Justin Martyr

With gratitude to the Maker of the universe, by invocations and hymns, we offer thanks for our creation, for all the means of health, for the various qualities of the different kinds of things, and for the changes of the seasons, and we present petitions before Him that we may exist again in incorruption through faith in Him.

A Patristic Treasury: Early Church Wisdom for Today, edited by James R. Payton, Jr.

All cited passages are from Justin Martyr, unless otherwise noted.

God

But to the Father of all, who is unbegotten, no name is given.  When one is given a name, he has as his elder the person who gives him the name… “God” is not a name, but an intuition implanted in the nature of human beings of things that can hardly be explained.

God cannot be called by any proper name, for names are given to mark out and distinguish their subject matter, because these are many and diverse; but no one existed before God who could give Him a name, nor did He Himself think it right to name Himself since He is one and unique.

These are interesting explorations on the subject of God’s lack of a name.  Still: He has no name, yet we are to praise His name – the name He doesn’t have.  There is something to all of this, perhaps, but it is beyond my understanding.  Or, maybe, better to approach it as a child….

We shall not injure God by remaining ignorant of Him, but we shall deprive ourselves of His friendship.

To the extent we can – limited in general as creatures and each of us suffering our own individual limitations – we must learn of God’s nature and being.  How can He be our friend if we know nothing of Him?  In this, I find it unfortunate that the Nicene Creed is not stated regularly even in Protestant churches.

The God of the Christians is not circumscribed by place, being invisible.  He fills heaven and earth, and everywhere He is worshipped and glorified by the faithful.

-          The Martyrdom of Justin

Christ

The Son of God became human by a virgin in order that the disobedience which preceded from the serpent might receive its destruction in the same manner in which it derived its origin.  For Eve, who was a virgin and undefiled, having conceived the word of the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death.

The word (small “w”) of the serpent conceived – lying to Eve, playing on pride.  An interesting parallel to the Word of God in Creation and in the Son of God.  God created by speaking – the Word of God.

I think some Protestants greatly limit the understanding of the word (and Word) of God by keeping it solely focused on the written Scripture.

The Father wished His Son really to undergo such sufferings for our sakes; we may not say that, being the Son of God, He did not feel what was happening to Him and inflicted on Him.

I believe there is some tension on this point, coming down to an understanding of the nature of Jesus Christ, etc.  To me, one of the conflicts that, in reality, is on an issue beyond our understanding: yes, He is God; yes, He is man.  Just how those two exist in one person is beyond human understanding, therefore what and how each nature experienced while in the one person is beyond our understanding.

…[set] a higher value on the Christ of the Almighty God than on your own teachers.

I am coming to learn that if I spend a lifetime studying Jesus – His words and His actions – I could never exhaust the benefit to me.

Our Savior Jesus Christ, who, being the Word of God, inseparable from Him in power….

There is that “Word of God” again….

Creation

God did not make the world aimlessly, but for the sake of the human race.

God’s Promises

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 in like manner have been predicted, but not yet come to pass, shall certainly happen. … He shall come from heaven with glory, accompanied by His angelic host.

Baptism

As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and promise to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting for the remission of their past sins, we pray and fast with them.  Then we bring them where there is water, and they are regenerated in the same manner in which we ourselves were regenerated….

To be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Once again, this is described as a believer’s baptism.  And, once again, I am not in a position to comment on this as opposed to an infant baptism.  I fully expect that there is context and there are reasons for one view as opposed to another.

Eucharist

We call this food the Eucharist, of which none is allowed to partake unless they believe that the things we teach are true….

This is something I have been thinking about for some time.  Not that it is a big issue for me personally, but more that it is a question of dividing the Church.

What things must be believed to be true in order to partake?  The practices are widely varied, but can be simplified into an open communion vs. a closed communion.  Open: between you and God if it is appropriate for you to partake.  Closed: between you and the priest or clergy if it is appropriate for you to partake – usually requiring some process of being catechized, etc.

For me?  If one is baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, then it is between the individual and God regarding partaking of the communion.  It seems quite inappropriate that an individual would stand between such a person and this sacrament.  If one partakes inappropriately, the sin is his – not the priest’s and not the sin of the broader congregation.

Then again, while I do occasionally attend an Orthodox Church (which does allow an open communion), my upbringing is Protestant, so I suspect this influences my thinking.

