In this post I will be correcting the gross misreading and misinterpretation of Justin Martyr’s Christological views by an orthodox author.
THE CLAIM
I cite from author John Behr’s Formation of Christian Theology-Volume One: The Way to Nicaea, published by St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2004. All emphasis is mine.
Besides this didactic dimension, there are also many passages in Justin which reflect more specifically on the relation of Christ to the Father and his role within the overall plan of God. As with Ignatius, these often take the form of summary statements of faith.22 For instance:
We say what the Word, who is the first offspring (genneema) of God, was begotten without carnal intercourse, Jesus Christ our teacher, and that He was crucified, and died, and rose again, and ascended to heaven. (Ap. 21.1)
The subject of this sentence is still Jesus Christ, the Word of God, and it is he who is the first offspring of God, begotten without sexual union, and who was crucified, died, rose again and ascended. However, in the way that Justin phrases the sentence, the first point of reference is the Word who thus appears as the offspring of God. This subtle shift in focus intimates a deeper change which needs to be addressed later. Although Justin is known for his “Logos-theology,” he uses many of the other scriptural terms to describe Christ, often bringing them together:
It is wrong, therefore, to understand the Spirit and the Power of God as anything other than the Word, who is also the First-born of God, as the prophet Moses declared: and it was which, when it came down upon the virgin and overshadowed her, caused her to conceive, not by intercourse, but by power. (Ap. 33.6)
It is the Word himself, who is also the Spirit and the Power of God, who forms for himself a body in the virgin’s womb by power.23 With Justin the term “Word” is certainly becoming the central term for describing Jesus Christ, but it is by no means exclusive; Justin can use it alongside other terms which soon drop out of theological use, such as “Angel” and “Apostle” (Ap. 63.5). Moreover, it is also still possible for Justin to make a distinction between Christ and the Word of God. For instance, in his description of the liturgical celebrations of his community, Justin explains why the eucharist is not open to all:
For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God (dia logou Theou sarxchopoietheis Iesous Christou) , had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of his word (ten di’ euches logou tou par’ autou eucharistetheisan trophen), and from which our blood and flesh, by transformation, are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. (Ap. 66.2)
Christ is made flesh and blood by the Word of God, and by his word we also make the bread and wine into his flesh and blood. The fluidity with which these terms can still be used by Justin is also shown by his description of the precepts taught by Christ: “Brief and concise utterances (Bracheis de kai syntomoi logoi) come from him, for he was no sophist, but his word (ho logos autou) was the Power of God” (Ap. 14.5). The concise words uttered by Christ, the word of him who is himself the Word and Power of God, is also the Power of God: the identity between revealer and revelation, the scriptural Christ and his interpretation of the Scriptures, cannot be divorced into separate categories by restricting the designation “Word of God” to either the medium or the message exclusively.
This increasing use of the term “Word” was no doubt due to Justin’s apologetic aim of dialoguing with pagan philosophers. But this dialogue reciprocally influenced Justin’s theology in various ways. The first modification is the result of the “middle-platonic” framework within which Justin attempts to articulate the relation between Christ and the Father.24 Although Justin speaks in the traditional manner of Jesus Christ, as the Word, revealing God, he shares the common philosophical presupposition of his day that as God is so totally transcendent to created reality he needs an intermediary, his Word, to act for him and to mediate between himself and creation. Commenting on the theophany in Exodus 3, Justin states:
…the God who said to Moses that he is “the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob,” [is] not the Creator of all things, but the one who has been proved to you to have appeared to Abraham and Jacob, ministering to the will of the Creator of all… For no-one, who has but the smallest intelligence, will dare say that the Maker and Father of all things, having left everything beyond the heavens, became visible on a tiny portion of earth. (Dial. 60.2)
Similarly, when Scripture says that “The Lord spoke with Moses” or that “God shut Noah into the ark,” Justin asserts:
You must not imagine that the unbegotten God himself came down or went up from any place. For the ineffable Father and Lord of all has no place… but remains in his own place, wherever it may be… he is not moved or confined to a spot, even the whole world, for he existed before the world was made. (Dial. 127.1-2)
As it is not God himself who thus appeared and spoke with man, the Word of God who did all of these things is, for Justin, “another God and Lord besides (heteros para) the Maker of all,” who is also called his “Angel,” as he brings messages from the Maker of all, “above whom there is no other God” (Dial. 56.4). The one who appeared to Abraham, Jacob and Moses, and who is also called God, is thus distinct from the Maker of all things, “in number but not in will,” for he has done only what the Creator of the world wished (Dial. 56.11). Justin is clearly trying to find a way to explain how it is that Jesus Christ is God, and yet distinct from the God and Creator of all, his Father. However, his manner of explanation, in terms of the divinity of the ineffable Father being transcendent in a manner which prohibits him from being seen on earth, in fact undermines the very revelation of God in Christ. The divinity of Jesus Christ, an “other God,” is no longer that of the Father himself, but subordinate to it, a lesser divinity [sic], and so it would no longer be true for the agent of such a theophany to claim, as Christ does, “he who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9)… (Pp. 101-104)
23 When Justin refers to the Word as the “Spirit” of God, it is unlikely that he intends this in the sense of “binary” theology (as perhaps is indicated in the Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude, 5.6.5-6), but simply as a reference to the “pre-Incarnate” state of the Word, on which, more later. (P. 102)
THE REFUTATION
It is this erroneous assertion of Behr that Justin deemed Christ to be a subordinate, lesser divinity which I will be refuting.
