02 The Epistle to Diognetus

 

Introductory Note to the Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus

Writing probably c117 – 130 AD, the anonymous author of this epistle gives himself the title mathetes, ‘a disciple of the apostles.’  He was possibly a disciple or associate of the apostle Paul.  This epistle is a gem of purest ray, and it is clear as to argument and intent.  Mathetes is perhaps the first of the apologists.  We do not know clearly who its recipient is, so we simply accept this epistle as being written by an earnest and intelligent Christian to a sincere inquirer among the Gentiles, towards the close of the apostolic age.  Extracts are below.

Extracts from The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus

Chapter 1: Occasion of the Epistle

Since I see you, most excellent Diognetus, exceedingly desirous to learn the mode of worshipping God prevalent among the Christians, and inquiring very carefully and earnestly concerning them… and why this new kind or practice of piety has only now entered into the world, and not long ago.

Chapter 5: The Manners of the Christians

For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe.  For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity.  The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines.  But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking way of life.  They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners.  As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners.  Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers.  They marry, as do all others; they beget children, but they do not cast away and destroy them.  They have a common table, but not a common bed.  They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh.  They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven.  They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives.  They love all men, and are persecuted by all.  They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life.  They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified.  They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers.  When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.

Chapter 6: The Relation of Christians to the World

To sum up all in one word: what the soul is in the body, that are Christians in the world.  The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world.  The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world.  The invisible soul is guarded by the visible body, and Christians are known indeed to be in the world, but their godliness remains invisible.  The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it, though itself suffering no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though in nowise injured, because they abjure pleasures.  The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and loves also the members; Christians likewise love those that hate them.  The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet preserves that very body; and Christians are confined in the world as in a prison, and yet they are the preservers of the world.  The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle; and Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible bodies, looking for an incorruptible dwelling in the heavens.  The soul, when but ill-provided with food and drink, becomes better; in like manner, the Christians, though subjected day by day to punishment, increase the more in number.  God has assigned them this illustrious position, which it were unlawful for them to forsake.

Chapter 7: The Manifestation of Christ

For, as I said, this was no mere earthly invention which was delivered to them, nor is it a mere human system of opinion, which they judge it right to preserve so carefully, nor has a dispensation of mere human mysteries been committed to them, but truly God Himself, who is almighty, the Creator of all things, and invisible, has sent from heaven, and placed among men, Him who is the truth, and the holy and incomprehensible Word, and has firmly established Him in their hearts.  He did not, as one might have imagined, send to men any servant, or angel, or ruler, or any one of those who bear sway over earthly things, or one of those to whom the government of things in the heavens has been entrusted, but the very Creator and Fashioner of all things – by whom He made the heavens – by whom he enclosed the sea within its proper bounds – whose ordinances all the stars faithfully observe – from whom the sun has received the measure of his daily course to be observed – whom the moon obeys, being commanded to shine in the night, and whom the stars also obey, following the moon in her course; by whom all things have been arranged, and placed within their proper limits, and to whom all are subject – the heavens and the things that are therein, the earth and the things that are therein, the sea and the things that are therein – fire, air, and the abyss – the things which are in the heights, the things which are in the depths, and the things which lie between.  This He sent to them.  Was it then, as one of men might conceive, for the purpose of exercising tyranny, or of inspiring fear and terror?  By no means, but under the influence of clemency and meekness.  As a king sends his son, who is also a king, so sent He Him; as God He sent Him; as to men He sent Him; as a Saviour He sent Him, and as seeking to persuade, not to compel us; for violence has no place in the character of God.  As calling us He sent Him, not as vengefully pursuing us; as loving us He sent Him, not as judging us.  For He will yet send Him to judge us, and who shall endure His appearing?  Do you not see them exposed to wild beasts, that they may be persuaded to deny the Lord, and yet not overcome?  Do you not see that the more of them are punished, the greater becomes the number of the rest?  This does not seem to be the work of man: this is the power of God; these are the evidences of His manifestation.

Chapter 8: The Miserable State of Men Before the Coming of the Word

… and no man has either seen Him, or known Him, but He has revealed Himself.  And He has manifested Himself through faith, to which alone it is given to behold God.  For God, the Lord and Fashioner of all things, who made all things, and assigned them their several positions, proved Himself not merely a friend of mankind, but also long-suffering in His dealings with them.  Yes, He was always of such a character, and still is, and will ever be, kind and good, and free from wrath, and true, and the only one who is absolutely good; and He formed in His mind a great and unspeakable conception, which He communicated to His Son alone.  As long, then, as He held and preserved His own wise counsel in concealment, He appeared to neglect us, and to have no care over us.  But after He revealed and laid open, through His beloved Son, the things which had been prepared from the beginning, He conferred every blessing all at once upon us, so that we should both share in His benefits, and see and be active in His service.  Who of us would ever have expected these things?  He was aware, then, of all things in His own mind, along with His Son, according to the relation subsisting between them.

