To Autolycus

To Autolycus

Theophilus of Antioch

c. AD 180

Three books written about AD 180 to a pagan friend named Autolycus by the bishop of Antioch. Book 1 explains who God is and what the name “Christian” means. Book 2 sets the Greek poets and philosophers against the prophets. Book 3 argues from chronology that Moses is older than the Greek writers.

A note for readers. Theophilus is the earliest known Christian writer to use the Greek word for “triad” of God, but he applies it to God, his Word and his Wisdom, which is not the later church’s formulation of the Trinity. His reading of the early chapters of Genesis is also unusual. Read it as a witness to second-century thought, and weigh it against the Bible.

Book 1

Autolycus an Idolater and Scorner of Christians.

1 A glib mouth and a pleasing style give delight, and the praise that feeds empty glory, to wretched people whose minds are corrupted. But the lover of truth pays no attention to polluted speeches. He examines the substance behind the speech: what it is and what kind of thing it is. So, my friend, you have overawed me with empty words, boasting of your gods of stone and wood, hammered, cast, molded and painted. They neither see nor hear, for they are idols, the work of human hands. You also call me a Christian, as if I bore a bad name. For my part, I admit that I am a Christian. I bear this name, which God loves, hoping to be useful to God. The name of God is not harsh, as you suppose. Perhaps you think this about God because you are still useless to Him yourself.^[1]

That the Eyes of the Soul Must Be Purged Ere God Can Be Seen.

2a But if you say, “Show me your God,” I would answer, “Show me yourself, and I will show you my God.” Show me that the eyes of your soul can see and the ears of your heart can hear. People who see with the eyes of the body take in the affairs of this life and of the earth. At the same time they judge the differences between things: light or darkness, white or black, ugly or beautiful, well-proportioned and shapely or ill-proportioned and shapeless, oversized or stunted. It is the same with what falls under hearing: sounds that are shrill, deep or sweet. So it is also with the ears of the heart and the eyes of the soul: by them one can behold God.^[2] 2b God is seen by those who are able to see Him, when the eyes of their soul are open. All people have eyes, but in some they are clouded over, and these do not see the light of the sun. Yet it does not follow that the sunlight is not shining just because the blind cannot see. The blind must blame themselves and their own eyes. In the same way, you, my friend, have the eyes of your soul clouded by your sins and evil deeds. A person ought to have a pure soul, like a polished mirror. When there is rust on a mirror, a person’s face cannot be seen in it. So also, when sin is in a person, such a person cannot see God.

2c So show me yourself. Show me that you are not an adulterer, or a fornicator, or a thief, or a robber, or a defrauder. Show me that you are not a man who has sex with males, or insolent, or abusive, or quick-tempered, or envious, or boastful, or arrogant, or violent, or greedy for money, or disobedient to your parents, and that you do not sell your children. For God does not reveal Himself to people who do these things, unless they first cleanse themselves from every defilement. All these things cast a darkness over you, just as a discharge of matter on the eyes keeps them from gazing at the light of the sun. In the same way, my friend, your ungodly deeds cast a darkness over you, so that you cannot see God.^[3] [1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Romans 1:30; 2 Corinthians 7:1]

Nature of God.

3 You will say to me, “You who can see, describe to me the appearance of God.” Listen, my friend. The appearance of God is beyond speech and description, and cannot be seen with eyes of flesh. In glory He cannot be contained, in greatness He cannot be grasped, in height He cannot be conceived, in strength He has no equal, in wisdom He has no match, in goodness He cannot be imitated, and in His good works He cannot be described. If I call Him Light, I am speaking of something He made. If I call Him Word, I am speaking of His beginning. If I call Him Mind, I am speaking of His understanding. If I call Him Spirit, I am speaking of His breath. If I call Him Wisdom, I am speaking of what He begot. If I call Him Strength, I am speaking of His might. If I call Him Power, I am speaking of His working. If I call Him Providence, I am speaking of His goodness. If I call Him Kingdom, I am speaking of His glory. If I call Him Lord, I am calling Him judge. If I call Him Judge, I am calling Him just. If I call Him Father, I am calling Him everything. If I call Him Fire, I am speaking of His anger. You will ask me, “Is God angry?” Certainly. He is angry with those who do evil. But He is good, kind and compassionate toward those who love and fear Him. For He is the instructor of the godly and the father of the righteous, but the judge and punisher of the ungodly.^[4]

Attributes of God.

