Early Church Fathers (Part 2) Polycarp, The Didache & The Epistle to Diognetus

The did okay, meaning the teaching was an early manual of Christian ethics. Here's what it says. The second commandment of the teaching is you shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not corrupt children.

You shall not be sexually immoral. You shall not steal. You shall not practice magic. You shall not engage in sorcery. You shall not abort a child or commit infanticide. So this was written in the early second century, which proves this isn't just some Republican agenda.

This was, you know, this was the view of Christians from the earliest days. So picking up number four, we're going to look at polycarp. So we're looking at some early leaders of Christianity. These are called the patristic fathers.

Who did we look at last time? Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch. So we're going to pick up with polycarp of Smyrna. So polycarp died in the year 155 and it says polycarp, whose name means fruitful, was a disciple of the apostle who?

John. Okay. So that that's why people really view polycarp as having credibility. He doesn't have apostolic authority. His writings are not on par with the writings of John, but if he's a disciple of one of Jesus's main disciples, like that's, that's pretty close to being, you know, at that level says he pastored the church in Smyrna near Ephesus for much of the first half of the second century.

Smyrna is one of the seven churches listed in the book of revelation. That's revelation two, eight through 10. It says in the book here, his epistle to the Philippians is his only surviving letter. It was likely written around the time of the martyrdom of Ignatius that these two pastors knew each other is evident from references in their letters.

So polycarp's letter begins with these words. I also rejoice because your firmly rooted faith renowned from the earliest time still perseveres and bears fruit to our Lord Jesus Christ, who endured for our sins facing even death, whom God raising up, having loosed the birth pangs of Hades, though you have not seen him, you believe in him with an expressible enjoy a glorious joy, which may desire to experience knowing that by grace you have been saved, not because of works, but by the will of God through Jesus Christ.

So that sounds familiar. What's polycarp doing there? Yeah, he's quoting or paraphrasing Paul in Ephesians two, eight and nine. So this is in my book, Not Yours Significantly. The letter contains more than 100 citations of or allusions to the New Testament, as we just saw from 17 different New Testament books.

This demonstrates that polycarp was familiar with apostolic writings and viewed those writings as authoritative. Polycarp was representative of the early church in this regard. And that's what teachers should always be doing.

Whatever I'm telling you should sound like what you're seeing in the Bible. If a pastor's coming up with all this stuff that's not even connected to biblical teachings and he's just kind of going off on his own, that's a bad sign.

So polycarp, you know, at least in this little segment that we're reading, it sounds very.

Biblical. It is biblical. Larry? Well, based on he being the pastor of the church on Smyrna, which is recorded in Revelation, which Jesus gave to John, was that time that Smyrna was not in such a good place because of what he wrote, what Jesus told John to write?

Well, let's look at that. Let's go to Revelation 2 and we'll just look at what was written. But yeah, continue your thought, sorry. Well, where was the church bad before polycarp? Yeah. Or is this revelation that Jesus gave to John just a future.

Proclamation? Right. Okay. So I believe it was at the time it was written. So this would have been 90 AD, which I think is before polycarp from what I understand. But according to Revelation 2, Jesus would often have some positive things to say to the churches.

And then, but I have this against you. So you might assume that if Jesus could write a letter or speak to churches today, there'd be some churches, it's all bad. There'd be a minority of churches, it's all good.

But most churches, okay, here's what you're doing right. And here's what you need to fix. That's usually the way it is. But Revelation 2, let's see. So this is verses 8 through 11 message to Smyrna, the church under persecution.

So it says, and to the angel of the church in Smyrna, right? These things says the first and the last who is dead and came to life. So this is not John writing a letter to them. Well, it is, but it's coming from Christ.

These are the words of Christ. I know your works, tribulation and poverty, but you are rich. And I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer.

Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested, but you will have tribulation 10 days, be faithful unto death. And I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches.

He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. So this is actually a very positive letter as far as how they're doing. Now it's not positive in the sense that they're they're suffering persecution.

They're going to suffer more persecution. They're going to be tested. But the church at Smyrna, at least at this moment seems pretty solid and polycarp is known as a faithful early church father, as they're called.

What's your take on that? Just out of curiosity. When you hear this, the early church fathers, do you like that term? Who's aware of it, first of all? I've heard some people take issue with that or they don't care what the early church fathers.

Here's why it's important. It's good to at least know what they said. I mean, I think information is good. But as long as we understand that the early church fathers, as they're called, they're not at all on the same level as the disciples.

Because in some ways things kind of went sideways early on. And that was happening even in Bible times with the church at Corinth, etc. Okay, so back to the book. It says Jesus is both king and judge.

Here's what polycarp said. Therefore prepare for action and serve God in fear and truth, leaving behind empty and meaningless talk in the error of the crowd, and believing in the one who raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead and gave him glory and a throne at his right hand.

To him all things in heaven and on earth were subjected, whom every breathing creature serves, who is coming as judge of the living and the dead, for whose blood God will hold responsible those who disobey.

Okay, so what's this admonition, leaving behind empty and meaningless talk and the error of the crowd? What do you think that refers to? You ever hear people talk and it's like, this is empty, it's meaningless, just tune this out, avoid this.

Or, you know, the error of the crowd. You know, it's like what most people are saying, like the majority is always wrong. Well,.

Most of the time, yeah. I think we can relate to what happened during COVID when they closed.

All the churches and that was a trial for all of us. Yeah, I mean the majority certainly were going one way, and now a few years later after COVID, now it's probably half and half at least. A lot of people kind of realized, okay, that wasn't what I thought it was.

And yeah, and right now, you know, the trends are almost always negative in churches. Not always, I can't say always, but yeah, Polycarp warns about the error of the crowd. The next part says, we must submit to God and his word.

Polycarp said, so then let us serve him with fear and all reverence, just as he himself has commanded, as did the apostles who preached the gospel to us and the prophets who announced in advance the coming of the Lord.

So, so far, so good. We like what Polycarp is saying. I like it. Of course, I'm sure, I'm sure, because I have to admit, I'm not some church history scholar. I've never read all the writings of Polycarp.

I suspect if I read everything he ever wrote, you know, nobody agrees with everybody on everything. So, I'm not, if there's something that Polycarp said or taught that, you know, was wrong or that I would disagree, I'm not familiar with it, but so far, so good.

Yeah, you had a question or comment? No, it's just a comment you asked earlier. What does.

This bring to mind? And of course, because of the heresies all around us nowadays, and one of the heresies being that these writings of Polycarp and others are just as, just as viable or just as important as, as the, as the Bible or the 66 books, which of course is a heresy.

So, when Polycarp is referring to the scriptures and, and the authority of them, well, that's a good thing. We have the same thing today. John MacArthur, you know, have you ever heard, or R .C. Sproul, David Jeremiah, Billy Graham, have you ever heard?

I mean, John Hagee, we could go on and on. And until you hear one of them say something that you just, you go, no, no, you can't do it. So, this is why the spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit.

We have to, we have to recognize the Lord's voice. Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice. So,.

The best place to find his voice is in those 66. Yeah, whether it's Polycarp or John Hagee, as you brought up, no matter who it is. Yeah. Well, I know, but every, obviously everything, which we say again and again, has to be tested over and against the scripture.

And I suspect I've probably said or taught things. You're like, I don't know if I agree with that. You know, if it's some minor issue we can agree to disagree on, but, you know, as far as, you know, the doctrines of Christianity, the main teachings and how you apply them, Polycarp has the reputation of being a very faithful man.

Of all the early church fathers, he's probably one of the most revered, if that's the right way to put it. Well, we have these kind of men today too. Right. Yeah. In any generation, you have the good teachers, the kind of the bad teachers, and then everything in between.

So next, the believer's hope in Jesus Christ is greater than persecution. Polycarp said, let us therefore hold steadfastly and unceasingly to the hope and the guarantee of our righteousness, who is Christ Jesus, who bore our sins in his own body upon the tree, who committed no sin and no deceit was found in his mouth.

Instead, for our sakes, he endured all things in order that we might live in him. Let us therefore become imitators of his patient endurance. And if we should suffer for the sake of his name, let us glorify him.

And it almost sounds like he's taking this verse, this verse, this verse, and this verse, and putting it all together in his own statement. Right.

Yeah, it was similar to what I was going to say, but also a very long sentence like Paul.

Yeah. Run on sentences. Yeah. Yup. Any other comments or observations? Okay. So next, because our hope is sure, we are able to stand firm in the faith and focus on loving others. Polycarp said, stand fast therefore in these things and follow the example of the firm and immovable in faith, loving the family of believers, cherishing one another united in the truth, giving way to one another in the gentleness of the Lord, despising no one.

Okay. And it says the clarity, this is in my book, the clarity of these convictions and polycarp's letter should encourage our hearts. Polycarp's perspective was grounded in the teaching of God's word.

That explains why these truths resonate with our hearts today, which I think is what Marcus was alluding to. You know, the spirit bears witness with our spirit. You know, there's some things you can just read, you hear, and you say, yes, they ring true.

And then there's other things. Who's ever thought this you're like, I'm not really sure what is wrong with this guy, but I just can't quite put my finger on it, but I know there's something not right here.

And other times it's obvious what's not right. The problem is there is something wrong with all of us. Yeah. No, no, uh, no pastor, no early church father was infallible. That's, that's for certain. And of course, you know, even the apostle John was not infallible, but when he wrote the scripture, those specific writings were infallible because they were inspired by God.

So, all right. Uh, this, uh, article or paragraph that I have continues, the courageous convictions that characterize polycarp are perhaps the most clearly seen in his martyrdom. And we know what martyrdom means.

He was killed for his faith. The account of his death is recorded in the martyrdom of polycarp, which is one of the earliest accounts of Christian martyrdom ever written. By the time polycarp was arrested for being a Christian, he had been a pastor in Smyrna for a long time.

When the soldiers came to arrest him, he offered to serve them dinner and they accepted. And while they were eating polycarp devoted himself to prayer. You know, how many people would react that way? I'm not sure if I would or not, honestly, but he was, when he was brought before the Roman governor for his trial, the governor urged him to deny Christ and thereby preserve his life.

So, Hey, polycarp, if you want to live, just deny Christ. Otherwise you're going to die. What did he do? Polycarp famously replied, 80 and six years have I served him and he never did me any injury. How then could I blaspheme my King and my savior?

So when it became clear that polycarp would not recant, he was sentenced to be burned at the stake, even in the face of suffering and death, polycarp's faith never wavered. Yes. I can't help, but also think about what, as we're talking about these early.

Murders and so forth. And as we see world situations becoming more and more likely to be violent and the Lord's return closer and closer, we always wonder, I wonder how much we might have to endure, how much refining of his bride has to happen before his return to take us out.

But then the verse came to me, there hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man, but God will not allow you to be tempted above that you're able. Now that's talking about temptation, but often temptation and testing and trials, I think in the Greek words sometimes are the same.

So in other words, if we are going to have to be persecuted and we're.

Seeing it, let's face it, you're seeing it more than I am. Yeah. Persecution, you know, you might say it's on the rise, but as I said in the church history series, I think it was in that series. Okay.

Polycarp is burned at the stake. The I, the, the, the percentage, the, the, what's the word I'm looking for. The odds are that the average Christian would ever face something like this. This next is zero, right?

Polycarp was like, he was one of the most visible Christian. Yeah. Right here for us. It's almost certainly not going to happen. The persecution we have is somebody says something, you know, unkind about you.

It's like, Ooh, wow. You know, like you shouldn't worry about what the heathen say. Um, now when it comes from other Christians that you might hurt a little bit, but yeah, I just don't see this type of persecution coming any time in the United States.

So probably be California and Massachusetts, Massachusetts. Yeah. It would be one of those. Like I said, it might, I hope it never comes to this, but it could, you know, we're have to leave Massachusetts and go to Wyoming or Montana or something, but it's probably not going to happen.

I don't, it's not something we should worry about, but, um, there's always some level of persecution. So it says in recounting the faithfulness of the second century pastor, the martyrdom of polycarp concludes with these words.

This then is the account of the blessed polycarp who being that, uh, who being the 12th, uh, that was martyred in Smyrna reckoning. Also there was also a Philadelphia yet occupies a place of his own in the memory of all men in so much that he is everywhere spoken of by the heathen themselves.

He was not merely an illustrious teacher, but also a preeminent martyr whose martyrdom all desire to imitate. You know, if you have to be a martyr, this is the way you would want to go as, uh, having been not burnt, getting burnt at the stake, but it's having that faithful testimony as having been together consistent with the gospel of Christ for having, uh, through patients overcome the unjust governor and thus acquired the crown of immortality.

He now with the apostles and all the righteous in heaven rejoicingly glorifies God, even the father and blesses our Lord Jesus Christ, the savior of our souls, the governor of our bodies and the shepherd of the universal church throughout the world.

Like Clement and Ignatius in the other, other early martyrs, polycarp died as a witness to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, armed with biblical convictions, polycarp lived out the implications of his faith to the end.

So he was a martyr, which means witness. And I think his story is inspiring. And that's why we tell it to remember what he did to serve as an example for others. And you see, if, if polycarp could stand firm in the face of that, uh, God's going to give us the grace to stand firm in something much less severe.

Larry. Um, in my reading first Peter,.

Listening to different sermons on first Peter chapter one, uh, they, the, the church there in first Peter starts off by Peter addressing those who are soldiers of the dispersion, you know, Christians that were dispersed, whether it was from Rome or wherever, because of great persecution, they were in, it says Laodicea, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

And, and so, I mean, polycarp that's Smyrna is not that far away from where these folks were. And so, I mean, he's seeing firsthand also the, not necessarily the martyrdom, but the persecution that has been ramped up, uh, even from other churches or other religions, but the government, you know, Rome was really brutally narrow.

It was, he was, he was really bad. We thought Hitler was bad.

Yeah. It mentions the unjust governor. And obviously the reason why persecution typically comes from the government, they're the only ones that really have the power and ability to kill people and get away with it, you know?

So obviously people have been killed by mobs and individuals, but polycarp was executed by the, the government. Okay. This is the discussion question. What convictions propelled polycarp to be faithful to Christ, even to the point of death and what practical steps can Christians take to develop those same convictions in their hearts and lives?

Now, does anyone who hasn't had a chance to talk yet? Does anyone else want to weigh in or have a thought? No. Well, here's your chance. Okay. Um, any ideas what convictions propelled? Well, I mean, I think polycarp saw the, the witness of John and, uh, Peter and her, at least heard the witness of Paul and the other apostles.

And he stood firm, um, did what Jesus said and what practical steps can Christians take to develop these same convictions? It's not just coming to church or Sunday school and we hear about it and say, yeah, that's nice.

So that's true. We have to take these things and look for ways to apply them to daily life. So as I often like to say, uh, you know, believing the Bible is good, but what good is it if you don't actually do it or apply it?

So, yeah. Well, I'll say you had the.

Old Testament, uh, scriptures and accounts of, of, uh, stories like Daniel, these things that these heroes that we formed as children that became our heroes, um, and standing, standing for, uh, for the Lord.

I had a question too, though. Yeah. You had questions better than comments.

I like questions. Well, not always, but sure. Well, and again, I, maybe I'm getting gory here,.

But the method of martyrdom, you know, like beheading, I don't think that would hurt all that.

Bad, but you know, which would I prefer? Is that the question? Oh yeah, no, by all means. Off with.

My head. But, uh, I was wondering if Fox, like Fox's book of murders, um, what did, did, and I didn't read that, but it was so long ago. I can't remember. Was that, was he going back to.

Polycarbonate? I forget how, well, I, what I remember who, who knows Fox's book of martyrs, who's at least heard of it. Okay. It's like must read. Okay. If you've read the Bible and you want another book to read, that's, you know, Christian literature that it's a tough book, but it's, it's one of those books that I would recommend every Christian Protestant evangelical should read.

What I remember a Fox's book of martyrs is, you know, the intense persecution by the Catholic church against the Protestants. That's the stuff that I remember from the book. So I don't know if it went back to polycarp or not.

So I can't, I can't answer that question. Does anyone.

Know? No, but Voice of the Martyrs magazine's out in Iraq there. Right. If you're really interested in this. Right. It is inspiring. If you want to be inspired, if you feel you need to be inspired or ought to be inspired, and if, you know, David in the lion's den or the fiery.

Furnace doesn't do it, these things are happening in the world today. Yeah. Right, right here. You excellent reading, not because of how you can see people today being persecuted for their faith, but all around the world, you can just see how different, whether it's governments or different religions, how they're persecuting believers today.

Yeah. Martyrdom is more today. I only thought it was bad back then, but in the 21st century, there's probably been more deaths since in this time. Right. Since before. I highly recommend. Voice of the Martyrs is excellent.

Reading. Now, I don't want to get off topic, so no comments allowed on this statement I'm about to make. All right. But there's all sorts of Christian persecution going on around the world. Most of it we'll never hear about because the news media is not going to tell us because there's no agenda.

You know, here's what they do. The stories they put on the news, they select for certain reasons. So if the government has no interest in Christian martyrs in North Korea or wherever, which they have very little interest, it seems you're just not going to hear about it.

So anyways, that's that's all I had to say about that. So next, number five, the Didache. The Didache, late first century or early second century. The Didache, meaning the teaching, was an early manual of Christian ethics.

It is also known by a more complete title, which is the Teaching of the Lord through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations. Not very pithy, but tells you what it's about. Its purpose was to explain the way that believers are to live as followers of Jesus.

So the Didache, it was not written by an apostle or under apostolic authorization, and it is therefore not part of the New Testament canon. Nonetheless, in church history, it was regarded as a summary of apostolic teaching.

I mean, we think of the creeds that have been developed and confessions of faith. They're supposed to be summaries of biblical teaching. So that's what the Didache is supposed to be. And obviously, if it was written in the second century, it's not apostolic because all the apostles are dead by now.

So the Didache begins with a section on the two ways, the way of life, which is the Christian life, and the way of death. Much of this section is drawn from the teachings of Jesus. For example, the Didache says there are two ways, one of life and one of death.

And there is a great difference between these two ways. Now, this is the way of life. First, that you should love God who made you. And second, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. But whatever you do not wish to happen to you, do not do to another.

Of course, that's directly taken by Jesus or from Jesus, the golden rule that we call. And then Jesus's summary of the 10 commandments, love God, love your neighbor as yourself. One interesting note from a modern evangelical perspective, the Didache's inclusion of abortion under the banner of murder.

Here's what it says. The second commandment of the teaching is you shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not corrupt children. You shall not be sexually immoral. You shall not steal.

You shall not practice magic. You shall not engage in sorcery. You shall not abort a child or commit infanticide. So this was written in the early second century, which proves this isn't just some Republican agenda.

This was, you know, this was the view of Christians from the earliest days. And of course, you know, the things that he's getting into now, you know, this is the type of stuff where if you bring it up, people automatically go into judge not mode.