1. The Prehuman Jesus Appeared as YHWH Almighty
As Behr himself noted, Justin describes Jesus as that very YHWH God who appeared to the patriarchs and the prophets such as Moses.
Chapter 56. GOD WHO APPEARED TO MOSES is distinguished from God the Father
Justin: Moses, then, the blessed and faithful servant of God, declares that He who appeared to Abraham under the oak in Mamre IS GOD, sent with the two angels in His company to judge Sodom BY ANOTHER WHO REMAINS EVER IN SUPERCELESTIAL PLACES, invisible to all men, holding personal intercourse with none, whom we believe to be Maker and Father of all things; for he speaks thus: ‘God appeared to him under the oak in Mamre, as he sat at his tent-door at noontide. And lifting up his eyes, he saw, and behold, three men stood before him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the door of his tent; and he bowed himself toward the ground, and said . . .’ Genesis 18:1-2 ‘Abraham went up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord: and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrha, and toward the adjacent country, and beheld, and, lo, a flame went up from the earth, like the smoke of a furnace.’
And when I had made an end of quoting these words, I asked them if they had understood them. And they said they had understood them, but that the passages adduced brought forward no proof that there is any other God or Lord, or that the Holy Spirit says so, besides the Maker of all things.
Justin: I shall attempt to persuade you, since you have understood the Scriptures, [of the truth] of what I say, that there is, AND THERE IS TO BE, ANOTHER GOD AND LORD subject to the Maker of all things; WHO IS ALSO CALLED AN ANGEL, BECAUSE HE ANNOUNCES TO MEN WHATSOEVER the Maker of all things—above whom there is no other God—WISHES TO ANNOUNCE TO THEM…
Justin: If I could not have proved to you from the Scriptures that one of those three IS GOD, AND IS CALLED ANGEL, BECAUSE, AS I ALREADY SAID, HE BRINGS MESSAGES TO THOSE WHOM God the Maker of all things WISHES [messages to be brought], then in regard to Him who appeared to Abraham on earth in human form in like manner as the two angels who came with Him, AND WHO WAS GOD EVEN BEFORE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD, it were reasonable for you to entertain the same belief as is entertained by the whole of your nation…
Justin: Reverting to the Scriptures, I shall endeavour to persuade you, that He who is said TO HAVE APPEARED TO ABRAHAM, AND TO JACOB, AND TO MOSES AND WHO IS CALLED GOD, is distinct from Him who made all things—numerically, I mean, not [distinct] in will. For I affirm that He has never at any time done anything which He who made the world—above whom there is no other God—has not wished Him both to do and to engage Himself with…
Justin: The Scripture just quoted by me will make this plain to you. It is thus: ‘The sun was risen on the earth, and Lot entered into Segor (Zoar); and the Lord rained on Sodom sulphur and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and overthrew these cities and all the neighbourhood.’ Genesis 19:23.
The fourth of those who had remained with Trypho: It must therefore necessarily be said that one of the two angels who went to Sodom, and is named by Moses in the Scripture Lord, is different from Him who also is God and appeared to Abraham.
Justin: It is not on this ground solely that it must be admitted absolutely that some other one is called Lord by the Holy Spirit besides Him who is considered Maker of all things; not solely [for what is said] by Moses, but also [for what is said] by David. For there is written by him: ‘The Lord says to my Lord, Sit on My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool,’ as I have already quoted. And again, in other words: ‘Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever. A sceptre of equity is the sceptre of Your kingdom: You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity: therefore God, even Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows.’ If, therefore, you assert that the Holy Spirit calls some other one God and Lord, besides the Father of all things and His Christ, answer me; for I undertake to prove to you from Scriptures themselves, that He whom the Scripture calls Lord is not one of the two angels that went to Sodom, but He who was with them, and is called God, that appeared to Abraham.