4a God has no beginning, because he was never begotten. He does not change, because he is immortal. He is called God (Theos) because he has set (tetheikenai) all things on his own firm foundation, and because of the word theein. Theein means to run, to move, to be active, to nourish, to watch over, to steer, and to give life to all things. He is Lord because he rules over the whole universe. He is Father because he exists before all things. He is Craftsman and Maker because he is the Creator and Maker of the universe. He is the Most High because he is above all things. He is Almighty because he himself holds and encloses all things. For the heights of heaven, the depths of the abysses, and the ends of the world are in his hand, and there is no place that can be his resting place.^[5] [Isaiah 66:1]

4b For the heavens are his work, the earth is his creation, and the sea is what he made. Man is his molded work and his image. The sun, moon and stars are his elements, made as signs and for seasons, days and years, to serve mankind and to be their servants. God brought all things into being out of what did not exist, so that through his works his greatness might be known and understood.^[6] [Genesis 1:14]

The Invisible God Perceived Through His Works.

5a The soul in a person cannot be seen, because it is invisible to human beings, yet it is recognized through the movement of the body. In the same way, God cannot be seen by human eyes, but he is seen and understood through his providence and his works. Suppose someone sees a ship at sea, fully fitted out, under way and coming into harbor. He will obviously conclude that it has a pilot steering it. So we must understand that God is the pilot of the whole universe, even though he cannot be seen with eyes of flesh, because he cannot be contained. If a man cannot look at the sun, which is a very small heavenly body, because of its overwhelming heat and power, how much less can a mortal man look directly at the glory of God, which is beyond words?^[7] 5b A pomegranate has a rind around it, and inside it has many chambers and compartments divided by membranes, and many seeds living in it. In the same way, the whole creation is enclosed by the spirit of God, and the enclosing spirit, together with the creation, is held in the hand of God. The seed inside the pomegranate cannot see what lies outside the rind, because it is itself inside. In the same way a human being, enclosed with all creation in the hand of God, cannot see God. Again, people believe that an earthly king exists, even though not everyone sees him. He is known through his laws, his decrees, his authorities, his forces and his images. Do you refuse to let God be known through his works and his powers?^[8]

God is Known by His Works.

6a Consider his works, O man: the changing of the seasons in their times, the changes in the weather, the well-ordered course of the elements, and the orderly progress of days, nights, months and years. Consider the varied beauty of seeds, plants and fruits, and the many kinds of offspring among four-footed animals, birds, reptiles, and swimming creatures, both of rivers and of the sea. Consider the understanding given to the animals themselves for bearing and raising their young, not for their own use but so that man may have them. Consider the providence by which God prepares food for all flesh, and the subjection by which he has decreed that all things be placed under humankind. Consider the flow of sweet springs and ever-running rivers, and the supply of dews, showers and rains that comes in its seasons. Consider the many-sided movement of the heavenly bodies: the morning star rising and announcing the coming of the perfect light-bearer; the bond of the Pleiades and Orion; Arcturus; and the course of the remaining stars as they move around the circle of the heavens. The richly varied wisdom of God has given each of them its own name.^[9] [Job 38:31; Ephesians 3:10]

6b He alone is God, who made light out of darkness. He brought out light from his treasures. He brought out the storerooms of the south wind, the treasures of the deep, the boundaries of the seas, and the treasuries of snow and hail. He gathers the waters into the treasures of the deep, and gathers the darkness into his treasures. He brings out the light, sweet, longed-for and delightful, from his treasures. He lifts up clouds from the farthest edge of the earth, and multiplies lightning for the rain. He sends thunder to bring fear, and warns beforehand by the lightning that the crash of thunder is coming, so that no one, suddenly shaken, may faint away. He also measures out just enough of the lightning that comes down from heaven, so that it does not burn up the earth. For if the lightning received its full power, it would burn up the earth. And if the thunder did, it would overturn everything on the earth.^[10] [2 Corinthians 4:6; Job 38:22]

We Shall See God When We Put on Immortality.

7a This is my God, the Lord of all, who alone stretched out the heaven and fixed the breadth of the earth beneath it. He stirs up the depths of the sea and makes its waves roar. He rules its power and calms the surging of its waves. He founded the earth upon the waters and gave a spirit to nourish it. His breath gives life to everything, and if he holds back that breath for himself, everything will fail. It is he, O man, that you speak of, and his breath that you breathe, and yet you do not know him. This has happened to you because your soul is blind and your heart is hardened. But if you are willing, you can be healed. Put yourself in the hands of the Physician, and he will operate on the eyes of your soul and heart.^[11] [Job 9:8; Isaiah 51:15; Ephesians 4:18] 7b Who is the Physician? God, who heals and gives life through his Word and Wisdom. God made all things through his Word and Wisdom. For by his Word the heavens were made firm, and by his Spirit all their power. His wisdom is most mighty. By wisdom God laid the foundation of the earth. He prepared the heavens with understanding. By knowledge the depths were broken open, and the clouds poured down dew. If you grasp these things, O man, and live purely, devoutly and justly, you can see God. But above all, let faith and the fear of God go before you in your heart, and then you will understand these things. When you put off what is mortal and put on incorruption, then you will see God as he deserves to be seen. For God will raise your flesh immortal together with your soul. Then, having become immortal, you will see the Immortal One, if you believe in him now. And then you will recognize that you spoke against him unjustly.^[12] [Proverbs 3:19-20; 1 Corinthians 15:53]

