WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.620 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today, we are 00:00:02.620 --> 00:00:06.120 not just turning back the clock. We are stepping 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:08.939 right into the middle of a massive culture war, 00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:11.779 one that really, you could argue, defined the 00:00:11.779 --> 00:00:13.939 entire trajectory of the Western world. We're 00:00:13.939 --> 00:00:16.199 going way back. We are traveling back to the 00:00:16.199 --> 00:00:18.940 second century A .D. And when I say culture war, 00:00:19.019 --> 00:00:21.160 I don't mean, you know, Twitter feuds. I mean 00:00:21.160 --> 00:00:24.399 a time of absolute intellectual collision. It 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:26.879 really was a tectonic shift. You have to picture 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:29.920 the landscape. On one side, you have the established 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:33.340 heavyweight Greco -Roman world. This is the world 00:00:33.340 --> 00:00:35.960 of marble statues, centuries of polished philosophy. 00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:39.000 You have the academy in Athens, the Pax Romana. 00:00:39.240 --> 00:00:42.100 It's a world that values reason, logic, order, 00:00:42.259 --> 00:00:44.700 and... you know, aesthetics. And then on the 00:00:44.700 --> 00:00:47.119 other side, you have this emerging, scrappy, 00:00:47.240 --> 00:00:49.420 illegal, and often deeply, deeply misunderstood 00:00:49.420 --> 00:00:52.179 faith called Christianity. To the Romans, it 00:00:52.179 --> 00:00:54.100 just looked like a weird Eastern cult. It was 00:00:54.100 --> 00:00:56.259 secretive, it was stubborn, and it just did not 00:00:56.259 --> 00:00:58.420 fit into their boxes. Exactly. You have Athens 00:00:58.420 --> 00:01:00.520 representing reason and the intellect, and you 00:01:00.520 --> 00:01:03.219 have Jerusalem representing revelation and faith. 00:01:03.340 --> 00:01:05.519 Two different planets. For the longest time, 00:01:05.540 --> 00:01:08.790 these two worlds were like oil and water. They 00:01:08.790 --> 00:01:10.650 just didn't speak the same language. They didn't 00:01:10.650 --> 00:01:13.049 even operate in the same categories. The philosophers, 00:01:13.250 --> 00:01:14.930 you know, they looked down on the Christians 00:01:14.930 --> 00:01:17.409 as barbarians. And the Christians often looked 00:01:17.409 --> 00:01:19.769 at the philosophers as purveyors of empty lies. 00:01:20.109 --> 00:01:23.709 Until today's subject walks onto the scene, we 00:01:23.709 --> 00:01:26.069 are diving into the life and mind of a man named 00:01:26.069 --> 00:01:29.409 Justin, known to history as Justin Martyr. Justin 00:01:29.409 --> 00:01:32.109 Martyr. And the image that really hooked me when 00:01:32.109 --> 00:01:34.010 we were going through the sources is this simple 00:01:34.010 --> 00:01:37.250 visual. Here is a guy who becomes a devout Christian. 00:01:38.109 --> 00:01:40.730 He is willing to die for this new faith, but 00:01:40.730 --> 00:01:43.590 he never takes off the robe. The polyam. Right, 00:01:43.730 --> 00:01:46.010 the philosopher's cloak. That specific garment 00:01:46.010 --> 00:01:48.090 meant something, didn't it? Oh, absolutely. It 00:01:48.090 --> 00:01:50.170 was like wearing a lab coat today. It singled 00:01:50.170 --> 00:01:53.090 authority, education, and a specific worldview. 00:01:53.329 --> 00:01:56.310 So Justin wore the uniform of a Greek thinker 00:01:56.310 --> 00:01:59.120 while preaching the gospel. He basically claimed 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:01.379 that Christianity wasn't a rejection of philosophy, 00:02:01.620 --> 00:02:04.379 but the true philosophy. Your philosophy, exactly. 00:02:04.599 --> 00:02:07.239 He's the guy who had the audacity to claim that 00:02:07.239 --> 00:02:10.139 Socrates, I mean, the godfather of Greek thought, 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:12.840 was actually a Christian before Christ even arrived. 00:02:13.060 --> 00:02:15.199 That is an incredibly bold claim, and it's one 00:02:15.199 --> 00:02:17.139 of the reasons Justin's such a towering figure 00:02:17.139 --> 00:02:19.800 in early church history. He's not just defending 00:02:19.800 --> 00:02:22.719 the faith, he's intellectualizing it. He's translating 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:26.240 it. He's translating Bible into Plato for a Roman 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:30.009 audience. So our mission for this deep dive is 00:02:30.009 --> 00:02:33.150 to explore that journey. How does a pagan seeker 00:02:33.150 --> 00:02:35.430 from Samaria become a Christian saint? Right. 00:02:35.569 --> 00:02:37.909 We need to unpack his writings, the apologies 00:02:37.909 --> 00:02:40.550 and the dialogue with Trefo. And we definitely 00:02:40.550 --> 00:02:42.889 need to get into the weeds of his memoirs of 00:02:42.889 --> 00:02:44.870 the apostles because they tell us some fascinating 00:02:44.870 --> 00:02:47.330 things about how the Bible as we know it was 00:02:47.330 --> 00:02:48.909 formed. And of course, we have to talk about 00:02:48.909 --> 00:02:51.210 how it all ended, which is unfortunately right 00:02:51.210 --> 00:02:54.490 there in his name, martyr. It is. But let's start 00:02:54.490 --> 00:02:56.969 at the beginning. Who was this guy? Because his 00:02:56.969 --> 00:02:59.509 background is a bit of a paradox, isn't it? It 00:02:59.509 --> 00:03:02.389 really is. Justin was born roughly around 100 00:03:02.389 --> 00:03:05.189 A .D., give or take a decade. He was born in 00:03:05.189 --> 00:03:07.669 Flavia, Neapolis. Which is modern -day Nolbliss 00:03:07.669 --> 00:03:11.590 in the West Bank. Ancient Shechem. Correct. Now, 00:03:11.650 --> 00:03:14.909 geographically, that is Samaria. That is deep 00:03:14.909 --> 00:03:17.330 biblical territory. It's a heartland. It's where 00:03:17.330 --> 00:03:19.669 Jacobsville was. It's central to the Old Testament 00:03:19.669 --> 00:03:22.860 narrative. But culturally... Justin was fully, 00:03:22.939 --> 00:03:25.680 completely Greek. His family was Gentile. So 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:28.340 no connection to the Jewish faith of the area? 00:03:28.620 --> 00:03:31.360 None. No. His father's name was Priscus, which 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:33.979 is a Latin name, and his grandfather was Bacchus, 00:03:34.139 --> 00:03:37.259 a Greek name. Justin himself tells us he was 00:03:37.259 --> 00:03:39.599 uncircumcised and defined himself explicitly 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:42.439 as a Gentile. So even though he's born in the 00:03:42.439 --> 00:03:44.379 biblical landscape, he's not plugged into the 00:03:44.379 --> 00:03:46.199 Jewish tradition at all. He's a tourist in the 00:03:46.199 --> 00:03:48.360 Holy Land, essentially. Not even a tourist. He's 00:03:48.360 --> 00:03:51.650 more like a colonizer. in a sense. He was likely 00:03:51.650 --> 00:03:53.909 part of a Roman diplomatic community or a colony 00:03:53.909 --> 00:03:56.430 sent to settle there after the Jewish wars. The 00:03:56.430 --> 00:03:58.650 Romans had crushed the area and renamed it. So 00:03:58.650 --> 00:04:01.129 Justin grows up as a Roman citizen, culturally 00:04:01.129 --> 00:04:04.009 Greek, looking for answers in the standard curriculum 00:04:04.009 --> 00:04:06.870 of the Hellenistic world. He knew little to no 00:04:06.870 --> 00:04:09.550 Hebrew or Aramaic. He was looking toward Athens. 