the Lord, we persuade [———] men," &c. Galatians iv. 4: "But when the fulness of time came, God sent out his Son [———], 5. That he might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons,"(1) &c. Ephes. ii. 4. "But God being rich in mercy because of his great love wherewith he loved us, 5. Even when we were dead in our trespasses, quickened us together with Christ—by grace ye have been saved"—cf. verses 7,8. 1 Thess. v. 9. "For God appointed us not to wrath, but to the obtaining salvation [———] through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Tim. i. 15. "This is a faithful saying.... that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" [———]. 1 Tim. ii. 3. "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour [———]. 4. Who willeth all men to be saved "[———]. Cf. v. 5, 6. 2 Tim. i. 9. "Who saved us [———], and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose, and the grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began; 10. But hath been made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour [———] Jesus Christ"3 These passages might be indefinitely multiplied; and they contain the sense of the passage, and in many cases the language, more closely than the fourth Gospel, with which the construction and form of the sentence has no analogy. Now, with regard to the Logos doctrine of the Epistle to
Diognetus, to which we may appropriately here refer, although we must deal with it in the briefest manner possible, so far is it from connecting the Epistle with the fourth Gospel, that it much more proves the writer's ignorance of that Gospel. The peculiar terminology of the prologue to the Gospel is nowhere found in the Epistle, and we have already seen that the term Logos was applied to Jesus in works of the New Testament, acknowledged by all to have been written long before the fourth Gospel. Indeed, it is quite certain, not only historically, but also from the abrupt enunciation of the doctrine in the prologue, that the theory of the Logos was well known and already applied to Jesus before the Gospel was composed. The author knew that his statement would be understood without explanation. Although the writer of the Epistle makes use of the designation "Logos," he shows his Greek culture by giving the precedence to the term Truth or Reason. It has indeed been remarked(1) that the name Jesus or Christ does not occur anywhere in the Epistle. By way of showing the manner in which "the Word" is spoken of, we will give the entire passage, part of which is quoted above; the first and only one in the first ten chapters in which the term is used: "For, as I said, this was not an earthly invention which was delivered to them (Christians), neither is it a mortal system which they deem it right to maintain so carefully; nor is an administration of human mysteries entrusted to them, but the Almighty and invisible God himself, the Creator of all things [———] has implanted in men, and established in their hearts from heaven, the Truth and the Word, the holy and incomprehensible [———], not as one might suppose, sending to men some servant or angel or ruler [———], or one of those ordering earthly affairs, or one of those entrusted with the government of heavenly things, but the artificer and creator of the universe [———] himself, by whom he created the heavens [———];(3) by
whom he confined the sea within its own bounds; whose commands [———] all the stars [———]—elements) faithfully observe; from whom (the sun) has received the measure of the daily course to observe; whom the moon obeys, being bidden to shine at night; whom the stars obey, following in the course of the moon; by whom all things have been arranged and limited and subjected, the heavens and the things in the heavens, the earth and the things in the earth, the sea and the things in the sea [———], fire, air, abyss, the things in the heights, the things in the depths, the things in the space between. This (Messenger—the truth, the Word) he sent to them. Now, was it, as one of men might reason, for tyranny and to cause fear and consternation? Not so, but in clemency and gentleness, as a King sending his Son, a king, he sent; as God he sent (him); as towards men he sent, as saving he sent (him); as persuading," &c., &c.(1) The description here given, how God in fact by Reason or Wisdom created the Universe, has much closer analogy with earlier representations of the doctrine than with that in the fourth Gospel, and if the writer does also represent the Reason in a hypostatic form, it is by no means with the concreteness of the Gospel doctrine of the Logos, with which linguistically, moreover, as we have observed, it has no similarity. There can be no doubt that his Christology presents differences from that of the fourth Gospel.(2)
We have already seen how Jesus is called the Word in works of the New Testament earlier than the fourth Gospel,(3) and how the doctrine is constantly referred to in the Pauline Epistles and the Epistle to the Hebrews, and it is to these, and not to the fourth Gospel, that the account in the Epistle to Diognetus may be more properly traced. Heb. L 2. "The Son of God by whom also he made the worlds. 10. The heavens are works of thy hands" [———]. xi. 3. "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed [———], by the word of God" [———]. 1 Cor. viii. 6. "Jesus Christ by whom are all things" [———]. Coloss. i. 13. "... The
Son of his love: 15. Who is the image of the invisible God [———] the first-born of all creation; 16. Because in him were all things created, the things in the heavens, and the things in the earth, the things visible and the things invisible [———] whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers; All things have been created by him and for him [———]. 17. And he is before all things, and in him all things subsist. 18. And he is the head of the body, the Church, who is the Beginning(1) [———]; the first-born from the dead; that in all things he might be the first. 19. Because he was well pleased that in him should all the fulness dwell. 20. And through him to reconcile all things unto himself," &c., &c. These passages might be greatly multiplied, but it is unnecessary, for the matter of the letter is substantially here. As to the titles of King and God they are everywhere to be found. In the Apocalypse, the Lamb whose name is "The Word of God" [———], (xix. 18) has also his name written (xix. 16), "King of kings and Lord of lords" [———].(2) We have already quoted the views of Philo regarding the Logos, which also merit comparison with the passage of the Epistle, but we cannot repeat them here.
The last passage to which we have to refer is the following: "For God loved men, for whose sakes He made the world, to whom He subjected all things that are in the earth... Unto whom [———] He sent his only-begotten Son, to whom He promised the kingdom in heaven [———] and will give it to those who love Him."(3) The context is as follows: "For God loved men [———] for whose sake he made the world, to whom he subjected all things that are in it, to whom he gave reason and intelligence, to whom alone he granted the right of looking towards him, whom he formed after his own image, to whom he sent his only begotten son [———], to whom he has promised the kingdom in heaven, and will give it to those who have loved him. And when you know this, with what
