The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

IV. Justin Martyr—Earliest Christian Apologist

The various Apologies written during this early period may seem to have the appearance of sameness. Yet there is not one that has not something peculiar to itself, something different from all others. These men were no mere copyists. Their location, difference in language, and environment all contributed to the diversity. It is consequently desirable to know the individual problem faced, and the approach made, scattered as they were over the Empire. PFF1 227.1

JUSTIN MARTYR (c. A.D. 100-c. 165), foremost Christian apologist of the second century, was born in Samaria, and received a liberal Hellenic education. Thirsting for truth, he made the rounds of the various systems of philosophy, seeking that knowledge that would satisfy the deeper cravings of his soul. Platonism fascinated him for a time, appealing to his higher instincts by its impressive concepts of truth, beauty, and goodness. Justin’s early contacts with Christianity impressed him both with the inescapable truth of the Old Testament and with the fearlessness of the Christian in the presence of death. And in his search for truth, he at last found in Christ what he failed to find in Plato. PFF1 227.2

1. DEVOTES LIFE TO DEFENSE OF CHRISTIANITY

Converted in early manhood by a Christian layman who stressed the fulfillments of the Hebrew prophecies concerning the incarnation of Christ and the certainty of divine revelation, this early church father ¹³ devoted his life to the defense of Christianity at a time when it was fiercely assailed, finally sealing his testimony with his blood—whence the term “Martyr” was attached to his name. He lived in times when profession of Christianity was a crime under Roman law, because it was not yet a legally recognized religion. PFF1 227.3

Picture 1: THE CATACOMES-SUBTERANEAN CHAMBERS OF THE CHRISTIAN DEAD
The appean way, leading out from Rome, along which the original catacombs, or subterranean cemeteries, were located (upper), narrow passage and tiers of burial niches of martyred dead (center left); intersection of passages winding back and forth (center right);
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Instructed in the history and doctrine of the gospel, Justin devoted himself wholly to the spread and vindication of the Christian faith. Leaving Palestine, he became an itinerant teaching missionary, but with no regular office in the church. He continued to wear his philosopher’s cloak after his conversion, as a token that he had found the only true philosophy. ¹⁴ PFF1 229.1

Justin Martyr, beginning that conspicuous line known as the early Christian apologists, ¹⁵ initiated a theological literature that forced the Christian truth upon the attention of the pagan world, despite all its hostilities and blazing fagots. He presented his First Apology to Antoninus Pius, probably about A.D. 147, if not earlier, and his Second Apology possibly in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. ¹⁶ He told philosophers of the foolishness of human wisdom, and constantly exposed the impotency of contemporary paganism. He discomfited false philosophy with its own weapons, exposing the absurdity and superstitions of paganism, as he defended his own adopted faith. PFF1 229.2

His polemic pen was incessantly active against Jews, Gentiles, and heretical enemies of Christian truth, defending Christians against heathen calumnies and persecutions, and appealing from the violence of the mob to the tribunal of law. He combated Marcion, a prominent Gnostic; and his appeal to Trypho, the most distinguished Jew of his day (probably written c. A.D. 148), is assumed to be a free rendering of a disputation that actually occurred, as he sought to gain him to the Christian faith. ¹⁷ This Dialogue is the oldest elaborate exposition on Christ as the Messiah of the Old Testament, and the first systematic attempt to exhibit the false position of the Jews regarding Christianity. ¹⁸ PFF1 229.3

2. ARDENT BELIEVER IN OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES

Justin writes as a firm believer in the Old Testament prophets, and his writings constitute a storehouse of early interpretation of the prophetic Scriptures. He regards the Septuagint most highly. The truth of the prophets, he declares, compels assent. Justin makes no discrimination—between Old and New Testament writings, the Old Testament still being an inspired guide and counselor. He puts the following words in the mouth of the Christian philosopher who converted him: PFF1 230.1

