40 Facts About Justin Martyr

Justin Martyr, known as Justin the Philosopher, was an early Christian apologist and philosopher.

Justin Martyr knew little or no Hebrew and Aramaic, and had only a passing acquaintance with Judaism.

Justin Martyr says he tried first the school of a Stoic philosopher, who was unable to explain God's being to him.

Justin Martyr then attended a Peripatetic philosopher but was put off because the philosopher was too eager for his fee.

Justin Martyr then adopted the dress of a philosopher himself and traveled about teaching.

Justin Martyr was tried, together with six friends, by the urban prefect Junius Rusticus, and was beheaded.

Justin Martyr says: No one in his right mind gives up piety for impiety.

The earliest mention of Justin Martyr is found in the Oratio ad Graecos by his student Tatian who, after calling him "the most admirable Justin Martyr", quotes a saying of his and says that the Cynic Crescens laid snares for him.

Internal textual evidence shows that multiple older manuscripts were used to create this one, which strongly suggests that it must have originated in a major population center like Mistra, since libraries holding Justin Martyr were already rare by 1364.

The Against Marcion is lost, as is the Refutation of all Heresies to which Justin himself refers in Apology, i 26; Hegesippus, besides perhaps Irenaeus and Tertullian, seems to have used it.

Justin Martyr was confident that his teaching was that of the Church at large.

Justin Martyr knows of a division among the orthodox only on the question of the millennium and on the attitude toward the milder Jewish Christianity, which he personally is willing to tolerate as long as its professors in their turn do not interfere with the liberty of the Gentile converts; his millenarianism seems to have no connection with Judaism, but he believes firmly in a millennium, and generally in the Christian eschatology.

Opposition to Judaism was common among church leaders in his day; however, Justin Martyr was hostile towards Jewry and regarded Jews as an accursed people.

Justin Martyr defended the Holy Spirit as a member of the Trinity, as well as the virginal birth of Jesus Christ.

The Encyclopedia states that Justin Martyr places the genesis of the Logos as a voluntary act of the Father at the beginning of creation, noting that this is an "unfortunate" conflict with later Christian teachings.

Papias uses a similar term meaning "remembered" when describing how Mark accurately recorded the "recollections of Peter", and Justin Martyr uses it in reference to Peter in Dial.

Therefore, according to Koester, it is likely that Justin Martyr applied the name "memoirs of the apostles" analogously to indicate the trustworthy recollections of the apostles found in the written record of the gospels.

Justin Martyr expounded on the gospel texts as an accurate recording of the fulfillment of prophecy, which he combined with quotations of the prophets of Israel from the LXX to demonstrate a proof from prophecy of the Christian kerygma.

Koester articulates a majority view among scholars that Justin considered the "memoirs of the apostles" to be accurate historical records but not inspired writings, whereas scholar Charles E Hill, though acknowledging the position of mainstream scholarship, contends that Justin regarded the fulfillment quotations of the gospels to be equal in authority.

However, Koester contends that Justin Martyr obtained this saying from a baptismal liturgy rather than a written gospel.

Justin Martyr uses language very similar to that of John 1:20 and 1:28.

Furthermore, by employing the term "memoirs of the apostles" and distinguishing them from the writings of their "followers", Justin Martyr must have been of the belief that at least two gospels were written by actual apostles.

Scholar Brooke Foss Westcott notes that this reference to the author of the single prophetic book of the New Testament illustrates the distinction Justin Martyr made between the role of prophecy and fulfillment quotations from the gospels, as Justin Martyr does not mention any of the individual canonical gospels by name.

Justin Martyr refers to Justin's primary source for demonstrating scriptural proofs in the First Apology and parallel passages in the Dialogue as a "kerygma source".

Justin Martyr brings in biblical quotes verbatim from these sources, and he often appears to be paraphrasing his sources very closely, even in his interpretive remarks.

Justin Martyr occasionally uses the Gospel of Matthew directly as a source for Old Testament prophecies to supplement his testimony sources.

Koester suggests that Justin Martyr had composed an early harmony along the lines of his pupil Tatian's Diatesseron.

The question of whether the harmonized gospel materials found in Justin Martyr's writings came from a preexisting gospel harmony or were assembled as part of an integral process of creating scriptural prooftexts is an ongoing subject of scholarly investigation.

Justin Martyr then rearranged and expanded these testimonia to create his First Apology.

In both cases, Justin Martyr is using the same harmonized text of Matthew and Luke, although neither of the quotations includes the entire text of those gospel passages.

Justin Martyr excerpted and rearranged the catechetical sayings material to create Apol.

Justin Martyr includes a tract on Greek mythology in 1 Apol.

Justin Martyr's writings constitute a storehouse of early interpretation of the prophetic Scriptures.

Justin Martyr considered the Old Testament an inspired guide and counselor.

Justin Martyr was converted by a Christian philosopher whom he paraphrased as saying:.

Justin Martyr listed the following events as fulfillments of Bible prophecy:.

Justin Martyr connected the Second Advent with the climax of the prophecy of Daniel 7.

Daniel's "time, times, and a half", Justin Martyr believed, was nearing its consummation, when the Antichrist would speak his blasphemies against the Most High.

Justin Martyr's statements are some of the earliest Christian expressions on the Eucharist.

Justin Martyr was born of the very substance of the Father, not that this substance was divided, but Justin Martyr proceeds from it as one fire does from another at which it is lit ; this form of production is compared with that of human speech.