far beyond even the statements concerning the
sending of the Son in the Fourth Gospel by virtue of the claim to
see things from the heavenly perspective and to reproducealbeit
speculativelythe words of the Most High to the Beloved One
(chapter 10). This narrative is a completely diVerent genre from
the Gospels, though it resembles them in places, and constitutes
essentially a full-blown description of how the cosmos works
which transcends in this sense even the cosmic speculation of
Colossians and Ephesians.
83
In chapter 10 we see our authors
creativity at its most extensive. They have presumed to describe
the words of God himself to the heavenly Christ and to oVer what
in its rst-century context is a remarkable account of the
incarnation because of the claim to hear the divine voice followed
by an entirely new understanding of the descent from heaven and
a quite specic theory of the incarnation.
82
W. Kramer, Christ, Lord, Son of God (Naperville, IL, 1966), pp. 11222,
1278, 1835; E. Schweizer, Zur Herkunft der Praexistenzvorstellung bei
Paulus, in Neotestamentica (Zurich, 1963), pp. 1059; id., Aufnahme und
Korrektur Ju discher Sophiatheologie im Neuen Testament, ibid., pp. 11021;
and further in TDNT, vol. 8, pp. 3756.
83
On which see George H. van Kooten, Cosmic Christology in Paul and the
Pauline School: Colossians and Ephesians in the Context of Graeco-Roman
Cosmology, with a New Synopsis of the Greek Texts (WUNT, 171; Tu bingen,
2003).

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Here again, the Hebrew theophanic tradition is qualied in this
early Christian apocalypse, Isaiah not actually seeing but instead
hearing the deity and seeing the Beloved as the visible divine being
who discharges saving action on behalf of the Most High. The
instruction that the Most High gives the Beloved One in chapter
10 operates almost entirely on the mythological level:
Go out and descend through all the heavens. You shall descend through
the rmament and through that world as far as the angel who (is) in
Sheol, but you shall not go as far as Perdition. And you shall make your
likeness like that of all who (are) in the ve heavens, and you shall take
care to make your form like that of the angels of the rmament and also
(like that) of the angels who (are) in Sheol. And one of the angels of that
world shall know that you (are) LORD with me of the seven heavens
and of their angels. And they shall not know that you (are) with me
when with the voice of the heavens I summon you, and their angels and
lights, and when I lift up (my voice) to the sixth heaven, that you may
judge and destroy the princes and the angels and the gods of that world,
and the world which is ruled by them, for they have denied me and said,
We alone are, and there is no one besides us. And afterwards you shall
ascend from the gods of death to your place, and you shall not be
transformed in each of the heavens, but in glory you shall ascend and
sit at my right hand, and then the princes and the powers of that world
will worship you. (10.815)
Besides the direct speech attributed to the deity, the remarkable
thing about this kerygmatic summary is that it entirely fails to
mention the appearance as Jesus at all.
84
The interest lies rather
with the destruction of the princes and the angels and the gods
of that world, and the world which is ruled by them. This state-
ment causes a problem in itself. The passage seems to look back
to the description of Isaiahs journey through the rmament in
7.912 and the statements there that Sammael and his hosts were
struggling, and that as above, so also on earth, for the likeness of
what (is) in the rmament is here on earth. The problem in this
respect with chapter 10 is that it uses diVerent terminology for
the rebellious angels and introduces a note of futurist eschat-
ology which is unsatised at the end of chapter 11, though
indeed it anticipates the futurist eschatology of 4.14 in particular.
It is, in fact, the only futurist eschatology in chapters 611 at all.
The resolution of these diYculties lies in the observation that
the Ascen. Isa. uses a number of terms to describe the inhabitants
84
See further Bauckham, Kerygmatic Summaries. In this case, the mytho-
logical orientation of this early and imaginative christological passage has inex-
plicably failed to command the requisite scholarly attention.