Faith Required in All Matters.

8a But you do not believe that the dead are raised. When it happens, then you will believe, whether you want to or not. And your faith will be counted as unbelief if you do not believe now. Why do you refuse to believe? Do you not know that faith comes first in everything? What farmer can reap unless he first entrusts the seed to the earth? Who can cross the sea unless he first entrusts himself to the ship and the captain? What sick person can be healed unless he first entrusts himself to the doctor? What skill or branch of knowledge can anyone learn unless he first gives himself over to a teacher and trusts him? If, then, the farmer trusts the earth, the traveler by sea trusts the ship, and the sick man trusts the doctor, will you not trust yourself to God, when you have so many pledges from him?^[13]

8b First, he made you out of nothing and brought you into being. For if your father did not exist, and your mother did not, then much more you yourself did not exist at one time. He formed you from a small amount of moist substance, from the tiniest drop, which itself also once did not exist. And God brought you forward into this present life. Yet you believe that statues made by men are gods and work mighty deeds. But when it comes to the God who made you, do you doubt that he is able to make you again afterward as well?^[14]

Immoralities of the Gods.

9a The names of the gods you say you worship are the names of dead men. And what sort of men were they? Is Kronos not found to be a devourer of children, consuming his own offspring? If you name his son Zeus, then learn his deeds and his way of life as well. First, he was nursed by a goat on Mount Ida, and then, according to the myths, he killed it, skinned it, and made himself a garment from the hide. As for his other deeds, his incest with his sister, his adulteries and his corruption of boys, Homer and the other poets tell them better than I can. Why should I go on listing his sons? Herakles burned himself to death. Dionysos was drunk and raving. Apollo feared Achilles and ran from him, was in love with Daphne, and did not know the fate of Hyacinthus. Aphrodite was wounded. Ares was a destroyer of men. And the so-called gods even have ichor flowing from them.^[15]

9b Yet these are the milder things to say, since there is a god called Osiris who is found torn limb from limb. Every year his rites are performed as if he were being lost, found again, and searched for piece by piece. For no one can make out whether he is lost, and no one shows whether he is found. Why should I mention Attis being castrated? Or Adonis roaming the woods, hunting, and being wounded by a boar? Or Asklepios struck by lightning? Or Serapis, a fugitive from Sinope who ended up in Alexandria? Or the Scythian Artemis, who was herself a fugitive and a killer of men, a huntress, and in love with Endymion? We are not the ones saying these things. Your own writers and poets proclaim them.^[16]

Absurdities of Idolatry.

10a Why should I go on listing the many animals the Egyptians worship: reptiles, cattle, wild beasts, birds, and swimming creatures of the water? They even worship foot-basins and shameful noises. As for the Greeks and the other nations, they worship stones, wood and other material, which, as we have already said, are likenesses of dead men. Pheidias, for example, is found making the Olympian Zeus at Pisa for the people of Elis, and the Athena on the Acropolis for the Athenians. I would also ask you, my friend, how many Zeuses there are. First of all there is Zeus Olympios, then Zeus Latiarios, Zeus Kasios, Zeus Keraunios, Zeus Propator, Zeus Pannychios, Zeus Poliouchos, and Zeus Kapitolios. The Zeus who was the son of Kronos and became king of the Cretans has a tomb in Crete. The rest, perhaps, were not even thought worthy of burial.^[17] 10b If you mention the mother of the so-called gods, may I never bring myself to say her deeds aloud. It is forbidden for us even to name such things. The same goes for the deeds of her attendants, by whom she is served, and for the taxes and contributions that she and her sons bring in to the king. For these are not gods but idols, as we said before, works of human hands and unclean demons. May those who make them become just like them, and those who put their hope in them as well.^[18]

The King to Be Honoured, God to Be Worshipped.

