Letter 187: What you will in any case leave to your enemies against your will — give it willingly now.

If I were not firmly persuaded that your intelligence supplied what was lacking in our language, I do not think I would have written these letters. What, then, did you wish to learn? Why the Apostle said, "I became to the Jews as a Jew." Paul did not change his convictions but adapted his method, becoming all things to all people not by abandoning the truth but by finding the best approach to each hearer's heart.

ΡΛΗ'. – ΑΦΡΟΔΙΣΙΟ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ. Εἰς τὸ, · Ἐγενόμην τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ὡς Ἰουδαῖος, Καὶ τί ἐστι, « Μὴ ὧν ἄνομος Θεῷ, ἀλλ᾽ ἕννομος Χριστῷ. » Εἰ μὴ ἀκριβῶς ἐπεπείσμην, ὅτι τὸ λεῖπον τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ γλώττῃ ἡ σὴ ἀπεπλήρου σύνεσις, οὐκ ἂν μοι δοκῶ τάδε χαράξαι τὰ γράμματα. Τί οὖν ἐστιν ὁ ἠθέλησας μαθεῖν; Δι᾿ ἣν ὁ ᾿Απόστολος αἰτίαν ἔφη « Ἐγενόμην τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ὡς Ἰουδαῖος, ἵνα Ίου- δαίους κερδήσω· τοῖς ἀνόμοις ὡς ἄνομος, μὴ ὢν ἄνομος Θεοῦ, ἀλλ᾽ ἔννομος Χριστοῦ, ἵνα κερδήσω ἀνόμους.» Μάλιστα μὲν ἀκριβοῦς ταῦτα βασάνου δεῖ- ται, ἕως ἂν ἡ κεκρυμμένη ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀλήθεια, σαφῶς ὑποπέσῃ. Συντόμως δὲ εἰρήσεται· Ἐγένετο τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ὡς Ἰουδαῖος, ὅτε ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ ἡγνίσατο, καὶ ἔθυσε· καὶ περιτεμὼν Τιμόθεον, Ἰουδαίοις πέ- πομφε διδάσκαλον, διὰ περιτομῆς τὴν περιτομὴν ἀναιρῶν. Διὸ οὐκ εἶπεν, Ἰουδαῖος, ἀλλ᾽, ὡς Ἰουδαῖος· τοῖς ἀνόμοις ὡς ἀνομος, ὅτε ᾿Αθηναίοις δημηγορῶν,