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of the heavenly worlddivine as well as demonic beingsand that
the varietas implied here is not in fact greater than that displayed
in the names of the Most High, the Beloved One, and indeed the
angelic opponents throughout the apocalypse.
85
This is a stylistic
feature of the text, however much it grates on modern readers.
The presence of futurist eschatology in chapter 10, against the
trend of the wider context, possibly but not certainly represents
the views of the second-century redactors or at least some kind of
adaptation of the original form of text. We have no way of
resolving this matter for certain; but the eschatology is certainly
odd in this context, though this does not substantially aVect the
exegesis of the descent strand as such.
The failure to mention Jesus is a more substantial cause for
concern.
86
Quite frankly, the authors here imply that the earthly
manifestation is peripheral to the main task of salvation, which is
the vanquishing of the angel world and the world that is ruled by
them. This takes place after the earthly appearance, not in
connection with it. The Jesus traditions in the E text of 11.222
are replaced by a short summary in S and L2 according to which
the mediator appears like a son of man. The E text of chapter 11
makes much of the fact that the Beloved Ones heavenly origins
were hidden from those who saw only the human Jesus. In chapter
10, it seems that this appearance is assumed without being made
the subject of formal statement and commentary. This does not,
however, obscure the emphasis on the disguised descent, which is
the principal feature of the Christology of chapters 1011. The life
of Jesus occurs towards the end of the descent, and must form a
topic of research in its own right which lies beyond the scope of
this essay.
The statement that the ascending Beloved will sit at the right
hand of the deity (10.14) introduces a new note into the
Christology and anticipates the nal enthronement scenario in
11.323. This element derives from rst-century Christology, as
the parallels with Rom. 8.34 and 1 Pet. 3.22 show.
87
The genius of
our authors was to transform this understanding of heavenly
enthronement into an entire christological scheme whereby a
theory is oVered as to how and why this act of ascension should
85
On the demonic names in the Ascen. Isa. see Norelli, Studi, pp. 7992.
86
Though a topic of substantial interest for determining the orientation of at
least some rst-century Christology. The passage raises the question of the status
of 11.222 (E) in the apocalypse, which I regard as at least potentially a
second-century insertion, and draws attention to the considerable interest in
Jesus in 3.1318 as a possible later corrective of this view.
87
See Markschies, Sessio .

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have occurred. This was done by introducing the notion of the
divine commission and the disguised descent, which are heavily
foregrounded in chapter 10 in such a way as to indicate that
something conspicuously new is being said here. There is, as it
happens, a very obvious background to this mythology once again
in Jewish angelology which explains how this new element
originated.
Crucial evidence comes from the Apocalypse of Abraham.
88
This
work, whose present form like that of the Ascen. Isa. is problem-
atic, is a rough contemporary of our apocalypse, stemming in all
probability from the late rst century CE. In chapter 10 Abraham
hears the voice of God instructing the exalted angel Jaoel to
descend to the earth: Go, Iaoel of the same name, through the
mediation of my ineVable name, consecrate this man for me and
strengthen him against his trembling (10.3). There follows a most
important form of words: The angel he sent to me in the likeness
of a man came, and he took me by my right hand and stood me on
my feet (10.4). Jaoels mission is described in the following terms:
I am the one who has been charged according to his commandment, to
restrain the threats of the living creatures of the cherubim against one
another, and I teach those who carry the song through the medium of
mans right hand of the seventh hour. I am appointed to hold the
Leviathans, because through me is subjugated the attack and menace
of every reptile. I am ordered to loosen Hades and to destroy those who
wondered at the dead. (Apoc. Abr. 10.911)
There follows next in chapter 11 the description of Jaoel in
striking visual terms which reect more than one biblical the-
ophany and angelophany.
89
Both the visual description of Jaoel
and his name imply that he is a theophoric angel who appears on
earth with full divine authority and indeed as the divine presence
itself, similar in this respect to the Angel of the Lord who ap-
pears in the Pentateuch.
90
This signicant angelology is a good
88
See further Andrei A. Orlov, Praxis of the Voice: The Divine Name
Tradition in the Apocalypse of Abraham, JBL 127 (2008), pp. 5370; id., The
Pteromorphic Angelology of yhe Apocalypse of Abraham, CBQ 71 (2009),
pp. 83042.
89
See Rowland in the articles mentioned.
90
See further Gieschen, Angelomorphic Christology, pp. 1424: Yahoel is es-
pecially signicant because he is not one of the archangels or angels of the pres-
ence mentioned in other documents. He represents a development to establish a
principal angel distinct from the other named angels because he possess two of
Gods names (p. 144). Gieschen adds in respect of the Ascen. Isa.: Christ here
possess the divine name. This idea is a development from Exod. 23:2021 and
principal angel traditions (p. 238).