00:04:10.120 --> 00:04:11.900 Not Jerusalem. And this is where we get what 00:04:11.900 --> 00:04:14.800 I call the educational montage. I love this part 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:17.040 of his story because it feels so relatable, you 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:19.459 know? Yes. He's young. He's hungry for truth. 00:04:19.660 --> 00:04:23.100 And he goes strictly shopping for a guru. He 00:04:23.100 --> 00:04:25.399 wants a mentor. He wants a system that explains 00:04:25.399 --> 00:04:28.240 the metaphysics of the universe. He describes 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:31.319 this search vividly in the opening of his dialogue 00:04:31.319 --> 00:04:34.819 with Trifo. It's almost a spiritual autobiography. 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:37.319 He's looking for a system that provides theological 00:04:37.319 --> 00:04:40.720 inspiration, something that explains the is the 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:43.040 being behind everything. OK, so it's stop number 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:46.360 one, the Stoic. Right. The Stoics were the heavy 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:48.740 hitters of the time. If you were a serious person 00:04:48.740 --> 00:04:50.920 in the second century, you looked into Stoicism. 00:04:51.180 --> 00:04:54.759 It was about emotional regulation, logic. The 00:04:54.759 --> 00:04:56.959 order of the cosmos accepting your fate. A very 00:04:56.959 --> 00:04:59.519 practical philosophy. Very. And Justin says he 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:01.920 spent significant time with this Stoic teacher. 00:05:02.060 --> 00:05:04.100 He really gave it a shot. But eventually he realized 00:05:04.100 --> 00:05:05.819 they were getting nowhere. What was the breaking 00:05:05.819 --> 00:05:07.959 point? The teacher couldn't explain the being 00:05:07.959 --> 00:05:11.000 of God. And even worse, when Justin pressed him 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:13.120 on it, the teacher said it didn't even matter. 00:05:13.379 --> 00:05:16.279 Wow. That is a deal breaker for Justin. Exactly. 00:05:16.600 --> 00:05:19.759 To the Stoic, the practical ethics were the point. 00:05:19.860 --> 00:05:23.839 How to live a tranquil life. To Justin, understanding 00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:26.540 God was the pinnacle of philosophy. The entire 00:05:26.540 --> 00:05:29.300 point of the exercise. The whole point. If the 00:05:29.300 --> 00:05:31.360 teacher doesn't think that's a priority, Justin 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:34.560 is out. He thinks, what is the point of philosophy 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:37.759 if not to know the divine? So he packs his bags. 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:40.600 Next up, he goes to a peripatetic philosopher. 00:05:40.899 --> 00:05:42.620 These are the followers of Aristotle, right? 00:05:42.699 --> 00:05:45.800 That's them. Very empirical, very logical, obsessed 00:05:45.800 --> 00:05:48.339 with categorization and observation. And this 00:05:48.339 --> 00:05:50.540 interaction is almost comical. It feels like 00:05:50.540 --> 00:05:53.160 a satire of higher education. It really does. 00:05:53.819 --> 00:05:56.000 Justin shows up, ready to learn the secrets of 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:58.000 the universe, and within the first few days, 00:05:58.139 --> 00:06:00.139 the philosopher asks him to settle on the tuition 00:06:00.139 --> 00:06:03.079 fee to make sure their time isn't unprofitable. 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:05.199 I love that. Justin is looking for the meaning 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:06.779 of life, and this guy is looking for a check. 00:06:07.209 --> 00:06:09.930 Justin dismisses him immediately. He says that 00:06:09.930 --> 00:06:12.089 transactional nature proves he isn't a philosopher 00:06:12.089 --> 00:06:15.370 at all. A true philosopher loves wisdom, not 00:06:15.370 --> 00:06:18.050 money. Another one bites the dust. So he moves 00:06:18.050 --> 00:06:22.230 on. Third stop, the Pythagorean. Now, the Pythagoreans 00:06:22.230 --> 00:06:25.029 are interesting. We think of the theorem A squared 00:06:25.029 --> 00:06:28.670 plus B squared equals C squared. But back then, 00:06:28.689 --> 00:06:30.949 they were almost a mystical cult, weren't they? 00:06:31.029 --> 00:06:33.649 Very mystical. They believed the universe was 00:06:33.649 --> 00:06:36.810 built on mathematical harmony. all about numbers, 00:06:36.990 --> 00:06:39.949 music, harmony. And this teacher was a big deal. 00:06:40.110 --> 00:06:42.829 He was highly celebrated, a big name, but he 00:06:42.829 --> 00:06:46.189 had prerequisites. He asked Justin, do you know 00:06:46.189 --> 00:06:49.189 music? Do you know astronomy? Do you know geometry? 00:06:49.569 --> 00:06:51.449 You got to do the coursework first. The idea 00:06:51.449 --> 00:06:53.389 was that you couldn't detach your soul from earthly 00:06:53.389 --> 00:06:56.050 things without these abstract sciences. You had 00:06:56.050 --> 00:06:58.610 to discipline the mind with math before you could 00:06:58.610 --> 00:07:01.170 approach the divine. And Justin, impatient as 00:07:01.170 --> 00:07:03.449 ever, admits he doesn't know them. And the teacher 00:07:03.449 --> 00:07:07.079 sends him away. He's rejected. And Justin admits 00:07:07.079 --> 00:07:09.399 he was crushed because he believed this teacher 00:07:09.399 --> 00:07:11.540 actually knew something. But he couldn't be bothered 00:07:11.540 --> 00:07:13.740 with the prereqs. He didn't want to spend years 00:07:13.740 --> 00:07:15.939 learning the lute and looking at star charts 00:07:15.939 --> 00:07:18.779 just to get to the starting line. Which leaves 00:07:18.779 --> 00:07:22.379 him somewhat desperate. But then he finds the 00:07:22.379 --> 00:07:25.279 Platonists, and this is the breakthrough. It 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:28.100 is. Platonism was enjoying a resurgence at this 00:07:28.100 --> 00:07:31.279 time, what scholars call Middle Platonism. It 00:07:31.279 --> 00:07:33.620 was all about the world of forms, immaterial 00:07:33.620 --> 00:07:37.040 ideas. The idea that this physical world is just 00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:41.000 a shadow of a truer, higher reality. And that 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:42.560 clicks with him. It's like a light bulb goes 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:46.600 