Monday, June 13, 2022

Justin Martyr (c. 100-165) was not a “Proto-Protestant”

Travis Walter Morgan (whose Intelius report is available upon request) who operates the “LDS vs. the Real World” facebook page, has recently appealed to Justin Martyr as a witness against “Mormonism”:

 



 

It should be noted that it is easily discovered that Morgan is not relying upon the ANF series itself; he is relying upon David Bercot’s A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs: A Reference Guide to More Than 700 Topics Discussed by the Early Church Fathers, p. 527, which also references this quote as ANF 1:266:

 



 

In reality, it is ANF 1:266-67, not 1:266 merely, and any careful individual would also include it being chapter 134 of Dialogue with Trypho.

 

But this is all minor. The major issue is that Justin Martyr was not a “proto-Protestant,” and again shows that one is waiting for that ever-allusive “proto-Protestant” who existed during what LDS believe to be the “Great Apostasy” (denied by Protestants, though I have said over and over again, functionally, they act as if there was one).

 

Here are some key doctrines Travis Walter Morgan and his ilk would find to be heresy:

Rejection of Forensic Justification


Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 23

 

Greek

English (ANF 1:206)

Ἐὰν δὲ ταῦτα οὕτως μὴ ὁμολογήσωμεν, συμβήσεταιἡμῖν εἰς ἄτοπα ἐμπίπτειν νοήματα, ὡς τοῦ αὐτοῦ Θεοῦ μὴ ὄντος τοῦ κατὰ τὸν Ἐνὼχ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους πάντας, οἳ μήτε περιτομὴν τὴν κατὰ σάρκα ἔχοντες μήτε σάββατα ἐφύλαξαν μήτε δὲ τὰ ἄλλα, Μωσέως ἐντειλαμένου ταῦτα ποιεῖν, ἢ τὰ αὐτὰ αὐτὸν δίκαια μὴ ἀεὶ πᾶν γένος ἀνθρώπων βεβουλῆσθαι πράσσειν, ἅπερ γελοῖα καὶ ἀνόητα ὁμολογεῖν φαίνεται. Διʼ αἰτίαν δὲ τὴν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸν αὐτὸν ὄντα ἀεὶ ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐντετάλθαι ὁμολογεῖν, καὶ φιλάνθρωπον καὶ προγνώστην καὶ ἀνενδεῆ καὶ δίκαιον καὶ ἀγαθὸν ἀποφαίνειν ἐστίν. Ἐπεὶ εἰ μὴ ταῦτα οὕτως ἔχει, ἀποκρίνασθέ μοι, ὦ ἄνδρες, περὶ τῶν ζητουμένων τούτων ὅ τι φρονεῖτε. Καὶ μηδὲν μηδενὸς ἀποκριναμένου, — Διὰ ταῦτά σοι, ὦ Τρύφων, καὶ τοῖς βουλομένοις προσηλύτοις γενέσθαι, κηρύξω ἐγὼ θεῖον λόγον, ὃν παρʼ ἐκείνου ἤκουσα τοῦ ἀνδρός. Ὁρᾶτε ὅτι τὰ στοιχεῖα οὐκ ἀργεῖ, οὐδὲ σαββατίζει. Μείνατε ὡς γεγένησθε. Εἰ γὰρ πρὸ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ οὐκ ἦν χρεία περιτομῆς, οὐδὲ πρὸ Μωϋσέως σαββατισμοῦ καὶ ἑορτῶν καὶπροσφορῶν, οὐδὲ νῦν, μετὰ τὸν κατὰ τὴν βουλὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ δίχα ἁμαρτίας διὰ τῆς ἀπὸ γένους τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ παρθένου γεννηθέντα υἱὸν Θεοῦ Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, ὁμοίως ἐστὶ χρεία. Καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸς ὁ Ἀβραὰμ ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ ὢν διὰ τὴν πίστιν, ἣν ἐπίστευσε τῷ Θεῷ, ἐδικαιώθη καὶ εὐλογήθη, ὡς ἡ γραφὴ σημαίνει· τὴν δὲ περιτομὴν εἰς σημεῖον, ἀλλʼ οὐκ εἰς δικαιοσύνην ἔλαβεν, ὡς καὶ αἱ γραφαὶ καὶ τὰ πράγματα ἀναγκάζει ἡμᾶς ὁμολογεῖν, Ὥστε δικαίως εἴρητο περὶ ἐκείνον τοῦ λαοῦ, ὅτι ἐξολοθρευθήσεται ἡ ψυχὴ ἐκείνη ἐκ τοῦ γένους αὐτῆς, ἣ οὐ περιτμηθήσεται τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ὀγδόῃ. Καὶ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι δὲ τὸ θῆλυ γένος τήν σαρκικὴν περιτομήν λαμβάνειν, δείκνυσιν ὅτι εἰς σημεῖον ἡ περιτομὴ αὕτη δέδοται, ἀλλʼ οὐχ ὡς ἔργον δικαιοσύνης· τὰ γὰρ δίκαια καὶ ἐνάρετα ἅπαντα ὁμοίως καὶ τὰς θηλείας δύνασθαι φυλάσσειν ὁ Θεὸς ἐποίησεν. Ἀλλὰ σχῆμα μὲν τὸ τῆς σαρκὸς ἕτερον καὶ ἕτερον ὁρῶμεν γεγενημένον ἄῤῥενος καὶ θηλείας, διὰ δὲ τοῦτο οὐδέ δίκαιον οὐδὲ ἄδικον οὐδέτερον αὐτῶν ἐπιστάμεθα, ἀλλὰ διʼ εὐσέβειαν καὶ δικαιοσύνην.

