Epistle to Diognetus 8

For what man at all knew what God is before he came?

Or do you accept the empty and nonsensical assertions of those plausible philosophers? Some of them said that God is fire—that to which they themselves are destined to go, this they call God; others said water; others some other one of the elements created by God.

And yet, if any one of these assertions is acceptable, then likewise each one of the rest of created things could be declared to be God.

But these things are the marvel-mongering and deception of charlatans.

Of men, no one has either seen or made known God; but he himself revealed himself.

And he revealed himself through faith, by which alone it is granted to see God.

For the Master and Maker of all things, God, who made all things and ordered them in their ranks, became not only loving toward men but also longsuffering.

But such he always was, and is, and shall be: kind and good and free from wrath and true; and he alone is good.

And having conceived a great and ineffable thought, he communicated it to his Child alone.

Now as long as he kept it in mystery and preserved his wise counsel, he seemed to neglect us and to be indifferent.

But when he revealed it through his beloved Child and made manifest the things prepared from the beginning, he granted us all at once both to share in his benefits and to see and understand things which none of us would ever have expected.