Justin was
a Greek, born (A.D. 100) in Flavia Neapolis in Palestine (Samaria). He was a philosopher convert,
who wore philosopher’s cloak. Eusebius (unfairly?) called him “an ambassador of
the Divine word in the guise of a philosopher.” (EH. 4.11.8)
He gives his first hand account of his conversion in his Dialogue with Trypho.
I summarize:
In his
youth he sought truth in the various philosophical schools consecutively. His
first teacher was a stoic who taught that knowledge of God unnecessary. This didn’t
satisfy Justin. Next, he was taught by a Peripatetic (Aristotelian) who, Justin
judged, was more worried about fees than a true philosopher would. He looked
into Pythagoreanism but was told that he heeded to learn music, astronomy, and geometry
before philosophy. He left. Lastly, he studied Platonism, believing in its
promise that it would bring him to God, interested in the doctrine of the transmission
of souls. Met an old man who showed his Platonism to be wonting, introduced him
to the prophets and to faith Christ. He was amazed, “found Christianity to be
the only philosophy that is sure, and suited to man’s wants.”
He
converted and traveled widely teaching the faith. He dialogued with
Trypho the Jew at Ephesus, attempting to prove that the God who appeared to the
patriarchs was the Logos. He also set up an apologetic school at Rome. In A.D. 165, he publicly debated
the Cynic, Crescens, an event which resulted in his martyrdom, the account of which we'll read next.
St. Justin's First Apology, some points of interest
Theme of demonic activity
The First
Apology is saturated with references to demonic activity. St. Justin saw the
battle for souls for what it is, a spiritual one. Demonic forces are hell-bent
on bringing souls to hell... and they're creative. Demons instigated the
heathen mythologies, naming the gods for themselves, to imitate God’s plan
inasmuch as they could understand it from prophesy “under the impression that
they would be able to produce in men the idea that the things which were said
with regard to Christ were mere marvellous tales, like the things which were
said by the poets” (Ch54). After the incarnation, they put forward magicians
(Simon Magus & Co.) to confuse and distract from Christ (Ch56), they accuse
and have always instigated persecutions (Ch57) and put forth heretics (e.g.,
Marcion) to confuse (Ch58).
Theme of
Prophesy
The theme
of prophesy is central to the work. It would be tedious to go into the details,
but we're given a vision of how the early Church read the Old Testament.
One point
of interest came at Ch36...
"… sometimes [the prophecy is] as from the person of the people answering the Lord or His Father, just as you can see even in your own writers, one man being the writer of the whole, but introducing the persons who converse. And this the Jews who possessed the books of the prophets did not understand, and therefore did not recognize Christ even when He came..."
The idea is
obscure but I take it to mean that prophecy is to be found not just in the
prophecies prophesied but also in the story, the narrative itself, in which the
prophesies are prophesied. The old testament, the story, is a prophetic message
and the Jews somehow missed the message, the forest for the trees or something.
Theme of
everlasting reward and punishment according to works
Justin is
clear and repetitive about the role of works in our final salvation. And he
mentions eternal punishment and the everlasting fires of hell, again,
repeatedly.
"each man goes to everlasting punishment or salvation according to the value of his actions." (Ch12)
"every man will suffer punishment in eternal fire according to the merit of his deed." (Ch17)
"And we have learned that those only are deified who have lived near to God in holiness and virtue; and we believe that those who live wickedly and do not repent are punished in everlasting fire." (Ch21)
It would be
tedious to continue to catalogue the passages. They are numerous. Later,
Justin, when discussing the Mass, gives an outline of the salvation journey.
Methods of
persuasion in the First Apology
Justin
appeals to the reasonableness of the faith in contrast with that of the pagans,
who offer no proof at all for their religion. And he goes hard on prophecy. His
central goal seems to be to stop the persecution, but not, as might be
supposed, for the sake fo the Christians, rather, (ostensively) for the sake of
their persecutors. He has a varied strategy. He appeals, in part, to to the
pretentions of those he addresses.
Appeal to
pious duty and to vanity
Justin
first identifies the recipients by their reputations as philosophers…
"To the Emperor Titus Ælius Adrianus Antoninus Pius Augustus Cæsar, and to his son Verissimus the Philosopher, and to Lucius the Philosopher, the natural son of Cæsar, and the adopted son of Pius, a lover of learning, and to the sacred Senate, with the whole People of the Romans..." (Ch1)
He then
makes use of these reputations...
