The testimony of Justin Martyr to early Christianity
Purves, George T. (George Tybout), 1852-1901
Ny SS RN XDA ‘\ \ SS . \ ~ \ ~ ~~ _ ANS S SS S AS AN San . EN Ne << ae Accession No. _....___...____ Oo ez a | ONE Le OS | | 28 23 cS Z, Hoe Zn THE TESTIMONY OF JUSTIN MARTYR TO EARLY CHRISTIANITY. Digitized by the Internet Archive In 2022 with funding from | Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/testimonyofjusti0000purv THE TESTIMONY OF JUSTIN MARTYR KARLY CHRISTIANITY. LECTURES DELIVERED ON THE L. P. STONE FOUNDATION AT PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. BY GEORGE T. PURVES, D.D., PASTOR OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF PITTSBURGH, PA. LONDON : JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STR 7h Cue BERKELEY BAPTIST DIVINITY ScHOGK! as SANDFORD FLEMING LIBRARY PREFACE. THE following lectures were delivered on the L. P. Stone Foundation at Princeton Theological Seminary, and are published at the request of the Faculty. The form in which they were originally delivered has been retained, and but few changes made in substance or language. They have been prepared in such leisure moments as could be found in a busy pastorate, and the author keenly realizes their many imperfections. He hopes, however, that they may stimulate more of our Presbyterian ministers to cultivate the field of early patristic literature. Its importance to Christian apolo- getics is very great. Its study will also contribute to clearer views of the nature and true unity of the Church. It should not be left, as it has so largely been, to Ro- manists and rationalists. While we firmly hold to the sole authority of the Scriptures for faith and practice, the history of the early ages of our religion and the careful examination of all the elements which, as time went on, entered into it will enable us to read the New Testament with fresh confidence and intelligence. Above all, in this age of historical criticism, when so many minds are honestly confused concerning the evi- dences for the faith of the Church, some acquaintance with the events and literature of the second century is demanded of those who would successfully guide the 33069 iv PREFACE. inquirer and help the doubter. The author may be allowed to add that, with the utmost desire to deal fairly with the evidence and to follow the facts, he has obtained, by his excursions into patristic literature, re- newed assurance both of the divine origin of Christian- ity and of the correctness of the orthodox Protestant estimate of the New Testament. ALLEGHENY, Pa., 1888. CONTENTS. LECTURE I. THE IMPORTANCE OF JUSTIN’S TESTIMONY TO EARLY CHRISTIANITY. Pace Importance of the Study of the Second Century. — Critical Theo- ries of the Origin of Christianity. —-The New Testament Canon. — The Christian Ministry.— The Union of Christianity and Philosophy. — The Unity of the Church.— The Life of Justin: his Birth; Philosophic Studies; Influence on Contemporaries ; Death; Character; Conversion; Chronology of his Life; his Situation in Rome.— The Writings of Justin and their Date. — Analysis of the Apologies and the Dialogue.—The conse- quent Importance of Justin’s Testimony. — Early and Modern Views concerning Justin.— Plan of the following Lectures . 1 LECTURE II. THE TESTIMONY OF JUSTIN TO THE SOCIAL AND CIVIL RELATIONS OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY. Justin as an Apologist. — The Diffusion of Christianity. — Organi- zation of Christian Societies. — Popular Hostility. — Charges made.— Popular Impatience with the Christians, — Explana- tion of this Hostility. — Attitude of the Government. — Chris- tianity illegal. — No formal Persecution. — Frequent Outrages. —Justin’s Description confirmed by other Evidence. — Hadri- an’s Rescript.— Correspondence of Trajan and Pliny. — Sup- vi CONTENTS. Pace pression of Unauthorized Societies. — Membership in them a Crime. — Action of the Emperors with reference to Christi- anity. — Efforts to prevent Outrages.— The Sufferings of the Christians not so severe as often supposed. — Persecution but just beginning. — Justin’s Defence. — He appeals substantially for the Legal Recognition of Christianity: (a) Because it was the true Philosophy — Strength and Weakness of this Plea; (b) Because of the Virtues of the Christians and Simplicity of their Customs. — His Description of Christian Life. — Power of this Argument—Its Value for us ......-.. . 50 LECTURE III. THE TESTIMONY OF JUSTIN TO THE RELATIONS OF GENTILE AND JEWISH CHRISTIANITY. Value of Justin’s Testimony in this Particular. —'The Tiibingen Scheme and its Modifications. — Ritschl’s View. — I. Estimate of the Old Testament by the Church.— Its Inspiration. — The Prophets. — Method of Interpretation. — The Old Testament a Christian Book. — Justin’s Failure to appreciate the Hebrew Dispensation. — Total Rejection of Judaism. — Comparison of _ his Views with the New Testament.