The first apology of Justin Martyr, addressed to the Emperor Antoninus Pius : prefaced by some account of the writings and opinions of Justin Martyr online

sorrow, and death into the world, but Adam's disobedience.
God, however, when He cast our first parents out of Paradise,
determined in His mercy that they should not continue for
ever in sin ; but having been punished by banishment, and
disciplined for an appointed time, should be restored to
Paradise. This restoration will take place after the resurrec-
tion. For as an earthen vessel which has a flaw is broken up
and formed anew, by the potter, that it may be sound and
perfect, so man is broken to pieces by the power of death,
that he may be rendered soimd in the resurrection ; that is to
say, without spot, just and immortal." In conformity to this

mediate state of man in p. 103 C. " If God had created man immortal,
He would have made him a god ; if mortal, God would have appeared to
be the author of his death. Man was therefore made capable of both
conditions : that, keeping the commandment of God, he might receive
immortality as a reward, and become a god ; or, disobeying God, might
be the author to himself of death," Theophilus says that the majority
deemed the soul immortal, because God breathed the breath of life into
Adam's nostrils, p. 97 C.

^ s't< Ti Ku.\ S'M a.<ia!hux,^iU. Justin uses the expression, tsXs/a/ y-voi^'ivu,
" having become perfect. " Dial, p. 225 D. Man is called v'Ka.irfA.u. ku.)
iixuv &SOU, "a figure and image of God." L. i. p. 72 A.

2 P. 102 A. The Benedictine editors employ a chapter of their Preface
in proving that Theophilus, when he calls Adam an infant, speaks
metaphorically.



142 So7ne Account of the

view of Adam's original state and fall, Theophilus states that
God created him free.'

Though I find nothing in the three books of Theophilus
which has a direct bearing on the question of justification,
there is in the first book a passage, p. 74 D, deserving notice,
in which he describes faith as the moving principle of human
conduct. With respect to the Divine Providence, Theophilus
says,^ that it may be traced in the provision made, that every
kind of flesh should have its appropriate food. " The care of
God," he says in another place,^ " extends to the dead as
well as to the living."

P. 65, note 3. The expression 8ta rov Trap' avrou {jov

0€o{)) A.oyov occurs repeatedly in Athenagoras, pp. 5 C, 1 1 A,

12 D, 17 D, 34 D. In all these instances it is to be under-
stood of the Xoyo9.

P. 67. Justin speaks of the renunciation of all worldly
things, but not with any direct reference to the profession
made in baptism, p. 348 A. I find in Tatian no express
reference either to baptism or the Eucharist. A passage has
already been cited, in which he speaks of himself as " born
anew according to the imitation of the Word."^

Athenagoras is also silent respecting the Christian sacra-
ments. In defending the Christians against the charge of
not offering sacrifices to the gods, he says that the best

^ \X%'jhfo)i yap kx) oclri^ovfftov l-proiyinv o @sos rov avipuTrov, " God created
man free and independent," p. 103 D. So also tov Hv^pu'rav Kvpio\ ovra
uy,upTr,(Ta.i, " man had failed to be a lord," L. ii. p. 96 B.

" r»jv T£ "^povoiccv '/jv ToisTrai o &-o;, \'~otfjt,a,Z,uv rpoipriv Taff^i rrccpKi, L, i,
p. 'J'^ A. See also L. iii. p. 122 D. kou Tpavola, ra Tavrct lmKi7(r0(ti
I'Triffraf/.i^it, " And we know that all things were ordered by Providence."

^ L. ii. p. 116 B.

â– * xxyeo xxTO. T/)v rod X'oyov y-if^ntriv avwy-vvyihi;, p. I45 C. See note 28.



Writings of /us tin Martyr. 143

sacrifice is to know the true God, and to approach Him
with pure upHfted hands. ^ He requires only a bloodless
sacrifice, and a reasonable worship.

