My Dad was reading from "A Godward Life" by John Piper the other day to us as a family. The chapter that we where on had this is part of a letter by Aristeides, teacher of philosophy,
presented as a defense of Christianity to Emperor Hadrian in the approximate
year A.D. 133 . I highly recommend the book, by the way.
Christ died and was
buried; and they say after tree days He rose and ascended to heaven; and then
these twelve disciples went forth into all the kingdoms of the world, telling
of His greatness with all humility and sobriety; whence they who serve the
righteousness of His preaching are called Christians, who are well known….
Now the Christians, O King…have the
commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ engraven in their hearts, and they
observe, looking for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to
come. They commit neither adultery nor fornication; nor do they bear false
witness. They do not deny a deposit, nor covet other man’s goods. They honor
father and mother, and love their neighbors; they give right judgment; and they
do not worship idols in the form of man. They do not unto others as they would
not have done unto themselves. They comfort such as wrong them, and make
friends of them. They labor to do good to their enemies (they are meek and
gentle)…. As for their servants or handmaids, or their children if any of them
has any, they persuade them to become Christians for the love that they have towards
them; and when they have become so, they call them without distinction
“brethren.”
They despise not the widow, and
grieve not the orphan. He that hath distributeth liberally to him that hath
not. If they see a stranger, they bring him under their roof and rejoice over
him, as if it were their own brother; for they call themselves brethren, not
after the flesh, but after the spirit and in God…. And if they hear that any of
their number is imprisoned or oppressed for the name of their Messiah, all of
them provide for his needs, and if it is possible that he may be delivered,
they deliver him.
And if there is a man among them that it poor and needy,
and they have not an abundance of necessities, they fast two or three days that
they may supply the needy with their necessary food. For Christ’s sake they are
ready to lay down their lives.
This is what a true Christian should look like!
