Epistle to Diognetus

For who among people understood what God is before His coming? Do you accept the vain and silly doctrines of those considered trustworthy philosophers? Some of them claimed that fire was God, calling that God which they themselves would eventually encounter; some said water; and others named other elements formed by God.

But if any of these theories deserve approval, then every other created thing might also be declared to be God. Such declarations are merely the startling and erroneous statements of deceivers, and no one has either seen Him or made Him known, but He has revealed Himself.

He has manifested Himself through faith, to which alone it is given to behold God. For God, the Lord and Creator of all things, who made everything and assigned them their specific positions, proved Himself not only a friend of humanity but also patient in His dealings with them.

Indeed, He was always of such a character, and still is, and will always be kind and good, free from wrath, and true, and the only one who is absolutely good; and He conceived in His mind a great and indescribable plan, which He communicated to His Son alone.

As long as He kept and preserved His wise counsel in secrecy, He seemed to neglect us and have no care for us.

But after He revealed and made known, through His beloved Son, the things prepared from the beginning, He granted every blessing all at once upon us, so that we could both share in His benefits and see and be active in His service. Who among us would have ever expected these things? He was aware of everything in His own mind, together with His Son, according to their relationship.