Friday, April 10, 2020

Greg Stafford, "Justin Martyr’s 'before all creatures'"




Justin Martyr’s "before all creatures." Lightfoot believes his interpretation gains support from Justin’s Dialogue with Trypho, where Justin, speaking of the Logos, states, "We know him to be the first-begotten of God, and to be before all creatures." (ANF 1, chap. 100, p 249) But the truth is Justin is not in harmony with Lightfoot at all, for Justin clearly understood the Son to have had a created beginning. He confesses: "He is the Son of God, and since we call Him the Son, we have understood that He proceeded before all creatures from the Father by His power and will." (Ibid., chap. 62, p. 228)

Earlier in his Dialogue Justin stated concerning the Logos: "But this Offspring which was truly brought forth from the Father, was with the Father before all the creatures, and the Father communed with Him; even as the Scripture by Solomon [Pr 8:22-31; see below] has made clear, that He whom Solomon calls Wisdom, was begotten as a Beginning before all His creatures and as Offspring by God."55 With reference to these statements, Willis Shotwell observes: "The language here is such that it cannot be argued that Justin considered the Logos to be eternal. The most that can be said about the Logos is that he was created before anything else." (Willis A. Shotwell, The Biblical Exegesis of Justin Martyr [London: S.P.C.K, 1965], 105) (Gregory Stafford, Jehovah's Witnesses Defended: An Answer to Scholars and Critics [electronic 2d ed.; Murrieta, Calif.: 2000, 2012], 215)