on. Justin says the contemplation of ideas furnished 00:07:46.600 --> 00:07:50.459 his mind with wings. Wings for his mind. That's 00:07:50.459 --> 00:07:52.519 a beautiful phrase. It captures that intellectual 00:07:52.519 --> 00:07:54.579 high you get when you feel like you're finally 00:07:54.579 --> 00:07:56.879 understanding how the world works. It is. He 00:07:56.879 --> 00:08:00.120 felt he was becoming wise. He expected in his 00:08:00.120 --> 00:08:03.779 stupidity, his words, looking back, that he would 00:08:03.779 --> 00:08:06.000 see God immediately because that's the end goal 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:08.759 of Plato's philosophy, to see the divine with 00:08:08.759 --> 00:08:10.899 the mind's eye. He thought he'd made it. He thought 00:08:10.899 --> 00:08:13.019 he had arrived. So he thinks he's found it. He's 00:08:13.019 --> 00:08:15.300 a Platonist. He's walking on air. But then comes 00:08:15.300 --> 00:08:18.779 the plot twist. The old man by the sea. This 00:08:18.779 --> 00:08:20.860 sounds like a fable, but it's how he describes 00:08:20.860 --> 00:08:22.920 his conversion. It's a very cinematic moment. 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:25.199 Justin is walking near the seashore looking for 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:28.050 solitude to meditate. presumably on these platonic 00:08:28.050 --> 00:08:30.949 ideas. And he notices he's being followed by 00:08:30.949 --> 00:08:34.509 an elderly man. They start talking. And Justin, 00:08:34.909 --> 00:08:38.470 probably feeling pretty smart in his philosopher's 00:08:38.470 --> 00:08:41.610 robe, tries to engage the man in a debate. He 00:08:41.610 --> 00:08:43.909 tries to use the Socratic method on him. He does. 00:08:44.090 --> 00:08:46.590 But the old man, who many scholars think might 00:08:46.590 --> 00:08:49.009 have been a Syrian Christian, flips the script. 00:08:49.330 --> 00:08:52.610 He completely flips it. He challenges Justin's 00:08:52.610 --> 00:08:55.269 reliance on human reasoning. Justin is talking 00:08:55.269 --> 00:08:58.009 about the soul, about reincarnation, about seeing 00:08:58.009 --> 00:09:00.610 God through the intellect. The old man starts 00:09:00.610 --> 00:09:03.889 poking holes in it. How so? He argues that the 00:09:03.889 --> 00:09:06.649 philosophers, even Plato, are limited. They haven't 00:09:06.649 --> 00:09:09.090 seen God. They're just guessing based on their 00:09:09.090 --> 00:09:11.389 own minds. They're making it up as they go. And 00:09:11.389 --> 00:09:13.769 then comes the pivot. The old man tells him, 00:09:13.830 --> 00:09:15.960 you're looking in the wrong place. Right. He 00:09:15.960 --> 00:09:17.720 says there were men more ancient than all the 00:09:17.720 --> 00:09:19.740 philosophers, men who were righteous and beloved 00:09:19.740 --> 00:09:22.879 by God. He introduces the concept of the prophets. 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:26.460 This is a huge shift from thinkers to seers. 00:09:26.539 --> 00:09:29.320 Exactly. The old man argues that these prophets 00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:31.899 didn't speak for glory or out of fear, and they 00:09:31.899 --> 00:09:34.460 didn't rely on demonstrations of logic. They 00:09:34.460 --> 00:09:37.080 spoke by the divine spirit. They weren't just 00:09:37.080 --> 00:09:39.940 smart. They were inspired. And their proof was 00:09:39.940 --> 00:09:42.059 that they predicted events that actually happened. 00:09:42.509 --> 00:09:44.590 He tells Justin that the writings of these prophets 00:09:44.590 --> 00:09:47.350 are still extant, they still exist, and they 00:09:47.350 --> 00:09:49.870 offer the only safe and profitable philosophy. 00:09:50.169 --> 00:09:53.590 Safe and profitable. I like that. Philosophy 00:09:53.590 --> 00:09:55.549 was dangerous. You could get lost in the maze. 00:09:56.370 --> 00:09:59.450 But the prophets were an anchor. And the kicker 00:09:59.450 --> 00:10:01.690 is the prayer. The old man tells him, pray that 00:10:01.690 --> 00:10:04.240 the gates of light may be open to you. Because 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:06.080 you can't just figure this out with a high IQ. 00:10:06.340 --> 00:10:09.059 It has to be given by God. And that's the moment 00:10:09.059 --> 00:10:11.879 Justin says, straightway a flame was kindled 00:10:11.879 --> 00:10:14.340 in my soul. A flame in his soul. He fell in love 00:10:14.340 --> 00:10:16.179 with the prophets and with the friends of Christ. 00:10:16.500 --> 00:10:18.659 It's fascinating because he describes it almost 00:10:18.659 --> 00:10:21.919 like a romance. He was seized by a love for the 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:24.340 truth that he found there. But here is what makes 00:10:24.340 --> 00:10:27.360 Justin, Justin. He converts. He dedicates his 00:10:27.360 --> 00:10:30.440 life to the divine. But he doesn't go put on 00:10:30.440 --> 00:10:33.480 a tunic and hide in a monastery. No. He keeps 00:10:33.480 --> 00:10:36.879 the philosopher's robe on. Why? Because he believed 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:40.039 he had finally found the true philosophy. He 00:10:40.039 --> 00:10:42.360 viewed Christianity not as a rejection of his 00:10:42.360 --> 00:10:45.080 quest for wisdom, but as the culmination of it. 00:10:45.139 --> 00:10:47.139 All those other schools were just advertisers. 00:10:47.539 --> 00:10:50.340 This was the main course. So he takes it on the 00:10:50.340 --> 00:10:53.100 road. He travels to Ephesus and eventually to 00:10:53.100 --> 00:10:55.840 Rome, setting up his own school. He's teaching 00:10:55.840 --> 00:10:58.159 Christianity, but he's doing it in the style 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:00.720 of a philosophical lecturer. He is debating. 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:03.559 He's writing. He is engaging the culture on its 00:11:03.559 --> 00:11:06.360 own terms. And this brings us to the core of 00:11:06.360 --> 00:11:08.200 his teaching. This is where we have to talk about 00:11:08.200 --> 00:11:10.740 the logos, because this is how he bridges that 00:11:10.740 --> 00:11:13.100 gap we talked about, Jerusalem and Athens. This 00:11:13.100 --> 00:11:16.240 is the intellectual glue. This is Justin's masterstroke. 00:11:16.700 --> 00:11:19.460 You have to understand, the word logos is Greek. 00:11:19.580 --> 00:11:23.299 It means word, but it also means reason. rationality 00:11:23.299 --> 00:11:25.919 the ordering principle of the universe it's a 00:11:25.919 --> 00:11:29.279 huge concept in their world huge the stoics used 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:31.879 it the platonists used it it was the buzzword 00:11:31.879 --> 00:11:33.860 of greek intellect it was the force that held 00:11:33.860 --> 00:11:36.039 the cosmos together but it's also in the beginning 00:11:36.039 --> 00:11:39.100 of the gospel of john in the beginning was the 00:11:39.100 --> 00:11:42.299 word the logos and the logos was with god and 00:11:42.299 --> 00:11:45.519 the logos was god exactly so justin looks at 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:48.220 his greek audience and says You guys love the 00:11:48.220 --> 00:11:50.919 Logos. You worship reason. Great. We know who 00:11:50.919 --> 00:11:54.200 he is. We've got him. He isn't an abstract principle. 