Trypho: Prove this; for, as you see, the day advances, and we are not prepared for such perilous replies; since never yet have we heard any man investigating, or searching into, or proving these matters; nor would we have tolerated your conversation, had you not referred everything to the Scriptures: for you are very zealous in adducing proofs from them; and you are of opinion that there is no God above the Maker of all things.
Justin: You are aware, then, that the Scripture says, ‘And the Lord said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I truly conceive? For I am old. Is anything impossible with God? At the time appointed shall I return to you according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.’ Genesis 18:13-14 And after a little interval: ‘And the men rose up from thence, and looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha; and Abraham went with them, to bring them on the way. And the Lord said, I will not conceal from Abraham, my servant, what I do.’ Genesis 18:16-17 And again, after a little, it thus says: ‘The Lord said, The cry of Sodom and Gomorrha is great, and their sins are very grievous. I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to their cry which has come unto me; and if not, that I may know. And the men turned away thence, and went to Sodom. But Abraham was standing before the Lord; and Abraham drew near, and said, Will You destroy the righteous with the wicked?’ Genesis 18:20-23
And so on, for I do not think fit to write over again the same words, having written them all before, but shall of necessity give those by which I established the proof to Trypho and his companions. Then I proceeded to what follows, in which these words are recorded:
Justin: ‘And the Lord went His way as soon as He had left communing with Abraham; and [Abraham] went to his place. And there came two angels to Sodom at even. And Lot sat in the gate of Sodom;’ Genesis 18:33, Genesis 19:1 and what follows until, ‘But the men put forth their hands, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door of the house;’ Genesis 19:10 and what follows till, And the angels laid hold on his hand, and on the hand of his wife, and on the hands of his daughters, the Lord being merciful to him. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that they said, Save, save your life. Look not behind you, nor stay in all the neighbourhood; escape to the mountain, lest you be taken along with [them]. And Lot said to them, I beseech [You], O Lord, since Your servant has found grace in Your sight, and You have magnified Your righteousness, which You show towards me in saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die. Behold, this city is near to flee unto, and it is small: there I shall be safe, since it is small; and any soul shall live. And He said to him, Behold, I have accepted you also in this matter, so as not to destroy the city for which you have spoken. Make haste to save yourself there; for I shall not do anything till you have come there. Therefore he called the name of the city Segor (Zoar). The sun was risen upon the earth; and Lot entered into Segor (Zoar). And the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrha sulphur and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and He overthrew these cities, and all the neighbourhood. Genesis 19:16-25
Justin: (After another pause.) And now have you not perceived, my friends, that one of the three, WHO IS BOTH GOD AND LORD, and ministers to Him who is in the heavens, is Lord of the two angels? For when [the angels] proceeded to Sodom, He remained behind, and communed with Abraham in the words recorded by Moses; and when He departed after the conversation, Abraham went back to his place. And when he came [to Sodom], the two angels no longer conversed with Lot, but Himself, as the Scripture makes evident; AND HE IS THE LORD WHO RECEIVED COMMISSION FROM THE LORD WHO [remains] IN THE HEAVENS, i.e., the Maker of all things, to inflict upon Sodom and Gomorrha the [judgments] which the Scripture describes in these terms: ‘The Lord rained down upon Sodom and Gomorrha sulphur and fire from the Lord out of heaven.’ (Dialoge with Trypho the Jew http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/01285.htm)
Note how Justin explains that Jesus is called Angel because he delivers messages from God the Father, NOT BECAUSE HE IS A CREATED SPIRIT BEING!
And also pay attention to the fact of Justin citing Genesis 18:1-33 and 19:1-29 to prove that Jesus is the God and YHWH who appeared to Abraham as a man along with two other angels, being the One that brought fire down from another Divine Person who is described as YHWH in the heavens. Justin further quotes Psalm 45:6-7 and 110:1 to establish from David and the Psalter that there are two who are described as being both Lord and God, namely, the Father and Christ!