11 So I will honor the king instead, though not by bowing down to him in worship but by praying for him. But I worship God, the One who is really and truly God, because I know that the king was made by Him. You will ask me, “Why do you not worship the king?” Because he was not made to be worshipped but to be honored with lawful honor. He is not a god but a man, appointed by God, not to be worshipped but to judge justly. In a certain way he has been entrusted by God with a stewardship. Just as the king himself does not want those he has placed under him to be called kings (for “king” is his title, and no one else may use it), so no one may be worshipped except God alone. So you are wrong in every way, my friend. Honor the king: be well disposed toward him, be subject to him, and pray for him. By doing this you do the will of God. For the law of God says, “My son, honor God and the king, and do not be disobedient to either of them, for suddenly they will punish their enemies.”^[19] [Proverbs 24:21-22; 1 Peter 2:17; Romans 13:1]

Meaning of the Name Christian.

12 As for your laughing at me and calling me a Christian, you do not know what you are saying. First, what is “anointed” is pleasant and useful, and nothing to laugh at. What ship can be useful and stay afloat unless it is first anointed? What tower or house is handsome and useful when it has not been anointed? What man, when he comes into this life or enters the games, is not anointed with oil? What work or ornament can have beauty unless it is anointed and polished? Then the air, and everything under heaven, is in a certain way anointed with light and spirit. And are you unwilling to be anointed with the oil of God? This, then, is why we are called Christians: we are anointed with the oil of God.^[20]

The Resurrection Proved by Examples.

13a You also deny that the dead are raised. You say, “Show me even one person raised from the dead, so that I may see and believe.” First, what is so great about believing when you have seen the thing happen? Next, you believe that Heracles burned himself up and lives, and that Asclepius was struck by lightning and raised. Yet you do not believe what God tells you. Perhaps I might even show you a dead man raised and alive, and you would disbelieve that too. God, however, gives you many proofs so that you may believe Him. If you wish, consider how seasons, days and nights come to an end, how they too die and rise again. And is there not also a resurrection of seeds and fruits, and that for the use of men? Take a grain of wheat or of any other seed. When it is thrown into the ground, it first dies and breaks down, then it is raised and becomes an ear of grain.^[21] [John 12:24; 1 Corinthians 15:36-37]

13b As for the nature of trees and fruit trees, do they not, at God’s command, bring out their fruits at the proper seasons from what is hidden and unseen? Sometimes, too, a sparrow or another bird swallows the seed of an apple, a fig, or something else. It goes to a rocky hill or a tomb and leaves the seed there in its droppings. The seed takes hold and a tree grows up, though it was once swallowed and passed through so much heat. The wisdom of God works all these things to show, even through them, that God is able to bring about the general resurrection of all men. And if you want to see an even more wonderful sight as proof of resurrection, one that concerns not only earthly things but those in heaven, consider the monthly resurrection of the moon: how it wastes away, dies, and rises again.

13c Hear further, O man, that a work of resurrection is happening in you yourself, even if you do not know it. Perhaps at some time you fell ill and lost your flesh, your strength and your appearance. Then you received mercy and healing from God, and you got back your body, your appearance and your strength. You did not know where your flesh went when it disappeared, and in the same way you do not know where it came from, or from where it came back. But you will say, “From food and juices turned into blood.” Very well. But this too is the work of God, who made things this way, and of no one else.

Theophilus an Example of Conversion.

14a So do not disbelieve, but believe. I myself once did not believe this would happen. But now that I have considered these things, I believe. I also came upon the sacred writings of the holy prophets. By the Spirit of God they foretold things that had already happened, just as they happened, things now taking place, as they are taking place, and things to come, in the order in which they will be fulfilled. Since I have received proof from events that happen as they were foretold, I do not disbelieve. I believe, and I obey God. If you wish, submit to Him as well and believe Him. Otherwise you may disbelieve now and be convinced later, when you are suffering in eternal punishments. The prophets foretold these punishments, and the poets and philosophers, who came later, stole them from the holy Scriptures to make their own teachings credible. Even so, they too foretold the punishments that are to come on the ungodly and unbelieving. So this stands as a testimony to everyone, and no one can say, “We did not hear, and we did not know.”

