Thursday, May 11, 2023

Revd Allen Brent on Justin's Logos Christology

  

For Justin generally the pre-existent λογος had a quasi-human “form” (μορφη) or “image” (εικωο) as the “angel of the Lord” that as such was humanly comprehensible, and in which he appeared (εφανη) to Moses and the prophets. The παις and υιος have a complete pre-existence and are more than δυναμις or πνευμα. Justin’s λογος appears (φανεντα) to Joshua as the “captain of the Lord’s host” in human form (ανθρωπου μορφη). (Dialogue with Trypho, 61) (Revd Allen Brent, Hippolytus and the Roman Church in the Third Century: Communities in Tension Before the Emergence of a Monarch-Bishop [Texts and Studies of Early Christian Life and Language 31; Leiden: Brill, 1995], 215)