No doubt, the author of this text, Ephrem of Edessa, was a faithful post-Nicene Christian. Ephrem (306–373 CE) was one of the most renowned Syriac Christian writers and is one of the earliest known to us by name. Living in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, Ephrem followed the New Testament and the teachings of the Western Church, and accepted Paul’s abolition of the commandments. Like his contemporaries from the Western Roman Empire, he claimed that the commandments were given to the Jews because of the “hardness of their hearts.” But, he argued, after the Christians had been chosen as the People of God, there was no need for these commandments.