Well, don't talk about this stuff, you know, judge not. Well, but here's the thing. Why does God give commands just to be rigid and strict and mean and to spoil all your fun? No, God knows that this stuff will destroy your life and destroy the lives of others.

So don't do it. That's loving advice. It's not passing judgment because all the people that are involved in this stuff, we love them enough and we want to tell them about Christ and be saved because many of us have in the past been involved in some of this behavior.

It's called repentance. So anyways, not to start preaching, but in addition to ethical matter, any comments on that? Okay. Yeah. Cause that was, that's not a new issue, despite what some people think in addition to ethical matters that did okay.

Also gives instruction for church practice, addressing topics such as baptism, the celebration of the Lord's supper, fasting and how to handle itinerant teachers. Okay. Um, I should have checked this out before I thought there was actually recommendations on how to be baptized.

Like I I'm pretty sure it says that you should be baptized if you can do it in like running water and like a river, but if you can't do that, here's how you do it. And there's just instructions like that, but you can look into that on your own.

So the discussion question, read Matthew seven, 13 and 14. So let's turn there. Do I have a volunteer to read this math, Matthew 13 or seven, 13 and 14. I'll just call on someone Lance. All right. I was, I was going to call on Lance and then he rose, raised his hand.

So it worked out. Yeah. Read Matthew seven, 13 and 14. The did okay. Emphasizes the difference between those on the narrow way and those on the Broadway or the broad road. If you were to describe the attitudes, well, let's have him read and then we'll ask the question.

Go ahead. Matthew seven, 13 and 14.

Enter by the narrow gate for why is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction. And there are many who go in by it because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads.

To life. And there are a few who find that. Okay. I mean, that sounds like, and it's given most evangelicals that I know the impression that in the end more people will be lost than saved. I mean, that's what it sounds like to me.

That was certainly true in Jesus's day. I think it's true in general today. There would be a minority of Christians who say that's not necessarily true when all is said and done, but that's more of a post-millennial perspective.

But yeah, I mean, clearly most people are not following Jesus. I think that's always been true in the world. And it's certainly true now. So based on that verse, if you were to describe the attitudes and actions that should characterize those on the way that leads to life, what things would you emphasize?

Okay. What would you emphasize?

Well, I think similar to Polycarp, his convictions and the didocte, the Christian ethics at Acts 1731 says, because he, God, has appointed a day on which he, Jesus, will judge the world in righteousness by the man he has ordained.

He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. One day we're going to stand before God. And so that knowing that we're going to be there standing alone, you know, we can't point to, well, it was their fault, or I did that because of, you know, he's got it all.

You know, whether you want to call it up on a big screen, everything you've ever done good or bad. Well, I'm hoping the blood of Christ kind of erases that.

And that doesn't happen when I stand before God, but obviously God has the books, right? In Revelation 20, he talks about the books and all the things that are written in the books. I mean, you can just imagine, and this isn't to like make anyone feel guilty, but this is true for anyone.

You wouldn't want a record of everything you've ever said or done every wrong deed. And I mean, imagine that being pulled up like in a courtroom. Wow. That's kind of a sobering thought.

That would be a good reason to not do bad things, knowing that we're going to be judged for things or potentially if we're wrong about our salvation and we're not. Yeah. I mean, the way I understand.

It, all the sins, all of that information is white, clean when a person comes to Christ. So a believer would not stand before God and have to give an account for every sin they've ever committed. Now, if we continue in behavior like that in this life and you're saved, you're going to get beat up.

You know, you're going to get chastened and you're going to face those consequences here. But I don't at the judgment when all that comes up, I think is the great white throne is for unbelievers. But yeah, I'm understanding the question, right?

The verse.

That comes to mind is Corinthians. I don't know if it's first or second. Corinthians five, 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new.

Um, those on the narrow way,.

Their life is different than those that are on the Broadway. Yeah. And the context, Matthew seven, this is the sermon on the Mount. So if you want to see what this life is supposed to look like, read Matthew five and six to get the context.