"But if we do not admit this, we shall be liable to fall into foolish opinions, as if it were not the same God who existed in the times of Enoch and all the rest, who neither were circumcised after the flesh, nor observed Sabbaths, nor any other rites, seeing that Moses enjoined such observances; or that God has not wished each race of mankind continually to perform the same righteous actions: to admit which, seems to be ridiculous and absurd. Therefore we must confess that He, who is ever the same, has commanded these and such like institutions on account of sinful men, and we must declare Him to be benevolent, foreknowing, needing nothing, righteous and good. But if this be not so, tell me, sir, what you think of those matters which we are investigating." And when no one responded: "Wherefore, Trypho, I will proclaim to you, and to those who wish to become proselytes, the divine message which I heard from that man. Do you see that the elements are not idle, and keep no Sabbaths? Remain as you were born. For if there was no need of circumcision before Abraham, or of the observance of Sabbaths, of feasts and sacrifices, before Moses; no more need is there of them now, after that, according to the will of God, Jesus Christ the Son of God has been born without sin, of a virgin sprung from the stock of Abraham. For when Abraham himself was in uncircumcision, he was justified and blessed by reason of the faith which he reposed in God, as the Scripture tells. Moreover, the Scriptures and the facts themselves compel us to admit that He received circumcision for a sign, and not for righteousness. So that it was justly recorded concerning the people, that the soul which shall not be circumcised on the eighth day shall be cut off from his family. And, furthermore, the inability of the female sex to receive fleshly circumcision, proves that this circumcision has been given for a sign, and not for a work of righteousness. For God has given likewise to women the ability to observe all things which are righteous and virtuous; but we see that the bodily form of the male has been made different from the bodily form of the female; yet we know that neither of them is righteous or unrighteous merely for this cause, but [is considered righteous] by reason of piety and righteousness.

 

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 92

 

Greek

English (ANF 1:245-46)

