# To Diognetus 9.1

- Author: Anonymous
- Work: [To Diognetus](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/) (*Epistula ad Diognetum*)
- Date: ca. 150–200 (disputed) (disputed)
- Source: Lake, LCL 25:368; 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)
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26
- Canonical URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/9/1/

Summary: God bore with our sins in the past to show we cannot save ourselves.

## Greek text

Πάντʼ οὖν ἤδη παρʼ ἑαυτῷ σὺν τῷ παιδὶ οἰκονομηκώς, μέχρι μὲν τοῦ πρόσθεν χρόνου εἴασεν ἡμᾶς, ὡς ἐβουλόμεθα, ἀτάκτοις φοραῖς φέρεσθαι, ἡδοναῖς καὶ ἐπιθυμίαις ἀπαγομένους. οὐ πάντως ἐφηδόμενος τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασιν ἡμῶν, ἀλλʼ ἀνεχόμενος, οὐδὲ τῷ τότε τῆς ἀδικίας καιρῷ συνευδοκῶν, ἀλλὰ τὸν νῦν τῆς δικαιοσύνης δημιουργῶν, ἵνα ἐν τῷ τότε χρόνῳ ἐλεγχθέντες ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων ἔργων ἀνάξιοι ζωῆς νῦν ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ χρηστότητος ἀξιωθῶμεν, καὶ τὸ καθʼ ἑαυτοὺς φανερώσαντες ἀδύνατον εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ θεοῦ δυνατοὶ γενηθῶμεν.

## English translation (Claude)

Having, then, already arranged everything with himself together with his Child, he permitted us during the former time to be carried along by disorderly impulses, as we wished, led astray by pleasures and desires. He did not at all delight in our sins, but bore with them; nor did he approve of that time of unrighteousness, but was creating the present time of righteousness, so that we, who in that former time were convicted by our own works as unworthy of life, might now be made worthy by the kindness of God; and that we, having shown that by ourselves we could not enter the kingdom of God, might be made able by the power of God.

## Scripture references

- Rom 3:25: echo, medium confidence
- Rom 3:26: echo, medium confidence
- John 3:5: echo, low confidence

## Citation (SBL)

Diogn. 9.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/9/1/).