Friday, January 16, 2015

A Voice from the Past - Writer to Diognetus

How surpassing is the love and tenderness of God! In that hour, instead of hating us and rejecting us and remembering our wickedness against us, He showed how long-suffering He is. He bore with us and in pity He took our sins upon Himself and gave His own Son as a ransom for us - the Holy for the wicked, the Sinless for sinners, the Just for the unjust, the Incorrupt for the corrupt, the Immortal for the mortal. For was there, indeed, anything except His righteousness that could have availed to cover our sins?

The Epistle to Diognetus, about 124 AD, 9 (Early Christian Writings, translated by Maxwell Staniforth, Penguin Books, 1968, p. 180)

Why is it important that God came Himself to redeem us? Could He not have simply sent someone else?

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