Sophia Scriptura

To Diognetus 9.5

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: The sweet exchange: our sin hidden in him, his righteousness justifying us.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:370

ὢ τῆς γλυκείας ἀνταλλαγῆς, ὢ τῆς ἀνεξιχνιάστου δημιουργίας, ὢ τῶν ἀπροσδοκήτων εὐεργεσιῶν· ἵνα ἀνομία μὲν πολλῶν ἐν δικαίῳ ἑνὶ κρυβῇ, δικαιοσύνη δὲ ἑνὸς πολλοὺς ἀνόμους δικαιώσῃ.

English · Claude translation

O the sweet exchange, O the inscrutable work, O the unexpected benefits: that the lawlessness of many should be hidden in one righteous man, and the righteousness of one should justify many lawless people!

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 25:370 · 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
Christology

Notes

Translation notes

  • “Exchange” (ἀνταλλαγή): the exchange of our sin for Christ's righteousness.

Cite this passage

Diogn. 9.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/9/5/).

Plain text
Diogn. 9.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/9/5/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage