A Catholic Misreads Justin?

I cite an excerpt from Denis Minns’ article on Justin Martyr, which focuses on the blessed saint’s theology:

GOD AND HIS LOGOS

The existence of God is axiomatic for Justin. It is something that souls can perceive without the aid of grace or revelation (Dial. 4.7). Justin emphasizes the transcendence of God, whom he describes in terms that are found in contemporary or near-contemporary Platonists. God is unbegotten (1 Apol. 14.1; 25.2; 49.5; 53.2; 2 Apol. 6.1; 12.4; 13.4; Dial. 5.4; 114.3; 126.2; 127.1), inexpressible (1 Apol. 9.3; 61.11; 2 Apol. 10.8; 12.4; 13.4; Dial. 126.2; 127.2), unnameable (1 Apol. 61.11; 63.1; 2 Apol. 6.1), incorruptible (Dial. 5.4), unchangeable (1 Apol. 13.4), apathes (1 Apol. 25.2.). At Dial. 3.4 Justin is asked by the old man for a definition of philosophy, and he replies that philosophy is knowledge of that which exists (episteme . . . tou ontos) and thorough acquaintance with what is true (tou alethous epignosis). In the manuscript-text, Justin is next asked for a definition of God, but some commentators propose that ‘God’ here is a corruption of ‘that which exists’ (to on having been misread as ton theon). Justin’s answer is: ‘that which is always the same and in the same manner and is the cause of existence to everything else – that, indeed, is God’. This equation of God with that which alone truly exists, which borrowed Plato’s description of the Ideas, and was reinforced by God’s naming himself as ‘the one who is’ (ho on) at Exodus 3.14, was to become firmly embedded in the Christian tradition as a means of describing the distinction between God as the cause of all, who alone exists in the full sense of the word, and everything else that comes into being (ginetai) because caused by God. Because God so transcends his creatures they cannot, of themselves, have any real knowledge of him. Because they are created (Dial. 5.4), human souls have no affinity with God by means of which they might perceive God, no faculty of thinking of God (Dial. 4). Knowledge of God is only possible because of a gracious divine revelation, delivered in the first instance through the inspiration of the prophets by divine Spirit (Dial. 7), and then through the incarnation of the Logos.

Because of God’s transcendence there is need of an intermediary ‘power of God’, such as the Logos, to reveal his will. At several points the divine transcendence is expressed in spatial terms: ‘no one with any sense would dare to say that the Father and Creator of all departed from everything supra-celestial Justin’s way of dealing with God and the divine Logos has some affinities with the accounts of God and the second gods given by Alcinous, Maximus of Tyre and Numenius,⁹ but Justin’s primary concern is with the Logos as revealer of the truth, and of the Father’s will (1 Apol. 23.2; 63.5; Dial. 11.4–5; 34.8; 43.2; 133.6), rather than as intermediary in the creation and governance of the cosmos. The Logos is described as an ‘other God’ (hetereos theos) (Dial. 62.2; 128.4; 129.1, 4), distinct in number but not in intention (gnome, Dial. 56.11). This has been taken to imply that the two are the same in substance.¹⁰ But Justin means, as Trypho understands him to mean, that the ‘other’ god has ‘never done or said anything other than what the maker of all intends (para gnomen)’.¹¹ Alcinous also speaks of the obedience of the created gods to the creator (cf. Alcinous, Handbook 15.2).

Justin disagrees with those, perhaps among his co-religionists, who believe that this ‘power’ is ‘indivisible and inseparable from the Father’ in the way the light of the sun is inseparable from the sun itself (Dial. 128.3). When Justin says that the Logos was begotten from the Father by the Father’s power and will, and not by abscission (Dial. 128.4), this is to eliminate any suggestion that the divine substance (ousia) is divided or altered; it is not to make a claim of substantial unity of the Logos with God [sic].¹² While the logic of Justin’s argument requires that the Logos cannot be, like God, agen(n)etos, it is not clear whether, or in what sense, being ‘begotten’ of God differs from being created, except that it is said that God begot him FROM HIMSELF as a rational power BEFORE ALL THE CREATURES (ktismaton) (Dial. 61.1; cf. Dial. 62.4; 129.4–5). There are a few passages in which Justin has been taken as assigning to this ‘other’ God a mediatorial role in the creation of the universe from unformed matter, but in none of these is it incontestibly clear that this is Justin’s meaning (1 Apol. 59.5; 64.5; 2 Apol. 6.3).

Despite his emphasis on divine transcendence, Justin represents God as having a remarkably direct involvement and interest in his creation: it is, indeed, as creator that Justin distinguishes God from the Logos (Dial. 55.1, cf. 1 Apol. 58.1; Dial. 56.1; 60.2, and Alcinous, Handbook 15.2). Even if his providence is mediated by the Logos, and by angels (2 Apol. 5.2; cf. Alcinous, Handbook 15.1), he is the ‘compassionate Father of all, who abounds in mercy’ (Dial. 108.3), who cares for human beings (1 Apol. 28.4; Dial. 1.4), and who, of his goodness, has created all things for their sake (1 Apol. 10.2). He rejoices in those who imitate ‘the good things that are present to him: temperance, justice and philanthropy’ (2 Apol. 4.2; 1 Apol. 10.1).

Plato is also charged with having derived from Moses his statement in the Timaeus (36b; 34a–b) that God placed the World Soul (for Justin, the Son of God) in the universe in the shape of the letter X (1 Apol. 60.1–5). The further claim that Plato found in Moses an enigmatic reference to the Holy Spirit (1 Apol. 60.6–7) refers not to the Timaeus but to a phrase in the Second Epistle (312e: ‘the third about the third’ – ta de trita peri ton triton) which may have influenced Numenius’ triad of gods (cf. Numenius fr. 24). (Minns “Justin Martyr,” in The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity, edited by Lloyd P. Gerson [Cambridge University Press, 2010], Volume 1, pp. 263-265; emphasis mine)

¹⁰ Osborne 1981: 215. (Ibid., p. 264)

Contrary to Minns’ skepticism, Justin is clear in what he believes about Christ. But first, let me highlight some of Minn’s key admissions regarding Justin’s Christological/Theological views:

Christ is the rational/reasonable Power of God who was begotten from/out of God’s own essence from before all creatures. Contrary to Minns, this clearly shows that Justin did not think the Logos is a creature or is among the things which God created.

Other scholars understand Justin to be affirming that God and his Word are equal in substance. This shows that Minns isn’t the last word on the subject, or the infallible authority on Justin’s Christological views.

The transcendent God who loves his creatures sent forth his begotten Word (and the angels as well) in order to directly involve himself with his creation.

Related to this fact, the uncreated Word was sent into the world to become incarnate, i.e., to become the Man Christ Jesus.

The prophets were inspired by the DIVINE Spirit.

Plato’s phrase “the third about the third” is taken by Justin to be a reference to the Holy Spirit, which points to the Trinitarian shape of his theology. After all, the only way Justin could see in this expression to three an allusion to the Holy Spirit is if he had the three Divine Persons of the Godhead in view.

This may explain why elsewhere, this same writer Minns can speak of the Trinitarian understanding of Justin’s writing:

5 This chapter, together with the following one, interrupts Justin's account of the liturgical life of his community, and it evidently incorporates material from another source, which has been poorly adapted to his present purpose and which has been repeated in the same chapter. It is tempting to suppose that what we are dealing with is either Justin's own unfinished drafting, or a very early editor's conflation of materials from Justin's pen which have been put together here, in the context of an account of baptism in the name of Father, Son, and Spirit, to serve as a defence of a particular understanding of Trinitarian theology. It is difficult to say what the original purpose of the source was, though that source is likely to have been Justin's own work rather than another's. It is ostensibly directed against Jews, but may also have been concerned with Christian heretics, perhaps Marcion, perhaps modalist so Chapter 128 of the Dialogue, which has many resonances with this chapter of the First Apology, suggests that it was Christian modalists that Justin was attacking. It is possible that Justin used his Apology as a catechetical tool and interleaved it with notes expanding its utility, and that these were incorporated into the prototype of the published Apology. (Justin, Philosopher and Martyr: Apologies (Oxford Early Christian Texts), edited with a Commentary on the Text by Denis Minns & Paul Parvis [Oxford University Press, 2009], “Justin’s Apology on Behalf of Christians,” 63.1, p. 245; emphasis mine)

With the foregoing in view, I will now demonstrate that the scholars like Osborn who argued that Justin taught that the Word shares the same substance of God are correct, and that Minns is wrong. I will establish this by quoting the places where the blessed saint identifies Jesus as the YHWH God Almighty spoken of and worshiped throughout the Psalms.  