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:56.980 He isn't just gravity or logic. He is a person. 00:11:57.139 --> 00:12:00.740 He is Jesus Christ. That is a massive hook. He's 00:12:00.740 --> 00:12:02.799 taking their most cherished concept and putting 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:05.080 a face on it. But he takes a step further with 00:12:05.080 --> 00:12:07.700 the concept of Logos Primatikos. The seeds of 00:12:07.700 --> 00:12:10.039 the word. This is my favorite part of his theology 00:12:10.039 --> 00:12:12.480 because it's so creative. It is his way of solving 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:15.779 the problem of history. If Jesus only appeared 00:12:15.779 --> 00:12:18.799 recently under Pontius Pilate, what about all 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:21.139 the good people who lived before him? What about 00:12:21.139 --> 00:12:24.340 the great thinkers? Plato, Socrates. Right, were 00:12:24.340 --> 00:12:27.799 they all lost? Justin argues that Christ is the 00:12:27.799 --> 00:12:31.019 full logos, the complete word of God. But, he 00:12:31.019 --> 00:12:33.279 says, seeds of that logos were scattered throughout 00:12:33.279 --> 00:12:36.519 humanity long before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. 00:12:36.730 --> 00:12:38.809 So whenever a Greek philosopher stumbled upon 00:12:38.809 --> 00:12:40.529 a truth, whether it was Plato talking about the 00:12:40.529 --> 00:12:43.309 soul or Heraclitus talking about change, Justin 00:12:43.309 --> 00:12:45.429 says they were actually tapping into the logos. 00:12:45.970 --> 00:12:48.909 Precisely. He argues that these philosophers 00:12:48.909 --> 00:12:52.049 borrowed essential truths, perhaps even from 00:12:52.049 --> 00:12:54.649 Moses and the Old Testament prophets, but ultimately 00:12:54.649 --> 00:12:56.929 from the logos itself. So they didn't invent 00:12:56.929 --> 00:12:59.009 it. They discovered it. They discovered a piece 00:12:59.009 --> 00:13:02.049 of it. He says that the human mind, by virtue 00:13:02.049 --> 00:13:04.450 of being rational, participates in the divine 00:13:04.450 --> 00:13:07.759 reason. So when Socrates stood up for truth against 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:11.080 the Athenian mob, he was doing that by the power 00:13:11.080 --> 00:13:13.460 of the Logos. This leads him to that incredibly 00:13:13.460 --> 00:13:16.320 bold claim we mentioned earlier, that Socrates 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:19.740 was, in a sense, a Christian. His logic is consistent. 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:23.980 If Socrates lived according to reason, Logos, 00:13:23.980 --> 00:13:27.019 and Christ is the Logos, then Socrates lived 00:13:27.019 --> 00:13:29.129 according to Christ. even if he didn't know the 00:13:29.129 --> 00:13:31.769 name Jesus. It's such an inclusive way to view 00:13:31.769 --> 00:13:34.450 history, but it also asserts Christianity's dominance. 00:13:34.690 --> 00:13:36.750 It's like he's saying, everything you got right 00:13:36.750 --> 00:13:38.710 belongs to us. That's it. Everything you got 00:13:38.710 --> 00:13:41.049 wrong is because you only had a seed, not the 00:13:41.049 --> 00:13:43.509 whole plant. That's it, exactly. He says, and 00:13:43.509 --> 00:13:46.009 this is a direct quote, whatever things were 00:13:46.009 --> 00:13:48.909 rightly said among all men are the property of 00:13:48.909 --> 00:13:51.470 us Christians. It legitimized Christian faith 00:13:51.470 --> 00:13:54.289 to the Roman intellect. It's not a barbarian 00:13:54.289 --> 00:13:58.029 superstition. It's the completion of Plato. It's 00:13:58.029 --> 00:14:00.169 what you've been looking for all along. Now, 00:14:00.309 --> 00:14:02.129 we have to get a little technical for a second 00:14:02.129 --> 00:14:04.509 because Justin also tries to explain the mechanics 00:14:04.509 --> 00:14:06.809 of who Jesus is in relation to God the Father. 00:14:06.990 --> 00:14:09.250 And he uses an analogy that I think is really 00:14:09.250 --> 00:14:12.350 helpful, fire. Yes, the fire analogy is crucial 00:14:12.350 --> 00:14:15.309 because he's trying to navigate monotheism. If 00:14:15.309 --> 00:14:18.769 God is one, how can Jesus also be God? A huge 00:14:18.769 --> 00:14:21.070 stumbling block for pagans. The Romans thought 00:14:21.070 --> 00:14:23.549 Christians were polytheists because they worshipped 00:14:23.549 --> 00:14:26.799 a second God. Justin says the Logos is numerically 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:29.159 distinct from the Father. He's not just a mode 00:14:29.159 --> 00:14:31.940 or a mask God wears. He is a distinct person. 00:14:32.120 --> 00:14:34.600 Not that there's a but. But he is born of the 00:14:34.600 --> 00:14:37.059 Father's substance. He uses the image of one 00:14:37.059 --> 00:14:39.799 fire being lit from another. Okay. If I use my 00:14:39.799 --> 00:14:42.039 torch to light your torch, your fire is new. 00:14:42.179 --> 00:14:45.220 It is distinct. I can move it away, but my fire 00:14:45.220 --> 00:14:47.139 hasn't been diminished. We haven't lost anything. 00:14:47.559 --> 00:14:50.299 The substance is the same. It is light from light. 00:14:50.759 --> 00:14:53.379 That's a great way to explain the begotten, not 00:14:53.379 --> 00:14:56.259 made concept to a Roman audience who understood 00:14:56.259 --> 00:14:59.759 physics and elements. It is. However, we have 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:02.379 to note that scholars point out Justin's theology 00:15:02.379 --> 00:15:05.120 has some elements that later orthodoxy would 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:07.559 refine or even reject. It's not perfect yet. 00:15:07.720 --> 00:15:10.740 No. He has a touch of what's called subordinationism. 00:15:10.980 --> 00:15:14.659 Meaning he sees the son as subordinate to the 00:15:14.659 --> 00:15:18.100 father. In a sense. He emphasizes that the Father 00:15:18.100 --> 00:15:21.639 engendered the Son by a voluntary act at the 00:15:21.639 --> 00:15:24.799 beginning of creation. It implies a temporal 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:27.720 starting point or a dependency that conflicts 00:15:27.720 --> 00:15:30.100 with later doctrines of the co -eternal Trinity. 00:15:31.159 --> 00:15:33.639 But remember, he's pioneering this language in 00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:35.159 the second century. He doesn't have the Nicene 00:15:35.159 --> 00:15:36.899 Creed yet. Right. He's figuring it out in real 00:15:36.899 --> 00:15:39.340 time. He's beta testing the theology. He's the 00:15:39.340 --> 00:15:41.500 one building the scaffolding that later theologians 00:15:41.500 --> 00:15:43.340 would climb. And he's doing the same with the 00:15:43.340 --> 00:15:45.919 Holy Spirit. He defends the spirit as a member 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:49.039 of the Trinity, largely using prophetic exegesis. 