“Reason directs those who are truly pious and philosophical to honour and love only what is true [….] hearken to my address; and if you are indeed such, it will be manifested.” (Ch2)
Appeal also
to self-interest
He appeals
also, and immediately after, to their self-interest--an appeal that will take
effect only if the case to be given (for the faith itself) is convincing.
“For if, when you have learned the truth, you do not what is just, you will be before God without excuse.” (Ch3)
“But if you pay no regard to our prayers and frank explanations, we shall suffer no loss, since we believe (or rather, indeed, are persuaded) that every man will suffer punishment in eternal fire according to the merit of his deed, and will render account according to the power he has received from God, as Christ intimated when He said, To whom God has given more, of him shall more be required.” (Ch17)
Platonic cosmology
St. Justin,
like the later St. Augustine, had been a Platonist, and (unfortunately) there
is some residual (and explicit) Platonism here. Justin views the cosmology laid
out in Plato's Timaeus as correct in some a crucial and problematic respect.
"For while we say that all things have been produced and arranged into a world by God, we shall seem to utter the doctrine of Plato..." (Ch20)
"And we have been taught that He in the beginning did of His goodness, for man's sake, create all things out of unformed matter…" (Ch10)
This is not
ex nihilo creation. The similarities to Plato's account are striking.
"Now why did he who framed this whole universe of becoming frame it? Let us state the reason why: He was Good, and one who is good can never become jealous of anything. And so, being free of jealousy, he wanted everything to become as much like himself as possible." (Timaeus 29e)
In Plato,
the Demiurge (he who framed the world of becoming) is the Child of the Good (Republic. VI), the Demiurge creates
the world, a moving image of eternity (that being himself), by applying forms,
his eternal ideas, to uninformed matter. This uninformed matter is something of
a receptacle with potentialities.
"Not only does it always receive all things, it has never in any way whatever taken on any characteristic similar to any of the things that enter it. It’s nature is to be available for anything to make its impression upon, and it is modified, shaped and reshaped by the things that ender it. These are the things that make it appear different at different times. The things that enter and leave it are imitations of those things that always are, imprinted after the likeness in a marvelous way that is hard to describe." (Timaeus 50b-c)
Justin
claims that Plato got his cosmology from Moses. This is highly controversial. I
think this is plausible. Justin reads Platonism right into Sacred Scripture…
"And that you may learn that it was from our teachers — we mean the account given through the prophets— that Plato borrowed his statement that God, having altered matter which was shapeless, made the world, hear the very words spoken through Moses, who, as above shown, was the first prophet, and of greater antiquity than the Greek writers; and through whom the Spirit of prophecy, signifying how and from what materials God at first formed the world, spoke thus: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was invisible and unfurnished, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God moved over the waters. And God said, Let there be light; and it was so. So that both Plato and they who agree with him, and we ourselves, have learned, and you also can be convinced, that by the word of God the whole world was made out of the substance spoken of before by Moses. And that which the poets call Erebus, we know was spoken of formerly by Moses." (Ch59)
St. justin uses scripture to prove that Plato was right!
Water, by
the way, is one of the four primordial elements that is associated with the
receptacle in Plato's Timaeus… inasmuch as it is wet. Erebus was one of the
primordial gods, mentioned by Hesiod, darkness born of chaos.
This strikes me as a cosmology that Arius could be happy with.
Arius
viewed Christ as the first of created beings who made the rest of the
things--presumably out of stuff. Arius, I am told, read John 1 as having this
sense.