I will also prove that Justin did think along the lines of Trinitarian beliefs since he speaks of Christians as being those who worship three Persons, namely God, Christ and the prophetic Spirit.  

YHWH of hosts Becomes the Man Christ Jesus

I will be using the translation of Thomas B. Falls, The Fathers of the Church Patristic Series: Justin Martyr, The First Apology, The Second Apology, Dialogue with Trypho, Exhortation to the Greeks, Discourse to the Greeks, The Monarchy of the Rule of God, published by the Catholic University of America Press in 2008. All emphasis will be mine.

Chapter 66

We call this food the Eucharist, of which only he can partake who has acknowledged the truth of our teachings, who has been cleansed by baptism for the remission of his sins and for his regeneration, and who regulates his life upon the principles laid down by Christ. Not as ordinary bread or as ordinary drink do we partake of them, but just as, through the word of God, our Savior Jesus Christ became Incarnate and took upon Himself flesh and blood for our salvation, so, we have been taught, the food which has been made the Eucharist by the prayer of His word,¹ and which nourishes our flesh and blood by assimilation, is both the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. The Apostles in their memoirs, which are called Gospels, have handed down what Jesus ordered them to do; that He took bread and, after giving thanks, said: 'Do this in remembrance of Me; this is My body.' In like manner, He took also the chalice, gave thanks, and said: 'This is My blood';² and to them only did He give it. The evil demons, in imitation of this, ordered the same thing to be performed in the Mithraic mysteries.³ For, as you know or may easily learn, bread and a cup of water, together with certain incantations, are used in their mystic initiation rites. (The First Apology, pp. 105-106)

Chapter 36

Trypho then said, 'It may also be admitted that this is exactly as you say, and that the Prophets predicted that Christ was to suffer, that He was to be called a Stone, that His first advent in which He was proclaimed to appear in suffering would be followed by another in glory, and that He would thenceforth be the Judge of all men, and the Eternal King and Priest. But prove to us that Jesus Christ is the one about whom these prophecies were spoken.'

'At the proper time,' I replied, 'I will supply the proofs you wish, but for the present permit me to quote the following prophecies to show that the Holy Spirit by parable called Christ God, and Lord of hosts and of Jacob. God Himself calls your interpreters stupid^l because they claim that these prophecies were not spoken of Christ, but of Solomon, when he transported the ark of testimony into the temple built by himself. Listen to these words of David's Psalm: "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof; the world, and all they that dwell therein. For He hath founded it upon the seas, and hath prepared it upon the rivers. Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord; or who shall stand in His holy place? The innocent in hands, and clean of heart, who hath not taken his soul in vain, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbor. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and mercy from God his Savior. This is the generation of them that seek Him, of them that seek the face of the God of Jacob. Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates, and the King of Glory shall enter in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord who is strong and mighty in battle. Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates, and the King of Glory shall enter in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the king of Glory."² This proves that Solomon was not the Lord of hosts. But, when our Christ arose from the dead and ascended into Heaven, the heavenly princes chosen by God were ordered to open the gates of Heaven that the King of Glory might enter and sit at the right hand of the Father until He makes His enemies His footstool (as it is stated in another³ psalm). Now, when these heavenly princes saw that He was in appearance without beauty, honor, or glory, and not recognizing Him, they asked: "Who is this King of Glory?" And the Holy Spirit, either in His own name or in the Father's, answered: "The Lord of Hosts. He is the King of Glory." But I am sure that everyone will admit that none of the gate-keepers of the Temple at Jerusalem ever said of Solomon (though he was ever so glorious a king), or of the ark of testimony, "Who is this King of Glory?'"