00:15:49.259 --> 00:15:51.460 The spirit as the voice of the prophets. Exactly. 00:15:51.559 --> 00:15:53.820 He argues that the spirit is the prophetic voice 00:15:53.820 --> 00:15:56.519 that spoke through the ages. So he presents a 00:15:56.519 --> 00:15:58.899 triune God, even if the mechanics aren't fully 00:15:58.899 --> 00:16:01.279 polished by 4th century standards. Okay, let's 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:04.279 pivot to the documents themselves. Because talking 00:16:04.279 --> 00:16:06.200 about his ideas is one thing, but looking at 00:16:06.200 --> 00:16:08.639 the paper trail is another. We know a lot of 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:11.779 ancient texts are lost to time. How do we even 00:16:11.779 --> 00:16:15.000 have Justin's work? We barely do. It's a bit 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:17.000 of a miracle, really. How so? For the medieval 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:19.559 period, Justin was mostly known by reputation 00:16:19.559 --> 00:16:21.740 or through quotes in other people's work, like 00:16:21.740 --> 00:16:25.200 the church historian Eusebius. But in 1540, a 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:28.039 man named Guillaume Pellissier purchased a single 00:16:28.039 --> 00:16:31.039 manuscript in Venice. Just one? Just one. It's 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:33.539 now in the National Library of France, cataloged 00:16:33.539 --> 00:16:36.559 as Parisianus Graecus 450. And that's it. That's 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:39.899 the source. It was copied in 1364, possibly in 00:16:39.899 --> 00:16:43.149 Mystra, in the crumbling Byzantine Empire. Internal 00:16:43.149 --> 00:16:45.789 evidence suggests the scribe used multiple older, 00:16:45.929 --> 00:16:48.409 rotting manuscripts to compile this one clean 00:16:48.409 --> 00:16:51.590 copy. That gives me chills. A scribe in 1364, 00:16:51.750 --> 00:16:53.590 probably working by Camelite, saving the voice 00:16:53.590 --> 00:16:56.210 of a man from a 150 AD. If that scribe takes 00:16:56.210 --> 00:16:58.490 a day off, or if that library burns down, we 00:16:58.490 --> 00:17:00.769 lose Justin. We would have lost the apologies 00:17:00.769 --> 00:17:02.909 and the dialogue entirely. We would just have 00:17:02.909 --> 00:17:05.869 fragments. It's that close. So, what's in this 00:17:05.869 --> 00:17:07.829 manuscript? Let's start with the first apology. 00:17:08.250 --> 00:17:11.349 Who is he writing to? He is swinging for the 00:17:11.349 --> 00:17:14.380 fences. He addresses it to the emperor Antonius 00:17:14.380 --> 00:17:18.140 Pius and his sons, Marcus Aurelius, who would 00:17:18.140 --> 00:17:20.700 become the famous philosopher king, and Lucius 00:17:20.700 --> 00:17:23.160 Verus and the Roman Senate. Talk about a tough 00:17:23.160 --> 00:17:25.160 crowd. And what's the goal? What's he trying 00:17:25.160 --> 00:17:29.000 to do? Survival. He wants them to stop persecuting 00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:31.619 the church. He's refuting the common charges, 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:36.380 atheism and immorality. Wait, atheism? They called 00:17:36.380 --> 00:17:39.079 Christians atheists. That sounds backward to 00:17:39.079 --> 00:17:41.740 us. It does, but you have to understand the Roman 00:17:41.740 --> 00:17:45.529 mindset. To a Roman... The gods were part of 00:17:45.529 --> 00:17:47.490 the state civic structure. Right. They were public 00:17:47.490 --> 00:17:50.369 utilities almost. Kind of. If you didn't worship 00:17:50.369 --> 00:17:52.490 the gods of the empire, Jupiter, Apollo, the 00:17:52.490 --> 00:17:54.569 genius of the emperor, you were denying the divine 00:17:54.569 --> 00:17:57.210 order. You were an atheist because you rejected 00:17:57.210 --> 00:18:00.049 the recognized gods. So Justin has to argue against 00:18:00.049 --> 00:18:02.430 that. He flips this. He says, we are atheists 00:18:02.430 --> 00:18:04.809 regarding your false gods, but we worship the 00:18:04.809 --> 00:18:07.250 most true God. He also gives us some of the earliest 00:18:07.250 --> 00:18:09.049 descriptions of what Christians actually did 00:18:09.049 --> 00:18:10.589 when they got together because there were rumors, 00:18:10.690 --> 00:18:14.420 right? secret meetings eating flesh people thought 00:18:14.420 --> 00:18:16.279 they were cannibals because of the language of 00:18:16.279 --> 00:18:19.180 the eucharist exactly this is my body this is 00:18:19.180 --> 00:18:22.059 my blood if you hear that out of context it sounds 00:18:22.059 --> 00:18:25.519 horrific so justin throws the doors open he describes 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:28.079 sunday worship what does it look like the reading 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:31.059 of the memoirs yeah the prayers and he describes 00:18:31.059 --> 00:18:33.880 the eucharist in detail he writes that it is 00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:36.920 not common bread and common drink he says they 00:18:36.920 --> 00:18:42.920 have been taught that the food He uses the word 00:18:42.920 --> 00:18:46.099 transmutation. Yes. He connects the incarnation 00:18:46.099 --> 00:18:49.640 Jesus taking on flesh with the Eucharist. Just 00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:52.440 as Jesus became flesh for our salvation, the 00:18:52.440 --> 00:18:54.779 bread and wine become his flesh and blood to 00:18:54.779 --> 00:18:57.829 nourish us. It's the very high view of the sacrament 00:18:57.829 --> 00:19:00.109 explicitly to counter the idea that they were 00:19:00.109 --> 00:19:02.609 just engaging in weird rituals. He's saying this 00:19:02.609 --> 00:19:05.349 is deep theology, not a crime. Precisely. And 00:19:05.349 --> 00:19:06.910 then we have the dialogue with Truffaut. This 00:19:06.910 --> 00:19:09.869 is a different beast entirely. It is. The apology 00:19:09.869 --> 00:19:12.829 is a legal defense. The dialogue is a theological 00:19:12.829 --> 00:19:15.930 debate. It's set as a conversation between Justin 00:19:15.930 --> 00:19:18.829 and Truffaut, who is described as a Jewish refugee 00:19:18.829 --> 00:19:21.769 from the Bar Kokhba revolt. Let's set the scene 00:19:21.769 --> 00:19:24.509 there. The Bar Kokor revolt ended around 135 00:19:24.509 --> 00:19:27.410 AD. This was a massive Jewish uprising against 00:19:27.410 --> 00:19:30.609 Rome, and Rome crushed it brutally. Utterly. 00:19:30.710 --> 00:19:33.170 Jews were banned from Jerusalem, so tensions 00:19:33.170 --> 00:19:35.410 are extremely high. And this dialogue gives us 00:19:35.410 --> 00:19:37.930 a window into that tension. It's our best window 00:19:37.930 --> 00:19:40.089 into the Jewish -Christian relations of the second 00:19:40.089 --> 00:19:43.190 century. Justin meets Trifo, likely in Ephesus, 00:19:43.410 --> 00:19:46.029 and they start a multi -day debate. And Justin's 00:19:46.029 --> 00:19:49.150 argument is what? That Christianity is the new 00:19:49.150 --> 00:19:53.059 law for all men. He uses the Old Testament relentlessly 00:19:53.059 --> 00:19:56.079 to try to prove to Trifo that Jesus is the Messiah. 