— The Church a Gentile Society. — Justin’s Opinion of Jewish Christians. — Various Views in the Church. — Extremists on both Sides. — Justin’s moderate but firmly anti-Jewish View that of the Majority. II. Had there been a silent Blending of Gentile and Jewish Christianity ?— Evidence alleged for this: (1) Abhorrence of “Tdol-meat” — The Authenticity of “The Acts” — Justin’s Po- sition not due to Jewish Sympathies; (2) His Silence concern- ing Paul — The Facts in the Case — Use of Pauline Writings — References to “the Twelve ” — Unity of the Apostles assumed ; (3) Chiliasm — No Proof of Jewish Tendencies; (4) Legalism— Its Growth — Not necessarily due to Judaism. — Summary of Justin’s Testimony, and Inferences from it . . .. . . . 85 CONTENTS. vii LECTURE IV. THE TESTIMONY OF JUSTIN TO THE INFLUENCE OF PHILOSOPHY ON EARLY CHRISTIANITY. Pace Contrast, as regards the Influence of Philosophy, between the Writings of Justin and the New Testament. — Progress of this Influence in the Early Church. — Character of the Philos- ophy of the Period: Eclectic; Theological. — Justin shows the Spirit of his Age. — His Criticism of the various Schools. — Relation to Stoicism; to Platonism.— The Influence of Philosophy on Justin’s Theology, as shown in (I.) his Idea of God — Divine Transcendence unduly emphasized —Two Con- ceptions of God contending in his Mind; (II.) His Doctrine of the Logos in the sense of Reason — Relation of the Logos to the Father — Agent in Creation and Revelation — Relation to Man — The “ Seminal Logos; ” (III.) His Anthropology — Human Freedom and Ability — Power of the Demons — Idea of Sin; (IV.) His Soteriology — Christ primarily a Teacher — Nature of Salvation. — Inferences concerning the Influence of Philosophy on Christianity, and the Realization by the Latter  THE NEW TES- TAMENT. Its Importance. — Review of modern critical Opinion concerning Justin’s Use of our Gospels. —I. Justin and the Synoptics. — The “ Memoirs.” — Justin’s Account of Christ’s Life remark- ably full; agrees substantially with that of our Gospels. — The Differences trivial; Oral Tradition and Textual Cor- ruption explain the most important of them; they do not destroy the Force of the Argument from the substantial Agreement. — The Variations in the Text of Justin’s Quota- tions from that of our Gospels. — Extent of the Variation. — Examination of his Habits of Quotation, as shown by Quota- tions from the Classics and Old Testament. — Bearing of this on Quotations from the “ Memoirs.” — Comparison of Justin’s Quotations and those of the Pseudo-Clementines. — Did Justin Vill CONTENTS. Pace use a Harmony ? — Bearing of the Evidence afforded by Jus- tin of Corruption of Gospel Text on the Antiquity of our Gos- pels. —II. Justin and the Fourth Gospel. — Views of Thoma and Abbott. — Evidence for Justin’s Use of the Fourth Gos- pel. — How did he use it? As historically True and presuma- bly Apostolic, yet not with the same Fulness as Synoptics, and more as a Book of Doctrine. — Reasons for this. — Con- firmation of Justin’s Use of our Gospels afforded by Tatian’s Diatessaron. — III. Justin and the New Testament Canon. — His Use of New Testament Books besides the Gospels. — Recognition of Authority of Apostles as Teachers. — Use of “Memoirs ” as Sources for Belief and as “Scripture.” — Yet “ Memoirs” not called ‘‘ Scripture” with same frequency as Old Testament.—No New Testament Book quoted, except Gospels and Apocalypse.— Mentions no public Use of the Epistles, and differs from their Teaching. — Considerations which balance these Items of Negative Evidence. — Conclu- PIOUS GG, Ona Ue & UG ik ro Soy BEEP pce a. core ere IMD LECTURE VI. THE TESTIMONY OF JUSTIN TO THE ORGANI- ZATION AND BELIEF OF THE POST-APOSTOLIC CHURCH. Review. — Justin claimed to represent the true Christian Church. — His Opposition to Heresy. — Proves the Unity and Aposto- licity of the Orthodox Churches. — His Testimony trustworthy. —I. The Organization of the Churches.— Description of Cere- monies and Worship.— One Church in each Locality. — A permanent President to each. — Deacons. — Why the Title of the President not given. — Absence of Sacerdotalism. — Jus- tin accords with the known Facts of the Progress of Church Organization in the Second Century.— The Unity of the Churches spiritual. — II. The Faith of the Church: how to be obtained from Justin ; (1) The Person of Christ; (2) The Trinity ; (3) Redemption; (4) Privileges and Hopes of the Christians ; The Sacraments; Eschatology. — Conclusion. — Post-Apostolic Christianity not created by Fusion; but modi- fied by Paganism.