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In Diognetus, the righteousness of one man is said to justify many who are sinful, echoing the language of Romans 5, where Paul compares Jesus with Adam and says that through the obedience of one man many will be made righteous.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Romans 5:19
New Testament
16 And the gift is not like the one who sinned. For judgment, resulting from the one transgression, led to condemnation, but the gracious gift from the many failures led to justification. 17 For if, by the transgression of the one man, death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ! 18 Consequently, just as condemnation for all people came through one transgression, so too through the one righteous act came righteousness leading to life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man many were constituted sinners, so also through the obedience of one man many will be constituted righteous.
Epistle to Diognetus 9:5
Early Christian
3 For what else but His righteousness would have covered our sins? 4 In whom was it possible for us lawless and ungodly men to have been justified, except only in the Son of God? 5 O the sweet exchange, O the inscrutable creation, O the unexpected benefits; that the iniquity of many should be concealed in One Righteous Man, and the righteousness of One should justify many that are iniquitous! 6 Having then in the former time demonstrated the inability of our nature to obtain life, and having now revealed a Savior able to save even creatures which have no ability, He willed that for both reasons we should believe in His goodness and should regard Him as nurse, father, teacher, counselor, physician, mind, light, honor, glory, strength and life.
Date: 150-250 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“... Polycarp likewise appeals to Isaiah 53: he identifies Jesus as “the guarantee of our righteousness [arrabōni tēs dikaiosynēs hēmōn], the one who bore our sins in his own body upon the tree” (Pol. Phil. 8.1; Is 53:3–5 [LXX]; cf. 1 Pet 2:24). Diognetus invokes more Adamic imagery when describing Jesus as that “one righteous man [dikaiō heni] who justifies many sinners” (Diogn. 9.5; cf. Rom 5:15). ...”
Martin, Ralph P.
Dictionary of the Later New Testament & Its Developments
(p. 1502) InterVarsity Press, 1997
* 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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