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indication of the nature of the beliefs about heavenly mediation
which pertained in the late rst century CE. They come from the
same apocalyptic context which we have seen, broadly speaking,
resourced the authors of the Ascen. Isa.
There are some obvious diVerences in this passage from what is
said about the Beloved One, notably the visual or physical
description of Jaoel and the prediction of precisely what he
achieves. However, for our purposes, the similarities are particu-
larly interesting and are not disguised by the diVerences. These
include the overheard report of the divine commission to a
mediator, the exalted status of that mediator in the heavenly
world, the statement that he appeared in the likeness of a man,
the notion that the mediator restrains the threats of the living
creatures of the cherubim against one another (cf. Ascen. Isa. 7.9
12), and indeed that he is ordered to loosen Hades and to destroy
those who wondered at the dead.
Jaoels activity is not described in a vacuum in the late rst
century, with respect either to contemporary texts or indeed to
earlier literature. In the book of Tobit (second century BCE) the
archangel Raphael is sent to perform an act of healing on the
earth.
91
He appears on earth and is perceived as a man, sustaining
this ruse throughout the drama until his self-revelation in chapter
12. The ultimate background to this strand of mythology is once
again the Pentateuchal angelophanies and the belief found there
that an angel could be perceived in human form, as indeed
happens in the description of Abrahams third visitor in Genesis
18.
92
While the Apocalypse of Abraham has been shown to contain
Christian interpolations in places, it is by no means obvious that
chapters 1011 fall within that category.
93
The description of
Jaoels mission is clearly diVerent from the Beloved Ones, being
related to the circumstances described by the source text and not
obviously relating to the description of Christian salvation in
Jesus. The background to the portrait of Jaoel is post-Jewish
merkabah mysticism, as Ithamar Gruenwald and others have
91
The signicance of Tobit for Christology is acknowledged by Knight,
Disciples, ch. 2, and Gieschen, Angelomorphic Christology, p. 135.
92
The Pentateuchal Angelophanies are Gen. 16:714, 18:115, 31:1113,
32:2430; Exod. 3:16; Josh. 5:1315; and Judg. 2:1. Their meaning and inter-
pretation are discussed by F. Stier, Gott und sein Engel im Alten Testament
(Mu nster, 1934).
93
On these see Torleif Elgvin, Jewish Christian Editing of the Old Testament
Pseudepigrapha, in Oskar Skarsaune and Reidar Hvalvik (eds.), Jewish Believers
in Jesus: The Early Centuries (Peabody, MA, 2007), pp. 278304.

