The knowledge of reverence for God and of the truth of all things does not so much need instruction from human teachers as it has its own clear evidence. Almost every day it cries out through its works, and through Christ’s teaching it shows itself brighter than the sun.
Yet since you desire to hear about it, come, blessed friend, and let us set out, as far as we are able, a few things about faith in Christ. You can find it from the divine Scriptures, but you eagerly desire to hear from others as well. The holy and inspired Scriptures are sufficient for proclaiming the truth. There are also many writings composed on these matters by our blessed teachers. Anyone who encounters them will learn something of the interpretation of Scripture and will be able to gain the knowledge he seeks. But since we do not now have our teachers’ writings at hand, we must tell and write to you what we learned from them—I mean faith in Christ the Savior—so that no one may regard the teaching of our doctrine as worthless or suppose that faith in Christ is irrational.
These are the things the Greeks slander and mock, laughing loudly at us and bringing forward nothing but the cross of Christ. Here above all one might pity their insensibility. When they slander the cross, they do not see that its power has filled the whole inhabited world, and that through it the works of the knowledge of God have been made manifest to everyone. For if they had truly fixed their minds on His divinity, they would not have mocked so great a thing. Rather, they too would have recognized Him as Savior of all and seen that the cross became not the ruin but the healing of creation.
For if, since the cross, all idolatry has been overthrown, every apparition of demons is driven away by this sign, Christ alone is worshiped, and through Him the Father is known; if those who oppose Him are put to shame, while He daily and invisibly wins over the souls of those who oppose Him—how can anyone reasonably still regard this as a merely human affair instead of confessing that the One who ascended the cross is the Word of God and Savior of all? They seem to me to be like someone who slanders the sun when it is hidden by clouds, yet marvels at its light when he sees all creation illuminated by it. For just as light is beautiful and the sun, the source of light, is more beautiful still, so, if it is a divine achievement for the whole inhabited world to be filled with knowledge of Him, then the originator and ruler of such an achievement must be God and the Word of God.
We therefore speak as far as we are able, first refuting the ignorance of unbelievers, so that when falsehood has been refuted, the truth may then shine by itself. You too, my friend, may be confident that you have believed the truth and that you have not been deceived in coming to know Christ. I think it fitting to speak to you, as one who loves Christ, about Christ, since I am convinced that you regard knowledge of and faith in Him as more precious than everything else.
The knowledge of reverence for God and of the truth of all things does not so much need instruction from human teachers as it has its own clear evidence. Almost every day it cries out through its works, and through Christ’s teaching it shows itself brighter than the sun.
Yet since you desire to hear about it, come, blessed friend, and let us set out, as far as we are able, a few things about faith in Christ. You can find it from the divine Scriptures, but you eagerly desire to hear from others as well.
The holy and inspired Scriptures are sufficient for proclaiming the truth. There are also many writings composed on these matters by our blessed teachers. Anyone who encounters them will learn something of the interpretation of Scripture and will be able to gain the knowledge he seeks. But since we do not now have our teachers’ writings at hand, we must tell and write to you what we learned from them—I mean faith in Christ the Savior—so that no one may regard the teaching of our doctrine as worthless or suppose that faith in Christ is irrational.
These are the things the Greeks slander and mock, laughing loudly at us and bringing forward nothing but the cross of Christ. Here above all one might pity their insensibility. When they slander the cross, they do not see that its power has filled the whole inhabited world, and that through it the works of the knowledge of God have been made manifest to everyone.
For if they had truly fixed their minds on His divinity, they would not have mocked so great a thing. Rather, they too would have recognized Him as Savior of all and seen that the cross became not the ruin but the healing of creation.
For if, since the cross, all idolatry has been overthrown, every apparition of demons is driven away by this sign, Christ alone is worshiped, and through Him the Father is known; if those who oppose Him are put to shame, while He daily and invisibly wins over the souls of those who oppose Him—how can anyone reasonably still regard this as a merely human affair instead of confessing that the One who ascended the cross is the Word of God and Savior of all? They seem to me to be like someone who slanders the sun when it is hidden by clouds, yet marvels at its light when he sees all creation illuminated by it.
For just as light is beautiful and the sun, the source of light, is more beautiful still, so, if it is a divine achievement for the whole inhabited world to be filled with knowledge of Him, then the originator and ruler of such an achievement must be God and the Word of God.
We therefore speak as far as we are able, first refuting the ignorance of unbelievers, so that when falsehood has been refuted, the truth may then shine by itself. You too, my friend, may be confident that you have believed the truth and that you have not been deceived in coming to know Christ. I think it fitting to speak to you, as one who loves Christ, about Christ, since I am convinced that you regard knowledge of and faith in Him as more precious than everything else.