Chapter 37

'Christ is thus further described,' I continued, 'in the diapsalm of the forty-sixth Psalm, "God is ascended with jubilee, and the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to our God, sing ye; sing praises to our king, sing yeo For God is the king of all the earth, sing ye wisely. God hath reigned over the Gentiles; God sitteth on His holy throne. The princes of the people are gathered together with the God of Abraham, for the strong ones of the earth are of God, and have been exceedingly exalted."¹ And in Psalm ninety-eight the Holy Spirit reprimands you, and announces that He whom you refuse to recognize as your king is the King and Lord of Samuel, Aaron, Moses, and of every other man. Here are the words of that Psalm: "The Lord hath reigned, let the people be angry. He that sitteth on the cherubim; let the earth be moved. The Lord is great in Sian, and high above all people. Let them give praise to Thy great name, for it is terrible, and holy; and the King's honor loveth judgment. Thou hast prepared directions; Thou hast done judgment and justice in Jacob. Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore His footstool, for He is holy. Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among them that call upon His name. They called upon the Lord (say the Scriptures), and He heard them. He spoke to them in the pillar of the cloud. They kept His testimonies, and the commandment which He gave them. Thou didst hear them, O Lord our God. Thou wast merciful to them, O God, and [yet] taking vengeance on all their inventions. Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore at His holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy."² 

1 Jer. 4.22.

2 Ps. 23.1·10.

3 Ps. 109.1.

1 Ps. 46.6-10.

2 Ps. 98.1-9. (Dialogue with Trypho, pp. 202-204)

Chapter 41

In yet another prophecy, the Prophetic Spirit, revealing through the same David that Christ would reign after His crucifixion, spoke thus: 'Sing ye to the Lord, all the earth, and show forth His salvation from day to day. For the Lord is great, and exceedingly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the Gentiles are idols of demons; but God made the heavens. Glory and praise are before Him, strength and glorying are in His sanctuary. Give glory to the Lord, the Father everlasting; receive grace, and enter His presence, and worship in His holy courts. Let all the earth be fearful before His face, and be well established and not be shaken. Let them rejoice among the Gentiles, saying: "The Lord hath reigned from the tree."’¹

Chapter 42

Now we will explain why the Prophetic Spirit speaks of what is about to take place as if it had already happened (as may be seen in the above-quoted passages), so that our readers will have no excuse [for remaining in error]. The things which He certainly knows will come to pass He foretells as if they have already come to pass. You must give your full attention to these prophecies to realize that they must be accepted as such. David uttered the words quoted [in the preceding chapter] fifteen hundred¹ years before Christ the Incarnate was crucified, and no one before Him or after Him occasioned joy among the Gentiles by being crucified. Yet, our Jesus Christ, after His crucifixion and death, arose from the dead and, after ascending into Heaven, ruled there; through the tidings announced by the Apostles in His name to the people of every nation, joy is given to those who look forward to the immortality promised by Him.

1 Ps. 95.1·15. Justin (Dialogue 73) wrongly accused the Jews of expunging from their text the words: 'from the tree.' These words appear neither in the Hebrew nor the Septuagint text, but Tertullian knew them; they are an early Christian addition (Cf. Letter of Barnabas 8). (Ibid., pp. 78-79)

Chapter 85

'Then, too, some of you dare to explain the following words, "Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates, that the King of Glory may enter,"¹ as if they referred to Hezekiah, while others of you apply them to Solomon. On the contrary, we can prove that they were spoken neither of one nor of the other, nor of any of your kings, but only of our Christ, who appeared without beauty or honor (as Isaias, David, and all the Scriptures testify); who is Lord of hosts by the will of the Father who bestowed that honor upon Him; who arose again from the dead and ascended into Heaven (as is stated in the Psalm and other Scriptural passages which also declared Him to be Lord of hosts). You can easily see the truth of this, if you will but open your eyes and look at the things that are happening around you. Every demon is vanquished and subdued when exorcised in the name of this true Son of God, who was the First-born of all creatures, who was born of a virgin, who suffered and was crucified by your people under Pontius Pilate, who died and then, after His resurrection from the dead, ascended into Heaven. But, when you attempt to exorcise them in the name of any man born among you (whether kings, just men, prophets or patriarchs), not one of the demons will be subject to you. If any man among you should exorcise them in the name of the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, they will, perhaps, become subject to you. But some of your exorcists, as I have already noted, adjure the demons by employing the magical art of the Gentiles, using fumigations and amulets. The words of David also show that there are angels and powers whom the word of the prophecy, through David, ordered to lift up the gates in order that He who arose from the dead, Jesus Christ, the Lord of hosts, should enter in accordance with the Father's will. For the sake of those who were not with us yesterday, I will repeat the prophecy of David and summarize much of what was said at that time. I do not think it useless to do so, even though it means frequently repeating myself. It would be foolish to observe the sun and moon and other stars as they revolve in their same courses and effect the same change of seasons; and to consider a mathematician as he constantly gives the answer "four" when asked how many two times two are; and to speak always in the same way in acknowledging all other things that are firmly established as true-and yet, when discoursing about the meaning of Here is the passage from which I showed that God revealed to us that there are angels and powers in Heaven: "Praise ye the Lord from the heavens; praise ye Him in the high places. Praise ye Him, all His angels; praise ye Him, all His hosts."'² 