Theophilus, on one occasion,-^ says that Christians are so
called, because they are anointed with the oil of God; but
whether he meant to allude to the practice of anointing as a
part of the ceremony of baptism, or, figuratively, to the unction
of the Holy Spirit, is uncertain. On another occasion he says ^
that God, in the work of creation, blessed the creatures
inhabiting the waters, to show that hereafter all who come to
the truth, and are regenerated and receive a blessing from
God, shall obtain repentance and remission of sins through
water and the laver of regeneration. Theophilus twice uses
the word iiofioXoyrja-Ls to express that confession of sin which
originates in genuine repentance, but not with any reference
to ecclesiastical discipline.^

P. 73, note I. In 1. 2, p. 91 D, Theophilus says, m fxr]i>

Kttt Trept T^S £/38o>>/s rjix^pas, rjv Trarres fikv avOpoiiroi ovofxdiovaiv,
ol Bk TrXeious ayvoovcnv otl Trap 'E/3paLOLS o KaXctrat <rd^/3aT0V

1 ^XXa hffid otlr^ f^tyUrn, iiv yiyvc^Jtr^ur^iv rU lliriivi xa)^ ffvnit^xipcoffi
rov; ovfKvovs—orccv—Wi>tipo^f^iv off'iov, x'^ipa,-, c^vrZ, 'Zo'icti srt ZP^'"^'^ iKO-Toy-r^ns
'ixu ; . . . >cairoi â– 7epoff(pipuv Uov &ml/^ci>crsv ^v/tc^.v, y.cc) rh Xoytx.h ^potrayuf
Xarfiiccv. Legatio, p. 13 B, C, D. , «

2 roiyapoZ, hf^ili Tovrov ^Uxiv zaXouf^'Jc^ Xpt^rtavcr or, zp'°f''^"' '^''"'

&iov. L. i. p. 77 C. , „ r ■

3 'in f^h Kct\ ihXoy^.h v^o rod @ioZ rk Ik tuv lUrm yivcf^Am, o'Tco; r,^ Km
Tn'Cro us hTyf^c, ro~v /^^XXs/v X«^/3«v£/v rch; kv6p<^<Tov', y.iri.,oi<^^ ku^ ^la^,
Lu,o,pr,Z, hk l^ccro; kc,) Xovrpod '^c^XtyyiU^icc; ^ivT«j roh; ^ ^poo'^ivrcc;^ rv «X-^
hia Kx) kvxyivva>/iyovs koc) X«^/3«v«vT«f ibXoylc^v ^ocpk roZ @tov, L. U.

p '95 B TertuUian calls Christians Pisciculi, de Baptismo, c. i. See
my work on that author, c. i, note 73- Theophilus has been supposed to
allude to baptism in the concluding words of the third book, o^.s .^V
.if.(^o>.c. k.) «7;«/5.~v« rr>^ clx.hl.s, "That you may have a symbol and
earnest of the truth."

* L. ii. pp. 103 B, 105 C.



144 Some Accotint of the \

6vofxat,€TaL fxkv, oi fjv 8e atrial' KaXovcrtv avryv ovk liridTavrai.

P. 75. Tatian, as we have seen, agrees with his master,
Justin, in affirming that the soul is not immortal. "The soul,
O Grecians, is not immortal in itself, but mortal. It may,
however, escape death. For, being ignorant of the truth, it
dies and is dissolved together with the body; and rises again
together with the body at the consummation of all things,
suffering death by a punishment of eternal duration. On the
other hand, having obtained the knowledge of God, it dies
not, though it is dissolved for a time. For in itself it is dark-
ness, and there is no light in it." ^ In a subsequent passage
he says that "the soul is not simple, but complex — being
compound, so as to be visible through the body. For neither
can it appear without the body, nor does the flesh rise again
without the soul. Man is not, as some babblers affirm, a
rational animal, capable of intelligence and knowledge. For
irrational creatures will be shown to be, according to them,
capable of intelligence and knowledge." ^ On another occasion
he says that the soul is the bond of (that which keeps to-
gether) the flesh, and that the flesh holds in the soul.^

Viewing these passages in connexion with others already
quoted in this chapter,* we find that Tatian conceived man to
consist of a body and soul. The soul is a portion of the
spirit pervading matter, and consequently not in itself im-
mortal ; and the union between the soul and body is dissolved
by death. But after the consummation of all things the body
will rise again,^ and the soul be reunited to it, and the general

^ P. 152 B, quoted in p. 134. 2 p j^^ D.

