Tertullian, Antidote for the Scorpion's Sting 12

Who today knows the innermost depths of Scripture better than Christ's own school? The Lord adopted the apostles as his own disciples so they would be taught everything, and he appointed them as our teachers so they would teach everything. To whom would he have disclosed the sound of his voice rather than to those to whom he revealed the image of his glory — Peter, James, John, and later Paul, whom he made a partaker of paradise before his martyrdom? Or do they write something other than what they think, as masters of deceit instead of truth? Peter tells the Pontics: 'What glory is it if you are not punished as evildoers but endure?' (1 Peter 2:20). 'This is grace; for this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps.' And again: 'Beloved, do not be terrified by the fiery ordeal taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you; but rejoice to the extent that you share in Christ's sufferings, so that you may also rejoice exulting when his glory is revealed' (1 Peter 3:14). 'If you are reviled in the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the glory and Spirit of God rest upon you — provided none of you suffers as a murderer, thief, evildoer, or meddler. But if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; let him glorify the Lord in that name.' John exhorts us to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters, denying that fear exists in love: 'Perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment; and whoever fears is not perfected in love' (1 John 4:18). What fear is understood except the fear of denial? What perfect love does he affirm except the love that drives out fear and inspires confession? What punishment does fear inflict except the punishment the denier will suffer — to be killed in Gehenna, body and soul? And if one must die for one's brothers, how much more must one die for the Lord, as he teaches, sufficiently instructed from his own Apocalypse! The Spirit commanded the angel of the church in Smyrna: 'Behold, the devil will throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life' (Revelation 2:10). Likewise to the Pergamenes concerning Antipas, the faithful martyr slain where Satan dwells. Likewise to the Philadelphians, that they would be kept from the final trial because they did not deny the Lord's name. From then on he promises each conqueror: the tree of life and exemption from the second death; hidden manna with a white stone and a new name; authority of an iron rod and the brightness of the morning star; to be clothed in white, never blotted from the book of life, and made a pillar in God's temple bearing the name of God and the Lord and the new Jerusalem; to sit with the Lord on his throne — a privilege once denied to the sons of Zebedee. Who are these supremely blessed conquerors if not the martyrs themselves? Theirs are the victories, theirs the battles, theirs the blood. Meanwhile, under the altar, the souls of the martyrs rest in peace; confident of vengeance, they feed their patience, and clothed in white robes they wear the brightness of purity until others complete the fellowship of their glory. Again, a countless multitude robed in white and bearing victory palms appears — those who have conquered the Antichrist, as one of the elders says: 'These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb' (Revelation 7:14). For the garment of the soul is the flesh. Filth is washed away by baptism, but stains are whitened by martyrdom. Isaiah promises that from crimson and scarlet shall come white as wool. Great Babylon is described as drunk on the blood of the saints; without doubt, her drunkenness is supplied by the cups of the martyrs, whose fear reveals what it will bring — equally. Among all the reprobates; indeed, before all of them. 'But to the timid,' he says, 'and the rest, a portion in the lake of fire and sulfur.' Thus the fear that love casts out carries its own punishment, as shown in his Epistle.