Welcome to this series of posts giving a survey of what the early church fathers have written about justification and works of law with reference to Paul. Click this link to go to the first post with the contents of the whole.

In today’s post we look at a letter written by someone called Mathetes. ‘Mathetes’ means disciple and scholars have suggested the author was a Johannine Christian. He wrote to someone called Diognetus. Scholars have dated the letter somewhere between c.e. 130 and 200, with current scholarship preferring a later date. It provides some interesting historical context regarding a comparison between the different observances of Jews and Christians.

How Christians worship

CHAP. I.—OCCASION OF THE EPISTLE

Since I see thee, most excellent Diognetus, exceedingly desirous to learn the mode of worshipping God prevalent among the Christians, and inquiring very carefully and earnestly concerning them, what God they trust in, and what form of religion they observe, so as all to look down upon the world itself, and despise death,

while they neither esteem those to be gods that are reckoned such by the Greeks, nor hold to the superstition of the Jews;

and what is the affection which they cherish among themselves; and why, in fine, this new kind or practice [of piety] has only now entered into the world, and not long ago;

I cordially welcome this thy desire, and I implore God, who enables us both to speak and to hear, to grant to me so to speak, that, above all, I may hear you have been edified, and to you so to hear, that I who speak may have no cause of regret for having done so.

(Roberts, A., Donaldson, J., & Coxe, A. C. (Eds.). (1885). The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus. The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume I: The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (p. 25). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.)

Mathetes introduces the subject of the letter. His intention is to explain how Christians worship God. He makes a clear distinction between their practices and that of the Greeks and the Jews. They do not worship the gods of the Greeks, nor do they hold to the same ‘superstition’ as the Jews.

Superstitions of the Jews

CHAP. III.—SUPERSTITIONS OF THE JEWS.

And next, I imagine that you are most desirous of hearing something on this point, that the Christians do not observe the same forms of divine worship as do the Jews.

The Jews, then, if they abstain from the kind of service above described, and deem it proper to worship one God as being Lord of all, [are right];

but if they offer Him worship in the way which we have described, they greatly err. (p26, ibid)

Jesus was a Jew. The first Christians were Jews. But Christianity has not adopted the same practices and worship as the Jews.

Jews and Christians may share some common ground provided they do not serve the gods of the Greeks, worship the one God.

For while the Gentiles, by offering such things to those that are destitute of sense and hearing, furnish an example of madness; (p26, ibid)

Gentiles who serve these false gods are mad.

they [the Jews], on the other hand by thinking to offer these things to God as if He needed them, might justly reckon it rather an act of folly than of divine worship. For He that made heaven and earth, and all that is therein, and gives to us all the things of which we stand in need, certainly requires none of those things which He Himself bestows on such as think of furnishing them to Him. (p26, ibid)

Jews exhibit a similar madness by thinking God needs their offerings.

But those who imagine that, by means of blood, and the smoke of sacrifices and burnt-offerings, they offer sacrifices [acceptable] to Him, and that by such honours they show Him respect, (p26, ibid)

These are the offerings the Jews make that they believe God needs. His statements suggest Christians at the time do not make these offerings.

these, by supposing that they can give anything to Him who stands in need of nothing, appear to me in no respect to differ from those who studiously confer the same honour on things destitute of sense, and which therefore are unable to enjoy such honours. (ibid)

Mathetes at the start agrees with the Jews in that they worship the one God. But he then likens various of their behaviors with those of the Greeks. The Greeks make offerings to such things destitute of sense and hearing – idols. The Jews think God needs their sacrifices and burnt offerings. The letter is dated after the second temple was destroyed. I suspect the Jews worshiped in this manner at their synagogues.

Other observances

CHAP. IV.—THE OTHER OBSERVANCES OF THE JEWS.

But as to their scrupulosity concerning meats, and their superstition as respects the Sabbaths, and their boasting about circumcision, and their fancies about fasting and the new moons, which are utterly ridiculous and unworthy of notice,—I do not think that you require to learn anything from me. (ibid)

Mathetes list of Jewish practices continues. They also continue to observe circumcision, the food laws, the Sabbaths, new moon feasts and festivals.