Εἰ οὖν τις μὴ μετὰ μεγὰλης χάριτος τῆς παρὰ Θεοῦ λάβοι νοῆσαι τὰ εἰρημένα καὶ γεγενημένα ὑπὸ τῶν προφητῶν, οὐδὲν αὐτὸν ὀνήσει τὸ τὰς ῥήσεις δοκεῖν λέγειν ἢ τὰ γεγενημένα, εἰ μὴ λόγον ἔχει καὶ περὶ αὐτῶν ἀποδιδόναι. Ἀλλὰ μήτι γε καὶ εὐκαταφρόνητα δόξει τοῖς πολλοῖς ὑπὸ τῶν μὴ νοούντων αὐτὰ λεγόμενα; Εἰ γάρ τις ἐξετάζειν βούλοιτο ὑμᾶς, ὅτι Ἐνὼχ καὶ Νῶε ἅμα τοῖς τέκνοις, καὶ εἴ τινες ἄλλοι τοιοῦτοι γεγόνασι, μήτε ἐν περιτομῇ γενόμενοι μήτε σαββατίσαντες εὐηρέστησαν τῷ Θεῷ, τίς ἡ αἰτία τοῦ διʼ ἄλλων προστατῶν καὶ νομοθεσίας μετὰ τοσαύτας γενεὰς ἀξιοῦν τὸν Θεὸν δικαιοῦσθαι μὲν τοὺς ἀπὸ Ἀβραὰμ μέχρι Μωσέως διὰ περιτομῆς, τοὺς δὲ ἀπὸ Μωσέως καὶ διὰ περιτομῆς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐντολῶν, τουτέστι σαββάτου καὶ θυσιῶν καὶ σποδῶν καὶ προσφορῶν, εἰ μὴ, ὡς προείρηται ὑπʼἐμου, ἀποδείξετε, ὅτι διὰ τὸ τὸν Θεὸν, προγνώστην ὄντα, ἐγνωκέναι ἄξιον γενησόμενον τὸν λαὸν ὑμῶν ἐκβληθῆναι ἀπὸ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ, καὶ μηδένα ἐπιτρέπεσθαι εἰσελθεῖν ἐκεῖ; Οὐδαμόθεν γὰρ ἀλλαχόθεν ἐστὲ γνωριζόμενοι, ὡς προέφην, εἰ μὴ ἀπὸ τῆς περὶ τὴν σάρκα περιτομῆς. Οὐδὲ γὰρ Ἀβραὰμ διὰ τὴν περιτομὴν δίκαιος εἶναι ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐμαρτυρήθη, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν πίστιν· πρὸ τοῦ γὰρ περιτμηθῆναι αὐτὸν εἴρηται περὶ αὐτοῦ οὕτως· Ἐπίστευσε δὲ τῷ Θεῷ Ἀβραὰμ, καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην. Καὶ ἡμεῖς οὖν ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ τῆς σαρκὸς ἡμῶν πιστεύοντες τῷ Θεῷ διὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ περιτομὴν ἔχοντες τὴν ὠφελοῦσαν ἡμᾶς τοὺς κεκτημένους, τουτέστι τῆς καρδίας, δίκαιοι καὶ εὐάρεστοι τῷ Θεῷ ἐλπίζομεν φανῆναι, ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἤδη μεμαρτυρήμεθα διὰ τῶν προφητικῶν λόγων ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ. Τὸ δὲ σαββατίζειν καὶ τὰς προσφορὰς φέρειν κελευσθῆναι ὑμᾶς, καὶ τόπον εἰς ὄνομα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπικληθῆναι ἀνασχέσθαι τὸν κύριον, ἵνα, ὡς εἴρηται, μὴ εἰδωλολατροῦντες καὶ ἀμνημονοῦντες τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀσεβεῖς καὶ ἄθεοι γένησθε, ὡς ἀεὶ φαίνεσθε γεγενημένοι. Καὶ ὅτι διὰ ταυτᾶ ἐνετέταλτο ὁ Θεὸς τὰς περὶ σαββάτων καὶ προσφορῶν ἐντολὰς, προαποδέδεικταί μοι διὰ τῶν προειρημένων· διὰ δὲ τοὺς σήμερον ἐλθόντας καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ σχεδὸν πάντα βούλομαι ἀναλαμβάνειν. Ἐπεὶ εἰ μὴ τοῦτό ἐστι, συκοφαντηθήσεται ὁ Θεὸς, ὡς μήτε πρόγνωσιν ἔχων, μήτε τὰ αὐτὰ δίκαια πάντας διδάσκων καὶ εἱδέναι καὶ πράττειν, — πολλαὶ γὰρ γενεαὶ ἀνθρώπων πρὸ Μωσέως φαίνονται γεγενημέναι, — καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἀληθὴς λόγος ὁ λέγων, ὡςἀληθὴς ὁ Θεὸς καὶ δίκαιος, καὶ πᾶσαι αἱ ὁδοὶ αὐτοῦ κρίσεις, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἀδικία ἐν αὐτῷ. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀληθὴς ὁ λόγος, καὶ Θεὸς ὑμᾶς τοιούτους μὴ εἶναι ἀσυνέτους καὶ φιλαύτους ἀεὶ βούλεται, ὅπως σωθῆτε μετὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, τοῦ εὐαρεστοῦντος τῷ Θεῷ καὶ μεμαρτυρημένου, ὡς προέφην διὰ τῶν ἁγίων προφητικῶν λόγων τὴν ἀπόδειξιν ποιήσας.