1 Ps. 23.7.

2 Ps. 148.1-2. (Ibid., pp. 282-284)   

Here are the Psalms, which Justin believed were all about Christ:

“Lift up your heads, O gates, And be lifted up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! Who is this King of glory? Yahweh strong and mighty, Yahweh mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, And lift yourselves up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! Who is He, this King of glory? Yahweh of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah.” Psalm 24:7-10

“God has ascended with a loud shout, Yahweh, with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises; Sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with a skillful psalm. God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne. The nobles of the peoples have assembled themselves with the people of the God of Abraham, For the shields of the earth belong to God; He is highly exalted.” Psalm 47:5-9

“Sing to Yahweh, all the earth. Sing to Yahweh, bless His name; Proclaim good news of His salvation from day to day. Recount His glory among the nations, His wondrous deeds among all the peoples. For great is Yahweh and greatly to be praised; He is more fearsome than all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But Yahweh made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him, Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.” Psalm 96:2-6

“Yahweh reigns, let the peoples tremble; He sits enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth quake! Yahweh is great in Zion, And He is exalted above all the peoples. Let them praise Your great and awesome name; Holy is He. The strength of the King loves justice; You have established equity; You have done justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt Yahweh our God And worship at the footstool of His feet; Holy is He. Moses and Aaron were among His priests, And Samuel was among those who called on His name; They would call upon Yahweh and He would answer them. He would speak to them in the pillar of cloud; They kept His testimonies And the statute that He gave them. O Yahweh our God, You answered them; You were a forgiving God to them, And yet an avenger of their evil deeds. Exalt Yahweh our God And worship at His holy mountain, For holy is Yahweh our God.” Psalm 99:1-9

Since these Psalms are all about YHWH God, this means that Justin is arguing for Jesus being the human incarnation of YHWH God Almighty. And since both the Psalms and the rest of the prophet scriptures explicitly teach that YHWH is uncreated and the only true God,

“A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, You have been our dwelling place from generation to generation. Before the mountains were born Or You brought forth the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” Psalm 90:1-2  

“For Yahweh is a great God And a great King above all gods, In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land.” Psalm 95:3-5  

“A Prayer of the afflicted when he is faint and pours out his complaint before Yahweh. 1O Yahweh, hear my prayer! And let my cry for help come to You... Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. Even they will perish, but You will remain; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.” Psalm 102:25-27 – Cf. Heb. 1:1-3, 8-12

This means that Justin must have believed that Jesus Christ is the only true God, and therefore coequal to the ineffable and nameless God who begot him. There’s simply no way around this fact. Therefore, Minns is simply mistaken in being uncertain concerning Justin’s view of Christ being equal to the Father in substance.

Worshiping & Glorifying the Trinity

Chapter 6

Thus are we even called atheists.¹ We do proclaim our selves atheists as regards those whom you call gods, but not with respect to the Most True God, who is alien to all evil and is the Father of justice, temperance, and the other virtues. We revere and worship Him and the Son who came forth from Him and taught us these things, and also the legion of good angels² who attend Him and reflect His virtues, and the Prophetic Spirit, and we pay homage to them in reason and truth, and pass His doctrine on intact to everyone who wishes to learn it.

2 Literally: 'and the other good angels.' Two difficulties arise from this passage. (I) Justin seems to imply that Christ, too, is one of the angels; but 'other' (allos) is in Greek often used pleonastically for the second of two separate subjects, meaning no more than 'in addition: Cf. also French now autres citoyens, 'we citizens: (2) The passage would commit Justin to the worship of angels. That this was not his teaching is clear from Chapters 111, 16, and 61. Various attempts at another translation of the passage have been made by making the words, 'the legion of other good angels; in one or the other way contingent upon the verb 'taught: The translation would then be, 'taught these things to us and to the legion of other good angels’; or, still differently: 'taught us about these things, and about the legion of other good angels’: A third explanatory translation would refer the word 'revere' to the angels and the word 'worship' to the Holy Trinity. (The First Apology, pp. 38-39)

