First Christian Voices: Practices of the Apostolic Fathers

68

First Christian Voices

course to keep, who the moon obeys as He commands it to shine in the night, and who 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 in it, the earth and the things on it, the sea and the things in it, fire, air, and the abyss, the things in the heights, the things in the depths, and the things which lie between. This is the One He sent to them. Did He do this, as one might think, for the purpose of exercising tyranny, or of inspiring fear and terror? By no means! Rather, under the influence of compassion and meekness as a king sends his son, who is also a king, so He sent Him, as God He sent Him, as a person He sent Him to people, as a Savior He sent Him to persuade, not to compel us, for violence has no place in the character of God. He sent Him to call us, not to vengefully pursue us. He sent Him to love us not to judge us. For He will yet send Him to judge us and who will withstand His appearance? Do you not see them thrown to wild beasts so that they may be persuaded to deny the Lord and yet they are not overcome? Do you not see that as many who are punished the greater becomes the number of the rest? This does not seem to be the work of a person. This is the power of God. These are the evidences of His appearance. T o D iognetus 11: I do not speak of things foreign to me, nor do I aim at anything inconsistent with proper reason. Instead, having been a disciple of the apostles, I became a teacher of the Gentiles. I properly administer the things delivered to me to those who are disciples of the truth.