JUSTIN AND HOLY PAGANS
Philo recognised
three sources of the truths to be found in the Greek philosophers: sometimes
they borrowed from Moses; sometimes they discovered them by the light of reason
; and sometimes certain philosophers received an inspiration from God,
comparable to that of the prophets. It has been suggested that Justin accepts
the same threefold source, though a different interpretation finds in his work
only the theories of borrowing from Moses, and of discovery by the light of
reason. . . . Justin is of special importance in this context because of the
stress which he lays on the capacity of all men to know certain truths by the
light of reason. In the First Apology, after expounding the content of
revelation, he deals with the objection that, if revelation is necessary in
order to know good and evil, the human race before Christ is not answerable (ανευθυνοι) for its conduct:
Logos of which every
race of man partakes (μετεχειν). Those who have lived in accordance with the Logos
are Christians, even though they were called godless, such as, among the
Greeks, Socrates and Heraclitus and others like them; among the barbarians,
Abraham, Ananias, Azarias, Misael, and Elijah, and many others, whose deeds and
names I forbear to list, knowing that this would be lengthy. So also those who
lived contrary to the Logos were ungracious and enemies to Christ, and
murderers of those who lived by the Logos. But those who lived by the Logos,
and those who live so now, are Christians, fearless and unperturbed (I Apol.
XLVI, 1-4). Jean Daniélou, Gospel Message and Hellenistic Culture: A History
of Early Christian Doctrine Before the Council of Nicaea, Volume 2 [trans.
John Austin Baker; London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1973], 40-41)