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shown.
94
This observation in fact draws attention to the import-
ance of the Apocalypse of Abraham for exegeting early Christology
on the grounds that it shows parallel use of a cycle of tradition
which clearly inuenced Christian writers as well but was not of
itself obviously inuenced by Christian theology.
Reviewing this material, the descent strand in the Ascen. Isa.
shows awareness of the same type of angelological tradition as the
Apocalypse of Abraham in that it describes an overheard divine
commission, the response to it of a subordinate being, and the
mediators earthly appearance in the likeness of a man.
95
His
subjugation of the angels and his loosening of the realm of the
dead are common elements as well. This parallel in my view casts
considerable light on Ascen. Isa. 10.716 in terms of the command
Go out; the mediators name and identity; the changing of the
form; and I think his descent to the realm of the dead.
Thus the Beloved is commanded to leave the seventh heaven,
the principal diVerence between the two texts being the nature
of the cosmology and not the implied relationship or responsibility
to the deity as such. In both texts the mediator hears and
obediently responds to the divine command. Where Jaoel
restrains the threats of the living creatures of the cherubim
against one another,
96
the Beloved judges and destroys the
princes and the angels and the gods of that world, and the world
which is ruled by them. Jaoel is called of the same name; the title
Beloved One (Elect One in 8.7 E) signies close relationality to
the Most High; while 10.11 E states that the Beloved is Lord with
me of the seven heavens and of their angels. Jaoel appears on
earth in the likeness of a man; the Beloveds identity is similarly
unrecognized behind the human Jesus. Jaoel is ordered to loosen
Hades and to destroy those who wondered at the dead; the
Beloved (unlike Christ in the New Testament literature) descends
to the realm of the dead (Ascen. Isa. 10.10; 10.14; 11.9). Both
mediators subsequently return to heaven with their identities
made clear (Ascen. Isa. 11.22V; Apoc. Abr. 15.2V).
In my view, these parallels are suYcient to establish beyond real
doubt that the specic report of the Beloved Ones commission
and his disguised descent in the Ascen. Isa.both of them novel
elements in rst-century Christian literaturederived from
Jewish angelology. Both the Ascen. Isa. and the Apocalypse of
94
Gruenwald, Apocalyptic. See also John C. Poirier, The Ouranology of the
Apocalypse of Abraham, JSJ 35 (2004), pp. 391408.
95
A point noted also by Gieschen in Angelomorphic Christology.
96
See Poirier, The Ouranology.

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Abraham seem to draw independently on a wider angelological
pattern which stemmed from pre-Christian times and whose
ultimate origins lie in the Hebrew Bible and the development of
Jewish angelology in the post-biblical period demonstrated by a
text such as Tobit. The diVerences between the two works, which
are substantial ones, show the essential malleability of this pattern,
its permeability, and the range of applications that it possessed.
In particular, the angelological inuence on the Apocalypse
of Abraham is broader than visual symbolism alone, much as
this element is actually absent from the Ascen. Isa. The major
emphasis falls in both texts on what the mediator does and the
nature of the commission which instructs him to do so. It involves
an unparalleled heavenly being in acting on behalf of the deity in a
context where some kind of benet for people on earth is implied.
This is not perhaps a surprising conclusion in view of what we
have seen about the inuence of Jewish angelology on the portrait
of the Beloved Ones heavenly mediation, as indeed upon its
developing Trinitarianism and the cosmology. Angelology is a
signicant feature of the works entire apocalyptic outlook. It
interprets the rst-century christological tradition with reference
to broader material derived from Judaism in order to ll out the
logical gaps in the Christian story of salvation whose direction
towards the end of the rst century is conrmed by the presence
of the descentascent pattern in Johns Gospel. The conclusion
that the Beloved Ones disguised descent and earthly manifest-
ation, as well as his heavenly mediation, has angelological
roots has important ramications for research into the origins of
Christology. I include a list of these to bring this essay to an end.
VI. CONCLUSIONS OF THIS RESEARCH
The rst and most obvious conclusion is that it cannot be true
to say that Jewish angelology contributed nothing or little to the
earliest development of Christology.
97
While the Ascen. Isa. is a
unique text, the fact that the second half was reused in a later
writing suggests it was seen as literature of considerable import-
ance: especially when the potential implications of the rst-person
form in chapters 711 are properly evaluated and discussed (as
I hope to do elsewhere). The Jewish angelological inuence on
this apocalypse is more extensive than on other rst-century
Christian texts, both because of the nature of the genre employed
and the more systematic interest which guides the thought in
97
Contra Dunn in Christology in the Making.

