In every generation, Christians ask: How should the church relate to culture? Should we separate from the world, adapt to it, or try to transform it? The early church faced the same dilemma.
H. Richard Niebuhr famously outlined five models of Christian cultural engagement, which cover the spectrum of views on the world, from seeing culture as hopelessly corrupt to seeing it as something inherently good. Today, we wrestle with this same tension.
But how did the earliest Christians answer this question?
The Epistle to Diognetus: An Early Christian Witness
One of the earliest reflections on the church's relationship to culture comes from a 2nd-century letter called The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus (c. AD 130). The author simply refers to himself as a disciple of the apostles, writing to a pagan named Diognetus who wanted to understand what made Christians different.
At that time, Christians were often misunderstood and marginalized. Some viewed the faith as an odd superstition or a strange "new kind of piety." But the letter reveals a thoughtful, persuasive picture of how Christians lived in a non-Christian world—and what they believed about their place in it.
Christianity Is Not About Outward Customs
Mathetes begins by emphasizing that Christians are not culturally distinct in superficial ways. He writes:
“The Christians are distinguished from others neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe… They inhabit Greek as well as barbarian cities… and follow the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct.”
In other words, Christianity isn’t about what you wear, the language you speak, or the culture you come from. You can be a Christian and eat like a Roman, dress like a Roman, and speak like a Roman.
This is important today. Christianity is not about adopting a nostalgic cultural aesthetic, whether 1960s suits or the expectation that women must wear dresses. The gospel transcends time, culture, and ethnicity. Christians are not marked by what’s on the outside but by their allegiance to Christ.
Christians Live as Sojourners
Mathetes goes on: “They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners… Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers.”
This echoes the language of 1 Peter and Hebrews. Early Christians viewed themselves as pilgrims. Their ultimate citizenship was not in Rome but in heaven (Phil. 3:20). They weren’t trying to take over earthly governments or change Rome’s laws. Instead, they obeyed civil authorities (Romans 13:1; Titus 3:1; 1 Peter 2:13-17) unless those authorities asked them to sin—and they were willing to suffer and die for a greater kingdom.
They did not cling to power or demand privilege. They did not insist on their inalienable rights. They did not litigate their opponents into the dirt. Instead, they embraced the identity of foreigners—passing through this world to one built by God himself.
Christians Live by a Radical Ethic
Though Christians weren’t marked by customs, they were unmistakable for their obedience to Christ in every area of life.
Mathetes writes: “They share their table, but not their bed.” In a world of rampant sexual immorality, Christians were known for marital fidelity—one man, one woman, for life.
“They beget children, but do not destroy their offspring.”
While infanticide and abortion were common, Christians protected the vulnerable and treated every child as made in God’s image.
They were also known for generosity and joy under persecution: “They are poor, yet make many rich… dishonored, yet glorified… when punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life… and those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.”
They turned the other cheek. They loved their enemies. They gave away what little they had. And when they were slandered or killed, they rejoiced that they were sharing in Christ’s sufferings.
In a world obsessed with honor, strength, and power, Christians displayed something otherworldly: the humility and self-giving love of Jesus.
This is a vital lesson for us today. Our calling is not to grasp for political power or demand cultural dominance. It is not to reclaim culture for some nostalgic view of America’s past.
It is to obey Jesus radically, even if it costs us everything.
In the World, Not of It
Mathetes ends with this moving summary:
“To sum up all in one word—what the soul is to the body, that are Christians in the world. The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world.”
That’s our calling: to live in the world, but not be shaped by it. To love our neighbors, but live for another King. To participate in culture, but never place our hope in it.
The early church didn’t need cultural dominance to flourish. They needed only the gospel and the Spirit-wrought courage to live it out.
So do we.
Footnotes
Epistle to Diognetus, ch. 5, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1950), 26.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Epistle to Diognetus, ch. 5, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1950), 27.
