Work record

The First Apology

Justin Martyr

Also known as: Apologia Prima · First Apology of Justin Martyr

c. 155 · Ancient · Religious Scripture · Greek

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Abstract

Written: c. 150–155
Setting: Reign of Antoninus Pius (138–161); Rome
Author: Justin Martyr; trans. Marcus Dods and George Reith
Country: Roman Empire
Language: Greek
Genre: Apology (defence speech)
Form: Prose petition in 68 chapters
Recommended: Grades 10–12 (Second-century argument addressed to an emperor; the worship chapters (65-67) are accessible to all.)

Situation. Under Roman practice of the 150s, believers could be executed simply for admitting the name and refusing sacrifice. Ugly rumours about secret meals spread. A teacher who still wore the cloak of a philosopher petitioned the imperial family in Greek.

Plea. He asks for trials on evidence: if no crime is proved, condemnation is unjust to the accused and shameful for the judges. Believers honour the Maker of heaven, keep oaths and marriages, pay tribute and pray for the throne.

Beliefs. The divine Reason that took flesh in Jesus had already given every person a spark of truth; Socrates was condemned for opposing the same demons. Many pages trace Hebrew prophecies forward to the Gospel story, and pagan myths are explained as demonic copies of it.

Worship. Near the end comes a rare eyewitness picture: washing new believers, a meal of bread and mixed wine over which thanks are given, and a weekly gathering where scripture is read, a leader preaches and gifts are shared with the poor.

Afterlife of the text. The author was beheaded about a decade later. His method of finding common ground with philosophers became a model for later defenders of the faith.

Key figures

Justin: Christian philosopher and teacher at Rome
Antoninus Pius: Emperor addressed in the petition
Marcus Aurelius: Adopted son and heir, also addressed
Hadrian: Earlier emperor whose rescript is appended

Summary

The First Apology is a defence of Christianity written in Greek by Justin, a convert and teacher of philosophy at Rome, and addressed to the emperor Antoninus Pius, his adopted sons Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, the Senate and the Roman people. It dates from about 155. 'Apology' here means a formal defence speech, and Justin writes as a petitioner asking for justice on behalf of people 'unjustly hated and wantonly abused'. His first demand is legal. Christians are condemned for the name alone, without any inquiry into their conduct. Justin asks that charges be investigated and that only those proved guilty of crimes be punished; if the emperors refuse, he says, 'you can kill, but not hurt us'. He answers the common accusations that Christians are atheists, immoral or disloyal, explaining that they reject only the gods of the poets, worship the Creator, live chastely, pay their taxes and pray for the rulers. The middle of the book sets out what Christians believe and why. Justin argues that the Word, or Logos, who became man in Jesus, had already been partly present to all people through reason, so that whoever lived by reason, such as Socrates, was in a sense Christian. He gives a long argument from prophecy, showing how the Hebrew Scriptures foretold Christ's birth, death and rising and the spread of the church among the nations, and he claims that Greek myths are demonic imitations of the truth. The closing chapters are among the most valuable sources for early Christian life. Justin describes baptism and the Eucharist and gives the earliest surviving account of Sunday worship: readings from 'the memoirs of the apostles' or the prophets, a sermon, prayers, the bread and wine with water, thanksgiving and a collection for widows, orphans, the sick and strangers. He ends by appending a letter of the emperor Hadrian forbidding mob action against Christians. Justin's appeal to reason and his view of philosophy as a preparation for the gospel shaped later apologists, and his worship chapters are cited in modern discussions of liturgy.

Plot or Argument

Address and demand for justice (1–12)
Justin petitions the emperors to examine Christians' conduct rather than condemn them for the name alone, and denies that they are atheists or criminals.
Christian teaching and morals (13–29)
Christians worship the Creator, follow Christ's moral teaching on chastity, love of enemies and honesty, and obey civil authority.
Proof from prophecy (30–53)
The Hebrew prophets foretold Christ's birth, miracles, death, resurrection and the conversion of the nations.
Demons and imitations (54–64)
Greek myths and rites are presented as demonic counterfeits of the truths the prophets announced.
Baptism, Eucharist and Sunday (65–67)
A description of initiation, the Eucharistic meal and the weekly assembly on the day of the sun.
Conclusion (68)
A final appeal, with Hadrian's rescript on the treatment of Christians appended.