00:19:56.440 --> 00:19:58.700 And he takes a pretty hard line on the ritual 00:19:58.700 --> 00:20:01.519 laws, circumcision, the Sabbath, kosher laws. 00:20:01.880 --> 00:20:04.259 He does. He argues those were temporary. They 00:20:04.259 --> 00:20:06.680 were pedagogic, meaning they were like a tutor 00:20:06.680 --> 00:20:09.140 meant to teach a lesson for a specific time or 00:20:09.140 --> 00:20:11.180 to mark the Jewish people out due to their hardness 00:20:11.180 --> 00:20:13.119 of heart, according to his argument. But now 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:16.220 that's over. Now that Christ, the end or goal 00:20:16.220 --> 00:20:19.960 of the law, has come, those rituals must cease. 00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:22.400 And he goes so far as to claim the church is 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:25.500 the true Israel. Yes. And we have to be honest 00:20:25.500 --> 00:20:27.900 about the tone here. This can be difficult to 00:20:27.900 --> 00:20:31.640 read. Justin regards the Jews who reject Jesus 00:20:31.640 --> 00:20:34.920 as an accursed people in some passages, and his 00:20:34.920 --> 00:20:37.059 polemics are hostile. So we're just reporting 00:20:37.059 --> 00:20:39.980 what's in the text here. Exactly. Scholars note 00:20:39.980 --> 00:20:42.440 this as a significant moment in the development 00:20:42.440 --> 00:20:44.619 of Christian supersessionism, the idea that the 00:20:44.619 --> 00:20:47.789 church replaces Israel. However, the dialogue 00:20:47.789 --> 00:20:50.390 is also unique because it acknowledges nuance. 00:20:50.849 --> 00:20:54.170 Justin admits there are Jewish believers in Jesus 00:20:54.170 --> 00:20:56.690 who still keep the law, and he says he's willing 00:20:56.690 --> 00:20:58.450 to tolerate that as long as they don't force 00:20:58.450 --> 00:21:01.400 Gentile converts to do the same. So he's hostile, 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:03.859 but he's also engaging in a dialogue, which implies 00:21:03.859 --> 00:21:06.799 some level of mutual recognition. Yes, and he 00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:08.799 calls Trifo his friend at the end, doesn't he? 00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:11.059 He does. They pray for each other. It's a debate, 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:13.380 not just a diatribe. It shows that the lines 00:21:13.380 --> 00:21:15.359 were being drawn, but they weren't fully calcified 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:18.299 yet. A fascinating document. Let's move to section 00:21:18.299 --> 00:21:20.859 four, because for anyone interested in the Bible, 00:21:21.019 --> 00:21:24.420 this is fascinating. Justin almost never uses 00:21:24.420 --> 00:21:27.420 the word gospel. He uses the word euangelion 00:21:27.420 --> 00:21:31.319 only three times. Instead, he constantly refers 00:21:31.319 --> 00:21:37.440 to the memoirs of the apostles. Why memoirs? 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:39.480 That sounds like a biography you buy at an airport 00:21:39.480 --> 00:21:41.480 bookstore. It goes back to his target audience. 00:21:41.740 --> 00:21:43.720 Remember, he's pitching to Greeks and Romans. 00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:46.640 Right. Xenophon, the Greek historian, wrote a 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:49.359 famous work called the Memorabilia, or Memoirs 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:52.849 of Socrates. By using this term, Justin is framing 00:21:52.849 --> 00:21:55.509 the Gospels as trustworthy historical records, 00:21:55.789 --> 00:21:58.849 biographical accounts of a teacher similar to 00:21:58.849 --> 00:22:00.869 what they knew about Socrates. He's putting Jesus 00:22:00.869 --> 00:22:03.450 on the same literary shelf as Socrates. He's 00:22:03.450 --> 00:22:05.349 saying these aren't myths. These are records. 00:22:05.630 --> 00:22:07.450 And he says these memoirs were read publicly 00:22:07.450 --> 00:22:10.200 every Sunday. Along with the writings of the 00:22:10.200 --> 00:22:13.299 prophets, this is crucial. It shows that by 150 00:22:13.299 --> 00:22:16.779 AD, these Christian writings were being treated 00:22:16.779 --> 00:22:18.940 with the same liturgical weight as the Old Testament 00:22:18.940 --> 00:22:20.859 scriptures. They were scripture. They were being 00:22:20.859 --> 00:22:23.059 read as scripture in the gathered assembly. But 00:22:23.059 --> 00:22:24.680 here's where it gets really interesting for the 00:22:24.680 --> 00:22:27.960 text detectives. When Justin quotes Jesus, he 00:22:27.960 --> 00:22:30.980 doesn't sound exactly like my Bible. He seems 00:22:30.980 --> 00:22:34.099 to be remixing Matthew, Mark, and Luke. That 00:22:34.099 --> 00:22:37.140 is the harmonization theory. Justin often quotes 00:22:37.140 --> 00:22:39.339 a passage that blends Matthew and Luke together 00:22:39.339 --> 00:22:42.680 seamlessly. Can you give an example? Sure. When 00:22:42.680 --> 00:22:44.940 he talks about the virgin birth, he combines 00:22:44.940 --> 00:22:48.779 the angel's message to Joseph from Matthew with 00:22:48.779 --> 00:22:52.039 the message to Mary from Luke into one continuous 00:22:52.039 --> 00:22:55.039 narrative flow. So he's not juggling three different 00:22:55.039 --> 00:22:57.400 scrolls in front of him. Probably not. Scrolls 00:22:57.400 --> 00:23:00.240 were expensive and unwieldy. Many scholars, like 00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:02.740 Oskar Skarsson, believe Justin used a Krigma 00:23:02.740 --> 00:23:05.109 source. or pre -existing harmony. What would 00:23:05.109 --> 00:23:08.289 that be? A cheat sheet? Kind of. Maybe a school 00:23:08.289 --> 00:23:11.109 text they use for teaching or catechism. It's 00:23:11.109 --> 00:23:13.269 a precursor to what his student, Tatian, would 00:23:13.269 --> 00:23:15.950 later do with the Diatessaron, which was a formal 00:23:15.950 --> 00:23:17.930 weaving of the four Gospels into one narrative. 00:23:18.230 --> 00:23:19.930 And because he's using these unique sources, 00:23:20.049 --> 00:23:22.009 we get some details that simply aren't in the 00:23:22.009 --> 00:23:24.470 standard Gospels. The one that blew my mind was 00:23:24.470 --> 00:23:27.519 the fire in the Jordan. Yes. In the dialogue 00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:30.039 with Trifo, when Justin describes the baptism 00:23:30.039 --> 00:23:32.599 of Jesus, he says that when Jesus went down into 00:23:32.599 --> 00:23:35.539 the water, a fire was even kindled in the Jordan. 