"Unless, therefore, a man by God's great grace receives the power to understand what has been said and done by the prophets, the appearance of being able to repeat the words or the deeds will not profit him, if he cannot explain the argument of them. And will they not assuredly appear contemptible to many, since they are related by those who understood them not? For if one should wish to ask you why, since Enoch, Noah with his sons, and all others in similar circumstances, who neither were circumcised nor kept the Sabbath, pleased God, God demanded by other leaders, and by the giving of the law after the lapse of so many generations, that those who lived between the times of Abraham and of Moses be justified by circumcision, and that those who lived after Moses be justified by circumcision and the other ordinances--to wit, the Sabbath, and sacrifices, and libations, and offerings; [God will be slandered] unless you show, as I have already said, that God who foreknew was aware that your nation would deserve expulsion from Jerusalem, and that none would be permitted to enter into it. (For you are not distinguished in any other way than by the fleshly circumcision, as I remarked previously. For Abraham was declared by God to be righteous, not on account of circumcision, but on account of faith. For before he was circumcised the following statement was made regarding him: ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.' And we, therefore, in the uncircumcision of our flesh, believing God through Christ, and having that circumcision which is of advantage to us who have acquired it --namely, that of the heart--we hope to appear righteous before and well-pleasing to God: since already we have received His testimony through the words of the prophets.) [And, further, God will be slandered unless you show] that you were commanded to observe the Sabbath, and to present offerings, and that the Lord submitted to have a place called by the name of God, in order that, as has been said, you might not become impious and godless by worshipping idols and forgetting God, as indeed you do always appear to have been. (Now, that God enjoined the ordinances of Sabbaths and offerings for these reasons, I have proved in what I previously remarked; but for the sake of those who came to-day, I wish to repeat nearly the whole.) For if this is not the case, God will be slandered, as having no foreknowledge, and as not teaching all men to know and to do the same acts of righteousness (for many generations of men appear to have existed before Moses); and the Scripture is not true which affirms that ‘God is true and righteous, and all His ways are judgments, and there is no unrighteousness in him.' But since the Scripture is true, God is always willing that such even as you be neither foolish nor lovers of yourselves, in order that you may obtain the salvation of Christ, who pleased God, and received testimony from Him, as I have already said, by alleging proof from the holy words of prophecy.

 

Baptismal Regeneration

 

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, "Except ye be born again, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." 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, saith 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 ye refuse and rebel, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."

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. (First Apology, 61 [ANF 1:183])

 

 

"For thus, so far as you are concerned, I shall be found in all respects innocent, if I strive earnestly to persuade you by bringing forward demonstrations. But if you remain hard-hearted, or weak in [forming] a resolution, on account of death, which is the lot of the Christians, and are unwilling to assent to the truth, you shall appear as the authors of your own [evils]. And you deceive yourselves while you fancy that, because you are the seed of Abraham after the flesh, therefore you shall fully inherit the good things announced to be bestowed by God through Christ. For no one, not even of them, has anything to look for, but only those who in mind are assimilated to the faith of Abraham, and who have recognised all the mysteries: for I say, that some injunctions were laid on you in reference to the worship of God and practice of righteousness; but some injunctions and acts were likewise mentioned in reference to the mystery of Christ, on account of the hardness of your people's hearts. And that this is so, God makes known in Ezekiel, [when] He said concerning it: ‘If Noah and Jacob and Daniel should beg either sons or daughters, the request would not be granted them.' And in Isaiah, of the very same matter He spake thus: ‘The Lord God said, they shall both go forth and look on the members [of the bodies] of the men that have transgressed. For their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be a gazing-stock to all flesh.' So that it becomes you to eradicate this hope from your souls, and hasten to know in what way forgiveness of sins, and a hope of inheriting the promised good things, shall be yours. But there is no other [way] than this, --to become acquainted with this Christ, to be washed in the fountain6 spoken of by Isaiah for the remission of sins; and for the rest, to live sinless lives." (Dialogue with Trypho, 44 [ANF 1:216-17])