—Inferences to be drawn from Justin’s Testimony cosce.y em eeersaiks astee ome 1) sean ree JUSTIN MARTYR. LECTURE I. THE IMPORTANCE OF JUSTIN’S TESTIMONY TO EARLY CHRISTIANITY. HE first three quarters of the second Christian century form a period which demands the care- ful and repeated investigation of students Teen both of the: New Testament and of Church ofthe second History. This is due, on the one hand, to so: the nearness of the period to the age of the Apostles, since the results of investigation in it will necessarily affect our views of their work and teaching; and, on the other hand, to the new influences which began during this period to affect the religion of Christ, and co-operated to form the Church and the theology of later times. The period, however, is involved in much obscu- rity, owing to the scantiness of the literary remains from it. Of the apostolic age the New Testa- ment enables us to form a fairly clear idea. Toward the close of the second century there begins, with the great work of Irenus against heresies, a chain of witnesses, from whom we may obtain abun- dant testimony to the history of both the faith and order 1 Its obscurity. Hs JUSTIN MARTYR. of the Church; but from the intermediate period our witnesses are few. Not that it was barren of literary productions; on the contrary, if all the works which issued from orthodox and heretic had been preserved, the Christian literature of the period would suffice probably to settle most of the now vexed questions con- cerning it. On the heretical side some of the Gnostics were voluminous writers! On the orthodox side there appears to have been during the earlier part of the period less literary activity. A few letters and a brief manual (if the “Teaching of the Apostles” may be roughly classed in this period), and one or two religious romances, are all that have been left to us, — though had only the work of Papias, entitled “Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord,’ been preserved, we should doubtless have been spared the necessity of much of the recent investigation into the origin and authority of the Gospels. Later in the century, however, the stream of apologetic literature began, directed either against assaults on Christianity by Jews or Pagans, or against heretical perversions of the faith. The earliest apol- ogists, Quadratus and Aristides, are indeed assigned by Eusebius? to the reign of Hadrian; but it was under Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius that the defences of the Christians became frequent and elaho- rate. Aristo and Justin defended Christianity against Judaism; while the latter, followed by Tatian, Athe- nagoras, Theophilus of Antioch, and Melito of Sardis, 1 Cf. Iren. adv. Her. iii. 12; Tert. de Preescr. 38. 2 The Pastor of Hermas, and the Testaments of the XII. Pa- triarchs. The latter is now generally dated before the second Jewish war; cf. Sinker’s Testamenta, XII. Patrr. The critical views are summarized in Dr. Warfield’s article in Presb. Rev., January, 1880. G8 le 10h. ih, Gk IMPORTANCE OF JUSTIN’S TESTIMONY. 3 argued the truth of the new religion against polytheism and philosophy, and demanded its recognition by the State.| Meanwhile Hegesippus? had made the first attempt at an ecclesiastical chronicle, and the growth of heresy had begun to call forth defences of orthodoxy within the Church itself. But that many more Chris- tian writings of this period have been lost than those which have been in whole or in part preserved, is evi- dent from those mentioned by Eusebius in the fourth book of his History. The period, therefore, was far from being barren of literary productions, Only a few of these, however, have escaped the ravages of time, and we are left to feel our way in the darkness by the aid of the broken monuments and scattered fragments that yet remain. But none the less, perhaps all the more, do the first three quarters of the second century call for tts stuay repeated investigation by the student of ‘demanded: Christianity ; and this for several reasons. I. The scarcity of its literary remains has made possible in modern times a number of critical theories of the origin and early development of | p, moa. Christianity which are not only in conflict orn ont) with the traditional view but often with each the origin of other. Without passing Judgment on the papeeniae truth or falsity of these theories, it is evident that but for the scantiness of the historical records such varieties of view would not be possible. Amid the scattered fragments of early Christian literature it is compara- tively easy to find room in which to prolong the alleged 1 The anonymous Epistle to Diognetus, while certainly not by Justin, is probably to be referred to about the middle of the second century. J DER del, IDR thy th Oks Cal ert 4 JUSTIN MARTYR. process of the formation of Christianity. Those who assume that its rise must be conceived as a natural development have believed it possible to show that the final result was not attained till the middle of the second century. Starting with the assertion that original Christianity was divided into two hostile, or at least separate, parties, they have far more easily ob- tained the time necessary for the supposed fusion of these into the Catholic Church than would have been possible if more of the books of whose existence we know had been preserved. At least these books would in all probability have settled the question, pro or con, decisively. In their absence, the few letters of the apostolic fathers (written for local or personal objects), the lately recovered “Teaching of the Apostles,” to- gether with the so-called Epistle of Barnabas, the “Shepherd” of Hermas, and fragments of lost writings preserved by later authors, must be our only guides until the period of the Apologists, the middle of the century, has been reached. Yet these critical theo- ries have claimed to be scientific reconstructions of primitive Christian history. Their truth or falsity in- volves the supernatural character of the Christian re- ligion. Difficult as the task may be to refute what is claimed to be proved by criticism based on such scanty sources, the necessity of investigating these sources is imperative for all who would justly estimate the worth of either the theories themselves or their refu- tations. Finding,as we do when we enter upon these studies, how much is made to depend on the phrase- ology and incidental allusions of the early writers, we shall realize how slowly conclusions should be formed when supported by such delicate and easily misused methods of proof, and we shall re-examine the more IMPORTANCE OF JUSTIN’S TESTIMONY. 5 closely such evidence as there is because of its very meagreness. II. In connection also with these theories of the early history of Christianity, the history of the New Testament books and of their recognition by By the the Church is inseparably bound up with the Gusetonot study of the second century. At its close we Testament find Irenzeus,! for example, stoutly defend- ae ing the apostolic authority of our four Gospels, and maintaining that there never had been and could not be more than these four of a sacred character. Ter- tullian likewise declares it to be the Christian doctrine that the four Gospels possess apostolic authority, and he knows none authoritative but these four? The same fathers also recognized the authority of most of the other books now contained in our New Testa- ment ;*® while their silence as to two or three cannot be used to prove that these were rejected, or, even if they were unknown or doubted by these particular fathers, that they are not entitled to recognition by us. It is certain that in the last quarter of the second century the Church fully accepted a collection of books, corresponding with our New Testament, as apostolic and therefore authoritative, and was, except in a few minor particulars, fully agreed as to the limits of that collection, appealing to these books as standards of doctrine, and maintaining their apostolic authority on the ground of the unbroken testimony of the principal churches. But the question has been raised whether Trenzus really expressed in this matter the traditional view of the churches, or a new opinion, reached by 1 Adv. Her. iii. 11. 8. 2 Adv. Mare. iv. 2, 5. 8 Cf. Reuss’s Hist. of the Canon, pp. 103-116. 6 JUSTIN MARTYR. the Church of his own time as the result of its con- flict with heresy and the consolidation of its origi- nally separate parts. It is alleged by certain critics that our Gospels are in fact not authentic, but were com- posed, or at least thrown into their present form, in the second century itself, for the purpose of supporting one or other of the parties into which the early Church is said to have been divided, and that they thus represent the phases through which these parties passed. They are alleged to be only those which, out of a considerable number of early Gospels, the Church of the second century fixed upon as canonical because harmonious with the doctrinal views which had become established. It is said that the evidence of the earlier fathers shows that apostolic authority was but gradually recognized, while by the same gradual process the books of the New Testament were elevated to the position of in- spired works which the Old Testament already occupied. These views involve of course the inference that, as Christianity was itself the result of a natural develop- ment, the New Testament also was the product, not of inspiration, but of the mind of the Church as in the process of her establishment she came to look upon her doctrines and to read her beliefs back into the life of Jesus and his Apostles. To all this it has been replied, that, while the Church’s apprehension of the limits of the Canon was a result gradually reached, yet from the beginning the authority of the Apostles, as teachers of divine truth, as well as the authoritative character of their writings, was clearly recognized ; that the au- thenticity of the several books of the New Testament can be satisfactorily proved; and that therefore the conception of the Canon which prevailed at the close of the second century was not a new idea, but only the IMPORTANCE OF JUSTIN’S TESTIMONY. 