14b But if you are willing, read the prophetic Scriptures with eager care. They will guide you more plainly toward escaping the eternal punishments and receiving the eternal good things of God. For the one who gave the mouth for speaking, formed the ear for hearing, and made the eyes for seeing will examine everything and judge what is right, paying each person the reward he deserves. To those who seek incorruption by patience in good works, he will give eternal life, joy, peace, rest, and a fullness of good things, which no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and which have never entered the heart of man. But for those who have no faith, who are scornful and refuse to obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, who wallow in adulteries, fornications, homosexual acts, greed, and unlawful idol-worship, there will be anger and wrath, distress and anguish. In the end eternal fire will take hold of such people. You added, my friend, “Show me your God.” This is my God, and I advise you to fear him and trust him.^[22] [Romans 2:6-9; 1 Corinthians 2:9]

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Notes

[1] There is a wordplay here. “Useful” (euchrēstos) and “useless” (achrēstos) sound close to “Christian” (Christianos).

[2] The older translation runs on into the next section here (“For God is seen by those ... the light of the sun”). Following the Greek, that material belongs to 1.2b.

[3] The list echoes Paul’s lists of sins, especially 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and Romans 1:29-30. “Cleanse themselves from every defilement” echoes the Greek of 2 Corinthians 7:1.

[4] “I am calling Him everything” is the literal Greek, which is very terse. The older translation takes it to mean that all things come from Him. That is a possible reading, but the Greek does not say it outright.

[5] “In his hand are … the ends of the earth” echoes Psalm 95:4 (94:4 in the Greek Old Testament, which reads “ends of the earth” where English Bibles have “depths”). “There is no place of his rest” echoes Isaiah 66:1 (“What is the place of my rest?”). The point is that no place can contain God, not that God never rests.

[6] “Out of what did not exist” is literally “out of things that are not.” The wording is close to 2 Maccabees 7:28. Theophilus is one of the earliest Christian writers to state plainly that God created out of nothing. The idea that God’s greatness is known through his works may be compared with Romans 1:20.

[7] “Cannot be contained” renders achōrētos, which means “that which no space can hold.” The older translation’s “incomprehensible” is less exact.

[8] The Greek pneuma means both “spirit” and “breath.” Here Theophilus may be thinking of God’s life-giving breath that fills creation rather than specifically of the Holy Spirit, so “spirit” is left lowercase.

[9] “The bond of the Pleiades and Orion” and the star names recall Job 38:31–32 and 9:9. That God names the stars echoes Psalm 147:4. “The richly varied wisdom of God” is the same Greek phrase as Ephesians 3:10. The “perfect light-bearer” is the sun, which the morning star announces.

[10] The language draws on Scripture: the “storerooms of the south” (Job 9:9), the “treasuries of snow and hail” (Job 38:22), and the waters gathered into storehouses (Psalm 33:7). The line about clouds and lightning closely follows Psalm 135:7 (also Jeremiah 10:13), except that where the Bible says God “makes” lightnings for the rain, Theophilus says he “multiplies” them.

[11] The Greek says God’s breath “gives life” to everything, and “you speak of him” renders the Greek “you speak him.” The Greek word behind “operate” means to pierce, and it was used of the eye operation for cataracts.

[12] The lines from “By wisdom God laid the foundation of the earth” to “dew” quote Proverbs 3:19-20. “Put off what is mortal and put on incorruption” echoes 1 Corinthians 15:53-54.

[13] Throughout this passage Theophilus uses a single Greek verb that means both “believe” and “entrust.” The argument depends on this double meaning, which English cannot fully keep.

[14] The Greek word translated “afterward” usually means “in between.” In later Greek, however, it can also mean “next” or “afterward” (compare Acts 13:42, “the next Sabbath”). That fits the point here: the God who made you once can make you again in the resurrection.

[15] “Ichor” is the fluid that Homer says flows in the veins of the gods in place of blood; Theophilus uses the Greek names of the gods (Kronos, Zeus, and so on).

[16] Ancient writers such as Tacitus and Plutarch tell how the statue of Serapis was brought to Alexandria from Sinope on the Black Sea. The “Scythian Artemis” is the Artemis of the Taurians, whose cult was linked with human sacrifice and whose image, in the legend told by Euripides, was carried off by Orestes and Iphigenia.

[17] The claim that Zeus had a tomb in Crete was well known in antiquity. The poet Callimachus mocks the Cretans as liars for building one.

[18] The Greek word for “king” was the usual Greek term for the Roman emperor, and that is probably who is meant here.

[19] Theophilus calls this “the law of God.” It closely matches the Greek (Septuagint) of Proverbs 24:21–22, which says “fear God and the king,” where Theophilus’s text has “honor.”

[20] The Greek “pneuma” can mean “spirit” or “breath, wind.”

[21] The picture of a grain that dies and then rises echoes John 12:24 and 1 Corinthians 15:36–37, though Theophilus does not quote either passage.

[22] The words about God who gave the mouth, formed the ear and made the eye recall Exodus 4:11 and Psalm 94:9.