Justin Martyr
During the second-century of the early church, there was a very important Greek Apologist known as Justin Martyr. Justin’s writings represented the first encounter of Christian revelation with Greek philosophy and a basis for theology of history. Justin was born around 100 in Samaria. He studied various schools of philosophy, joining himself first to Stoicism, then Pythagoreanism, then Platonism. Justin became a Christian, his position was pagan philosophy, especially Platonism. Justin worshipped the Father as the supreme in the Universe, he worshipped the logos and or Son as divine but in the second place, and he worshipped the Holy sprit in the third place. For Justin, the logos was foremost Jesus Christ. He was the “whole Word”. Justin believed in the full divinity of the Son. Justin’s philosophical presuppositions modified the biblical basis to great extent. He defined Jesus as a unique Power who is separate from the Father, but is the source of all Being.
In the beginning was the Word [ Logos ] and the Word [ Logos ] was with God. And the Word [ Logos ] was God." (John 1:1)
In this verse, interpreted by Justin, the term logos means “reason”. When it was written Jesus was the Logos of God, it meant that Jesus is the Reason of God, he is the embodiment of God’s power. Justin’s insight on Logos for him, is essentially that Logos is the purpose of creation and revelation, as the agent and servant of the Father.
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The Father communes with the logos and the logos is the organ of the creation which God conceived and made by him. The early Christians recognized that God is the source of all reason and knowledge. The logos then becomes the medium between the Transcendent God and the finite universe. Creation ...
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...egarding the world, time, creation, freedom, the human soul’s affinity with the divine sprit, and the recognition of good and evil”. Jesus Christ is the incarnation of the entire divine logos, and the purpose of Christ coming to the world was to teach men the truth and save them from the power of demons. Justin demonstrates through his works that Jesus is both the messiah, stated by the Old Testament, and he the preexisting logos, regarding Him as incarnation of Logos, and or “in second place” to God. He illustrates the divine of creation and salvation, which is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Logos is the eternal Word, eternal reason, and creative reason. The ideas of Martyr are important to study and understand because his ideas impacted the church because they show the origin of Christianity beliefs and customs, and understanding Jesus Christ, the logos, second to God.
One of the main principles of Christianity is the belief in both the divinity and humanity of Jesus, that these two natures are combined harmoniously in one being. In general, all modern Christians believe that Jesus was human, he was considered to be “The Word was made flesh” (John, I: 14). However, Jesus was more than just a human, despite being subjected to pain, suffering and death like all other human beings, he was sinless and also possessed the power to heal and to defy death in order to ascend, both body and spirit, into heaven. He was all man and all God, a combination of these two elements, remaining distinct but united in one being. The deity of Jesus is a non-negotiable belief in Christianity, which is referred to in many parts of scripture, “God was revealed in the flesh” (I Timothy, 3:16). The Christian faith does not perceive Jesus as God but rather a reincarnation of God, a mysterious deity who is the second person of the Holy Trinity. Throughout history, controversy has surrounded the issue of the humanity and divinity of Jesus, leading to the formation of Docetism, the belief that Jesus was fully divine but not fully human, Arianism, that Jesus was superior to all of creation, but less divine than God, and Nestorius, that there were two separate persons within Jesus. This the proportion of the divine and human within Je...
Justin Martyr was a Christian who believed that Christianity was not about the religion, but it was the reasoning or philosophy behind it. Although there is no evidence of him actually saying that philosophy goes with Christianity. In the First Apology he uses philosophy to argue why his belief is right. It was his duty to show Emperor Titus Aelius Adrianus Antoninus Pius Augustus Caesar, that it would be easier and safer for him and his peers to just deny their faith in God when they were asked. He then says, “But we scorn to purchase life at the expense of a lie.” Their value of life would mean nothing after denying God, they might as well consider themselves as evil as those who killed the martyrs for accepting God to be their ruler.
In light of Craig Stern’s excerpts, from the book, A Higher Law by Jeffrey A. Brauch, he writes concerning four Christian ideas-doctrines “Four Christian ideas-doctrine in fact-are both especially important to that religion and especially important to the rule of law in the common law tradition.” Stern’s begin to explain what formulates the doctrinal belief of the Christian faith. “The first of these is the doctrine of God himself, that is, his being and his work.” By this, Stern’s means that God is the creator of all things he is the beginning and the end. “The Christian faith holds that God is the “I AM,” the uncreated creator of all that is, who is from everlasting to everlasting.” He is also the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, a God of relationship, of covenant. In this way, he is both transcendent and immanent.”
