Sophia Scriptura

To Diognetus 10.4

Anonymous · To Diognetus · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · place unknown · Read in context

Traditional ascription rejected: The author is unknown. The only manuscript (destroyed in 1870) placed it among works of Justin Martyr, but the style is not Justin's. The name “Mathetes” sometimes used for the author comes from “a disciple of apostles” in 11.1. Chapters 11–12 probably come from a different work.

Summary: Loving God, one becomes an imitator of his kindness.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:372

ἀγαπήσας δὲ μιμητὴς ἔσῃ αὐτοῦ τῆς χρηστότητος. καὶ μὴ θαυμάσῃ εἰ δύναται μιμητὴς ἄνθρωπος γενέσθαι θεοῦ· δύναται θέλοντος αὐτοῦ.

English · Claude translation

And by loving him you will be an imitator of his kindness. And do not be surprised that a man can become an imitator of God; he can, if God wills it.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 25:372 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 2, LCL 25 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1913), 350–379 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912-1913), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Lake, LCL 25. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Lake (LCL 25, 1913); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Scripture
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • “If God wills it” (θέλοντος αὐτοῦ): literally “if he wills”; it may also mean “if the man is willing.”

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (digitization slip against Lake's printed text (word split); punctuation slip in the digital text): μιμη τὴς ἔσῃ → μιμητὴς ἔσῃ; θεοῦ δύναται θέλοντος → θεοῦ· δύναται θέλοντος.

Cite this passage

Diogn. 10.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/10/4/).

Plain text
Diogn. 10.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/10/4/).

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