7 more definite statement of that recognition of apos- tolic authority which existed from the days of Paul himself. Between these opposing views the decision evidently rests with the testimony of the second century ; and no student of the New Testament can afford to be without some personal acquaintance with the period which im- mediately followed that in which it was composed. III. Apart, however, from these questions which concern the very foundations upon which Christianity rests, the period of which we are speaking ,,, By the offers other problems of particular interest problem of 5 2 e he origin of both to the historian and to the practical the Christian Christian. es ae Prominent among these is that of the origin of the Christian ministry. By comparing Irenzeus, again, with the New Testa- ment, it becomes evident that considerable change had taken place in the organization of the Christian com- munities during the intervening time. In the first cen- tury the local churches appear to have been governed by a body of officers called “bishops” or “elders,”? as- sisted by an order of “deacons.”* The term “elder” appears, indeed, to have been also used in a wider as well as in its official sense;® so that a man could have been an “elder,” but not a “bishop,” though he could not have been a bishop unless an elder.* Still, this body of officers were of equal rank. Ruling was the original purpose of their office; but soon, as IN (Obi, AGH SoZ CBIR Sre:c, Teh, OAS Mbtin 9G teh vic 2 Phil. i. 1; 1 Tim. iii. 8-13. Sie imenvatslalebanven ts 4 I cannot accept Dr. Hatch’s theory of the origin of the Episcopate. Cf. Lect. VI. 8 JUSTIN MARTYR. appears from the New Testament itself, the work of teaching was attached to it according as the spirit might qualify individual members of the official body.! Hardly, however, has the second century opened, when we find in at least some churches a single president, alone called the “bishop,” surrounded by a college of “elders” as his advisers, and assisted in the active government and care of his church by the “deacons.” ? Thus the direction of the local churches seems to have been early appropriated by one presiding officer; a cen- tre of unity was formed in the person and office of the “bishop;” until in Ireneeus? all remembrance of the earlier arrangement seems to have been lost, and that writer speaks of the first presiding bishops of the prin- cipal churches of Christendom as having been appointed to office by the Apostles. Not yet, indeed, had the name “elder” ceased to be applied to the bishop,’ nor were the two clearly regarded as distinct offices; not yet had the Christian ministry been clothed with sacerdotal dignity; but the growth is very evident from the college of equal bishops portrayed by the New Testament to the influential chief officer of a century later, who had largely monopolized the functions of the original body, and who, in proportion to the prominence of the city of whose church he was the head, repre- sented ecclesiastical tradition and exercised ecclesiasti- cal power. IV. Then, too, the period before us becomes of ex- ceeding interest inasmuch as in its writers we may first Ee Sh Abbie Si, WAG PAB te Oy 2 Cf. The Epistles of Ignatius, 8 Cf. Adv. Her. iii. 3. 4 Cf. Iren. to Victor, Eus. H, E. v. 24. 5 Tren. ili. 2. 2 and 3. 3. IMPORTANCE OF JUSTIN’S TESTIMONY. 9 recognize the mingling of philosophy with the doctrines of Christianity. There can scarcely be said to be a trace of the influence of current philosophy in cre- ,, Hees: ating the beliefs of the Apostles. They dis- of the union tinctly declare that the wisdom of this world ea is vain! Already, indeed, was the young “™S#@™y church imperilled by teachers who gave speculations under the guise of Christian phrases; but such teachers were condemned and denounced. “Beware,” wrote Paul, “lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit.”? Christianity was proclaimed as self-sufficient, as a revelation from God, dogmatic in its teaching, and needing no support from the conclusions of human reason ; and though it really contained a philosophy of its own, and though it was in sympathy with not a few of the conclusions to which uninspired reason had attained, it felt no need of the pagan philosophy of the day to form its doctrines. But as the new religion came into closer contact and conflict with pagan thought, it was inevitable that the latter should affect it in various ways. On the one hand, as the New Testament already shows, philosophical speculations began to be mingled with Christian ideas, or to be clothed in the new vestments of Christian language. For this tendency Jewish Alex- andrianism and Cabalism had prepared the way; and the Gnostic systems, which reached their height in the middle of the second century, produced a total perver- sion of the simple Gospel of the Apostles. On the other hand, about the same time, pagan philosophy began to be aware of the existence and progress of the “new superstition,” and to direct arguments against it; while orthodox Christianity in its turn began to attempt the 1 1 Cor. i. 19=21. 2 Col. ii. 8. 