The martyrs in the document take on the role of mediator between God and man, spreading the Word of God to the masses of people and the relaying to them his holy message, in a sense taking on the role of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Perpetua, one of the martyrs when confronted about her faith by her father retorts, “I am Christian” (para.6). Another martyr, Felicity, confidently defends her faith and proclaims it openly by stating, “Stand fast in the faith, and love you all one another; and be not offended because of our passion” (para.20). This statement portrays to the reader the ...
In the beginning was God, and the word was God. Genesis 1:26 ”Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” (Women’s Study Bible, NKJV). The wording used here, ‘Our,’ is significant because the Holy Trinity was established from the very creation of the universe. As well as two of every clean and unclean animal and everything that creeps on the earth.
... did not come into being. He always is. Therefore it is meaningless to ask what caused God, or who made God. He has neither beginning nor end.
a) Theological Definition The greatest support of the deity of Jesus is in what he did, not what he said. It is very easy to make claims about being divine, but the proof is in the actions. It is important because it suggests about our nature and God’s ability and willingness to relate to us, as sinful human beings.
The Gospel of John depicts Jesus not only as the son of God, but as the Word. The Word is God, thus Jesus is God in flesh. Jesus, the Word incarnate, was sent with a purpose, to shed light into the world. John 1:14 describes this light as the “grace and truth,” within Jesus. Yet, John 1:14, also depicted Jesus as a God, who “lived among us,” and through incarnate life showed the world “glory,” possible only through “a father’s only son.” John 1:14 functions by, one demonstrating Jesus as God (incarnate) and by two discussing the gifts only capable by Jesus. The christology reiterated within the quote, the belief of an incarnate God, echoes throughout the rest of the
This name linked Him to earth and His mission on earth (Ryre Basic Theology p. 287).". Christ was, not only as a deity, but also as a human, all of these things. "We cannot indeed overestimate the importance of the fact that Jesus' redeeming influence on the world-all that has induced men to call Him Lord and Savior-owes to His humanity at once its individual and its social power, and is complete with the completeness of His manhood".... ... middle of paper ... ...
The life of Jesus is one that is often discussed and debated among scholars and authors since the time Jesus walked this earth. Gerd Theissen’ s work, Shadow of the Galilean, takes the unique perspective of a grain merchant who has been enlisted by Pilate to find out information on various religious sects and report back to him. After Andreas, the grain merchant’s, first report he is given the task of finding out more about this Jesus who is gaining quite a following. Pilate and the Romans want to know if he is a threat to them. This book follows Andreas as he goes on a journey to find out more about Jesus from various sources for his report to the Romans.
God is the great I am. He is holy and the creator of all things. He provided the ten commandments (Exodus 20) with the first one that started out as “I am the Lord your God” (Iozzio, 2006). He created mankind and
Looking back on interpretations, Jesus symbolizes a lot of things. To the Liberation Theology he is the ‘liberator’. He is not just the son of God or the savior of our sins, he is among the poor and oppressed. Jesus was a voice of reason for the poor who fought for them and with them to help bridge the gap between the poor and there religious freedoms with the rest of society. The followers of Liberation Theology banded together to really push forth and make a statement to the Roman Catholic Church.
The answer can be found in God’s Word. Colossians 1:13¬¬–20 explains all that humanity needs to know in order to begin understanding the Deity of Christ, who He is and how He and God are One. This passage talks of Christ being the Firstborn over all Creation (Colossians 1:15) and how in Him, everything has come into being (Colossians 1:16). Jesus Christ, being on earth as God incarnate dwelt amongst the people claiming to be God. Colossians 1:18 (NIV) says “He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in
In fact, the first martyr of the Church was recognized as a red martyr. Saint Stephen is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. He was a deacon in the early Church in Jerusalem who upset a lot of Jewish authority by proclaiming the teachings of Jesus. Jewish authorities accused him of blasphemy and even used false witnesses to accuse him. It’s rather reminiscent of the accusation of Christ, simply showing the imitation of Christ as a pathway to God.
His book presents three main perspectives on Christology (biblical, historical, and contemporary). He attempts to combine classical views and contextual views of Christology.