Theme of
the Word in the world before Christ
St. Justin
viewed Socrates and others who lived according to reason as Christians:
“But lest some should, without reason, and for the perversion of what we teach, maintain that we say that Christ was born one hundred and fifty years ago under Cyrenius, and subsequently, in the time of Pontius Pilate, taught what we say He taught; and should cry out against us as though all men who were born before Him were irresponsible — let us anticipate and solve the difficulty. We have been taught that Christ is the first-born of God, and we have declared above that He is the Word of whom every race of men were partakers; and those who lived reasonably are Christians, even though they have been thought atheists; as, among the Greeks, Socrates and Heraclitus, and men like them; and among the barbarians, Abraham, and Ananias, and Azarias, and Misael, and Elias, and many others whose actions and names we now decline to recount, because we know it would be tedious. So that even they who lived before Christ, and lived without reason, were wicked and hostile to Christ, and slew those who lived reasonably.” (Ch46)
He viewed
the death of Socrates as an instance of Christian martyrdom, motivated by
demonic activity, and a precursor to the death of Christ. (Ch5)
“And when Socrates endeavoured, by true reason and examination, to bring these things to light, and deliver men from the demons, then the demons themselves, by means of men who rejoiced in iniquity, compassed his death, as an atheist and a profane person, on the charge that he was introducing new divinities; and in our case they display a similar activity. For not only among the Greeks did reason (Logos) prevail to condemn these things through Socrates, but also among the Barbarians were they condemned by Reason (or the Word, the Logos) Himself, who took shape, and became man, and was called Jesus Christ.” (Ch5)
Resurrection
of the dead not unreasonable
Justin gives some really interesting philosophical arguments. He argues in Ch19 along Humean lines for the reasonableness of the resurrection of the dead: Hume thought it unreasonable to believe that anything is made to happen by anything else. The reason or cause of our thinking this reasonable is that we regularly see the one sort of thing following the other. Our mind is habituated to the relation so as to expect it. St. Justin points out that this is true of generation and resurrection. Resurrection is no less reasonable than generation which would be unexpected and unreasonable to expect apart from familiarity with the fact of it.
“For let this now be said hypothetically: if you yourselves were not such as you now are, and born of such parents [and causes], and one were to show you human seed and a picture of a man, and were to say with confidence that from such a substance such a being could be produced, would you believe before you saw the actual production? No one will dare to deny [that such a statement would surpass belief]. In the same way, then, you are now incredulous because you have never seen a dead man rise again. But as at first you would not have believed it possible that such persons could be produced from the small drop, and yet now you see them thus produced, so also judge that it is not impossible that the bodies of men, after they have been dissolved, and like seeds resolved into earth, should in God's appointed time rise again and put on incorruption. For what power worthy of God those imagine who say, that each thing returns to that from which it was produced, and that beyond this not even God Himself can do anything, we are unable to conceive; but this we see clearly, that they would not have believed it possible that they could have become such and produced from such materials, as they now see both themselves and the whole world to be.” (Ch19)
Theme of Freedom and
responsibility
Justin has
a few interesting things to say about my pet area of philosophy, action theory,
including an interesting argument for the reality of free choice.
Firstly, he
notes that we choose God.
"For as in the beginning He created us when we were not, so do we consider that, in like manner, those who choose what is pleasing to Him are, on account of their choice, deemed worthy of incorruption and of fellowship with Him. For the coming into being at first was not in our own power; and in order that we may follow those things which please Him, choosing them by means of the rational faculties He has Himself endowed us with, He both persuades us and leads us to faith." (Ch10)
He affirms
that we are responsible and that prophesy does not undercut this...
"But lest some suppose, from what has been said by us, that we say that whatever happens, happens by a fatal necessity, because it is foretold as known beforehand, this too we explain. [....] For if it be fated that this man, e.g., be good, and this other evil, neither is the former meritorious nor the latter to be blamed. [....] But not even would some be good and others bad, since we thus make fate the cause of evil... or that which has been already stated would seem to be true, that neither virtue nor vice is anything, but that things are only reckoned good or evil by opinion; which, as the true word shows, is the greatest impiety and wickedness." (Ch43)
What is the
argument here?
There are virtuous actions. If we were fated to act--if our actions were not in our own power--there would not be virtuous actions. Good and evil would reduce to mere opinion. And so, we are not fated.
Responsibility,
he argues, is not undercut by prophecy, divine foreknowledge.
"So that what we say about future events being foretold, we do not say it as if they came about by a fatal necessity; but God foreknowing all that shall be done by all men, and it being His decree that the future actions of men shall all be recompensed according to their several value, He foretells by the Spirit of prophecy that He will bestow meet rewards according to the merit of the actions done, always urging the human race to effort and recollection, showing that He cares and provides for men." (Ch45)
Foreknowledge
does not imply necessity. St. Augustine will go on to refine this.
Simon the
Magician
Apparently,
Simon the magician did not go away after St. Peter's rebuke.
