MATHETES
The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus (c. AD 130) is an early writing. The author or recipient of the letter is unknown, but Mathetes “was possibly a catechumen of St. Paul or of one of the apostle's associates” and “is, perhaps, the first of the apologists.”[1] There are parts of the letter, such as chapter eight, “The Miserable State of Men Before the Coming of the World,” where the reader would expect to find a reference to Satan or his demons, but does not.[2] Mathetes refers to himself as “a disciple of the Apostles” who is sharing the “things delivered to me” to the Gentiles.[3]
In the concluding chapter of his epistle “The Importance of Knowledge to True Spiritual Life,” Mathetes references the serpent multiple times. His references surround the serpent’s attempts to deceive and place false knowledge into the lives of believers. He comments that Adam and Eve did not use true knowledge of the way to life “properly, they were, through the fraud of the serpent, stripped naked.”[4] Mathetes’ descriptions paint a picture of Satan’s focus on deception rather than power and possession.[5]
[1]A. Cleveland Coxe, “Introductory Note to the Epistle of Ignatius” (ANF 1:45), accessed December 30, 2013, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.v.i.html.
[2]Mathetes, The Epistles of Mathetes to Diognetus (ANF 1:25), accessed December 30, 2013, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.iii.ii.html.
[3]Ibid.
[4]Ibid.
[5]“did not use this [knowledge] properly, they were, through the fraud of the Serpent, stripped naked. . . . or he who thinks he knows anything without true knowledge, and such as is witnessed to by life, knows nothing, but is deceived by the Serpent, as not loving life. . . . thou shalt always gather in those things which are desired by God, which the Serpent cannot reach, and to which deception does not approach.” Ibid.