"But the works of our Saviour were always present, for they were genuine:— those that were healed, and those that were raised from the dead, who were seen not only when they were healed and when they were raised, but were also always present; and not merely while the Saviour was on earth, but also after his death, they were alive for quite a while, so that some of them lived even to our day." Eusebius called him a "man of understanding and of Apostolic faith." and Jerome supported the apostolic connection, calling him "disciple of the apostles". The author who wrote against the Montanists used Quadratus as an example of a true prophet of the church. He was the bishop of Athens and according to Jerome he was martyred by locals who hated Christians; he died around 129AD.
What Did He Write?
His Apology seems to have survived until 6th cent., for several passages were quoted in controversy between the monk Andrew and Eusebius. According to P. Andriessen and supported by Michael W. Holmes, Qaudratus is the author of the Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus. "Mathetes" literally means "a disciple". The subject and ideas used are very similar to Johannine and Pauline style and is the earliest copy of an apologetic writing dated around the time of his death. An ancient manuscript of Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus was burned in 1870 but fortunately it was published and printed in the 16th century.
What Did He Teach?
Key Teachings:
- God's Sovereignty in Salvation, Grace alone
- God's Omniscience
- God's calling and election
- Anti-legalism
- Diversity & Equality in the church
- Total Depravity
- Saved by Faith in Christs works, Justification
- The Word theology
- Deity of Jesus
- Jesus the Son of God
- Limited Atonement
- Apostolic Authority & Lineage
Chp1. I cordially welcome this thy desire, and I implore God, who enables us both to speak and to hear, to grant to me so to speak,...we might through the power of God be made able...you shall know those things which the Word teaches, by whom He wills, and when He pleases...For whatever things we are moved to utter by the will of the Word commanding us
Omniscience
when our wickedness had reached its height, and it had been clearly shown that its 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,
Legalism
the Christians do not observe the same forms of divine worship as do the Jews. The Jews, then, if they abstain from the kind of service above described, and deem it proper to worship one God as being Lord of all, [are right]; but if they offer Him worship in the way which we have described, they greatly err.
Levatical Law & Jewish Observances
He that made heaven and earth, and all that is therein, and gives to us all the things of which we stand in need, certainly requires none of those things which He Himself bestows on such as think of furnishing them to Him. But those who imagine that, by means of blood, and the smoke of sacrifices and burnt-offerings, they offer sacrifices [acceptable] to Him, and that by such honours they show Him respect,--these, by supposing that they can give anything to Him who stands in need of nothing... their scrupulosity concerning meats, and their superstition as respects the Sabbaths, and their boasting about circumcision, and their fancies about fasting and the new moons, which are utterly ridiculous and unworthy of notice
Election
to glory in the circumcision of the flesh as a proof of election, and as if, on account of it, they were specially beloved by God
Diversity & Equality
the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity.
Nationalism
inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers.
Abortion
They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring
Social Justice
They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers.
Sin Nature
The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it, though itself suffering no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though in nowise injured, because they abjure pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and [loves also] the members; Christians likewise love those that hate them. The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet preserves that very body; and Christians are confined in the world as in a prison, and yet they are the preservers of the world. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle; and Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible [bodies], looking for an incorruptible dwelling in the heavens...Having therefore convinced us in the former time that our nature was unable to attain to life
Saved by Grace, not works & Depravity
this was no mere earthly invention which was delivered to them, nor is it a mere human system of opinion, which they judge it right to preserve so carefully, nor has a dispensation of mere human mysteries been committed to them, but truly God Himself, who is almighty, the Creator of all things, and invisible, has sent from heaven, and placed among men, [Him who is] the truth... so that being convinced in that time of our unworthiness of attaining life through our own works, it should now, through the kindness of God, be vouchsafed to us; and having made it manifest that in ourselves we were unable to enter into the kingdom of God...Having therefore convinced us in the former time that our nature was unable to attain to life
Christs Works alone in Faith
God Himself, who is almighty, the Creator of all things, and invisible, has sent from heaven, and placed among men, [Him who is] the truth, and the holy and incomprehensible Word, and has firmly established Him in their hearts...This [messenger] He sent to them. Was it then, as one might conceive, for the purpose of exercising tyranny, or of inspiring fear and terror? By no means, but under the influence of clemency and meekness. As a king sends his son, who is also a king, so sent He Him; as God He sent Him; as to men He sent Him; as a Saviour He sent Him...And He has manifested Himself through faith, to which alone it is given to behold God.
Deity of Jesus & Son of God
God Himself, who is almighty, the Creator of all things, and invisible, has sent from heaven, and placed among men, [Him who is] the truth, and the holy and incomprehensible Word. He did not, as one might have imagined, send to men any servant, or angel, or ruler, or any one of those who bear sway over earthly things, or one of those to whom the government of things in the heavens has been entrusted, but the very Creator and Fashioner of all things--by whom He made the heavens...This does not seem to be the work of man: this is the power of God; these are the evidences of His manifestation...and no man has either seen Him, or made Him known, but He has revealed Himself...He revealed and laid open, through His beloved Son, the things which had been prepared from the beginning,...He was aware, then, of all things in His own mind, along with His Son, according to the relation subsisting between them...He sent His only-begotten Son
Limited Atonement
He Himself took on Him the burden of our iniquities, He gave His own Son as 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 them that are mortal...that the wickedness of many should be hid in a single righteous One, and that the righteousness of One should justify many transgressors!
Justification
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?
Christs Second coming
For He will yet send Him to judge us, and who shall endure His appearing?
Sin
He permitted us to be borne along by unruly impulses, being drawn away by the desire of pleasure and various lusts. This was not that He at all delighted in our sins, but that He simply endured them;...Having therefore convinced us in the former time that our nature was unable to attain to life
Christian Living
he who takes upon himself the burden of his neighbour; he who, in whatsoever respect he may be superior, is ready to benefit another who is deficient; he who, whatsoever things he has received from God, by distributing these to the needy, becomes a god to those who receive [his benefits]: he is an imitator of God. Then thou shalt see, while still on earth, that God in the heavens rules over [the universe]; then thou shall begin to speak the mysteries of God;
Apostolic Authority & Lineage
I do not speak of things strange to me, nor do I aim at anything inconsistent with right reason; but having been a disciple of the Apostles,...I minister the things delivered to me to those that are disciples worthy of the truth. For who that is rightly taught and begotten by the loving Word, would not seek to learn accurately the things which have been clearly shown by the Word to His disciples, to whom the Word being manifested has revealed them, speaking plainly [to them], not understood indeed by the unbelieving, but conversing with the disciples, who, being esteemed faithful by Him, acquired a knowledge of the mysteries of the Father? For which s reason He sent the Word, that He might be manifested to the world; and He, being despised by the people [of the Jews], was, when preached by the Apostles..the grace of the prophets is known, and the faith of the gospels is established, and the tradition of the Apostles is preserved, and the grace of the Church exults
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