Okay. Next try to finish up this section. Uh, this is number six epistle to Diognetus. This is the mid to late second century says this letter was written by an anonymous author who simply identifies himself as math eats.

I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly. The Greek word for disciple. Uh, the letter is addressed to someone named Diognetus or Diognetus. Uh, some have suggested the letter was written to a tutor of emperor Marcus Aurelius by the same name.

Yes. He reigned as Roman emperor from one 61 to one 80, but they say that's uncertain. That's just a theory. Okay. So this is in your book. The letter provides a beautiful presentation of the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ writing to a non-believer.

The author explains that in Christ sinners can both can find both what okay. Sinners in Christ can find both forgiveness of sin or forgiveness for sin and eternal life in this extended section from the epistle, consider the glories of the gospel and says, but when our wickedness had reached its height and it had been clearly shown that it's reward punishment and death was impending over us.

And when the time had come, which God had before appointed for manifesting his own kindness and power, how the love or the one love of God through exceeding regard for men did not regard us with hatred or thrust us away, nor remember our iniquity against us, but showed great long suffering and bore with us.

He himself took on him the burden of our iniquities. He gave his own son, a ransom for us, the Holy one for transgressors, the blameless one for the wicked, the righteous one for the unrighteous, the incorruptible one for the corruptible, the immortal one for all them that are mortal for what other thing was capable of covering our sins than his righteousness.

By what other one was it possible that we, the wicked and ungodly could be justified than by the only son of God. Oh, sweet exchange. Oh, on searchable operation. Oh, benefits are passing all expectation that the wickedness of many should be hid in a single righteous one.

And that the righteous of one should justify many transgressors. I mean, this is the hope that believers have that when we stand before God, he doesn't see us for our wretchedness that when he looks at us, he sees who, you know, our lives are hidden in Christ.

So that's the sweet exchange. Jesus takes all of our sin. And in return, we receive all of his what? Righteousness. And it's done. If you're a really good person. No, wait, wait a minute. No, that's just talked about that.

It's done through by grace through faith. Okay. It's the free gift. So let's see, we got four minutes left in this way. The author contrasts the sinner's total inability with all the all sufficient sacrifice and perfect righteousness of Christ.

Okay. I like that. So for discussion, if you wrote a letter to an unbelieving friend or family member about the gospel, how would you describe the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ? Is there someone to whom you would actually consider sending a letter like that?

How many of you have sent a letter like that? We've talked to people. Here's the thing. A person has to be convicted of their sin. So some people don't actually need to hear all that they already know and they just need the gospel.

But, you know, most people are unwilling to recognize their needs. So that's why, you know, Christian preachers don't preach about the law and condemnation just because they like to be dour or something.

We do it because people need to be convinced that they have a need for salvation. So, so you can consider if there's someone in your life who could use a letter like that, the odds are it probably wouldn't be well received, you know, the playing the odds again.

Right. But just consider many people all over the world have turned to Christ when faced with long as you express your love for them, you're not just writing to criticize them, that this is the love of God, that they can be forgiven and saved.

Okay. Last comment.

The answer is a whole bunch of my classmates and we're all getting together tomorrow. I'm going to have dinner at Olive Garden with our class advisor who was celebrating his 90th birthday. And every one of my reunions, I keep trying to share with those that will hear from table to table.

So I do it with tracks. If I can turn a conversation. Sure. Tracks are an easy, easier,.

Maybe less threatening approach. But if you do ever talk to someone or write someone a letter and share the gospel in this way, make sure you express your love for them and that you needed to be saved as well.

Otherwise, you know, you don't, it can, you can present the truth and have it be just sound like criticism. So it's often in how it's done. Let's just finish this up. Number seven, final thoughts. After surveying a number of the apostolic fathers, we can be encouraged to see that there were faithful men who lived after the apostles.