Resurrection in the Epistle to Diognetus

(avg. read time: 3–6 mins.)

The Epistle to Diognetus is something of an outlier in the Apostolic Fathers. It is sometimes said that it should not be included in this corpus, as it may well be from after the time of the Apostolic Fathers alongside other early apologetic works of the late second (and early third) century. Whether or not that is the case, I treat it alongside the rest of the collection of the Apostolic Fathers in which it has been included, seemingly on the basis that the author refers to himself as a “disciple” of the apostles (11.1). The author never identifies himself, nor is there much of anything to help with the typical historical-critical issues raised for texts.

While the letter is fascinating for its apologetic approach, what it tells us about the charges and questions Christians of the second century faced, and what it says about Jesus’s death, there is not a lot of material in it directly related to my focus in this series on resurrection in the works of early Christians. Why that might be is speculation that need not detain us for now. There is still material to address here in any case.

Explicit References

This letter features only one explicit use of resurrection language. Amidst a series of paradoxical statements about the Christians in ch. 5, the author says of them that they are “put to death, yet they are made alive [ζῳοποιοῦνται]” (5.12). This is one of the less frequent terms we observed in our grammatical analysis of resurrection language in the NT. It clearly has a resurrection sense here given how it is linked as a contrast with the language of death (2 Kgs 5:7; cf. the similar terminology in the LXX of Deut 32:39). The other use of the term in 5.16 has a sense of being invigorated, given how the Christians rejoice in the face of their punishments. In both cases, the passive focuses on the action and the recipient thereof rather than on the agent, which is left implied.

Why is the verb in the present tense if it has this sense of resurrection? It could be that the resurrection language is used metaphorically in anticipation of a more literal resurrection in the future. That is, this death is their path to being made alive by resurrection to everlasting life. And so one can speak figuratively of them as already being made alive. Alternatively, though relatedly, this use of the present may be an example of a “futuristic present” akin to Matt 5:3 and 10, which bracket uses of the regular future throughout the Beatitudes (cf. also Matt 26:18; John 14:3, 18–19; 1 Cor 15:32). Whether it is ingressive futuristic like those cases in Matt 5, describing something begun in the present, or it is completely futuristic, so that the present-tense form conveys certainty of the event’s occurrence, is not entirely clear without more information.

Implicit Links

A certain feature that appears in this text from the beginning may implicitly rely on expectation of resurrection. As we noted previously with Ignatius (Smyrn. 3.3), a certain phrase first appears in Christian literature in the second century in reference to “despising death” (θανάτου + καταφρονέω). We see it here in 1.1 and 10.7, and it is also used in the works of Justin Martyr (Dial. 45; 2 Apol. 10; 11) and Tatian (Or. Graec. 11.1; 19.1; 27.6). Prior to the end of the second century, there were several non-Christian sources using this phrase in the context of referring to those who acted with such boldness that they could be described as regarding death as being of little or no significance (Diodorus Siculus, Hist. 5.29.2; 17.43.6; Philo, Good Person 30; Josephus, J.W. 2.60, 377; 3.357, 475; 5.458; 6.42; Ag. Ap. 2.294; Musonius Rufus, Diss. 10.9; Onasander, Strat. 33.5; Appian, Bell. civ. 5.4.36; Epictetus, Diatr. 4.1.70–71; Lucian, Peregr. 13; 23; 33; contra Marcus Aurelius, Med. 12.34; Polyaenus, Strat. 5.14.1). Ignatius had clearly signaled that this is a result of their resurrection belief, as they not only know of Jesus’s resurrection, but they have faith that it guarantees their own resurrection and transformation for everlasting life that will utterly conquer death (cf. 1 Cor 15:30–32; Ignatius, Smyrn. 4.2). That connection is not as pronounced here, but I see no reason to doubt that it is implicitly linked with resurrection belief and the expectation of receiving life that utterly conquers death.

Chapter 5 also features language that is implicitly linked with resurrection in the NT. Despite Christians being on earth, the author says that they have their citizenship in heaven (5.9). A similar phrase appears in Phil 3:20, which is linked with expectation of resurrection, exaltation, and transformation (see here for more).

Interestingly, the author makes an analogy in ch. 6 of the Christians in the world by comparing them to the soul in the body. This appears to be the earliest explicit Christian reference to the notion of an immortal soul (6.8) by its contrast to its mortal habitation. The author thus takes a popular philosophical notion for granted. It would not be the first nor the last time that a form of dualism in which a soul was believed to be immortal was also considered compatible with belief in bodily resurrection. It could be that there is an implicit expectation of the same in the analogy made in this same sentence referencing the absolute vivification/incorruptibility (ἀφθαρσία) that Christians await that is now in heaven. That this is linked with the reception of divine life is further indicated by the use of this term in 9:2, but I have also noted elsewhere how this term is tied to expectations of the eschatological resurrection (see here and here for the most extensive entries).

Another reference may have two implicit links to resurrection belief. The writer mentions in 7.6 that God will send Jesus as judge, and he asks who can endure his arrival/presence (παρουσία). Since Jesus is clearly presented as having died (see esp. 9.2–5), the first implicit link to his resurrection is the fact that he is coming again at all (as we noted also in entries on the Gospels here). The second is the fact of him coming as the judge. We have also seen many times over how often resurrection is linked with the expectation of the final judgment.

Finally, 9.1 uses the language of “entering” into the kingdom of God. As also noted in the entries on the Gospels, this is language implicitly tied to the hope for resurrection. As the kingdom will be an embodied reality of new creation, so God’s people will be embodied to enter it, which will involve resurrection for those who have died prior to the time of fulfillment.