In the 2nd century A.D., Diognetus, a Roman official, wanted to know about the new Christian movement. He learned this:
“Christians are not distinct from other people by nationality, language, or customs. They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some strange way of life. Their teaching is not based on ideas inspired by their own human curiosity. Unlike other people, they champion no purely human doctrine. In their dress, food, and general manner of life, they follow the customs of whatever city they happen to live in, whether it is Greek or foreign.
Yet there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as if they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but suffer hardships as if they were aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them a homeland, wherever it may be, is like a foreign country. Like other people, they marry and have children, but they do not cast them out. 1 They share their meals, but do not share their wives. They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the flesh. They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They are obedient to the laws, and yet they live on a level that transcends the law.
Christians love all men, but all men persecute them … They live in poverty, but enrich many … They suffer dishonor, but that is their glory … A blessing is their answer to abuse, deference their response to insult. In return for all the good they do they are punished like criminals. Even then they rejoice, as if they had received the gift of life … To speak in general terms, we may say that the Christian is to the world what the soul is to the body.”
1: Note: Romans sometimes threw away unwanted new borns, and “exposed” them to the harsh weather and wild animals. This often happened with unwanted baby girls. The early Christians would often rescue these “thrown away” babies and raise them in a Christian family.
Christians today are not often described this way: first, loyal to God’s kingdom, second citizens of their nations. The early Christians were a “third race.” Churches were “colonies of heaven.” They brought good things from God to all nations. The first Christians were not identified with any one culture or nation. They lived as God’s people in all the world!
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