Picture 2: WHEN ROME RULED AS FOURTH PROPHETIC POWER
Titus (79-81), Hadrian (117-138), Antoninus Pius (138-161), and Marcus Aurelius (161-180)
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“There existed, long before this time, certain men more ancient than all those who are esteemed philosophers, both righteous and beloved by God, who spoke by the Divine Spirit, and foretold events which would take place, and which are now taking place. They are called prophets. These alone both saw and announced the truth to men, neither reverencing nor fearing any man, not influenced by a desire for glory, but speaking those things alone which they saw and which they heard, being filled with the Holy Spirit. Their writings are still extant, and he who has read them is very much helped in his knowledge of the beginning and end of things .... And those events which have happened, and those which are happening, compel you to assent to the utterances made by them.”’ ¹⁹ PFF1 230.2

Then Justin tells of his own experience: PFF1 231.1

“Straightway a flame was kindled in my soul; and a love of the prophets, and of those men who are friends of Christ, possessed me; and whilst revolving his words in my mind, I found this philosophy alone to be safe and profitable.” ²⁰ PFF1 231.2

The New Testament writings had not yet, of course, been formulated into a canon, but Justin expressly mentions the Apocalypse by name, the writing of which he attributes to John the apostle. ²¹ PFF1 231.3

Telling the mighty effect the prophecies had had upon his own mind, he contends, in his noteworthy First Apology, addressed to the Roman emperor and others, that God can and does predict future events; that the Jewish prophetic Scriptures had been carefully preserved and translated into Greek. He discourses on the prophecies concerning the Messiah, and the particulars of His life (chapter 31). He cites the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning the destruction of Jerusalem as proof of their verity (chapter 47). He tells how the Gentiles were accepting Christianity, as foretold by prophecy (chapter 49), how Isaiah predicted that Jesus would be born of a virgin (chapter 33), how Micah mentions Bethlehem as the place of His birth (chapter 34), and how Zephaniah forecasts His entry into Jerusalem on the foal of an ass (chapter 35). PFF1 231.4

3. SECOND ADVENT THE CLIMAX OF ALL PROPHECY

A stalwart believer in the second coming of Christ, the literal resurrection and millennium, Justin argues in defense of his faith with Trypho the Jew, and before the emperor. The writings of the Apostolic Fathers survive only in incomplete and sometimes untrustworthy texts. Justin is the first really authentic witness since the death of the apostles. In his Apology he contends emphatically for the two advents of Christ, with the second as the climax of all prophecy. PFF1 231.5

“Since, then, we prove that all things which have already happened had been predicted by the prophets before they came to pass, we must necessarily believe also that those things which are in like manner predicted, but are yet to come to pass, shall certainly happen. For as the things which have already taken place came to pass when foretold, and even though unknown, so shall the things that remain, even though they be unknown and disbelieved, yet come to pass. For the prophets have proclaimed two advents of His: the one, that which is already past, when He came as a dishonoured and suffering Man; but the second, when, according to prophecy, He shall come from heaven with glory, accompanied by His angelic host, when also He shall raise the bodies of all men who have lived, and shall clothe those of the worthy with immortality, and shall send those of the wicked, endued with eternal sensibility, into everlasting fire with the wicked devils.” ²² PFF1 231.6

In different ways and places he declares explicitly that the premillennial second advent of Christ, marked by the resurrection of the dead, will occur as truly as His first coming was a historical reality. (For example, see First Apology, chap. 52, in ANF, vol. 1, p. 180.) He asserts that the second advent is awaited by many: PFF1 232.1

“For those out of all the nations who are pious and righteous through the faith of Christ, look for His future appearance.” ²³ PFF1 232.2

4. ADVENT TIED INTO THE OUTLINE PROPHECIES

Justin comments on the consternation of the unprepared at the advent. ²⁴ And he connects Christ’s second coming with the climax of the prophecy of Daniel 7. PFF1 232.3

“But if so great a power is shown to have followed and to be still following the dispensation of His suffering, how great shall that be which shall follow His glorious advent! For He shall come on the clouds as the Son of man, so Daniel foretold, and His angels shall come with Him.” [Then follows Daniel 7:9-28.] ²⁵ PFF1 232.4