Lessons

Justice before judgment
Justin asks only that accused people be tried on evidence rather than labels, a principle of fairness that reaches far beyond his own case.
- Why does Justin think punishing Christians for the name alone is unjust?
- Where do people today judge by labels instead of conduct?
Related across the library
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Faith and philosophy
Justin treats reason as a gift of the Word shared by all people, so philosophy can prepare for faith.
- What does Justin gain by calling Socrates a kind of Christian?
- What might a Platonist or a Jewish reader object?
Related across the library
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  Belief as a lively idea produced by custom and the self as a bundle of perceptions, both later discussed in the philosophy of psychology.
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Describing a community to outsiders
Justin explains Christian baptism and Sunday worship plainly to answer rumours.
- Why does Justin describe Christian worship in such detail?
- What modern groups face similar misunderstandings, and how might they respond?
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For the Christian reader
Justin is the first great Christian apologist whose works survive, and he sealed his witness with his life in Rome around 165. His description of Sunday worship, baptism and the Lord's Supper is among the earliest outside the New Testament. Students can see in him a model of 1 Peter 3:15: giving a reasoned defence of the hope within, with gentleness and respect.
- What does Justin's account of Sunday worship share with worship in your own church?
- How does Justin use the best of Greek philosophy without surrendering the gospel?
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Context

In the mid-second century Christianity was illegal but not systematically hunted. Under a policy set by Trajan, Christians were not to be sought out, but if accused and they refused to sacrifice to the gods they could be executed. Rumours of cannibalism and incest circulated about their closed meetings.

Composition

Justin wrote in Greek at Rome around 150–155, during the reign of Antoninus Pius. A shorter Second Apology, perhaps an appendix, followed. The text survives mainly in a single fourteenth-century manuscript in Paris.

Reception

Justin was executed around 165. Later apologists such as Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria built on his approach, and Eusebius's History of the Church preserves information about him. His account of Sunday worship is a key witness for historians of liturgy.

Faith / Religion Justice Law Power / Politics Science / Knowledge

Comparisons

Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers
The Apostolic Fathers address fellow believers; Justin, a generation later, is the first major writer to address the Roman authorities and educated pagans.
The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity
Perpetua's trial before Hilarianus, fifty years later in Carthage, shows the kind of proceeding Justin protested against.
Against Heresies
Irenaeus, who read Justin, writes a generation later to defend the faith against inner rivals rather than outer critics.
The History of the Church
Eusebius quotes Justin and preserves the story of his life and death.
Confessions
Augustine also came to Christianity through philosophy, and like Justin saw Platonism as a partial preparation for the gospel.
On the Incarnation of the Word
Athanasius develops Justin's teaching on the Logos into a full account of the Word made flesh.

Quotes

Frequently cited

“you can kill, but not hurt us”

— Justin Martyr, The First Apology, Chapter II.--Justice demanded., trans. Marcus Dods and George Reith (1867).Quote card