8 Cf. Lect. IV. 10 JUSTIN MARTYR. solution of some of the great problems which its own existence and its relation to the former history of the world suggested to thoughtful minds. Claiming to be the only true religion, it was forced to say how it regarded other religions and other types of thought. Freed from connection with Judaism, it was forced to declare its attitude toward previous pagan ethics and philosophy. Some of the Christian writers, emphasiz- ing the newness of their religion, sought to show the failure of all pagan philosophy to satisfy the mind and of all pagan religions to elevate life. Others, impressed with the wniversality of their religion and conceiving it as the revelation of eternal truth, sought to show the affiliation with it of whatever was noblest in pagan thought and ethics. Thus in various ways Christianity and philosophy came into contact. The contact affected, — well or ill as we may judge, the definitions of doctrine ; produced division in the Church, but caused that portion which clung to the apostolic teaching to realize more perfectly the unity and the significance of the faith; widened men’s thoughts, yet often perverted the Gos- pel; in short, created the first phase of the long effort of reason to explain and of faith to apprehend the contents of revelation. V. Finally, involved in all of these discussions there is presented the question of how far and by what V. Bythe means the Christian communities had become problem or externally a unit. There can be no doubt the Church. that, much progress had been made since the apostolic age in giving expression to the original moral and spiritual unity of believers, both by formulating their faith and by developing the conception of the Church. At the end of the second century there ex- isted the idea of a Catholic (in the sense of orthodox) IMPORTANCE OF JUSTIN’S TESTIMONY. 11 Church, membership with which was often regarded as essential to salvation, and the distinguishing features of which were fidelity to the apostolic doctrine and the regular succession of bishops from the Apostles. Evidently the progress and the conflicts of Christianity had united the scattered communities of believers into what was practically an external association. The pil- lars of this society were the churches of the principal cities, which had been founded by Apostles and which preserved, through a direct line of bishops and presby- ters, the apostolic tradition. Of these the most conspic- uous and influential was the Church of Rome. Not that these churches had been as yet formally welded into one external organization. They were only united by a common faith and order, a common danger and hope. But the idea of the universal Church as a vis- ible society with a definite creed and a prescribed or- ganization was predominating, and it is important to ask by what causes had this state of things been brought about. Was this Catholic Church the result, as some affirm, of a compromise, consciously or unconsciously made, between parties originally opposed to one another; or was it the result of the natural growth of Gentile Christianity, of the spirit and needs of the age and the conflicts with paganism and heresy? It would appear to be of great use, in view of present movements toward the unification of Christendom, to study carefully the original idea of the Church, the nature of its earliest unity, and the historical progress in ancient times to- ward the expression thereof in outward forms. In view of these questions belonging to the first three quarters of the second century, I propose to examine 1 Cf. e. g. Iren. iii. 4. 1. 12 JUSTIN MARTYR. afresh the testimony of one of the most important wit- nesses from that period whose writings are still acces- Pbiect of sible. This is Justin Martyr; and a brief tures. sketch of the man and his works will enable us to perceive his great value as a witness to early Christianity. Our knowledge of the life of Justin is derived almost entirely from the notices scattered through his own The life of Writings; for Eusebius does little more than eee collect, as we may do, what Justin says about himself. He was a native of Flavia Neapolis,! a city founded not far from the ruins of ancient Sychem and named in honor of Vespasian. It was the same place which is now known as Nablts. Justin was conse- quently a Samaritan by birth ;? but his language makes it clear that his family was not of Samaritan but of purely Gentile descent.2 Probably his immediate an- cestors were colonists who had settled in the new city shortly after its establishment. His birth can only be approximately placed in the closing years of the first or the beginning of the second century. Some older critics placed it as early as 89 A.D. Epiphanius* declares that Jus- tin was martyred under Hadrian when only thirty years of age ; but as the date thus given for his martyrdom is certainly wrong, so the age assigned the martyr is wholly improbable. We only know that Justin, as Eusebius His birth. LAT aisle 2 Ap. ii. 15. 