Letter 89

Isidore of PelusiumUnknown|isidore pelusium
From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk
To: A person of authority
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore explains what made early Christian preaching persuasive.

Two things, I believe, convinced people to embrace the divine message: the power of the message itself, and the character of those who proclaimed it. Each was the strength and sinew of the other. The message was trustworthy, and the lives of the preachers guaranteed the message. For they did not preach one thing and practice another. That consistency — that unity of word and life — is what gave the gospel its irresistible force. Today the message is the same, but the messengers often fail it. And people, seeing the gap between what we say and how we live, reject not just us but the truth we carry.

Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.