Sophia Scriptura

To Diognetus 12.3

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: God planted both trees; misuse of knowledge through the serpent's deceit led to the fall.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:376

οὐδὲ γὰρ ἄσημα τὰ γεγραμμένα, ὡς θεὸς ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ξύλον γνώσεως καὶ ξύλον ζωῆς ἐν μέσῳ παραδείσου ἐφύτευσε, διὰ γνώσεως ζωὴν ἐπιδεικνύς· ᾗ μὴ καθαρῶς χρησάμενοι οἱ ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς πλάνῃ τοῦ ὄφεως γεγύμνωνται.

English · Claude translation

For what is written is not without meaning: that God from the beginning planted a tree of knowledge and a tree of life in the midst of paradise, showing life through knowledge; because the first people did not use it purely, they were stripped naked by the deceit of the serpent.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 25:376 · 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
  • Gen 2:9 · allusion, high confidence
  • Gen 3:7 · echo, medium confidence

Cite this passage

Diogn. 12.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/12/3/).

Plain text
Diogn. 12.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/12/3/).

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