^ ^icTf/.o; Ti TYii ffo-fKos "^v^'/i, cr^iTiKri ^i Tijs '4'vx,7t; h ffdp^, p. 154 B,
quoted in p. 187. ^ pp_ 124-138.

'' P. 145 D. We find Iv hf^'^pa ffvvnXuKs wpo; aiuviov (iopx Txpoc^o^ioo-STiniy
"On the day of consummation it will be delivered to the gluttony of



W74tings of Justin Martyr. 145

judgment will take place. They who have during this life
endeavoured to unite their souls to the Divine Spirit will
attain to an eternity of happiness ; they who have allowed
their souls to sink downwards, and to be occupied entirely
with material things, will be doomed to an eternity of
misery.

According to Athenagoras, God made man of an immortal
soul and a body, and gave him intelligence, and a law im-
planted in his nature.^ If, however, the soul unites itself to
the spirit pervading matter, and looks not upwards to the
heavens and to their Creator, but downwards to the earth, as
if it was mere flesh and blood, it ceases to be a pure spirit."
The opinions of Athenagoras,^ respecting the resurrection of
the body, are detailed in the tract which he wrote expressly on
that subject. In it may be found nearly all the arguments
which human reason has been able to advance in support of
the doctrine.



eternal fire," p. 155 D. Tatian affirms that above the visible heavens
exist the better ages, a.]u)m o\ Kpurrovi;, having no change of seasons, from
vi^hich various diseases take their origin ; but blessed with an uniform
goodness of temperature, they enjoy perpetual day, and light inaccessible
to men who dwell here below, p. 159 A. In contradistinction from
those better ages, he calls the present state of things rohs xaf hf^a; aiava;,
p. 145 p. ^

^ KOid' nv I'To'i'/iffiv a.v^pcd'Trov la ^v^T^s a^xvuTOi/ zcii irctj//.ce,7o;, vow ri ffvyKKTiff-

Kivuffiv avTu Kou vofA,ov s/u,(pvTov, X. r. l. De Mort. Res. p. 54 A. Compare
Legatio, p. 31 A.

^ -ffKff^it Hi rovro '4^tJX^ fJi.at.'kia'Ttt. rov uXixov '7rpoiTXix.p>ov(rce, xot.) Wt(fvyKpvJiiira,
Tvivfji,a,roi, ol Tpo; ra. olpoivKX, xcu rov rovruv -roiHThv, aXXx xcctu <rpos to. i-Triyna,
(hxWovtra, x-aSoXiKu; {lU y*iv f. om.) us (Jt-'o'/ov cuy.a. xcc) ffkp^, ovkiti -^vivf^a,
KocSocpov yiyvoy-ivn. LegatlO, p. 3^ C.

^ In the Legatio, Athenagoras says that after death the good will remain
with God, exempt from change and suffering as to their soul ; not as flesh,
though they will have flesh, but as an heavenly spirit, p. 35 D. See also
p. 39 B, C, where he intimates an intention of writing expressly on the
resurrection of the body.



146 Some Accottnf of the

We have seen that Theophilus describes Adam as neither
mortal nor immortal when created, but capable of either con-
dition.^ In order to obtain immortality, man must believe in
God and fear Him.^ For God will raise up his flesh in a
state of immortality together with his soul ; and, being made
immortal, he will see God perfectly. Theophilus speaks of
the punishment to be undergone by the wicked hereafter as
eternal.^ We have remarked that, according to Theophilus,
man will, after the resurrection, be restored to Paradise,^ which
he describes as situated on this earth, in the eastern parts,
refulgent with light, and abounding in beautiful plants.^