00:23:35.680 --> 00:23:38.039 A fire in the river. That is such a dramatic 00:23:38.039 --> 00:23:40.059 image. Where does he get that from? We don't 00:23:40.059 --> 00:23:42.400 know for sure. It's not in Matthew, Mark, Luke, 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:46.339 or John. But it suggests Justin had access to... 00:23:46.779 --> 00:23:49.220 traditions or texts perhaps something like the 00:23:49.220 --> 00:23:52.059 lost dialogue of jason of episcus that contain 00:23:52.059 --> 00:23:55.039 these extra canonical details it gives the baptism 00:23:55.039 --> 00:23:58.160 a very cosmic supernatural feel it really does 00:23:58.160 --> 00:24:00.420 he also quotes the voice from heaven differently 00:24:00.420 --> 00:24:03.720 in luke it usually says you are my son whom i 00:24:03.720 --> 00:24:06.839 love with you i am well pleased but just in quotes 00:24:06.839 --> 00:24:10.000 he quotes you are my son this day i have begotten 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:13.250 you Which is a direct quote from Song 2 .7. It 00:24:13.250 --> 00:24:15.230 is, and it's actually found in the Western text 00:24:15.230 --> 00:24:18.829 Type of Luke, a manuscript variation. It fits 00:24:18.829 --> 00:24:20.930 Justin's theology perfectly because he's always 00:24:20.930 --> 00:24:23.609 trying to show prophecy fulfillment. If the voice 00:24:23.609 --> 00:24:26.009 quotes the psalm, the connection is undeniable. 00:24:26.170 --> 00:24:28.589 It's all about connecting the dots for him. There's 00:24:28.589 --> 00:24:31.210 also the bit about Satan. Justin gives us an 00:24:31.210 --> 00:24:34.130 etymology lesson that, well, let's just say he 00:24:34.130 --> 00:24:36.529 didn't know Hebrew. He did not. Justin was a 00:24:36.529 --> 00:24:38.690 Greek speaker through and through. He attempts 00:24:38.690 --> 00:24:41.970 to explain the name Satanus. And how does he 00:24:41.970 --> 00:24:44.210 break it down? He breaks it down. Satan, which 00:24:44.210 --> 00:24:47.450 he says means apostate, and nas, which he says 00:24:47.450 --> 00:24:50.630 means serpent. So Satan means apostate serpent. 00:24:51.150 --> 00:24:53.670 Is that accurate? Linguistically, no, not at 00:24:53.670 --> 00:24:58.289 all. Satan is Hebrew for accuser or adversary. 00:24:58.769 --> 00:25:01.509 But he makes it work for his argument. Theologically, 00:25:01.710 --> 00:25:04.349 it works for him. It connects the Satan who tempted 00:25:04.349 --> 00:25:06.670 Jesus in the desert back to the serpent who tempted 00:25:06.670 --> 00:25:09.069 Adam in the garden. It reinforces his view of 00:25:09.069 --> 00:25:11.529 Christ as the victor who conquers the ancient 00:25:11.529 --> 00:25:13.970 enemy. It's amazing how he connects those dots, 00:25:14.089 --> 00:25:16.559 even if his linguistics are a bit shaky. It shows 00:25:16.559 --> 00:25:18.200 his mind was always looking for the pattern, 00:25:18.319 --> 00:25:20.119 the link between the old and the new. Always. 00:25:20.279 --> 00:25:22.779 He saw the world as a unified story written by 00:25:22.779 --> 00:25:25.420 the logos. Everything fit together. So we have 00:25:25.420 --> 00:25:28.680 this brilliant, bold teacher. He's arguing with 00:25:28.680 --> 00:25:31.000 emperors. He's debating rabbis. He's running 00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:33.880 a school in Rome. But in the second century, 00:25:33.960 --> 00:25:35.880 if you stick your neck out like that, eventually 00:25:35.880 --> 00:25:38.619 someone swings an axe. It was inevitable. Rome 00:25:38.619 --> 00:25:41.079 was tolerant of many things, but it was not tolerant 00:25:41.079 --> 00:25:44.680 of defiance. And Justin ran afoul of a cynic 00:25:44.680 --> 00:25:47.019 philosopher named Crescens. A cynic philosopher? 00:25:47.059 --> 00:25:50.059 What were they like? The cynics were intense. 00:25:50.220 --> 00:25:54.019 They rejected social conventions, wealth, and 00:25:54.019 --> 00:25:57.519 status. Think Diogenes living in a barrel. Very 00:25:57.519 --> 00:25:59.519 countercultural. And he got into it with one 00:25:59.519 --> 00:26:02.930 of them. He and Crescens disputed publicly. And 00:26:02.930 --> 00:26:05.210 Justin essentially humiliated Crescens in debate, 00:26:05.390 --> 00:26:07.250 showing that the cynic didn't really understand 00:26:07.250 --> 00:26:09.750 the truth and was just a lover of noise. So Crescens 00:26:09.750 --> 00:26:12.589 got angry. Tatian, Justin's student, implies 00:26:12.589 --> 00:26:14.930 that Crescens laid snares for him. He snitched 00:26:14.930 --> 00:26:16.690 on him. He denounced him to the authorities. 00:26:16.809 --> 00:26:18.970 This was during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, 00:26:18.970 --> 00:26:21.009 the Stoic emperor. You'd think a philosopher 00:26:21.009 --> 00:26:23.089 emperor would be lenient to a philosopher saint, 00:26:23.190 --> 00:26:26.089 but no. No. Marcus Aurelius viewed the Christian's 00:26:26.089 --> 00:26:29.730 obstinacy, their refusal to sacrifice, as irrational 00:26:29.730 --> 00:26:33.319 and stubborn. So Justin is arrested. And we actually 00:26:33.319 --> 00:26:35.279 have a transcript of the trial. This is called 00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:37.680 the Martyrdom of Justin. It's a court record, 00:26:37.779 --> 00:26:40.400 or at least it's based on one. It's chillingly 00:26:40.400 --> 00:26:43.420 bureaucratic. He's tried by the urban prefect, 00:26:43.539 --> 00:26:46.980 Junius Rusticus. And this guy is a big deal. 00:26:47.160 --> 00:26:50.720 Get this, Rusticus was actually the stoic tutor 00:26:50.720 --> 00:26:53.519 to Marcus Aurelius. So it is two philosophers 00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:56.160 facing off again. One representing the power 00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:58.480 of Rome, one representing the truth of Christ. 00:26:58.660 --> 00:27:01.680 That's the scene. And Rusticus demands, approach 00:27:01.680 --> 00:27:04.640 and sacrifice all of you to the gods. And Justin 00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:07.559 says, no one in his right mind gives up piety 00:27:07.559 --> 00:27:10.619 for impiety. That is such a mic drop. He's calling 00:27:10.619 --> 00:27:13.400 the Roman religion impiety. He is flipping the 00:27:13.400 --> 00:27:15.759 script on the judge. He is. And Rusticus warns 00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:18.079 him, if you do not obey, you will be tortured 00:27:18.079 --> 00:27:20.519 without mercy. And this is the moment where the 00:27:20.519 --> 00:27:22.759 rubber meets the road. The old man by the sea 00:27:22.759 --> 00:27:25.480 promised him a safe philosophy. Does it hold 00:27:25.480 --> 00:27:28.259 up under threat of torture? Justin replies. That 00:27:28.259 --> 00:27:30.480 is our desire, to be tortured for our Lord Jesus 00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:33.500 Christ and so to be saved. He desires it. For 00:27:33.500 --> 00:27:35.440 that will give us salvation and firm confidence 00:27:35.440 --> 00:27:38.160 at the more terrible universal tribunal of our 00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:40.240 Lord and Savior. He's looking at the Roman judge 00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:42.160 and saying, I'm worried about a much higher court 00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:44.660 than yours. Your judgment is temporary. His is 00:27:44.660 --> 00:27:48.539 eternal. Exactly. And his companions, six of 00:27:48.539 --> 00:27:51.819 them, including slaves like Eul Pistis and Hyrax, 00:27:51.880 --> 00:27:54.799 they join in. They don't back down. What do they 00:27:54.799 --> 00:27:58.339 say? They say, do as you wish. For we are Christians 00:27:58.339 --> 00:28:01.619 and we do not sacrifice to idols. And so... Rusticus 00:28:01.619 --> 00:28:04.240 passes sentence. They are to be scourged and 00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:06.920 beheaded. And the text says they glorified God 00:28:06.920 --> 00:28:09.500 and went to the customary place to be executed. 