Epistle to Diognetus: The Christian in the early church

Home » Meditations » Meditations » Epistle to Diognetus: The Christian in the early church

They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. John 17:16

“For Christians are not different from other people in terms of their country, language, or customs. Nowhere do they inhabit cities of their own, use a strange dialect, or live life out of the ordinary. They have not discovered this teaching of theirs through reflection or through the thought of meddlesome people, nor do they set forth any human doctrine, as do some. They inhabit both Greek and barbarian cities, according to the lot assigned to each.

And they show forth the character of their own citizenship in a marvelous and admittedly paradoxical way by following local customs in what they wear and what they eat and in the rest of their lives. They live in their respective countries, but only as resident aliens; they participate in all the things as citizens, and they endure all things as foreigners. Every foreign territory is a homeland for them, every homeland foreign territory.

They marry like everyone else and have children, but they do not expose them once they are born. They share their meals but not their sexual partners. They are found in the flesh but do not live according to the flesh. They live on earth but participate in the life of heaven. They are obedient to the laws that have been made, and by their own lives they supersede the laws. They love everyone and are persecuted by all. They are not understood, and they are condemned. They are put to death and made alive. They are impoverished and make many rich.

They are dishonored and they are exalted in their dishonors. They are slandered and they are acquitted. They are reviled and they bless, mistreated and they bestow honor. They do good and are punished as evil; when they are punished, they rejoice as those who have been made alive. They are attacked by Jews as foreigners and persecuted by Greeks, and those who hate them cannot explain the cause of their enmity. To put the matter simply, what the soul is to the body, this what Christians are in the world.”

Epistle to Diognetus 5.1-6.1 in The Apostolic Fathers, ed. and trans. by Bart D. Ehrman (LCL 24 & 25; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003).

Today I am taking long-awaited leave from work to travel to Amsterdam with Jenni. We will visit some sights, including the Van Gogh Museum. Our daughter Sophie, and her husband, Peter, will join us.

From 29 July to 1 August I will attend the 2024 International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature at Vrije Universiteit. I will deliver two scholarly papers.

Over the next ten days I will share quotes from my papers. Today’s quote comes from my paper, entitled, “Advice from the Apostolic Fathers on Christian Social Engagement in a Hostile World.”

Reply if you want a copy of the paper.