Elsewhere, Justin shows that it was Jesus who appeared to Moses in the burning bush for the express purpose of saving Israel out of Egypt:
CHAPTER 62. Its Imitation By Demons
And the devils, indeed, having heard this washing published by the prophet, instigated those who enter their temples, and are about to approach them with libations and burnt-offerings, also to sprinkle themselves; and they cause them also to wash themselves entirely, as they depart [from the sacrifice], before they enter into the shrines in which their images are set. And the command, too, given by the priests to those who enter and worship in the temples, that they take off their shoes, the devils, learning what happened to the above-mentioned prophet Moses, have given in imitation of these things. For at that juncture, when Moses was ordered to go down into Egypt and lead out the people of the Israelites who were there, and while he was tending the flocks of his maternal uncle(1) in the land of Arabia, OUR CHRIST conversed with him under the appearance of fire from a bush, and said, “Put off thy shoes, and draw near and hear.” And he, when he had put off his shoes and drawn near, heard that he was to go down into Egypt and lead out the people of the Israelites there; and he received mighty power from Christ, who spoke to him in the appearance of fire, and went down and led out the people, having done great and marvelous things; which, if you desire to know, you will learn them accurately from his writings.’
CHAPTER 63. How God Appeared To Moses
And all the Jews even now teach that the nameless God spake to Moses; whence the
Spirit of prophecy, accusing them by Isaiah the prophet mentioned above, said ‘The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know Me, and My people do not understand.'(2) And Jesus the Christ, because the Jews knew not what the Father was, and what the Son, in like manner accused them; and Himself said, ‘No one knoweth the Father, but the Son; nor the Son, but the Father, and they to whom the Son revealeth Him.'(3) Now the Word of God is His Son, as we have before said. And He is called Angel and Apostle; for He declares whatever we ought to know, and is sent forth to declare whatever is revealed; as our Lord Himself says, ‘He that heareth Me, heareth Him that sent Me.’ (4) From the writings of Moses also this will be manifest; for thus it is written in them, And the Angel of God spake to Moses, in a flame of fire out of the bush, and said, I am that I am, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of thy fathers; go down into Egypt, and bring forth My people.’
(5) And if you wish to learn what follows, you can do so from the same writings; for it is impossible to relate the whole here. But so much is written for the sake of proving that Jesus the Christ is the Son of God and His Apostle, being of old the Word, and appearing sometimes in the form of fire, and sometimes in the likeness of angels; but now, by the will of God, having become man for the human race, He endured all the sufferings which the devils instigated the senseless Jews to inflict upon Him; who, though they have it expressly affirmed in the writings of Moses, ‘And the angel of God spake to Moses in a flame of fire in a bush, and said, I am that I am, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,’ yet maintain that He who said this was the Father and Creator of the universe. Whence also the Spirit of prophecy rebukes them, and says, ‘Israel doth not know Me, my people have not understood Me.'(6) And again, Jesus, as we have already shown, while He was with them, said, ‘No one knoweth the Father, but the Son; nor the Son but the Father, and those to whom the Son will reveal Him.’
(7) The Jews, accordingly, being throughout of opinion that it was the Father of the universe who spake to Moses, though He who spake to him WAS INDEED THE SON OF GOD, who is called both Angel and Apostle, are justly charged, both by the Spirit of prophecy and by Christ Himself, with knowing neither the Father nor the Son. For they who affirm that the Son is the Father, are proved neither to have become acquainted with the Father, nor to know that the Father of the universe has a Son; who also, being the first-begotten Word of God, IS EVEN GOD. And of old He appeared in the shape of fire and in the likeness of an angel to Moses and to the other prophets; but now in the times of your reign,(8) having, as we before said, become Man by a virgin, according to the counsel of the Father, for the salvation of those who believe on Him, He endured both to be set at nought and to suffer, that by dying and rising again He might conquer death. And that which was said out of the bush to Moses, ‘I am that I am, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and the God of your fathers,'(9) this signified that they, even though dead, are let in existence, and are men belonging to Christ Himself. For they were the first of all men to busy themselves in the search after God; Abraham being the father of Isaac, and Isaac of Jacob, as Moses wrote. (First Apology)
These next references further confirm the fact that for Justin, Jesus is the God of the Patriarchs and the prophets like Moses, being the YHWH of hosts of the Hebrew Bible:
Chapter 36. HE PROVES THAT CHRIST IS CALLED LORD OF HOSTS
Trypho: Let these things be so as you say—namely, that it was foretold Christ would suffer, and be called a stone; and after His first appearance, in which it had been announced He would suffer, would come in glory, and be Judge finally of all, and eternal King and Priest. Now show if this man be He of whom these prophecies were made.