00:28:09.859 --> 00:28:12.460 When did this happen? Somewhere between 162 and 00:28:12.460 --> 00:28:16.779 168 AD. Unless Justin became Justin Martyr. He 00:28:16.779 --> 00:28:19.339 wore the robe to the very end. He died as a philosopher 00:28:19.339 --> 00:28:21.200 of Christ. Now you'd think that's the end of 00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:24.440 the story. But curiously, Justin's journey continues 00:28:24.440 --> 00:28:27.009 after death. Or at least... His bones journey. 00:28:27.250 --> 00:28:30.849 Ah, yes. The mystery of the relics. This is a 00:28:30.849 --> 00:28:33.029 classic hagiographical puzzle. There are relics 00:28:33.029 --> 00:28:34.869 everywhere. Well, the Church of St. John the 00:28:34.869 --> 00:28:37.829 Baptist in Sacrafano, Italy, claims to have his 00:28:37.829 --> 00:28:40.930 relics. The Jesuit church in Valletta, Malta, 00:28:40.930 --> 00:28:43.730 also claims to have them. So he's in two places 00:28:43.730 --> 00:28:46.390 at once. At least. But then there's the American 00:28:46.390 --> 00:28:48.289 connection. This is the one that really surprised 00:28:48.289 --> 00:28:50.450 me. The Maryland connection. Yes, the Maryland 00:28:50.450 --> 00:28:55.279 claim. In 1873, a noble family in Italy allegedly 00:28:55.279 --> 00:28:58.599 sent Justin's remains to a priest in Baltimore 00:28:58.599 --> 00:29:02.079 for safekeeping during political unrest. So they 00:29:02.079 --> 00:29:04.279 shipped him to America. They ended up in St. 00:29:04.299 --> 00:29:06.539 Mary's Church in Annapolis, Maryland. St. Justin 00:29:06.539 --> 00:29:09.960 Martyr in Annapolis. Well, in 1989, they were 00:29:09.960 --> 00:29:12.640 rediscovered in a vault and given a proper burial. 00:29:13.200 --> 00:29:16.700 But scholars and the church now assert that these 00:29:16.700 --> 00:29:18.960 are likely the bones of a different St. Justin. 00:29:19.599 --> 00:29:21.980 perhaps a third -century martyr from the persecution 00:29:21.980 --> 00:29:24.319 of Maximus. It's probably not him. Probably not. 00:29:24.480 --> 00:29:26.740 But for a long time, people believed the philosopher 00:29:26.740 --> 00:29:29.839 was resting in Maryland. That is wild. It just 00:29:29.839 --> 00:29:32.859 goes to show how revered he was. Everyone wanted 00:29:32.859 --> 00:29:36.220 a piece of the true philosopher. His legacy isn't 00:29:36.220 --> 00:29:38.180 really in his bones, though. It's in his method. 00:29:38.579 --> 00:29:40.980 He set the template for how Christianity engages 00:29:40.980 --> 00:29:43.319 with the world. He didn't run away. He didn't 00:29:43.319 --> 00:29:45.480 run away from culture. He engaged it. He didn't 00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:48.460 reject philosophy. He baptized it. There's even 00:29:48.460 --> 00:29:50.980 a literary nod to him in the 20th century. The 00:29:50.980 --> 00:29:54.400 Rector of Justin, a famous novel from 1964. Right, 00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:56.839 by Louis Hauschenkloss. The headmaster names 00:29:56.839 --> 00:30:01.519 his prep school Justin Martyr. And why? Because 00:30:01.519 --> 00:30:04.500 Justin tried to reconcile Greek thought with 00:30:04.500 --> 00:30:07.299 Christ. He wanted an intellectual faith. The 00:30:07.299 --> 00:30:10.019 headmaster didn't want the humble fisherman vibe. 00:30:10.240 --> 00:30:12.759 He wanted the intellectual faith. He wanted gentleman 00:30:12.759 --> 00:30:15.559 scholars. It shows that Justin is the patron 00:30:15.559 --> 00:30:18.880 saint of the thinking Christian. So as we wrap 00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:20.740 up this deep dive, let's summarize what we've 00:30:20.740 --> 00:30:23.680 unpacked. Justin was the bridge builder. He took 00:30:23.680 --> 00:30:25.900 the intellectual toolkit of the Greco -Roman 00:30:25.900 --> 00:30:28.759 world and used it to dismantle their own objections 00:30:28.759 --> 00:30:32.029 to Christianity. He legitimized the faith. Before 00:30:32.029 --> 00:30:33.990 Justin, Christianity could be dismissed as a 00:30:33.990 --> 00:30:37.210 weird foreign superstition. After Justin, you 00:30:37.210 --> 00:30:38.710 had to argue with it. You had to take it seriously. 00:30:38.950 --> 00:30:41.009 You had to deal with the logos. You had to deal 00:30:41.009 --> 00:30:42.690 with the fact that Moses might be older than 00:30:42.690 --> 00:30:45.630 Plato. He forced the world to take this faith 00:30:45.630 --> 00:30:48.390 seriously. And he did it with such optimism. 00:30:48.470 --> 00:30:50.970 I keep going back to that idea of the seeds of 00:30:50.970 --> 00:30:54.509 the word, the logos spermatikos. It is a beautiful 00:30:54.509 --> 00:30:56.970 concept. It turns the whole world into a treasure 00:30:56.970 --> 00:30:59.410 hunt for truth. It leads me to our final thought 00:30:59.410 --> 00:31:01.670 for the listener. Justin believed that truth 00:31:01.670 --> 00:31:04.329 found anywhere, even in the minds of pagans, 00:31:04.329 --> 00:31:06.829 even in sources that didn't know Jesus, belonged 00:31:06.829 --> 00:31:09.730 to Christianity because all truth comes from 00:31:09.730 --> 00:31:12.009 the Logos. Whatever things were rightly said 00:31:12.009 --> 00:31:14.990 among all men are the property of us Christians. 00:31:15.349 --> 00:31:18.349 That's his quote. So if Justin were alive today, 00:31:18.490 --> 00:31:21.529 in our world of fragmented information, conflicting 00:31:21.529 --> 00:31:23.990 worldviews, science versus religion debates, 00:31:24.880 --> 00:31:27.559 Where would he say the seeds of the word are 00:31:27.559 --> 00:31:30.539 hidden now? That is the question, isn't it? Yeah. 00:31:30.619 --> 00:31:32.920 He wouldn't be afraid of modern science or philosophy. 00:31:33.140 --> 00:31:35.480 He'd be looking for the seed. He'd be looking 00:31:35.480 --> 00:31:37.299 for the partial truth that points to the whole. 00:31:37.460 --> 00:31:39.339 He'd be listening. He would be engaging, not 00:31:39.339 --> 00:31:41.720 retreating. I love that. It's a challenge to 00:31:41.720 --> 00:31:43.960 not just look for where the world is wrong, but 00:31:43.960 --> 00:31:46.160 where it might be accidentally right. And then 00:31:46.160 --> 00:31:48.430 to connect that seed back to the source. Well, 00:31:48.470 --> 00:31:50.750 on that note, we encourage you to go look for 00:31:50.750 --> 00:31:53.509 some seeds in your own sources this week. Thanks 00:31:53.509 --> 00:31:55.609 for listening to The Deep Dive. We'll catch you 00:31:55.609 --> 00:31:56.150 next time.