Greeks, Chapter 5

1 For the Christians are distinguished from the rest of men neither by country, nor by language, nor by customs.
2 For they neither dwell in cities of their own, nor use any unusual dialect, nor lead a conspicuous life.
3 Nor was this instruction of theirs found by any speculation or concern of curious men; nor do they maintain an ordinance of men, as some.
4 But, dwelling in Greek and barbarian cities, as the lot fell to each, and following the customs of the land, in clothing, diet, and the remaining manner of life, they display the marvelous and admittedly strange character of their own citizenship.
5 They dwell in their own countries, but as sojourners; they partake of all things as citizens, and endure all things as strangers; every foreign land is their country, and every country a foreign land.
6 They marry, as do all. They do not throw away what is born, but acknowledge the children.[fn]
7 They eat together, but do not sleep together.[fn]
8 They are in the flesh, but do not live after the flesh.
9 They dwell on earth, but have citizenship in heaven.
10 They obey the public laws, and in their lives go even further than the laws [require].
11 They love all, and are persecuted by all.
12 They are unknown and are condemned; they are put to death, and made alive.
13 They are poor, yet make many rich; are in want of all things, yet abound in all.
14 They are dishonored, and glorified in their dishonor; they are spoken evil of, and yet justified.
15 They are reviled, and bless; they are shamefully treated, and render honor.
16 Doing good, they are punished as evil; being punished, they rejoice as being made alive.
17 By the Jews they are warred against as aliens, and by the Greeks they are persecuted; and those who hate them can give no reason of their enmity.

Footnotes

6

throw away what is born: Greek ῥίπτω τὰ γεννώμενα (*rhiptō ta gennōmena*). The author deliberately uses the most violent word available — ῥίπτω (*rhiptō*, 'throw, hurl') — rather than the standard Greek for infant exposure, ἐκτιθέναι (*ektithenai*). The phrase τὰ γεννώμενα (*ta gennōmena*, 'what is born') reduces the child to the bare biological event of birth — the legal category of a baby not yet claimed by its father. In Roman custom (*tollere liberos*), a newborn was placed on the ground; only if the father lifted it up did it become a person. Until that moment it was merely 'what was born' and could be disposed of without consequence. The author's compound verb τεκνογονοῦσιν (*teknogonousin*, 'bear children') has the word for 'child' — τέκνον (*teknon*) — built into it; τὰ γεννώμενα strips that word out. One verb carries family and belonging; the other carries only biology. For a divine parallel to this imagery, see Ezekiel 16:4–6, where God finds an abandoned newborn — unclaimed, lying in its own blood — and says: 'Live.'

7

sleep together: Greek κοίτην (*koitēn*), literally 'bed.' The same word is rendered 'promiscuity' (plural) in Romans 13:13 and 'bed' in Hebrews 13:4 ('let the bed be undefiled'). The manuscript reads κοινήν ('common') in place of κοίτην, yielding 'a common table, but not a common [table]' — which is nonsensical. The conjecture κοίτην, accepted by most modern editors, is supported by the Greek idiom pairing τραπέζῃ καὶ κοίτῃ (*trapezē kai koitē*, 'table and bed') attested in Herodotus. A scribe likely softened the text to avoid the sexual reference. Early Christians were accused of sexual promiscuity at their communal meals (see Athenagoras, *A Plea for the Christians* 3; Tertullian, *Apology* 7). The author's response is pointed: they eat together, but do not sleep together.