Justin: As you wish, Trypho, I shall come to these proofs which you seek in the fitting place; but now you will permit me first to recount the prophecies, which I wish to do in order to prove THAT CHRIST IS CALLED BOTH GOD AND LORD OF HOSTS, and Jacob, in parable by the Holy Spirit; and your interpreters, as God says, are foolish, since they say that reference is made to Solomon and not to Christ, when he bore the ark of testimony into the temple which he built. The Psalm of David is this:
The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and all that dwell therein. He has rounded it upon the seas, and prepared it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His holy place? He that is clean of hands and pure of heart: who has not received his soul in vain, and has not sworn guilefully to his neighbour: he shall receive blessing from the Lord, and mercy from God his Saviour. This is the generation of them that seek the Lord, that seek the face of the God of Jacob. Lift up your gates, you rulers; and be lifted up, you everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty in battle. Lift up your gates, you rulers; and be lifted up, you everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.
Accordingly, it is shown that Solomon is not the Lord of hosts; but when our Christ rose from the dead and ascended to heaven, the rulers in heaven, under appointment of God, are commanded to open the gates of heaven, THAT HE WHO IS KING OF GLORY may enter in, and having ascended, may sit on the right hand of the Father until He make the enemies His footstool, as has been made manifest by another Psalm. For when the rulers of heaven saw Him of uncomely and dishonoured appearance, and inglorious, not recognising Him, they inquired, ‘Who is this King of glory?’ And the Holy Spirit, either from the person of His Father, or from His own person, answers them, ‘The Lord of hosts, He is this King of glory.’ For every one will confess that not one of those who presided over the gates of the temple at Jerusalem would venture to say concerning Solomon, though he was so glorious a king, or concerning the ark of testimony, ‘Who is this King of glory?’
Chapter 37. The same is proved from other Psalms
Justin: Moreover, in the diapsalm of the forty-sixth Psalm, REFERENCE IS THUS MADE TO CHRIST: ‘GOD WENT UP WITH A SHOUT, THE LORD WITH THE SOUND OF A TRUMPET. Sing to OUR GOD, sing: sing to our King, sing; for God is King of all the earth: sing with understanding. God has ruled over the nations. God sits upon His holy throne. The rulers of the nations were assembled along with THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, for the strong ones of God are greatly exalted on the earth.’ And in the ninety-eighth Psalm, the Holy Spirit reproaches you, AND PREDICTS HIM WHOM YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE KING TO BE KING AND LORD, both of Samuel, and of Aaron, and of Moses, and, in short, of all the others. And the words of the Psalm are these:
The Lord has reigned, let the nations be angry: [it is] He who sits upon the cherubim, let the earth be shaken. The Lord is great in Zion, and He is high above all the nations. Let them confess Your great name, for it is fearful and holy, and the honour of the King loves judgment. You have prepared equity; judgment and righteousness have You performed in Jacob. Exalt the Lord our God, and worship the footstool of His feet; for He is holy. Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among those who call upon His name. They called (says the Scripture) on the Lord, and He heard them. In the pillar of the cloud He spoke to them; for they kept His testimonies, and the commandment which he gave them. O Lord our God, You heard them: O God, You were propitious to them, and [yet] taking vengeance on all their inventions. Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His holy hill; for the Lord our God is holy. (Ibid. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/01283.htm)
Pay close attention to the fact that Justin attributes Psalms 24, 47 and 99 to Jesus for the express purpose of identifying him as YHWH of hosts, the one true and eternal God of Abraham whom believers are to worship at his footstool, being that very YHWH who sits enthroned upon the cherubim!
