Here is my report for the night. For a more detailed treatment, see here.
The Letter to Diognetus is the first extant
apology—communication with non Christians in defense of the faith. (Credited to one Mathetes (meaning disciple))
In Chapter 1 we’re introduced to
four questions of Diognetus.
- What God do the Christians trust in?
- What is their religion that they despise death and do not esteem the pagan gods?
- Why do Christians not hold to the superstitions of the Jews?
- Why has their for form has not come into the world before now?
Chapters 2 and 3 answer question 2,
and chapters 3 and 4 answer question 3.
In Chapter 5 Mathetes addresses the
Christian manner of living, outwardly indistinguishable from the world except
in that they live uprightly, not killing their children and sleeping around
etc.
In 6 he makes an analogy:
What the soul is in the body, that are Christians in the world… The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it… moreover, the soul loves the flesh that hates it… Christians likewise love those that hate them… The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle; and Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible [bodies], looking for an incorruptible dwelling in the heavens.
He describes a kind of symbiotic
relationship:
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.
And he ends with an admonition:
God has assigned them this illustrious position, which it were unlawful for them to forsake.
I am left asking what it would mean
to forsake this illustrious position, i.e., what this might consist in. I offer
some ideas in the blog.
In 8, he begins to provide an
answer to question 4. He admits with Diognetus that this demands an
explanation. The Father, he says, had formed an “unspeakable conception” (plan)
that “He communicated to His Son alone” and as long as it remained concealed
“He appeared to neglect us, and to have no care over us.” What then is the
answer? Why did he not reveal his plan and send his Son at some earlier time?
In short, we had to be brought to
our knees—to be shown by iniquity and powerlessness our need for a savior.
As long then as the former time endured, He permitted us to be borne along by unruly impulses… This was not that He at all delighted in our sins, but that He simply endured them… He sought to form a mind conscious of righteousness… having made it manifest that in ourselves we were unable to enter into the kingdom of God… But when our wickedness had reached its height, and it had been clearly shown that its reward, punishment and death, was impending over us… [He] 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 righteous One for the unrighteous… For what other thing was capable of covering our sins than His righteousness? By what other one… could be justified, than by the only Son of God?
Matheses ends his letter (11 and 12
belong to another document) with an invitation to Diognetus accept the Catholic
religion. Having done so, you will come to understand the willingness of the
Christians to suffer martyrdom for the faith.
… you shall begin to speak the mysteries of God; then shall you both love and admire those that suffer punishment because they will not deny God… you shall know what it is to live truly in heaven, when you shall despise that which is here esteemed to be death, when you shall 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 shall you admire those who for righteousness' sake endure the fire that is but for a moment, and shall count them happy when you shall know [the nature of] that fire.
