Greeks, Chapter 7

1 For, as I said, it is not an earthly discovery that was delivered to them, nor a mortal speculation that they count worthy to keep so diligently, nor are they entrusted with a dispensation of human mysteries.
2 But he himself — truly the Almighty, the Creator of all, the invisible God — himself from heaven implanted and fixed in the hearts of men the truth, and the holy and incomprehensible word. Not, as one might surmise, by sending to men some attendant or angel or prince, or any of those who govern earthly things, or any of those entrusted with the heavenly provinces — but the craftsman and builder of all things himself. By whom he created the heavens; by whom he shut the sea within its own bounds; whose mysteries all the elements faithfully keep; from whom the sun has taken the measures of the daily courses to keep; whom the moon obeys, commanding her to shine by night; whom the stars obey, following the course of the moon. By whom all things are ordered and circumscribed and subjected: the heavens and things in the heavens, the earth and things in the earth, the sea and things in the sea — fire, air, the abyss; things on high, things below, things in the midst. This one he sent to them.[fn]
3 Was this, as some among men might reckon, for tyranny and fear and terror?
4 By no means; but in gentleness and meekness. As a king sending his son, a king, he sent him; sent him as God, as to men, as one saving, as one persuading, not forcing. For violence is not with God.[fn]
5 He sent him as calling, not pursuing; sent him as loving, not judging.
6 For he will send him judging; and who will endure his coming?[fn]
7 Do you not see those thrown to the wild beasts, that they might deny the Lord, and not overcome?
8 Do you not see that the more they are punished, the more others multiply?
9 These things do not seem [to be] works of man; these things are the power of God; these things are examples of his coming.

Footnotes

2

word: Greek λόγος (*logos*). This is not capitalized because the UPDV reserves the title 'Speech' (capitalized) for the Johannine corpus (John 1:1, 1 John 1:1, Revelation 19:13) where λόγος functions as a recognized Christological title. In Greeks, λόγος more likely refers to the message or revelation sent through the Son, not a title of the Son himself. See Lienhard, 'The Christology of the Epistle to Diognetus' (1970).

4

as to men: some editors insert the Greek word for 'man' before 'to men,' yielding 'as man, to men.' This edition follows the manuscript reading without the insertion, on the principle that the harder reading is more likely original: an explicit statement of the incarnation would be extraordinary in a document that nowhere else mentions this doctrine. See Lienhard (1970); Marrou.

6

There is a lacuna (gap in the text) after this verse. An unknown amount of text has been lost between 7:6 and 7:7.