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Drug Abuse in Scripture and Other extra-Biblical Writings
The first teaching from the Early Church which condemned drug abuse appeared from St. Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians in about c. 49-52 CE.
Again the Cambridge Greek Testament of 1914 translates the φαρμακία pharmakia at Galatians 5:19-20 as ‘the use of drugs not as medicine but as media in magic’ where ‘magic’ in the ancient world approached the dark arts as those thing not easily understood. In the Latin Vulgate venificia ‘poison’, ‘sorcery’, cog. venefica ‘a drug witch’ from the root venenum ‘a poisonous drug’, ‘a venom’ as such antithetic to the medicina or healing medicine of the physicians art.
For the use of drugs as medicine in Scripture see
Ecclesiasticus (Apoc.) 38:1-4
The academics point out the connection of such sorcery (venificia) with the φαρμακεία pharmak(e)ia, the ‘drug magic’ or ‘enchantments’ of Exodus 7:11 al. whereby the Egyptian magicians - in the translation Greek of the LXX, the φαρμακεύς pharmakéus, literally the ‘drug magicians’, an esoteric priest cult of Pharaohs’ Court - performed there wonders. See also Revelation 9:21, 21:8, 22:15, 18:23. plus Concordance.
The same ancient Greek is used of the corresponding Nineveh in the LXX Nahum 3:4 and of the Idolatrous (the corresponding Babylonian [world term] remnant) in the New Testament:
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‘That repented not of their murders , nor of their sorceries (φαρμακεία pharmakeia, ‘drug enchantments’) nor of their fornication’, in the original Greek = πορνείας porn -eias ‘harlotry, pornography, adulteries’ (Spiritual).etc
Cf. Revelation 9:21, 18:3, 23.
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The corresponding phrase for φαρμακεία pharmak(e)ia ‘drug enchantments’ in the ancient Ethiopic version of the Angelic Book of Enoch 7:1 (confer En.(G) 8:3 in the Greek fragments is ‘[and] they [the fallen] taught charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made [men] acquainted with plants’. Although lost to the world for over fifteen-hundred years, it is certain from 2 St. Peter 2:4 and St. Jude 1:6 and other extra-Biblical literature that the ancient Book of Enoch, which delineates φαρμακεία pharmak(e)ia in the literal as a ‘teaching of the fallen’, was well known and quoted as Scripture by the Apostles and the Early Church. This must substantiate a literal interpretation for the φαρμακία pharmakia ‘drug magic’ at Galatians 5:20 (above) and the Didaché (ii, v) etc. as below.
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See also eBook chapter Babylon the Great where, along with the metaphoric, the academics of the erudite Expositors Greek Testament also do not dismiss a literal interpretation for the φαρμακεία pharmakeia or ’drug enchantments’ at Revelation 18:23.(Babylon) etc.
Again, in view of the above it must be recognized however that there are times in Scripture and other early literature where the word φαρμακεία pharmak(e)ia and its cognates e.g. φαρμακόν pharmakón ‘a drug’ are used purely in the figurative sense, as for example in the Epistle of St. Ignatius to the Ephesians 1:20 and St. Ignatius to the Trallians v. 6. as below from about c. 97-108 CE.
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com
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(ii)
The second great teaching from the Early Church on drug abuse appears in the ancient Didaché which means literally 'A Teaching'. The document, discovered in 1883 is believed to have been compiled possibly as early as c. 70-100 CE (some maintain c. 80-120) and is believed to be oldest example of Christian Literature beyond the New Testament itself. It originally bore the title The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles and is is recognized, along with the Book of Enoch as one of the most important discoveries of all time.
* ‘Little child‘ Matthew 18:3 (Cp. St. Mark 9:36). In view of the the timeline as we now have it much doubt is cast on this tradition. Most scholars now place St. Ignatius as Syrian born about 35 CE and probably a convert of St. John the Evangelist. Much of the chronology, including the date of the Epistles themselves is however still much disputed.
† St. Ignatius to the Trallians v.6 Trans. Roberts-Donaldson (1851-1915) slightly adapted & abridged.
Public domain
The Greek text and translation of the Didaché and the Apostolic Fathers in English (Saint Ignatius) can be found at:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com
Compare for example the Didaché translation of Kirsopp Lake (Chapter 2)
(iii)
THE PHARMACIDES OF THE CLASSICAL WORLD AND THE ABUSE OF PHARMACY FURTHER CONDEMNED BY THE EARLY CHURCH
A further teaching against drug abuse in the Early Church, apart from that of the Council of Ancyra in 314 CE came from Tertullian, Bishop of Carthage (c.150-230 CE) and Basil’s Canons from c. 36 CE approx.
Scanned from The Faiths of the World, A Dictionary, James Gardner, vol ii p.654 . First published Fullarton & Co London 1858
Public domain
See also ‘Notes’ page Lexicon φαρμακεία pharmakeia medicinal use/abuse etc.
For further info. on texts, translations and citations of drug abuse and related in the Early Church from, among others, the Apostolic Constitutions of 400 CE, the Ante-Nicene Fathers, Saint Augustine and others:
Download
FREE eBOOK Drug Abuse in Scripture.
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