Chapter 13

What sensible person will not admit that we are not atheists, since we worship the Creator of this world and assert, as we have been taught, that He has no need of bloody sacrifices, libations, and incense. But we praise Him to the best of our power by prayer and thanksgiving for all our nourishment.¹ We have been instructed that the only worship worthy of Him is not to consume by fire those things that He created for our sustenance, but to employ them for the good of ourselves and the needy, and, with thankful voices, to offer Him solemn prayers and hymns² for our own creation, for the preservation of our health, for the variety of things, and for the changes of the seasons, and to beseech Him in prayer that we may rise to life everlasting because of our faith in Him. Our Teacher of these things is Jesus Christ, who was born for this end, and who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea, in the reign of Tiberius Caesar. We shall prove that we worship Him with reason, since we have learned that He is the Son of the living God Himself, and believe Him to be in the second place, and the Prophetic Spirit in the third.³ For this they accuse us of madness, saying that we attribute to a crucified man a place second to the unchanging and eternal God, the Creator of all things, but they are ignorant of the mystery which lies herein. To this mystery we entreat you to give your attention, while we explain it to you. (Ibid., pp. 45-46)

Chapter 32

Indeed, Moses, the first of the Prophets, spoke literally in these words: 'The sceptre shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh, until He come for whom it is reserved; and He shall be the desire of nations, tying His foal to the vine, washing His robe in the blood of the grape.'¹ It is up to you to make a thorough investigation and to learn up to what time the Jews had their own ruler and king. [They had a ruler] until the coming of Jesus Christ our Teacher, and Expounder of the prophecies that were not then understood, as the divine and holy Prophetic Spirit predicted through Moses: 'The ruler will not depart from Juda, until He come, for whom the kingdom is reserved.' For Juda was the forefather of the Jews, and from him they derive their name; and after He [Christ] appeared you started to rule the Jews, and have become masters of their whole country. But the prophecy, 'He shall be the desire of nations,' meant that people from all nations would look for His second coming, as you yourselves can see with your own eyes and be convinced by factual evidence; for men of every nation look for Him who was crucified in Judea, after whose coming the country of the Jews was immediately given over to you as booty of war. And the words, 'tying His foal to the vine, and washing His robe in the blood of the grape,' allegorically signified the things that would befall Christ, and the deeds that He would perform. For the foal of a donkey stood tied to a vine² at the entrance to a village, and He ordered His disciples to lead it to Him, and when this was done, He mounted and sat upon it, and entered Jerusalem, where was located the greatest Jewish temple, which you later destroyed. After this He was crucified, in order that the rest of the prophecy be verified, for the words, 'washing His robe in the blood of the grape,' were a forewarning of the passion He was to endure, purifying with His blood those who believe in Him. For, what the Divine Spirit called through the prophet 'His robe' are those believers in Christ, in whom dwells the seed³ of God, namely, the Word. And the saying, 'the blood of the grape,' means that He who was to appear would have blood, though not through the seed of man, but through the power of God. The first power after God the Father and Lord of all things is the Word, who is also His Son, who assumed human flesh and became man in the manner which we shall presently explain. For, just as God, not man, made the blood of the grape, so was it indicated also that this blood would not arise from human seed, but from the power of God, as we stated above. Another Prophet, Isaias, expressing the thoughts in different language, spoke thus: 'A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a flower shall spring from the root of Jesse, and in His arm shall nations trust.'⁴ Indeed, a brilliant star has arisen, and a flower has sprung up from the root of Jesse-this is Christ. For, by God's power He was conceived by a virgin who was a descendant of Jacob, who was the father of Juda, the above-mentioned father of the Jewish race; and Jesse was His forefather according to this prophecy, and He was the son of Jacob and Juda according to lineage. (Ibid., pp. 68-70)