P. 79. In stating Tatian's notions respecting the fall of
man, we quoted a passage in which it is said that, before the
creation of man, the Aoyos created angels, who were endowed
with freedom;^ that one of these angels, to whom Tatian
applies the epithet " first-born," being more subtle than the
rest," rebelled against the divine law, and persuaded others
to join him in- his revolt, and to proclaim him as a god.
That, in consequence of this revolt, he and his followers were
excluded from the divine intercourse, and became a host of
demons, he being their chief. They taught men to believe that
all events happened by a fatal necessity,^ being dependent

1 P. 193. He says, also, that the majority conchided the soul to be
immortal, because God is said in Scripture to have breathed into Adam's
nostrils the breath of life, and thus to have made him a living soul. L. ii.
p. 97 C.

- L. i. p. 74 C. In p. 77 D, Theophilus urges some of the common
arguments, in order to show that the resurrection of the body is probable.
See also 1. ii. pp. 93 B, 94 D.

3 L. i. p. 79 A, C ; 1. ii. p. no D. ^ P. 140.

^ Compare p. 97 D, with p. loi B. '^ P. 133.

^ The Greek word is (ppovii^t-Miipo; {<Pfo'jiiA.uTa,TOi in the Septuagint). The
serpent is described in Gen. iii. as more subtle than any beast of the
field.



Writings of Justin Martyr. 147

upon the position of the stars, of which they drew schemes.
For, when expelled from heaven, they sojourned among the
different animals which either creep on the earth, or swim in
the waters, or range the mountains; and in order that they
might be thought still to dwell in heaven, and might give a
specious appearance to their irrational life, they raised the
creatures among which they lived to heaven, and named the
constellations after them. Hence the names of the signs of
the Zodiac.

In a subsequent passage ^ Tatian says : " The demons (so
you call them), taking their composition from matter, and
having the spirit which is in it, became intemperate and
luxurious ; some of them turning to the purer, some to the
inferior portions of matter, and framing their conduct accord-
ingly. These, O Greeks, you worship, though formed out of
matter, and having deviated far from their appointed and
regular course. For the above-mentioned (demons), turning
aside through their folly to vainglory, and casting off all
control, desired to steal the honours of divinity,— and the
Lord of the universe has permitted them to revel (in their

.r«y uixuff^Unv uffnyrKTKv-TO klxv cihxoy, p. 1 47 A. So p. I48 B.^ Totovrol
rm; Uffiv ol 'Ba.ifji.ovi;, nvToi 01 rh ufiocpu.Ur.v uftffctv' (rrotx-^iuffii Ti uirots h
l^coiTii h, X. r.i. " Such were the demons who traced out their destiny.
But enchantment was their means of making alive." The word ffrotxilu<Tt;
is used with reference to the artifices of the demons, first in producing
diseases, and afterwards in removing them, p. 156 B. Saturn and the
other planets and stars are called rm ui^aff^ivm olxovof^ot, " the managers of
destiny," pp. 149 B, 150 A.

1 P. 151 C. Tatian, as we have seen, held that the ciyyiko; TpuToyovo;,
"first-born angel," and his followers, after their revolt, became demons.
He now appears to be speaking of their subsequent condition, when they
had departed still further from their alleniance to God. The Paris editors
are careful to guard the readers of Tatian against what they term his error,
in supposing that demons are material. Tatian applies the term Uif^o^u,
'' demons," to the heathen gods, p. 165 A.



14B Some Accoimt of the

rebellion) until the world shall come to an end, and be dis-
solved, and the Judge shall appear, and all men who, notwith-
standing the opposition of the demons, aspire to the knowledge
of the perfect God, shall receive through their trials a more
perfect testimony in the day of judgment."