Herein lies the refutation of Behr’s misreading. Since Justin was familiar with the Hebrew Bible, he would surely know that YHWH who appeared to the patriarchs and prophets isn’t a created being, or a lesser deity, but the uncreated and everlasting God, just as the following texts prove:
“Now it happened that when Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; Walk before Me and be blameless, so that I may confirm My covenant between Me and you, And that I may multiply you exceedingly. Then Abram fell on his face, and God spoke with him, saying… So He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.” Genesis 17:1-3, 22 Legacy Standard Bible (LSB)
“God spoke further to Moses and said to him, ‘I am Yahweh; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, Yahweh, I was not known to them.” Exodus 6:2-3 LSB
“You alone are Yahweh. You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down to You.” Nehemiah 9:6 LSB
“A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, You have been our dwelling place from generation to generation. Before the mountains were born Or You brought forth the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” Psalm 90:1-2 LSB
“Yahweh reigns, He is clothed with majesty; Yahweh has clothed and girded Himself with strength; Indeed, the world is established, it will not be shaken. Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.” Psalm 93:1-2 LSB
“A Prayer of the afflicted when he is faint and pours out his complaint before Yahweh. O Yahweh, hear my prayer! And let my cry for help come to You… But You, O Yahweh, abide forever, And the remembrance of Your name from generation to generation… I say, ‘O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days, Your years are from generation to all generations. Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. Even they will perish, but You will remain; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.” Psalm 102:1, 12, 25-27 LSB
“Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of Yahweh and spread it out before Yahweh. And Hezekiah prayed to Yahweh saying, ‘O Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O Yahweh, and hear; open Your eyes, O Yahweh, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to reproach the living God. Truly, O Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste to all the countries and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. But now, O Yahweh our God, save us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are Yahweh, You alone.’” Isaiah 37:14-20 LSB
“‘To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?’ says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His vigor and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from Yahweh, And the justice due me passes by my God’? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth, Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is unsearchable.” Isaiah 40:25-28 LSB
“There is none like You, O Yahweh; You are great, and great is Your name in might… But Yahweh is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, And the nations cannot endure His indignation. Thus you shall say to them, ‘The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.’ It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens.” Jeremiah 10:6, 10-12 LSB
Therefore, seeing that Justin unambiguously and unapologetically identifies Jesus as YHWH God Almighty who appears all throughout the OT, and seeing that YHWH is the only true God who is uncreated by nature, this emphatically refutes Behr’s claim that Justin thought of Christ as a lesser, inferior deity.
This leads to my next point.
2. Jesus is uncreated and separate from all creatures
Justin is explicitly clear that Jesus is not a creature whom the Father produced out of nothing. Rather for Justin, Christ is the Word who was begotten from the Father’s own essence before any created thing was made:
Chapter 48. Before the divinity of Christ is proved, he [Trypho] demands that it be settled that He is Christ
Trypho: We have heard what you think of these matters. Resume the discourse where you left off, and bring it to an end. For some of it appears to me to be paradoxical, and wholly incapable of proof. For when you say that this Christ existed as God BEFORE THE AGES, then that He submitted to be born and become man, yet that He is not man of man, this [assertion] appears to me to be not merely paradoxical, but also foolish.
Justin: I know that the statement does appear to be paradoxical, especially to those of your race, who are ever unwilling to understand or to perform the [requirements] of God, but [ready to perform] those of your teachers, as God Himself declares. Isaiah 29:13 Now assuredly, Trypho, [the proof] that this man is the Christ of God does not fail, though I be unable to prove that He existed formerly as Son of the Maker of all things, BEING GOD, and was born a man by the Virgin. But since I have certainly proved that this man is the Christ of God, whoever He be, even if I do not prove that He pre-existed, and submitted to be born a man of like passions with us, having a body, according to the Father’s will; in this last matter alone is it just to say that I have erred, and not to deny that He is the Christ, though it should appear that He was born man of men, and [nothing more] is proved [than this], that He has become Christ by election. For there are some, my friends, of our race, who admit that He is Christ, while holding Him to be man of men; with whom I do not agree, nor would I, even though most of those who have [now] the same opinions as myself should say so; since we were enjoined by Christ Himself to put no faith in human doctrines, but in those proclaimed by the blessed prophets and taught by Himself. (Dialogue https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/01284.htm)
Chapter 61. Wisdom is begotten of the Father, as fire from fire
Justin: I shall give you another testimony, my friends, from the Scriptures, that God begot BEFORE ALL CREATURES a Beginning, [who was] a certain rational power [proceeding] FROM HIMSELF, WHO IS CALLED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, NOW THE GLORY OF THE LORD, NOW THE SON, AGAIN WISDOM, AGAIN AN ANGEL, THEN GOD, AND THEN LORD AND LOGOS; AND ON ANOTHER OCCASION HE CALLS HIMSELF CAPTAIN, WHEN HE APPEARED IN HUMAN FORM TO JOSHUA THE SON OF NAVE (NUN). For He can be called by all those names, since He ministers to the Father’s will, and since He was begotten of the Father by an act of will; just as we see happening among ourselves: for when we give out some word, we beget the word; yet not by abscission, so as to lessen the word [which remains] in us, when we give it out: and just as we see also happening in the case of a fire, which is not lessened when it has kindled [another], but remains the same; and that which has been kindled by it likewise appears to exist by itself, not diminishing that from which it was kindled. The Word of Wisdom, WHO IS HIMSELF THIS GOD BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER OF ALL THINGS, and Word, and Wisdom, and Power, and the Glory of the Begetter, will bear evidence to me, when He speaks by Solomon the following: (Ibid., http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/01285.htm)
Notice that Justin is explicit in affirming that Jesus was NOT created from nothing but emphasizes the point that the Son proceeded from the Father himself without ever severing from him, being personally distinct from all creation, which is why he can say that Christ was begotten before all creatures.