8 Ap. i. 53; Dial. 41, 64, 120, 122, 130. 4 Her. xlvi. 1, Epiphanius states that Justin died under Rus- ticus the prefect, and when Hadrian was emperor; thus showing, since Rusticus was prefect A. D. 163-167, that his statement is confused and unreliable. IMPORTANCE OF JUSTIN’S TESTIMONY. 13 relates, “flourished” at Rome under Antoninus, and that he was probably martyred under Marcus Aurelius? from which it is natural to infer that he was born about the beginning of the century, not far from the time when Saint John passed away. He thus belonged to the second generation after the Apostles, and lived at a period when the remembrance of their teaching was still strong and clear in the mind of the Church. When Justin came to manhood, he gave himself with enthusiasm to the pursuit of truth. In the opening chap- ters of the Dialogue with Trypho, he gives ree a graphic account of his early efforts to find in philoso- a : : &. wary intellectual peace in the popular philosophic schools of the day. From his very youth he seems to have been of an earnest and religious type of mind, —a type which was not uncommon in that age of transi- tion from the old to the new, — and this occasioned his dissatisfaction with the teachings of philosophy. He found the Stoic instructor to whom he first joined him- self unable to give him any knowledge of God. He found the Peripatetic, to whom next he went, more con- cerned about the fee than about the truth. He learned from the Pythagorean, whom next he sought, that a long course of discipline in music, astronomy, and ge- ometry was necessary to enable the soul to apprehend spiritual and invisible realities. Finally, he became a disciple of Plato, and thought that he had indeed found “wings for his mind” in the “contemplation of ideas,” and that he would soon attain the end of the Platonic philosophy, and “look upon God.” It was while a Pla- 1H. E. iv. 11. 2 Cf. Eus. H. E. iv. 16, with iv. 14 and 18. On the date of Justin’s birth, cf. Barth. Aubé (Saint Justin, philosophe et martyr, p: 7), who places it in the first decade of the second century. 14 JUSTIN MARTYR. tonist that he became a Christian; but he passed over to the new religion without any violent rupture with his previous love of philosophy. To him, as we shall see, Christianity was the true philosophy, the absolute truth, in the reception of which alone earnest minds could find peace. And therefore, after he became a Christian, he did not cease to be a philosopher. He always wore the philosophic mantle! He appears, like other philosophic teachers of the day, to have moved from city to city to spread his doctrines. Like others, also, he gravitated to Rome, where he became actively engaged in teaching and defending Christianity to all whom he could reach. There is nothing to show that he ever held any ecclesi- astical office. He was rather a philosophical evangelist. He gathered pupils about him, more after the style of the philosopher than of the Christian minister. But that he was highly influential in his own day, as well His infu. 28 honored by posterity, is attested by the ref- a erences to him and to his works in writers so soon following as Irenzeus? and Tertullian. He distin- guished himself in controversy with the powerful heret- ical teachers who had, like himself, drifted to Rome, and who were at that very time sowing the seeds of discord in the Christian Church. He engaged in public debate with the Cynic philosopher, Crescens, of whom he speaks with an acrimony which at least shows that the debate had been a sharp one,‘ and who, Tatian tells us,® 1 Dial. 1. Tai in AS Vs Ade Vs 3 Adv. Valent. 5. 4 Ap. ii. 3. Kpjokevtos rod pitowdpovu Kal pidoxdprrov. 5 Ad Gree. 19. Eusebius (H. E. iv. 16) states that Crescens actually brought about Justin’s death; but his statement is evi- dently an inference from Justin’s own language (Ap. ii. 3), where he says that he expects Crescens to secure his death, and from Tatian’s remark that Crescens “endeavored to inflict on Justin, IMPORTANCE OF JUSTIN’S TESTIMONY. 15 plotted to secure the death of his Christian antagonist. Tatian himself, famous afterward as a heretic, and still more famous as the author of the first harmony of the Gospels, was a hearer! or disciple? of Justin’s; and not till after the martyrdom of the master did the pupil venture to express his peculiar views. Thus we may imagine the meagre outline of Justin’s life filled up with varied and courageous activities. With some in- tervals,? during one of which the dialogue with Trypho, if historical, occurred, he continued to reside in the capital until the early years of the reign of Marcus Au- relius, when, according to the testimony of antiquity, he suffered martyrdom under the prefect Junius Rusticus. Recent researches show that Rusticus held the prefecture of Rome A. D. 163-167.4 It is thus evident that Justin, even before his con- version, belonged to the