The Christian way of life is not a human invention but a revelation from the Creator himself
The author has just described the Christians' remarkable place in the world and now explains that their way of life was not devised by human beings but was revealed and established by God himself, who sent his Son not to terrify but to save.
For this way of life was not handed down to them as an earthly discovery, as I said. Nor do they think it worth guarding so carefully as a merely human idea. Nor have they been entrusted with a stewardship of human mysteries.
No. The invisible God himself, the Almighty and Creator of all, established from heaven among human beings the truth and the holy and incomprehensible Word, and fixed him firmly in their hearts. He did not, as someone might suppose, send to human beings some servant, or an angel, or a ruler, or one of those who administer earthly affairs, or one of those entrusted with the governments in the heavens. He sent the very Craftsman and Maker of all things, by whom he created the heavens, by whom he shut up the sea within its own bounds, whose mysteries all the elements faithfully keep, from whom the sun has received the measures of the day's courses to keep, whom the moon obeys when he commands it to shine by night, whom the stars obey as they follow the course of the moon. By him all things have been ordered, and marked out, and made subject: the heavens and the things in the heavens, the earth and the things in the earth, the sea and the things in the sea, fire, air, the abyss, the things in the heights, the things in the depths, the things in between. This is the one he sent to them.
Did he send him, as a human being might reason, for tyranny and fear and terror?
Not at all. He sent him in gentleness and meekness. As a king sending a son, a king, he sent him. As God he sent him. As a human being to human beings he sent him. As one who saves he sent him. As one who persuades, not one who uses force, for force is not present in God.
He sent the Son as one who calls, not one who pursues. He sent the Son as one who loves, not one who judges.
For he will send the Son as judge, and who will endure his coming?
Do you not see those thrown to wild beasts, that they might deny the Lord, yet are not conquered? Do you not see that the more are punished, the more others increase? These do not seem to be the works of a human being. These are the power of God. These are the proofs of his coming.
Greek
Οὐ γὰρ ἐπιγειον, ὡς ἔφην, εὕρημα τοῦτ̓ αὐτοῖς παρεδόθη, οὐδὲ θνητὴν ἐπίνοιαν φυλάσσειν οὕτως ἀξιοῦσιν ἐπιμελῶς, οὐδὲ ἀνθρωπίνων οἰκονομίαν μυστηρίων πεπίστευνται.
ἀλλ’ αὐτὸς ἀληθῶς ὁ παντοκράτωρ καὶ παντοκτίστης καὶ ἀόρατος θεός, αὐτὸς ἀπ’ οὐρανῶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ τὸν λόγον τὸν ἅγιον καὶ ἀπερινόητον ἀνθρώποις ἐνίδρυσε καὶ ἐγκατεστήριξε ταῖς καρδίαις αὐτῶν: οὐ, καθάπερ ἄν τις εἰκάσειεν, ἀνθρώποις ὑπηρέτην τινὰ πέμψας ἢ ἄγγελον ἢ ἄρχοντα ἤ τινα τῶν διεπόντων τὰ ἐπίγεια ἤ τινα τῶν πεπιστευμένων τὰς ἐν οὐρανοῖς διοικήσεις, ἀλλ’ αὐτὸν τὸν τεχνίτην καὶ δημιουργὸν τῶν ὅλων, ᾧ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ἔκτισεν, ᾧ τὴν θάλασσαν ἰδίοις ἐνέκλεισεν, οὗ τὰ μυστήρια πιστῶς πάντα φυλάσσει τὰ στοιχεῖα, παῤ οὗ τὰ μέτρα τῶν τῆς ἡμέρας δρόμων ὁ ἥλιος εἴληφε φυλάσσειν, ᾧ πειθαρχεῖ σελήνη νυκτὶ φαίνειν κελεύοντι, ᾧ πειθαρχεῖ τὰ ἄστρα: τῷ τῆς σελήνης ἀκολουθοῦντα δρόμῳ: ᾧ πάντα διατέτακται καὶ διώρισται καὶ ὑποτέτακται, οὐρανοὶ καὶ τὰ ἐν οὐρανοῖς, γῆ καὶ τὰ ἐν τῇ γῇ, θάλασσα καὶ τὰ ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ, πῦρ, ἀήρ, ἄβυσσος, τὰ ἐν ὕψεσι, τὰ ἐν βάθεσι, τὰ ἐν τῷ μεταξύ: τοῦτον πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀπέστειλεν.
ἆρά γε, ὡς ἀνθρώπων ἄν τις λογίσαιτο, ἐπὶ τυραννίδι καὶ φόβῳ καὶ καταπλήξει;
οὐ μὲν οὖν: ἀλλ’ ἐν ἐπιεικείᾳ καὶ πραΰτητι ὡς βασιλεὺς πέμπων υἱὸν βασιλέα ἔπεμψεν, ὡς θεὸν ἔπεμψεν, ὡς ἄνθρωπον πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἔπεμψεν, ὡς σώζων ἔπεμψεν, ὡς πείθων, οὐ βιαζόμενος: βία γὰρ οὐ πρόσεστι τῷ θεῷ.
ἔπεμψεν ὡς καλῶν, οὐ διώκων: ἔπεμψεν ὡς ἀγαπῶν, οὐ κρίνων.
πέμψει γὰρ αὐτὸν κρίνοντα: καὶ τίς αὐτοῦ τὴν παρουσίαν ὑποστήσεται; ...
.. παραβαλλομένους θηρίοις, ἵνα ἀρνήσωνται τὸν κύριον, καὶ μὴ νικωμένους;
οὐχ ὁρᾷς, ὅσῳ πλείονες κολάζονται, τοσούτῳ πλεονάζοντας ἄλλους;
ταῦτα ἀνθρώπου οὐ δοκεῖ τὰ ἔργα: ταῦτα δύναμίς ἐστι θεοῦ: ταῦτα τῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ δείγματα.