Clearly then, for Justin Jesus is not a part of the creation which the Father made out of nothing, but is the eternal Logos of the Father who resided within him in eternity and was then brought forth at the point when the Father decided to bring all creation into being by that very Word/Wisdom that he eternally possessed.
3. Worshiping God Alone Who is Triune
Justin is also emphatic that true Christians are those worship God alone:
“… For this devil, when [Jesus] went up from the river Jordan, at the time when the voice spoke to Him, ‘You are my Son: this day have I begotten You,’ is recorded in the memoirs of the apostles to have come to Him and tempted Him, even so far as to say to Him, ‘Worship me;’ and Christ answered him, ‘Get behind me, Satan: you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.’ Matthew 4:9-10…” (Dialogue, Chapter 103. The Pharisees are the bulls: the roaring lion is Herod or the devil Chapters 89-108)
And with regard to our not swearing at all, and always speaking the truth, He enjoined as follows: Swear not at all; but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these comes of evil.
Matthew 5:34, 27 And that we ought to worship God alone, He thus persuaded us: The greatest commandment is, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve, with all your heart, and with all your strength, the Lord God that made you
. Mark 12:30 And when a certain man came to Him and said, Good Master,
He answered and said, There is none good but God only, who made all things.
Matthew 19:6, 17 And let those who are not found living as He taught, be understood to be no Christians, even though they profess with the lip the precepts of Christ; for not those who make profession, but those who do the works, shall be saved, according to His word: Not every one who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of My Father which is in heaven. For whosoever hears Me, and does My sayings, hears Him that sent Me. And many will say unto Me, Lord, Lord, have we not eaten and drunk in Your name, and done wonders? And then will I say unto them, Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. Then shall there be wailing and gnashing of teeth, when the righteous shall shine as the sun, and the wicked are sent into everlasting fire. For many shall come in My name, clothed outwardly in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly being ravening wolves. By their works you shall know them. And every tree that brings not forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire.
And as to those who are not living pursuant to these His teachings, and are Christians only in name, we demand that all such be punished by you. (First Apology, Chapter 16)
And yet at the same time, Justin emphasizes that believers worship Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
Chapter 13. Christians serve God rationally
What sober-minded man, then, will not acknowledge that we are not atheists, worshipping as we do the Maker of this universe, and declaring, as we have been taught, that He has no need of streams of blood and libations and incense; whom we praise to the utmost of our power by the exercise of prayer and thanksgiving for all things wherewith we are supplied, as we have been taught that the only honour that is worthy of Him is not to consume by fire what He has brought into being for our sustenance, but to use it for ourselves and those who need, and with gratitude to Him to offer thanks by invocations and hymns for our creation, and for all the means of health, and for the various qualities of the different kinds of things, and for the changes of the seasons; and to present before Him petitions for our existing again in incorruption through faith in Him. Our teacher of these things is Jesus Christ, who also was born for this purpose, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judæa, in the times of Tiberius Cæsar; and that we reasonably worship Him, having learned that He is the Son of the true God Himself, and holding Him IN THE SECOND PLACE, and the prophetic Spirit IN THE THIRD PLACE, we will prove. For they proclaim our madness to consist in this, that we give to a crucified man a place second to the unchangeable and eternal God, the Creator of all; for they do not discern the mystery that is herein, to which, as we make it plain to you, we pray you to give heed…
Chapter 61. Christian baptism
I will also relate the manner in which we dedicated ourselves to God when we had been made new through Christ; lest, if we omit this, we seem to be unfair in the explanation we are making. As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we praying and fasting with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, Unless you be born again, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. John 3:5 Now, that it is impossible for those who have once been born to enter into their mothers’ wombs, is manifest to all. And how those who have sinned and repent shall escape their sins, is declared by Esaias the prophet, as I wrote above; he thus speaks: Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from your souls; learn to do well; judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow: and come and let us reason together, says the Lord. And though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white like wool; and though they be as crimson, I will make them white as snow. But if you refuse and rebel, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. Isaiah 1:16-20
And for this [rite] we have learned from the apostles this reason. Since at our birth we were born without our own knowledge or choice, by our parents coming together, and were brought up in bad habits and wicked training; in order that we may not remain the children of necessity and of ignorance, but may become the children of choice and knowledge, and may obtain in the water the remission of sins formerly committed, there is pronounced over him who chooses to be born again, and has repented of his sins, the name of God the Father and Lord of the universe; he who leads to the laver the person that is to be washed calling him by this name alone. For no one can utter the name of the ineffable God; and if any one dare to say that there is a name, he raves with a hopeless madness. And this washing is called illumination, because they who learn these things are illuminated in their understandings. And in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Ghost, who through the prophets foretold all things about Jesus, he who is illuminated is washed…
Chapter 67. Weekly worship of the Christians
And we afterwards continually remind each other of these things. And the wealthy among us help the needy; and we always keep together; and for all things wherewith we are supplied, we bless the Maker of all through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost. 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; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. 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 Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration. (First Apology)
Not only does Justin state that true Christians worship the Trinity, he also affirms that baptism is performed into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And since baptism is a religious rite which is performed for the Deity that an individual submits to, this merely reinforces the fact that Justin was indeed a Trinitarian who worshiped the one true Triune God.