But though the demons are material, they have not flesh. ^
Their composition is spiritual, like that of fire or air. Their
bodies, consequently, cannot be seen, excepting by those who
are guarded by the Spirit of God : those who are only animal
(ot \l/vxiKoV) cannot see them. On this account, also, the sub-
stance of demons has no place of repentance ; for they are the
brightness (aTravydcrixaTa) of matter and evil — and the design
of matter is always to bring the soul within its power. Hence
the sole object of the demons is to lead men away from the
truth. With this view they invented the arts of divination
and set up the Oracles.^ They employ every artifice to
prevent the soul from rising upwards, and pursuing its way
to heaven."''' If they possessed the power, they would drag
down the heavens, together with the rest of the creation ; ^ but,

1 P. 154 C. Talian afterwards says that the demons occasionally ex-
liibited themselves to the -^v^^ixoi, p. 155 B.

- P. 152 B. Compare p. 153 B, where Tatian, after he has observed
that the demons deceive solitary (deserted by the diviner Spirit) souls by
visions, adds that, "as they have not flesh, they do not easily die ; but
even while living they work the works of death, themselves dying as often
as they discipline their followers in sin ; so that what is peculiar to them
at present, viz. that they do not die like men, will, when they come to be
punished, be the cause of their dying through all eternity. The short-
ness of man's existence curtails his power of transgression ; whereas the
demons, whose existence is infinite, contract an infinite guilt." I am not
sure that I understand the author's meaning in this passage, in which he
seems strangely to confound natural with spiritual death ; but I conceive
it to be that no change can take place in the condition of demons, because
they are not subject to death as men are ; they go on sinning to eternity —
a state M'hich he calls eternal death.

' P. 155 A. ' P. 155 C.



Wn tings of Jttstin Ma7'ty7\ 149

as they cannot effect this, they are continually — by means of
the inferior matter — warring against the matter which is similar
to themselves. Successfully to resist them, we must put on
the breastplate of the Heavenly Spirit. One great object of
the demons is, to persuade man that whatever happens to
him, either of good or evil, whether he falls sick or recovers
from sickness, is owing to their agency.^ To this end they
invented amulets, philters, and charms, in order that man
might be induced to trust to them, or, at least, to the pro-
perties of matter, rather than to his Creator.

On one occasion Tatian combats the notion that the
demons are the souls of dead men.^ "For how," he asks,
" can souls become efficient agents after death ? unless we
suppose that man, after death, can acquire greater powers of
action than he possessed while living."

We have seen that Athenagoras speaks of angels to whom
God assigned the office of watching over the well-being of the
universe.^ In a subsequent passage,* having recited the
opinions of the Gentile philosophers respecting demons, he
goes on to explain his own views of the subject. He says
that "Christians, in addition to the Father, the Son His
Word, and the Holy Spirit, acknowledge other powers, con-
versant about matter and pervading it, one of whom is opposed
to God ; not as strife is to friendship in the system of Empe-
docles, or night to day in the phenomena of nature (since
anything actually opposed to God must cease to exist, its very
composition being dissolved by the power and force of God) \
but because to the goodness of God, which is His inseparable

^ P. 155 c.

'- P. 154 D. The passage is corrupt, but the meaning clear.
^ P. 139. See p. II A.

^ Legatio, p. 27 A. I have given the sense rather than a literal
translation of the passage.



150 Some Account of the

attribute, is opposed the spirit conversant with matter, created
indeed by God, as the other angels were created by Him, and
entrusted with the administration of matter and its forms.
For the angels were created by God with reference to His
various works; that, as God exercised a general providence
over the universe, they might exercise a pa7'tiailar providence
over the diiferent parts assigned them. But, as in the case of
men who are free to choose virtue and vice (since you would
neither honour the good nor punish the bad, unless virtue
and vice were in their own power) some are found faithful,
some unfaithful, in that with which they are entrusted ; so of
the angels, some continued such as they were created by God,
fulfilling the ends for which He created and designed them,
but others abused both their nature and the power committed
to them ; among them the ruler of matter and its forms, and
others who were placed immediately around its first firmament ;
they smitten with the desire of women, and yielding to carnal
lusts ; he becoming negligent and faithless about the administra-
tion of that with which he was entrusted. From the intercourse
of the angels with women sprang those who are called giants.
The angels, therefore, who were expelled from heaven, hovering
about the air and earth, and no longer able to elevate themselves
to heavenly things, and the souls of the giants, who are the
demons, wandering about the world, excite motions corre-
sponding, some to the substances which the demons assumed,
others to the desires which the angels felt. But the ruler of
matter, as may be seen from the events which happen, opposes
himself in his whole conduct to the goodness of God. So
much were even the Gentiles struck with the confusion apparent
throughout the world, that they doubted whether it was under
the direction of Providence ; and Aristotle determined that
the parts below the heavens were not. Whereas the general
providence of God extends alike to all things, and each par-
ticular thing follows its own particular law ; but the motions
and influences of the demons introduce these disorders, im-