Everson v. Board of Education, Opinion of the Court (Justice Black)
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Addington v. Texas, Opinion of the Court (Chief Justice Burger), Part III-A
The individual should not be asked to share equally with society the risk of error when the possible injury to the individual is significantly greater than any possible harm to the state. Chief Justice Burger explains why a preponderance of the evidence is too low a standard for commitment.
NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., Opinion of the Court (Chief Justice Hughes)
Although activities may be intrastate in character when separately considered, if they have such a close and substantial relation to interstate commerce that their control is essential or appropriate to protect that commerce from burdens and obstructions, Congress cannot be denied the power to exercise that control. Chief Justice Hughes states the test for federal power over activities within a single state.
Dred Scott v. Sandford, Dissent of Justice Curtis (excerpt)
And my opinion is, that, under the Constitution of the United States, every free person born on the soil of a State, who is a citizen of that State by force of its Constitution or laws, is also a citizen of the United States. Curtis states his rule of birthright citizenship, anticipating the language of 1868.
Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, Opinion of the Court (Chief Justice White) (excerpt)
Thus, not specifying but indubitably contemplating and requiring a standard, it follows that it was intended that the standard of reason which had been applied at the common law, and in this country, in dealing with subjects of the character embraced by the statute, was intended to be the measure used for the purpose of determining whether, in a given case, a particular act had or had not brought about the wrong against which the statute provided. Chief Justice White explains why the Sherman Act's undefined term...

Frequently cited

“And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits”

— Justin Martyr, The First Apology, Chapter LXVII.--Weekly worship of the Christians., trans. Marcus Dods and George Reith (1867).Quote card

Abington School District v. Schempp, Full Text
Testament in the Jewish Holy Scriptures Dr Grayzel testified that portions of the New Testament were offensive to Jewish tradition and that from the standpoint of Jewish faith the concept of Jesus Christ as the Son of God was practically blasphemous He cited instances in the New Testament which assertedly were not only sectarian in nature but tended to bring the Jews into ridicule or scorn Dr Grayzel gave as his expert opinion that such material from the New Testament could be explained to Jewish children in suc...
David Copperfield, The Personal History And Experience Of David Copperfield The Younger
nurse and by some sage women in the neighbourhood who had taken a lively interest in me several months before there was any possibility of our becoming personally acquainted first that I was destined to be unlucky in life and secondly that I was privileged to see ghosts and spirits both these gifts inevitably attaching as they believed to all unlucky infants of either gender born towards the small hours on a Friday night I need say nothing here on the first head because nothing can show better than my history wh...
Considerations on Representative Government, Chapter XIV--Of the Executive in a Representative Government
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Herland, Chapter 5: A Unique History
the few preceding generations they had been reared in the atmosphere of such heroic struggle that the stock must have been toughened somewhat Left alone in that terrific orphanhood they had clung together supporting one another and their little sisters and developing unknown powers in the stress of new necessity To this pain-hardened and work-strengthened group who had lost not only the love and care of parents but the hope of ever having children of their own there now dawned the new hope Here at last was Mothe...
Bliss and Other Stories, Full Text
wilder Bright stars speckled the sky and the moon hung over the harbour dabbling the waves with gold They could see the lighthouse shining on Quarantine Island and the green lights on the old coal hulks There comes the Picton boat said the storeman pointing to a little steamer all hung with bright beads But when they reached the top of the hill and began to go down the other side the harbour disappeared and although they were still in the town they were quite lost Other carts rattled past Everybody knew the stor...

“those who lived reasonably are Christians, even though they have been thought atheists; as, among the Greeks, Socrates and Heraclitus, and men like them”

— Justin Martyr, The First Apology, Chapter XLVI.--The Word in the world before Christ., trans. Marcus Dods and George Reith (1867).Quote card

Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers, The Epistle Of Ignatius To The Magnesians
in Jesus Christ IgnEph I am devoted to you and to those whom for the honor of God ye sent to Smyrna whence also I write unto you with thanksgiving to the Lord having love for Polycarp as I have for you also Remember me even as I would that Jesus Christ may also remember you Pray for the church which is in Syria whence I am led a prisoner to Rome-- I who am the very last of the faithful there according as I was counted worthy to be found unto the honor of God Fare ye well in God the Father and in Jesus Christ our...
An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book I, Chapter II: Concerning things utterable and things unutterable, and things knowable and thing unknowab
of the Saints But neither do we know nor can we tell what the essence of God is or how it is in all or how the Only-begotten Son and God having emptied Himself became Man of virgin blood made by another law contrary to nature or how He walked with dry feet upon the waters It is not within our capacity therefore to say anything about God or even to think of Him beyond the things which have been divinely revealed to us whether by word or by manifestation by the divine oracles at once of the Old Testament and of th...
The Song of Hiawatha, Full Text
green and silent valley There he sang of Hiawatha Sang the Song of Hiawatha Sang his wondrous birth and being How he prayed and how he fasted How he lived and toiled and suffered That the tribes of men might prosper That he might advance his people Ye who love the haunts of Nature Love the sunshine of the meadow Love the shadow of the forest Love the wind among the branches And the rain-shower and the snow-storm And the rushing of great rivers Through their palisades of pine-trees And the thunder in the mountain...
Persian Letters, Source
Letter I note Letter Decisionnaire in the original a word invented by Montesquieu to describe a man who lays down the law upon everything Tavernier and Chardin the Persian travelers from whose books Montesquieu derived his knowledge of Persia Letter The dictionary of the Academy The dictionary of Fureti re The author was expelled from the Academy in because he was accused of having profited by the work of his fellow Academicians in the composition of the dictionary which bears his name Letter All we have gained...
The Practice of the Presence of God, Ninth Letter
We must _know_ before we can _love_. His argument that we come to know God by thinking of him often, and that love then makes us think of him more.

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

Justin's legal argument in chapters 2–4.
How he answers the charge of atheism.
The idea of the Word shared by all people (chapter 46).
The worship chapters (65–67).

Key terms and names

Apology: A formal speech of defence, not an expression of regret.
Logos: The Word or Reason of God, which Justin says became man in Jesus and is partly present in all people.
Eucharist: 'Thanksgiving': the blessed bread and wine shared by baptized Christians.
Rescript: A written imperial reply with the force of law, like Hadrian's appended letter.

Seminar Questions

Comprehension To whom is the Apology addressed?
Comprehension What happens at the Christian assembly 'on the day called Sunday'?
Interpretation Why does Justin compare the treatment of Christians with that of Socrates?
Interpretation Is Justin's argument from prophecy likely to persuade a Roman senator? Why or why not?
Interpretation How does Justin use the idea of the Word to connect Greek philosophy with Christianity?
Big Question Should a government ever punish people for belonging to a group rather than for what they have done?

Faith Connections

1 Peter 3:15 (Scripture)
'Be ready always to give an answer [apologia] to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you.'
Acts 17:22-31 (Scripture)
Paul's speech at Athens also seeks common ground with Greek thought.
Plato, Apology (Great Conversation)
Justin's title and his appeal to Socrates deliberately recall Socrates' defence before Athens.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Christians should be judged on their conduct, which is blameless; their faith is reasonable, foretold by prophecy and the fulfilment of the truth partly glimpsed by philosophers.

Rhetorical device: appeal to the audience's own values. Justin addresses the emperors as 'pious' and 'philosophers' and asks them to live up to those titles by judging fairly.

Debate: Resolved: that Justin's appeal to reason was a better strategy than an appeal to tolerance.

Memory Work

you can kill, but not hurt us
Chapter II.--Justice demanded., trans. Marcus Dods and George Reith (1867). A brief, memorable statement of confidence under persecution.

And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits
Chapter LXVII.--Weekly worship of the Christians., trans. Marcus Dods and George Reith (1867). The oldest account of Christian Sunday worship.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Explain how Justin uses both Roman law and Greek philosophy to defend Christians. Which part of his case is stronger?

Comparison with The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity: Compare Justin's legal appeal with Perpetua's courtroom testimony. What does each reveal about Roman justice and Christian identity?

Creative Prompts

Fiction
Write a short reply from a Roman official to Justin, either granting or refusing his request, and give reasons the emperor might accept.
Essay
Compare Justin's description of Sunday worship (chapters 65–67) with a worship service you know; list what has changed and what has stayed the same.
Dialogue
Write a dialogue in which Justin answers a Roman official's questions about what Christians do on Sundays.