For we do not receive these as common bread and common drink, as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, we have been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His Word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmission are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.

I recall Jonathan Pageau citing something along the lines: Catholics believe it is real; Protestants believe it is a symbol; Orthodox believe it is real because it is a symbol.  Perhaps the line between the symbol of a thing and the thing itself need not be made so thick.

Sunday

But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and it is the day on which Jesus Christ our Savior rose from the dead.

I have always heard the second reason; the first one is new to me.  Was the Resurrection as significant an event as the first day on which God changed nothing into something?  Does it mean something similar?  Was it the same event (in its meaning) in a different form? 

On the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together in one place…

Gather together.  How easily this was given up a few years ago, and especially in the institutional denominations like the Orthodox and the Catholic.

Justin Martyr then outlines the order of worship: the memoirs of the apostles or writings of the prophets are read “as long as time permits”; the president verbally instructs and exhorts to the imitation of these good things; then prayer; then the bread and wine are brought forward and distributed, to include more prayer and thanksgiving.

Now, there are many things not outlined here that are incorporated today in the more traditional liturgies.  Not to say that Justin gave an exhaustive list (for example, we know hymns were sung in the earliest gatherings), yet at the same time not to ignore the almost certain reality that the traditional Churches added ever more elaborate practices over time.

“The Church of the apostles”; “Come home to Rome.”  I find arrogance and pride in both statements, and neither really rings true to me when examined through an historical lens.

Truth

Our doctrines are greater than all human teaching. … Adjudged soberly, our doctrines are not shameful; indeed, they are loftier than all human philosophy.

Yes, this is quite true.

Whatever things were rightly said among all people are the property of the Christians.

God breathed into man.  All men search for truth.  All things that are true in creation are from God.  This is why, for example, C.S. Lewis can write the appendix in The Abolition of Man, citing common truths found across various cultures and traditions.

I am entirely convinced that no Scripture contradicts another.  I shall admit rather that I do not understand what is recorded, and shall strive to persuade those who imagine that the Scriptures are contradictory to be of the same opinion [about Scripture] as myself.

For me, this is the only way to approach Scripture.  If something seems contradictory, I take on faith that the shortcoming is mine.

Accurate investigation of matters, examining the question with a more searching scrutiny, often reveals that things which have passed for excellent are of quite another sort.

When I was a child, I thought like a child.  Think back on the philosophies, politics, cultural trappings, etc., that once seemed so true and most important.  As time passes, they all seem secondary, even irrelevant or destructive.

The substance of our religion consists in works not in words.

True faith results in works.  This is why I find the faith / works debate tiring.  To the human understanding, the appearance and actions are the same.  One who is faithful does good works.  An outsider cannot see or know anything more than this, therefore I don’t get hung up about this issue.

As long as it is clear that God takes the first step!

Man

Only with difficulty can the soul be recalled to those good things from which it has fallen; with difficulty is it dragged away from those evils to which it has become accustomed.

Our fallen nature prefers those evils.  It is only with a new nature (call it “born again” if you like) that such change is possible.

Sound doctrine does not enter into the hard and disobedient heart.

There is a parable of the sower or soils that Jesus uses to demonstrate this. 

To yield and give way to our passions is the lowest slavery; to rule over them is the only liberty.

To live as we were intended is the highest freedom.  We are intended to live a life aimed at something higher than our passions.

Biography

Justin Martyr’s (c. 100 – 165) quest for truth led him to Christianity.  Having eventually come to the Platonism of his day, he still wasn’t fully satisfied.  Coming to a faith in Christ, he would set up a school in Rome.

Epilogue

Just a comment.  I am cautiously aware that I am considering as somewhat unimportant distinctions many doctrines that are extremely relevant to many Christians…and that I may be in significant error by doing so.  This has come through clearly in this post – on baptism, the Eucharist, faith & works, etc. 

But…what are the essentials?  Yes, we should have an understanding and general agreement of just who this God is that we worship (although even here I find the debates among Trinitarian Christians incomprehensible in the details, such as in the debate regarding Chalcedon). 

Beyond this, do we not find these essentials in the Sermon on the Mount or in the apostle Peter’s first, tremendously successful, sermon, or in the apostle Paul’s guidance for living the Christian life?