For, to accept some of those things which have been formed by God for the use of men as properly formed, and to reject others as useless and redundant,—how can this be lawful?

And to speak falsely of God, as if He forbade us to do what is good on the Sabbath-days,—how is not this impious?

And to glory in the circumcision of the flesh as a proof of election, and as if, on account of it, they were specially beloved by God,—how is it not a subject of ridicule?

And as to their observing months and days (cf. Gal 4.10), as if waiting upon the stars and the moon, and their distributing, according to their own tendencies, the appointments of God, and the vicissitudes of the seasons, some for festivities, and others for mourning,—who would deem this a part of divine worship, and not much rather a manifestation of folly? (ibid)

Mathetes doesn’t have a high opinion of these practices in the law of Moses. The first I suspect concerns the food laws. The second was explicitly questioned by Jesus in the gospel.

I suppose, then, you are sufficiently convinced that the Christians properly abstain from the vanity and error common [to both Jews and Gentiles], and from the busy-body spirit and vain boasting of the Jews; but you must not hope to learn the mystery of their peculiar mode of worshipping God from any mortal. (p26, ibid)

What interests me here is that Mathetes observes the differences in law observance between the Christians and the Jews.

Christian Manners

CHAP. V.—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 method 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 destroy their offspring. 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. (p26-27, ibid)

Mathetes describes what Christians have in common with the peoples around them and in which ways they are different.

He says Christians are ‘evil spoken of and yet are justified’. They are considered evil by the people around them, but God identifies them as righteous.

Men before the coming of the Word

CHAP. VIII.—THE MISERABLE STATE OF MEN BEFORE THE COMING OF THE WORD.

For, who of men at all understood before His coming what God is? Do you accept of the vain and silly doctrines of those who are deemed trustworthy philosophers? Of whom some said that fire was God, calling that God to which they themselves were by and by to come; and some water; and others some other of the elements formed by God. But if any one of these theories be worthy of approbation, every one of the rest of created things might also be declared to be God.

But such declarations are simply the startling and erroneous utterances of deceivers; and no man has either seen Him, or made Him known, 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.]

Yea, 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. (p28, ibid)

Mathetes describes the plight of humanity and God’s patience with them before the coming of Jesus Christ.

O sweet exchange!

CHAP. IX.—WHY THE SON WAS SENT SO LATE.

As long then as the former time endured, He permitted us to be borne along by unruly impulses, being drawn away by the desire of pleasure and various lusts. This was not that He at all delighted in our sins, but that He simply endured them; nor that He approved the time of working iniquity which then was, but that He sought to form a mind conscious of RIGHTEOUSNESS, so that being convinced in that time of our unworthiness of attaining life through our own works, it should now, through the kindness of God, be vouchsafed to us; and having made it manifest that in ourselves we were unable to enter into the kingdom of God, we might through the power of God be made able.

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 (Isa 53.12), 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. (p28, ibid)

This is an amazing passage. A great description of what Jesus did for us while we were still sinners.

Jesus’ ‘righteousness’ ‘covers’ and ‘hides’ our sins. Mathetes is referring to Christ’s death on the cross (‘his righteousness’) covering our sin (cf. Job 14.17; Ps 32.1,5; 85.2; Rom 4.7; 5.19).

His use of justified is one example where the early church fathers talk about sinners being made righteous through Jesus death on the cross. It echoes Paul’s usage in Rom 5.8-9: 1 Cor 6.9-11 and Tit 3.7.

Mathetes is helpful because he reinforces the ongoing practice of the Jews which differed from that of Christians. The quote just read shows they also used justify to signify sinners becoming righteous through Jesus death on the cross.

In the next post we look at Clement of Alexandria (c.e. 150-215). He is not the same Clement who is of Rome and a probably a coworker of Paul’s. He quotes several statements Romans concerning justification and faith.

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