I Am Not Ashamed

"Those who objected to the Christian gospel ridiculed it, mocking it because of its absurdity. For there is nothing more ridiculous than the word of someone who preaches that the Son of God was born and brought up by Jews, who rejects neither the cross nor death, who says moreover not only that Christ rose from the dead but that he ascended to heaven as Lord of all, that he will raise everyone else from the dead, and other things the apostles preached. The pagans mocked these things and ridiculed them, thinking that they would make the apostles shut up. Therefore Saint Paul, feeling obliged to reply to this opinion of the apostles, began his teaching thus: I am not ashamed of the gospel."
- Gennadius of Constantinople, Sermons

(From The City)