Chapter 31 of his Dialogue With Trypho is headed, “If Christ’s Power Be Now So Great, How Much Greater at the Second Advent” In similar vein he discusses the fulfillment of prophecy in the two advents, which in turn follows his reference to Daniel 7. ²⁶ The second glorious advent Justin places, moreover, close upon the heels of the appearance of the Antichrist, or “man of apostasy.” ²⁷ Justin’s interpretation of prophecy is, however, less clear and full than that of others who follow in this period. PFF1 232.5

Daniel’s “time, times, and an half,” Justin believed, was nearing its consummation, when Antichrist would speak his blasphemies against the Most High. And he contends with Trypho over the meaning of a “time” and “times.” Justin expects the time to be very short, but Trypho’s concept is interesting. PFF1 233.1

“The times now running on to their consummation; and he whom Daniel foretells would have dominion for a time, and times, and an half, is even already at the door, about to speak blasphemous and daring things against the Most High. But you, being ignorant of how long he will have dominion, hold another opinion. For you interpret the ‘time’ as being a hundred years. But if this is so, the man of sin must, at the shortest, reign three hundred and fifty years, in order that we may compute that which is said by the holy Daniel—’and times’—to be two times only.” ²⁸ PFF1 233.2

There was, both in his and in other minds of the time, a misconception of the time prophecies in relation to the nearness of the second advent, since he expected the end soon. The yearday principle, as applied to the longer time periods, had not yet been clearly perceived by any, the long extent of the world’s duration being mercifully foreshortened to their understanding. PFF1 233.3

5. TWO LITERAL RESURRECTIONS BOUND THE MILLENNIUM

Justin Martyr also set the highest value on the resurrection of the body, as did the other early Christians and martyrs. Not only did he teach the literal resurrection of the righteous dead, but he distinguished it from the later resurrection by referring to it as “a resurrection,” which precedes the thousand years, or millennium. Thus: PFF1 233.4

“But I and others, who are right-minded Christians on all points, are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged, [as] the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare.” ²⁹ PFF1 233.5

Justin adds that the “general” resurrection and judgment would take place at the close of the thousand years. PFF1 234.1

“And further, there was a certain man with us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ, who prophesied, by a revelation that was made to him, that those who believed in our Christ would dwell a thousand years in Jerusalem; and that thereafter the general, and, in short, the eternal resurrection and judgment of all men would likewise take place.” ³⁰ PFF1 234.2

Thus he speaks of the millennium of Revelation 20 in the light of the resurrection of the dead, and relating wholly to the period beyond the first resurrection, with Jerusalem “built, adorned, and enlarged.” Even Gibbon is led to remark on this general early belief in a millennium in intimate connection with the second advent, held from the time of Justin down to Lactantius, preceptor to the son of Constantine. ³¹ PFF1 234.3

In common with Polycarp, ³² Justin believed that eternal life is obtained through Jesus Christ, for he set forth in his Dialogue a clear statement that the soul is not in its own nature immortal. ³³ Immortality through Christ was clearly the animating hope of the primitive Christians and the goal of the martyrs. Justin placed the heavenly reward at the time of the resurrection, not considering as Christians those “who say there is no resurrection of the dead, and that their souls, when they die, are taken to heaven.” ³⁴ The subsequent abandonment of this position became a contributing factor to the later repudiation of the advent hope. PFF1 234.4

However, belief in the personal second advent prevailed for two centuries thereafter, though with increasing perversion as to the nature of surrounding and subsequent events, as apostasy progressed. PFF1 234.5

Certain of Justin’s remarks show that the church was, already in his day, beginning to admit changes from the apostolic doctrines and practices. But he truly represented the two main prophetic beliefs of his day—the premillennial advent, and the synchronous, literal resurrection of the dead. Spending some time first in Ephesus, Justin evidently settled in Rome, where the cynics plotted his death, and he sealed his testimony by martyrdom, through beheading, apparently in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, about A.D. 165. ³⁵ PFF1 235.1

In Justin’s teachings we find the five determining factors which involve the advent hope—the literal resurrection, the millennium bounded by the two resurrections, the coming Antichrist, the prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse (which he touches only lightly), and the kingdom established by the second advent. And through his writings we likewise glimpse the beginnings of the “falling away” that was already making its early impress upon the infant church. PFF1 235.2