class of sincere seekers after His death. and indeed on me, the punishment of death.” Tatian’s language, however, rather implies that Crescens had failed in his plots, and the Martyrolozy makes no mention of him. Cf. Von Engel- hardt’s Das Christenthum Justins des Martyrers, p. 75 (who fol- lows Daniel and Volkmar). Eusebius makes the same statement in the Chronicon, though he there places Justin’s death in 152. Harnack (Die Uberlieferung der Griechischen Apologeten, Leip- zig, 1882, p. 142, note) supposes that Eusebius found in Julius Africanus a reference under 152 to the trouble caused Justin by Crescens and which partly led to the writing of the Apology, and that Eusebius understood it to mean that Crescens had then brought about Justin’s death. Po lrenmig2Senle 2 Hippol. Refut. viii. 9. 8 In the Martyrology, Justin is represented as saying, “TI live above one Martinus at the Timiotinian Bath; and during the whole time (and I am now living at Rome for the second time) I am unaware of any other meeting than his.” This at least shows the early tradition of Justin’s travels. 4 Cf. Borghesi (uvres Completes), cited by Otto, Justini Opera, tom. ii. p. 268. 16 JUSTIN MARTYR. truth, and still more particularly to the number of seekers after God. It may be a question whether his Rigcakes later Platonism does not color his statement! after truth. of objections to the rival schools of philos- ophy. But the current philosophy of the day, so far as it was spiritual at all, was theological in its character ;? and the best minds of even the pagan world felt that God, though abstractly conceived, was the supreme end of knowledge. Of this interesting and significant phase of philosophic thought, this conscious yearning after Deity, hampered by metaphysical limitations which made Deity appear as only the transcendent cause and source of all things, Justin was a type; and in his Christian writings we recognize the same sincer- ity and earnestness of which his earlier life afforded indications. He gives an account of his conversion in the intro- duction to the Dialogue with Trypho. He tells us that His conver. When deep in the study of Plato he one day pou. went out to the seashore to meditate,? and there met a man, of venerable appearance, who engaged him in conversation. Their conversation fell into the subject dearest to both; namely, the search for truth. In reply to the stranger’s question, Justin defined phi- losophy as “the knowledge of that which really exists, and a clear perception of the truth ;” and happiness, as 1 Dial. 3. 2 Cf. Lect. IV. 8 The place of his conversion is quite uncertain. He calls it “our city.” Some have supposed Ephesus; others Flavia Neapo- lis; but the latter was too far from the sea to answer the descrip- tion. If we suppose that it was Ephesus, and that the dialogue with Trypho also took place there, we may infer that in early life Justin had made that city his home. The fact has some bearing on his acquaintance with the Fourth Gospel, and his familiarity with Alexandrian speculations. Cf. Lectt. IV. and V. IMPORTANCE OF JUSTIN’S TESTIMONY. awe “the reward of such knowledge and wisdom;”! and God, as “that which always maintains the same nature, and in the same manner, and is the cause of all other things.” Thereupon the stranger, in quite a Socratic manner, forced the young Platonist to concede that the knowledge of God depends on the moral qualifications of the soul, rather than on either the nature of the soul itself, or its reminiscence of a previous existence; and argued that the soul is not naturally immortal, but dependent for continuance of life on the will of God. Having thus undermined Justin’s confidence in his philosophical teachers, the stranger pointed him to the Hebrew prophets as more ancient than the philosophers, and more entitled to credence, since they “spake by the Divine Spirit, and foretold events which would take place, and which are now taking place.” “Their writ- ings,” he said, “are still extant, and he who has read them is very much helped in his knowledge of the beginning and the end of things, and of those matters which the philosopher ought to know.” Forthwith, says Justin, “a flame was kindled in my soul, and a love of the prophets and of those men who are the friends of Christ possessed me; and whilst revolving his [the old man’s] words in my mind, I found this philosophy alone to be safe and profitable. Thus and for this reason I am a philosopher.’? Now, it is ques- . ~ if ~ 1 Dial. 8. gdirocodia péev... emiatnun é€ott Tod dvTos Kat Tod > ye Me A > , \ , a ) , ea , GAnOods emiyvaors, edvdaovia dé Tavtns THs émLaTHNs Kal THS Todias yépas- a iS a Bei 2 7) kata Ta avTa Kal OoavTas del €xoY Kal TOD Elvat TAaTL TOLs Gots atruov, Touro &} €orw 6 Geds. In the preceding question, “ Gedy dé ad ti kadeis;” Thirlby and Aubé read 76 dy for Gedv. Otto, how- ever, retains Gedy, and in either case the ultimate meaning of the question is the same. 3 Dial. 3-8. 18 JUSTIN MARTYR. 