4. The Divine Spirit
That Justin worshiped the Holy Spirit as God can be seen from his references to the Spirit being divine:
Chapter 32. Christ predicted by Moses
Moses then, who was the first of the prophets, spoke in these very words: The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until He come for whom it is reserved; and He shall be the desire of the nations, binding His foal to the vine, washing His robe in the blood of the grape. Genesis 49:10 It is yours to make accurate inquiry, and ascertain up to whose time the Jews had a lawgiver and king of their own. Up to the time of Jesus Christ, who taught us, and interpreted the prophecies which were not yet understood, [they had a lawgiver] as was foretold by the holy and divine Spirit of prophecy through Moses, that a ruler would not fail the Jews until He should come for whom the kingdom was reserved (for Judah was the forefather of the Jews, from whom also they have their name of Jews); and after He (i.e., Christ) appeared, you began to rule the Jews, and gained possession of all their territory. And the prophecy, He shall be the expectation of the nations, signified that there would be some of all nations who should look for Him to come again. And this indeed you can see for yourselves, and be convinced of by fact. For of all races of men there are some who look for Him who was crucified in Judæa, and after whose crucifixion the land was straightway surrendered to you as spoil of war. And the prophecy, binding His foal to the vine, and washing His robe in the blood of the grape, was a significant symbol of the things that were to happen to Christ, and of what He was to do. For the foal of an ass stood bound to a vine at the entrance of a village, and He ordered His acquaintances to bring it to Him then; and when it was brought, He mounted and sat upon it, and entered Jerusalem, where was the vast temple of the Jews which was afterwards destroyed by you.
And after this He was crucified, that the rest of the prophecy might be fulfilled. For this washing His robe in the blood of the grape was predictive of the passion He was to endure, cleansing by His blood those who believe in Him. For what is called by the Divine Spirit through the prophet His robe, are those men who believe in Him in whom abides the seed of God, the Word. And what is spoken of as the blood of the grape, signifies that He who should appear would have blood, though not of the seed of man, but of the power of God. And the first power after God the Father and Lord of all is the Word, who is also the Son; and of Him we will, in what follows, relate how He took flesh and became man. For as man did not make the blood of the vine, but God, so it was hereby intimated that the blood should not be of human seed, but of divine power, as we have said above. And Isaiah, another prophet, foretelling the same things in other words, spoke thus: A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a flower shall spring from the root of Jesse; and His arm shall the nations trust. Isaiah 11:1 And a star of light has arisen, and a flower has sprung from the root of Jesse — this Christ. For by the power of God He was conceived by a virgin of the seed of Jacob, who was the father of Judah, who, as we have shown, was the father of the Jews; and Jesse was His forefather according to the oracle, and He was the son of Jacob and Judah according to lineal descent. (First Apology)
The foregoing leaves absolutely no doubt that this holy martyr of Christ did in fact believe in the essential Deity and coequality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son.
The aforementioned citations from Justin’s writings sufficiently refute Behr’s gross misreading of Justin. The fact is that this blessed saint of the risen Christ was indeed a Trinitarian who worshiped Jesus as YHWH Almighty that became flesh.
So much for Behr’s gross misinterpretation of this blessed and holy martyr of Christ.
FURTHER READING
Justin Martyr’s Witness to Christ’s essential and eternal Deity
Revisiting Shabir Ally’s Distortion of Justin Martyr Pt. 1
Revisiting Shabir Ally’s Distortion of Justin Martyr Pt. 2
JUSTIN MARTYR ON THE NAMELESS GOD
Answering Islam Blog 