From Justin
"There was a Samaritan, Simon, a native of the village called Gitto, who in the reign of Claudius Cæsar, and in your royal city of Rome, did mighty acts of magic, by virtue of the art of the devils operating in him. He was considered a god, and as a god was honoured by you with a statue, which statue was erected on the river Tiber, between the two bridges, and bore this inscription, in the language of Rome: — Simoni Deo Sancto, To Simon the holy God. And almost all the Samaritans, and a few even of other nations, worship him, and acknowledge him as the first god." (Ch26)
From the
Acts 8: 9-20
[9] … Now there was a certain man named Simon, who before had been a magician in that city, seducing the people of Samaria, giving out that he was some great one: [10] To whom they all gave ear, from the least to the greatest, saying: This man is the power of God, which is called great. [11] And they were attentive to him, because, for a long time, he had bewitched them with his magical practices. [12] But when they had believed Philip preaching of the kingdom of God, in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. [13] Then Simon himself believed also; and being baptized, he adhered to Philip. And being astonished, wondered to see the signs and exceeding great miracles which were done. [14] Now when the apostles, who were in Jerusalem, had heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John. [15] Who, when they were come, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost. [16] For he was not as yet come upon any of them; but they were only baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. [17] Then they laid their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost. [18] And when Simon saw, that by the imposition of the hands of the apostles, the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, [19] Saying: Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I shall lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said to him: [20] Keep thy money to thyself, to perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. [21] Thou hast no part nor lot in this matter. For thy heart is not right in the sight of God. [22] Do penance therefore for this thy wickedness; and pray to God, that perhaps this thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee. [23] For I see thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bonds of iniquity. [24] Then Simon answering, said: Pray you for me to the Lord, that none of these things which you have spoken may come upon me. [25] And they indeed having testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel to many countries of the Samaritans.
From
Eusebius (Book 2, 14.4-15.1).
When St.
Peter goes to Rome, he does so in order to to confront Simon.
[4] Immediately the above-mentioned impostor was smitten in the eyes of his mind by a divine and miraculous flash, and after the evil deeds done by him had been first detected by the apostle Peter in Judea, he fled and made a great journey across the sea from the East to the West, thinking that only thus could he live according to his mind. [5] And coming to the city of Rome, by the mighty co-operation of that power which was lying in wait there, he was in a short time so successful in his undertaking that those who dwelt there honored him as a god by the erection of a statue. [6] But this did not last long. For immediately, during the reign of Claudius, the all-good and gracious Providence, which watches over all things, led Peter, that strongest and greatest of the apostles, and the one who on account of his virtue was the speaker for all the others, to Rome against this great corrupter of life. Clad in divine armor like a noble commander of God, He carried the costly merchandise of the light of the understanding from the East to those who dwelt in the West, proclaiming the light itself, and the word which brings salvation to souls, and preaching the kingdom of heaven. XV [1] Thus when the divine word made its home among them the power of Simon was extinguished and perished immediately, together with the fellow himself.
Marcion the heretic
St. Justin
introduces us to Marcion, the first of the great heretics.
From Justin
"And there is Marcion, a man of Pontus, who is even at this day alive, and teaching his disciples to believe in some other god greater than the Creator. And he, by the aid of the devils, has caused many of every nation to speak blasphemies, and to deny that God is the maker of this universe, and to assert that some other being, greater than He, has done greater works." (Ch26)
Justin
notes that "All who take their opinions from [Simon and Marcion], are [by
the ignorant] called Christians" (Ch26). Marcion confuses.
Some
clarity from Catholic Encyclopedia (Marcionites)
"Heretical sect founded in A.D. 144 at Rome by Marcion and continuing in the West for 300 years, but in the East some centuries longer, especially outside the Byzantine Empire. They rejected the writings of the Old Testament and taught that Christ was not the Son of the God of the Jews, but the Son of the good God, who was different from the God of the Ancient Covenant. They anticipated the more consistent dualism of Manichaeism and were finally absorbed by it. As they arose in the very infancy of Christianity and adopted from the beginning a strong ecclesiastical organization, parallel to that of the Catholic Church, they were perhaps the most dangerous foe Christianity has ever known."
An aspiring Eunuch!?!?
