#101 Epistle to Diognetus - Part 3

From The Ante-Nicene Fathers, The Epistle to Diognetus

Chapter 9. — Why the Son was sent so late

While that earlier age lasted, God let us be carried along by our own impulses, drawn by pleasure and various lusts. Not that He delighted in our sins — He merely endured them. Not that He approved that age of wickedness, but that He was forming in us a mind aware of its own unrighteousness, so that, having been convinced of our unworthiness, we might now receive life as a gift through His kindness. Having seen plainly that we could not enter the kingdom of God by ourselves, we might enter it by the power of God (Romans 3:21–26; Romans 5:20; Galatians 4:4; Acts 17:30).

When our wickedness had reached its full height, and its wages — punishment and death — were clearly hanging over us, the time came that God had appointed to show His own kindness and power. Then His one great love did not look on us with hatred, did not push us away, did not hold our sins against us. He bore with us in great patience. He took our iniquities upon Himself. He gave His own Son as a ransom for us — the holy One for the lawless, the blameless One for the wicked, the righteous One for the unrighteous, the incorruptible One for the corruptible, the immortal One for the mortal.

For what else could forgive our sins but His righteousness? In whom else could the wicked and ungodly be justified, but the only Son of God?

O sweet exchange! O unsearchable working! O blessings beyond all expectation! That the wickedness of many should be hidden in one Righteous One, and that the righteousness of One should justify many sinners.

Having shown us in the former time that our nature could not reach life by its own strength, and now having revealed the Savior who can save even what seemed unsaveable, by these two facts together He has led us to trust His kindness — to count Him our Nourisher, Father, Teacher, Counsellor, Healer, Wisdom, Light, Honor, Glory, Power, and Life — and not to be anxious about food and clothing (Matthew 6:25).

Chapter 10. — The blessings that will flow from faith

If you also desire this faith, you will first receive the knowledge of the Father. For God has loved mankind. He made the world for our sake and subjected to us all that is in it. He gave us reason and understanding. He alone allowed us to look upward to Him. He formed us in His own image. He sent His only Son to us. He has promised a kingdom in heaven, and will give it to those who love Him.

When you have come to this knowledge, what joy will fill you! How will you love the One who has so loved you first! And if you love Him, you will be an imitator of His kindness.

Do not be surprised that a man can imitate God. He can, if he is willing. Imitation of God is not in ruling neighbors, or seeking power over the weaker, or being rich, or pushing around the poor. None of that is what makes God great. Rather: he who takes up his neighbor's burden; who, being stronger, willingly helps the weaker; who freely shares with the needy what he himself has received from God — that man is an imitator of God, and to those who receive his help, he becomes a kind of god.

Then, while still on earth, you will see that God truly rules the universe from the heavens. Then you will begin to speak the mysteries of God. Then you will love and admire those who suffer punishment rather than deny God. Then you will condemn the deceit and error of the world. You will know what it is to truly live in heaven. You will despise what is here called death, and fear what is truly death — the eternal fire reserved for those condemned to it. And you will admire those who endure the brief fire here for righteousness' sake, and count them blessed when you understand the nature of that other fire.

Chapter 11. — These things are worthy to be known and believed

I am not speaking of things foreign to me, nor pursuing anything contrary to right reason. Having been a disciple of the Apostles, I am become a teacher of the Gentiles. What was handed down to me, I hand on to those who prove themselves worthy disciples of the truth.

For who, having been rightly taught and made a child of the loving Word, would not seek to know exactly the things the Word has openly shown to His disciples? The Word, manifested, revealed these things plainly — not understood by unbelievers, but spoken to disciples whom He counted faithful, and who came to know the mysteries of the Father.

For this reason He sent the Word: to be made manifest to the world. Despised by the people of the Jews, when preached by the Apostles He was believed on by the Gentiles (1 Timothy 3:16). This is He who was from the beginning, who appeared as new and was found ancient, and who is ever born afresh in the hearts of the saints. This is He who, being from everlasting, is today called the Son. Through Him the Church is enriched, and grace, spreading wide, increases in the saints — giving understanding, opening mysteries, declaring times, rejoicing over the faithful, granting gifts to those who seek. Through Him the limits of faith are not broken, nor the boundaries set by the fathers passed over.

Then the fear of the Law is sung, the grace of the Prophets is recognized, the faith of the Gospels is established, the tradition of the Apostles is preserved, and the grace of the Church rejoices. If you do not grieve this grace, you will come to know the things the Word teaches — through whom He wills, when He pleases. For whatever the Word, by His will, prompts us to say, we share with you out of love for the truths revealed to us.

Chapter 12. — The importance of knowledge to true spiritual life

When you have read these things and listened carefully, you will know what God gives to those who rightly love Him: you yourselves become a paradise of delight, bearing within you a tree heavy with every kind of fruit, adorned and flourishing.

For in this place — in paradise — were planted both the tree of knowledge and the tree of life. It is not the tree of knowledge that destroys; it was disobedience that destroyed. The Scripture has meaning when it tells how God planted the tree of life in the middle of paradise: He was revealing through knowledge the path to life. The first humans did not use this knowledge rightly, and through the deceit of the serpent were stripped naked.

For neither can life exist without knowledge, nor is knowledge safe without life. That is why the two were planted close together. The Apostle saw this, and condemning the kind of knowledge that influences life apart from sound doctrine, said: "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up" (1 Corinthians 8:1). The man who imagines he knows something without the true knowledge that life itself confirms knows nothing; he is deceived by the serpent, because he does not love life. But he who joins knowledge with reverence and seeks life, plants in hope and looks for fruit.

Let your heart be your wisdom, and let your life be true knowledge inwardly received. Bearing this tree and showing its fruit, you will always reap what God desires — what the serpent cannot reach and deceit cannot approach. Eve¹ is no longer corrupted, but is trusted as a virgin. Salvation is shown forth, the Apostles are filled with understanding, the Lord's Passover advances (Revelation 5:9; 19:7), the choirs are gathered and set in order (1 Peter 5:3), and the Word rejoices in teaching the saints — by whom the Father is glorified.

To Him be glory forever. Amen.