Chapter 44

Indeed, the Holy Prophetic Spirit taught us this when He informed us through Moses that God spoke the following words to the first man: 'Behold, before thy face are good and evil, choose the good.'¹ And again, through Isaias, another Prophet, as from God the Father and Lord of the universe, the following words were spoken in the same vein: 'Wash yourselves, be clean; banish sin from your souls, learn to do well; judge for the fatherless, and defend the widow; and then come and let us reason together, saith the Lord: And if your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool; and if they be red as crimson, I will make them white as snow. And if you be willing and will hearken to Me, you shall eat the good things of the land; but if you will not hear Me, the sword shall devour you. For thus has spoken the mouth of the Lord.'² The words, 'The sword shall devour you,' do not mean that the disobedient will be put to death by swords, but that the sword of God is the fire of which those who choose to do evil shall be made the fuel. Therefore, He says: 'The sword shall devour you: for thus has spoken the mouth of the Lord.' If, however, He had meant a sword that cuts and immediately destroys, He would not have used the expression, 'shall devour.' Plato, too, when he stated: 'To him who chooses belongs the guilt, but in God there is no guilt,^'3 borrowed the thought from the Prophet Moses. Indeed, Moses is more ancient than all the Greek authors, and everything the philosophers and poets said in speaking about the immortality of the soul, or retribution after death, or speculation on celestial matters, or other similar doctrines, they took from the Prophets as the source of information, and from them they have been able to understand and explain these matters. Thus, the seeds of truth seem to be among all men, but that they did not grasp their exact meaning is evident from the fact that they contradict themselves. So, if we declare that future events have been predicted, by that we do not claim that they take place by the necessity of fate. But, since God has foreknowledge of what all men will do, and has ordained that each man will be rewarded in accordance with the merit of his actions, foretells through the Prophetic Spirit that He Himself will reward them in accordance with the merit of their deeds, ever urging men to reflection and remembrance, proving that He both cares and provides for them. But at the instigation of the wicked demons, the punishment of death has been decreed' against those who read the books of Hystaspes, or the Sibyl, or the Prophets, in order that they may, through fear, stop prospective readers from acquiring a knowledge of fine things, and keep them as their own slaves; which they were not completely able to do. For, not only do we read those books without fear, but, as you see, we offer them to you to inspect, confident that their contents will please everyone. Even if we persuade only a few, we shall obtain very great rewards, for, like good laborers, we shall receive recompense from the Master. (Ibid., pp. 80-82)

Chapter 61

Lest we be judged unfair in this exposition, we will not fail to explain¹ how we consecrated ourselves to God when we were regenerated through Christ. Those who are convinced and believe what we say and teach is the truth, and pledge themselves to be able to live accordingly, are taught in prayer and fasting to ask God to forgive their past sins, while we pray and fast with them. Then we lead them to a place where there is water, and they are regenerated in the same manner in which we ourselves were regenerated. In the name of God, the Father and Lord of all, and of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost,² they then receive the washing with water. For Christ said: 'Unless you be born again, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.'³ Now, it is clear to everyone how impossible it is for those who have been born once to enter their mothers' wombs again. Isaias the Prophet explained, as we already stated, how those who have sinned and then repented shall be freed of their sins. These are his words: 'Wash yourselves, be clean, banish sin from your souls; learn to do well: judge for the fatherless and defend the widow; and then come and let us reason together, saith the Lord. And if your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool; and if they be red as crimson, I will make them white as snow. But if you will not hear me, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.'⁴ And this is the reason, taught to us by the Apostles, why we baptize the way we do. We were totally unaware of our first birth, and were born of necessity from fluid seed through the mutual union of our parents, and were trained in wicked and sinful customs. In order that we do not continue as children of necessity and ignorance, but of deliberate choice and knowledge, and in order to obtain in the water the forgiveness of past sins, there is invoked over the one who wishes to be regenerated, and who is repentant of his sins, the name of God, the Father and Lord of all; he who leads the person to be baptized to the laver calls him by this name only. For, no one is permitted to utter the name of the ineffable God, and if anyone ventures to affirm that His name can be pronounced, such a person is hopelessly mad. This washing is called illumination,⁵ since they who learn these things become illuminated intellectually. Furthermore, the illuminated one is also baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Spirit, who predicted through the Prophets everything concerning Jesus. (Ibid., pp. 99-100)