Chapter 9: Why the Son Was Sent so Late

… But when our wickedness had reached its height, and it had been clearly shown that its reward, punishment and death, was impending over us; and when the time had come which God had before appointed for manifesting His own kindness and power, how the one love of God, through exceeding regard for men, did not regard us with hatred, nor thrust us away, nor remember our iniquity against us, but showed great long-suffering, and bore with us, He Himself took on Him the burden of our iniquities, He gave His own Son as a ransom for us, the holy One for transgressors, the blameless One for the wicked, the righteous One for the unrighteous, the incorruptible One for the corruptible, the immortal One for them that are mortal.  For what other thing was capable of covering our sins than His righteousness?  By what other one was it possible that we, the wicked and ungodly, could be justified, than by the only Son of God?  O sweet exchange!  O unsearchable operation!  O benefits surpassing all expectation!  That the wickedness of many should be hid in a single righteous One, and that the righteousness of One should justify many transgressors!  Having therefore convinced us in the former time that our nature was unable to attain to life, and having now revealed the Saviour who is able to save even those things which it was formerly impossible to save, by both these facts He desired to lead us to trust in His kindness, to esteem Him our Nourisher, Father, Teacher, Counsellor, Healer, our Wisdom, Light, Honour, Glory, Power, and Life, so that we should not be anxious concerning clothing and food.

Chapter 10: The Blessings That Will Flow from Faith

… And do not wonder that a man may become an imitator of God.  He can, if he is willing.  For it is not by ruling over his neighbours, or by seeking to hold the supremacy over those that are weaker, or by being rich, and showing violence towards those that are inferior, that happiness is found; nor can anyone by these things become an imitator of God.  But these things do not at all constitute His majesty.  On the contrary he who takes upon himself the burden of his neighbour; he who, in whatsoever respect he may be superior, is ready to benefit another who is deficient; he who, whatsoever things he has received from God, by distributing these to the needy, becomes a god to those who receive [his benefits]: he is an imitator of God.  Then thou shalt see, while still on earth, that God in the heavens rules over [the universe]; then thou shall begin to speak the mysteries of God; then shalt thou both love and admire those that suffer punishment because they will not deny God; then shall thou condemn the deceit and error of the world when thou shall know what it is to live truly in heaven, when thou shalt despise that which is here esteemed to be death, when thou shalt fear what is truly death, which is reserved for those who shall be condemned to the eternal fire, which shall afflict those even to the end that are committed to it.  Then shalt thou admire those who for righteousness’ sake endure the fire that is but for a moment, and shalt count them happy when thou shalt know the nature of that fire.

Chapter 11: These Things Are Worthy to Be Known and Believed

… but having been a disciple of the apostles, I have become a teacher of the Gentiles.  I minister the things delivered to me to those that are disciples worthy of the truth.  For who that is rightly taught and begotten by the loving Word, would not seek to learn accurately the things which have been clearly shown by the Word to His disciples, to whom the Word being manifested has revealed them, speaking plainly to them, not understood indeed by the unbelieving, but conversing with the disciples, who, being esteemed faithful by Him, acquired a knowledge of the mysteries of the Father?  For which reason He sent the Word, that He might be manifested to the world; and He, being despised by the Jews, was, when preached by the apostles, believed on by the Gentiles.  This is He who was from the beginning, who appeared as if new, and was found old, and yet who is ever born afresh in the hearts of the saints.  This is He who, being from everlasting, is to-day called the Son; through whom the Church is enriched, and grace, widely spread, increases in the saints; furnishing understanding, revealing mysteries, announcing times, rejoicing over the faithful. given to those that seek, by whom the limits of faith are not broken through, nor the boundaries set by the fathers passed over.  Then the fear of the law is chanted, and the grace of the prophets is known, and the faith of the gospels is established, and the tradition of the apostles is preserved, and the grace of the Church exults; which grace if you grieve not, you shall know those things which the Word teaches, by whom He wills, and when He pleases.  For whatever things we are moved to utter by the will of the Word commanding us, we communicate to you with pains, and from a love of the things that have been revealed to us.

Chapter 12: The Importance of Knowledge to True Spiritual Life

When you have read and carefully listened to these things, you shall know what God bestows on such as rightly love Him, being made a paradise of delight, presenting in yourselves a tree bearing all kinds of produce and flourishing well, being adorned with various fruits.  For in this place the tree of knowledge and the tree of life have been planted; but it is not the tree of knowledge that destroys – it is disobedience that proves destructive.  Nor truly are those words without significance which are written, how God from the beginning planted the tree of life in the midst of paradise, revealing through knowledge the way to life, and when those who were first formed did not use this knowledge properly, they were, through the fraud of the serpent, deprived of it.  For neither can life exist without knowledge, nor is knowledge secure without life.  Wherefore both were planted close together. The apostle, perceiving the force of this conjunction, and blaming that knowledge which, without true doctrine, is admitted to influence life, declares, ‘Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.’  For he who thinks he knows anything without true knowledge, and such as is witnessed to by life, knows nothing, but is deceived by the serpent, as not loving life.  But he who combines knowledge with fear, and seeks after life, plants in hope, looking for fruit.  Let your heart be your wisdom; and let your life be true knowledge inwardly received.  Bearing this tree and displaying its fruit, you will always reap those things which are desired by God, which the serpent cannot reach, and to which deception does not approach; nor is Eve (i.e. the believer) then corrupted, but is trusted as a virgin; and salvation is manifested, and the apostles are filled with understanding, and the Passover of the Lord advances, and the choirs are gathered together, and are arranged in proper order, and the Word rejoices in teaching the saints – by whom the Father is glorified: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.