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chapters 611. This suggests that, if anything, the inuence of
Jewish angelology increased and did not diminish as the rst
century wore on.
98
This conclusion is supported by the presence
of angelological elements especially in the Christology of Justin
Martyr and the Epistula Apostolorum. Notwithstanding, the
combined evidence of the Transguration narrative, Revelation
1, and the Christology of Johns Gospel is suYcient to establish
the inuence of angelology on other rst-century literature in a
way which shows the climate of belief in which the unique
Christology of the Ascen. Isa. came to birth.
This conclusion is supported by the observation that the Ascen.
Isa. includes a diVerent kind of angelological inuence from that
found in the New Testament literature, its description of heavenly
commission and descent being illuminated by the Apocalypse of
Abraham perhaps more obviously than by early Christian texts.
The absence of visual symbolism in the Ascen. Isa. does not
obscure the elements held in common with Apocalypse of Abraham
10, but draws attention to the diverse ways in which angelology
inuenced developing Christology (and indeed later mystical
Judaism). This must be factored into all further research on this
topic so that the broadly-based nature of the sources for
rst-century Christology is adequately explained according to
the wide-ranging evidence concerned.
A third conclusion derives from the phrase in the likeness of a
man (Apoc. Abr. 10.4). The Ascen. Isa. describes how the Beloved
disguised his appearance when descending through the heavens
and appearing as Jesus of Nazareth, the narrator stating in this
context the phrase they did not know from where he was (11.14).
This description is more extensive than that found in the
Apocalypse of Abraham, but the notion that an exceptional
heavenly gure appeared as a man is common territory.
99
In
view of this parallel, the phrase from the Apocalypse of Abraham,
mirrored in Ascen. Isa. 8.10 and 3.13, casts potential light on
Pauls description of Jesus in Phil. 2:7, being found in human
form. While Pauls thought is compressed, as throughout his
Sendungschristologie, the context there describes the appearance of
one who shared the divine likeness in the form of a man (except in
Luthers interpretation). One wonders therefore whether Jewish
angelology might have inuenced this strand in Pauline
Christology and whether the traditional assumption of a
98
See further Talbert, The Myth of a Descending-Ascending Redeemer.
99
The background to both texts, as stated, lies in Tobit and the Pentateuchal
angelophanies.

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wisdom inuence in that respect is too one-sided to be
wholeheartedly convincing. I hope that this suggestion will be
tested in future research, as indeed the possibility of an intellectual
connection between the Ascen. Isa. and Johannine Christology
and the possibility of a wide-ranging angelomorphic understand-
ing in the earliest Christianity.
Fourthly, and very briey, the Apocalypse of Abraham supports
the Ascen. Isa. in suggesting that the descending mediator had a
function relating to the realm of the dead.
100
This suggests that
the doctrine of the descensus ad inferos, which is probably not
found in the New Testament itself, may have derived from a wider
and originally non-Christian background in Jewish apocalyptic
angelology in which no part of the human conditiondead or
alivewas held exempt from the divine mediation. This aspect
again deserves to be explored in future research given its neglect in
New Testament scholarship. The Ascen. Isa. must take centre
stage in all further evaluation of that issue.
Fifthly, and again without detailed commentary, I wish to note
in passing my lack of conviction about the view, proposed by
Martin Werner and repeated by both Christopher Stead and
Darrell Hannah, that what we nd in Ascen. Isa. chapters 611
constitutes so-called exegesis of the call-theophany in Isaiah 6.
101
The date in 6.1 runs against this view; and it is by no means
obvious why this background alone should be claimed when what
we nd in this material is a free composition of diverse inuence
and broad base which seems altogether broader than the exegesis
of Isaiah 6 alone. The authors are designing the entire cosmos, not
simply exegeting a biblical text. The consequence of my research
is that we should not be restricted to a single biblical passage in
explaining what the authors say about the Beloved One. The
background is more complex and involves the reworking of the
rst-century christological tradition under the inuence of Jewish
apocalypticism and angelology.
100
This aspect of research seems to have escaped the commentators. I intend
to address this topic in the near future.
101
All in the literature cited. The theory is cogently criticized also by
Stuckenbruck in The Holy Spirit.

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The Origin and Significance of The Angelomorphic Christology in The Ascension of Isaiah

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THE ORIGIN AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE

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