Writings of Jtistin Martyr, 1 5 1

pelling individuals and nations, in part and generally, from
within and from without, according to the proportion subsist-
ing between matter and the affection to divine things. On
which account, some men of no small repute thought that
the universe was not constituted with any order, but was driven
about by irrational chance ; being ignorant that, with reference
to the composition of the universe, nothing is without its fixed
object, or is neglected, and that there is a reason for the
creation of each part, so that it never transgresses its appointed
order." Then follows a passage already quoted,^ relating to
the original constitution of man ; after which Athenagoras
adds, " The powers which draw men towards idols are the
above-mentioned demons, who settle upon the victims, and
suck the blood ; but the gods, in whom the multitude delights,
and whose names are given to the statues, were men, as we
may know from their respective histories." ^ He then states
that the demons in reality exert the powers which are ascribed
by the vulgar to the idols ; and goes on to explain the mode
in which men are perverted to the worship of idols. ^ His
notion is, that " the irrational and visionary movements of
the soul with respect to opinions, call up different idols ;
sometimes extracting them out of matter ; sometimes framing
and begetting them to themselves. And the soul is principally
subject to this affection, when it lays hold of, and is mixed up
with, the material spirit ; not looking upwards to heavenly things
and to their Maker, but downwards entirely to the earth, as if it
were only flesh and blood, and no longer a pure spirit. These
irrational and visionary movements of the soul beget imagina-

' P. 139.

2 Athenagoras proves this at great length, p. 31 A.

^ P. 30 C. Athenagoras seems in this passage to use the word ithuXov
ambiguously ; either to signify an image presented to the mind, or a
material object of worship. Concerning the powers exerted by the idols,
r«j lihu-km hipyuas, see pp. 1 7 C, 25 A, where Athenagoras admits that
some wonders are wrought by the idols, but says that they ought not to
be ascribed to the gods whose names the idols bear.



152 Some Account of the

tions leading to a mad desire of idols. But when the tender
and flexible soul, untaught, and unacquainted with sound reason-
ings, having never contemplated the truth, or comprehended in
its thought the Father and Maker of the universe, receives the
impression of these false opinions, the demons, who hover
about matter, sucking up the steam and blood of the victims,
laying hold, in order to deceive man, of these movements
of the souls of the multitude which lead to falsehood, cause
images to flow into them, as if proceeding from the idols
and images, the names of which they have appropriated to
themselves. Thus, too, the demons obtain the credit of
those rational movements of the soul which belong to it
as immortal, when it either foretells the future or remedies
the present."

Theophilus appears to have written a work,^ in which he had
said much respecting Satan, whom he describes as still work-
ing in men, and calls a demon and dragon, assigning as the
reason for this latter name that he was a fugitive from God ;
for he was originally an angel. ^ Speaking of the heathen
poets, Theophilus says that they were inspired by demons ;
and in proof of this assertion states that, when men under the
influence of a demoniacal possession were exorcised in the
name of the true God, the spirits which seduced them confessed
themselves to be demons.^

With respect to the gods of the heathen, Theophilus
affirms repeatedly that they were dead men.'* He calls them
also demons, impure demons ; whence we may infer that he
agreed with Athenagoras in thinking, though he does not
expressly say so, that the demons were the instigators of

• L. ii. p. 104 D.

'^ dice. TO K'TTodidpaKivcct uvTov XTfo Tov &10U, p. 104 D.

3 L. ii. p. 87 C.

* L. i. pp. 75 A, 76 A ; 1. ii. pp. 80 D, 86 B, 1 10 A.