This was
for me the most shocking bit of the First Apology:
"And that you may understand that promiscuous intercourse is not one of our mysteries, one of our number a short time ago presented to Felix the governor in Alexandria a petition, craving that permission might be given to a surgeon to make him an eunuch…. And when Felix absolutely refused to sign such a permission, the youth remained single, and was satisfied with his own approving conscience, and the approval of those who thought as he did." (Ch29)
This story
is given without comment. Was castration normal and approved!?!?
An even
more disturbing question has just come to mind. Why is the exclamation point
not with the rest of the punctuation keys on the keyboard?
The origins
of the Septuagint
Justin
tells the story of the origins of the Septuagint. (Ptolemy II Philadelphus)
"And when Ptolemy king of Egypt formed a library, and endeavoured to collect the writings of all men, he heard also of these prophets, and sent to Herod, who was at that time king of the Jews, requesting that the books of the prophets be sent to him. And Herod the king did indeed send them, written, as they were, in the foresaid Hebrew language. And when their contents were found to be unintelligible to the Egyptians, he again sent and requested that men be commissioned to translate them into the Greek language. And when this was done, the books remained with the Egyptians, where they are until now." (Ch31)
Apologetic
payoff
On baptism
"As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we praying and fasting with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, Unless you be born again, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now, that it is impossible for those who have once been born to enter into their mothers' wombs, is manifest to all." (Ch61)
Preparation
prior to baptism; believe, repent, prayer in preparation
Baptism =
regeneration = born again
Baptismal
formula
Baptism as
a washing
Unless =
necessity
Necessity
does not mean sufficiency. A map of salvation is then given:
"And how those who have sinned and repent shall escape their sins, is declared by Esaias the prophet, as I wrote above; he thus speaks: Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from your souls; learn to do well; judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow: and come and let us reason together, says the Lord."
More on the
sacrament...
"And for this [rite] we have learned from the apostles this reason. Since at our birth we were born without our own knowledge or choice, by our parents coming together, and were brought up in bad habits and wicked training; in order that we may not remain the children of necessity and of ignorance, but may become the children of choice and knowledge, and may obtain in the water the remission of sins formerly committed, there is pronounced over him who chooses to be born again, and has repented of his sins, the name of God the Father and Lord of the universe… the name of Jesus Christ… the name of the Holy Ghost..." (Ch61)
Baptism for
the remission of sins; repentance comes first.
No mention
is made of original sin--or the Orthodox would have to get on board.
On the Mass
"But we, after we have thus washed him who has been convinced and has assented to our teaching, bring him to the place where those who are called brethren are assembled, in order that we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves and for the baptized [illuminated] person, and for all others in every place, that we may be counted worthy, now that we have learned the truth, by our works also to be found good citizens and keepers of the commandments, so that we may be saved with an everlasting salvation. Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language to γένοιτο [so be it]. And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion." (Ch65)
Participation
in Mass only after baptism
Purpose...
so that we may be saved with everlasting salvation
Description
of the Mass
On the
Eucharist
And this food is called among us Εὐχαριστία [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, This do in remembrance of Me, this is My body; and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, This is My blood; and gave it to them alone...
Must be
believe, be baptized, and be living accordingly
Believed to
be the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ
"We
have been taught..." Authoritative teaching has come down. My own take on
this 13 years ago was to say, "This is what they were taught; this is what
was handed down to them by first and second hand witnesses to the fact of it.
How can I, some 1,900 years distant, know better than these about the facts of
the faith?"
More on the
Mass
And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each...
Formational
payoff for me
There is a
tension in the Christian life that is brought out here by being paved over.
For if all men knew [that it is impossible… to escape the notice of God, and that each man goes to everlasting punishment or salvation according to the value of his actions], no one would choose wickedness even for a little, knowing that he goes to the everlasting punishment of fire; but would by all means restrain himself, and adorn himself with virtue, that he might obtain the good gifts of God, and escape the punishments. For those who, on account of the laws and punishments you (Titus) impose, endeavour to escape detection when they offend (and they offend, too, under the impression that it is quite possible to escape your detection, since you are but men), those persons, if they learned and were convinced that nothing, whether actually done or only intended, can escape the knowledge of God, would by all means live decently on account of the penalties threatened, as even you yourselves will admit. (Ch12)
DSMW