Chapter 63

Even now, all Jews teach that the ineffable God spoke to Moses. Wherefore, the Prophetic Spirit, censuring the Jews through Isaias, the above-mentioned Prophet, said: 'The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel hath not known Me, and My people hath not understood Me.'¹ Because the Jews did not know the nature of the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ likewise upbraided them, saying: 'No one knows the Father except the Son; nor does anyone know the Son except the Father, and those to whom the Son will reveal Him.'² Now, the Word of God is His Son, as we have already stated, and He is called Angel and Apostle; for, as Angel He announces all that we must know, and [as Apostle] He is sent forth to inform us of what has been revealed, as our Lord Himself says: 'He that heareth Me, heareth Him that sent Me.'³ This will be further clarified from the following words of Moses: 'And the Angel of God spoke to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush and said, "I AM WHO AM, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of your fathers; go down into Egypt, and bring forth My people."'⁴ If you are curious to know what happened after this, you can find out by consulting these same Mosaic writings, for it is impossible to recount everything in this work. What has been written has been here set down to prove that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and His Apostle, being of old the Word, appearing at one time in the form of fire, at another under the guise of incorporeal beings [i. e., as an angel], but now, at the will of God, after becoming man for mankind, He bore all the torments which the demons prompted the rabid Jews to wreak upon Him. Although it is explicitly stated in the Mosaic writings: 'And the Angel of God spoke to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush and said, "I AM WHO AM, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,"'⁶ the Jews assert that it was the Father and Maker of all things who spoke thus. Hence, the Prophetic Spirit reproaches them, saying: 'Israel hath not known Me, and My people hath not understood Me.'⁶ And again, as we have already shown, Jesus, while still in their midst, said: 'No one knows the Father except the Son, nor does anyone know the Son except the Father, and those to whom the Son will reveal Him.'⁷ The Jews, therefore, always of the opinion that the Universal Father spoke to Moses, while in fact it was the very Son of God, who is styled both Angel and Apostle, were justly reproached by BOTH the Prophetic Spirit AND by Christ Himself, since they knew neither the Father nor the Son. For, they who claim that the Son is the Father are reproached for knowing neither the Father nor that the Father of all has a Son, who, as the First-born Word of God, is also God. He once appeared to Moses and the other prophets in the form of fire and in the guise of an angel, but now in the time of your reign, after He became man by a virgin, as we already stated, by the design of God the Father, to effect the salvation of those believing in Him, He permitted Himself to be an object of contempt and to suffer pain, so that by dying and arising from the dead He might conquer death. But what was proclaimed to Moses from the bush: 'I AM WHO AM, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of your fathers,'⁸ meant that those who had died were still in existence, and belonged to Christ Himself. For they were the first of all to occupy themselves in searching for God; Abraham being the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, as was written by Moses. (Ibid., pp. 101-104)

Chapter 67

Henceforward, we constantly remind one another of these things. The rich among us come to the aid of the poor, and we always stay together. For all the favors we enjoy we bless the Creator of all, through His Son Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit. On the day which is called Sunday we have a common assembly of all who live in the cities or in the outlying districts, and the memoirs of the Apostles or the writings of the Prophets are read, as long as there is time. Then, when the reader has finished, the president of the assembly verbally admonishes and invites all to imitate such examples of virtue. Then we all stand up together and offer up our prayers, and, as we said before, after we finish our prayers, bread and wine and water are presented. He who presides likewise offers up prayers and thanksgivings, to the best of his ability, and the people express their approval by saying 'Amen.' The Eucharistic elements are distributed and consumed by those present, and to those who are absent they are sent through the deacons. The wealthy, if they wish, contribute whatever they desire, and the collection is placed in the custody of the president. [With it] he helps the orphans and widows, those who are needy because of sickness or any other reason, and the captives and strangers in our midst; in short, he takes care of all those in need. Sunday, indeed, is the day on which we all hold our common assembly because it is the first day on which God, transforming the darkness and [prime] matter, created the world;¹ and our Savior Jesus Christ arose from the dead on the same day. For they crucified Him on the day before that of Saturn, and on the day after, which is Sunday, He appeared to His Apostles and disciples, and taught them the things which we have passed on to you also for consideration. (Ibid., pp. 106-107)

Further Reading

AN ORTHODOX’S MISREADING OF JUSTIN

Revisiting Shabir Ally’s Distortion of Justin Martyr Pt. 2, Pt. 2

Justin Martyr: No Other God But Jesus

Justin: The Father’s Glory is the Son’s Glory

Justin’s Christology Revisited Once Again

Justin on Christ as the Incorruptible Word of God

JUSTIN MARTYR'S CHRISTOLOGY REVISITED

Justin Martyr on Christ’s Eternal Deity