Texts in Conversation
In Diognetus, an outsider is asked how he will love the God who loved him first, echoing the language of 1 John, where people love because God loved them first. Diognetus uses that as an invitation to someone not yet a Christian.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 John 4:19
New Testament
16 And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has in us. God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him. 17 By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because just as Jesus is, so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears punishment has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he loved us first.
Epistle to Diognetus 10:3
Early Christian
3 And when you have attained to this full knowledge, with what joy do you think that you will be filled, or how will you love Him that so loved you before? 4 And loving Him you will be an imitator of His goodness. And do not marvel that a man can be an imitator of God. He can, if God wills it. 5 For happiness does not consist in lordship over one's neighbors, nor in desiring to have more than weaker men, nor in possessing wealth and using force on inferiors; nor can anyone imitate God in these matters; no, these lie outside His greatness.
Date: 150-250 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“... 1 John was mentioned above in reference to Diogn. 10. 2; 11. 4, and there are other signs of the author’s familiarity with it. There is at least one and possibly two allusions to 1 John in 10. 3 where he asks, ‘And when you have acquired this knowledge, with what joy do you think you will be filled (πληρωθήσεσθαι χαρᾶς [cf. 1 John 1: 4; John 15: 11; 2 John 12]), or how will you love him who so loved you first?’ (cf. 1 John 4: 19). The addition of the adverb οὕτως in the last clause probably is due to the author’s knowledge of John 3: 16 which, as we have seen, is visible elsewhere. ...”
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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