 

Commenting on Justin’s theology of water baptism, L. W. Barnard wrote that

 

His main thought is that baptism is a new birth (αναγεννησις). This is in line with the earliest baptismal tradition of the Church—indeed he explicitly states that the reason for the rite had been learnt from the apostles and quotes John iii. 3-4, 'Unless you are born again you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven'. It is in the rite of baptism that the new birth literally takes place and candidates receive forgiveness of their past sins of which they have repented. In the Dialogue Justin says that the old rites of Judaism were broken cisterns, for they were performed without a turning from evil doings: 'Baptise your soul (free) from anger and from covetousness, from envy, from hatred—and behold your body is clean' (Dial. xiv, 1-2). The spiritual circumcision which alone is of any value Christians receive in baptism which is a laver of repentance and of the knowledge of God (Dial. xiv. 1). Baptism, for Justin, is the normal way of becoming a Christian and the new birth or spiritual circumcision occurs in the rite. It would, however, be pressing his words too hard to say, with Kirsopp Lake, that Justin connected forgiveness explicitly with the water, and the new life with 'the name' (Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, n, 386). Repentance, forgiveness and the new birth are part of a single complex of ideas and cannot be partitioned. It is also significant that in Dial. xxix. 1 Justin connects Christian baptism with the Holy Spirit: 'What account should I, to whom God has borne testimony, then take of circumcision? What need of that other baptism (i.e. Jewish proselyte baptism) to one who has been baptised by the Holy Spirit?' This connection does not occur in 1 Apol. lxi-lxv although it was part of the received tradition of the Church. Instead, in 1 Apol. lxi. 12-13 Justin describes baptism as illumination (φωτισμος) and states that the candidates who have faithfully received baptismal instruction are illuminated within. Although this term had a long usage behind it Justin appears to have been the first to have associated the noun specifically with baptism, although the association of light with baptism is very old (Selwyn, The First Epistle of St. Peter, pp. 375-82, on the New Testament evidence).

 

What did this φωτισμος imply? Justin believed that in baptism men were empowered with a divine force which will enable them to live a truly moral life. The whole logos had now come into a man's life with which he must co-operate for the attainment of salvation: 'They then earnestly offer common prayers for themselves and the one who has been illuminated and all others everywhere, that we may be made worthy, having learned the truth, to be found in deed good citizens and keepers of what is commanded, so that we may be saved with eternal salvation' (1 Apol. lxv. 1; cf. 1 Apol. lxi. 10; 'So that we should not remain children of necessity and ignorance, but (become sons) of free choice and knowledge and obtain remission of the sins we have already committed . . .) It may justly be claimed that Justin has succeeded, perhaps better than any other second-century writer, in disassociating the rite of baptism from a 'magical' view of regeneration by emphasising that it is the beginning of a new life during which a man must strive to make his soul a habitation for the Spirit. His chances of doing so are immeasurably strengthened by the illumination, the presence of the whole logos, which came to him in his baptism. The test of the tree is in the quality of the fruit and not only in the quality of a man's faith. In stating this so forcibly Justin is in line with the best Catholic tradition of the Church (Goodenough, Theology of Justin Martyr, p. 269, has some good remarks on this). (L. W. Barnard, Justin Martyr: His Life and Thought [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967], 140-42)

 

A cop-out by some Protestants (e.g., James White) is to claim Justin was ignorant of the Pauline epistles. This is untenable in light of modern scholarship (e.g., Matthew J. Thomas). On this, see, for e.g. Justin Martyr's Knowledge of the Pauline Epistles in Dialogue with Trypho.


Ontological (not merely functional) subordination of Jesus to the Father:


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.

Then I replied, "I shall attempt to persuade you, since you have understood the Scriptures, [of the truth] of what I say, that there is, and that there is said 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." And quoting once more the previous passage, I asked Trypho, "Do you think that God appeared to Abraham under the oak in Mamre, as the Scripture asserts?"

He said, "Assuredly." (Dialogue with Trypho 56 [ANF 1:223])

Elsewhere, Justin spoke of this "second God" being of "second place" to the Father:

Our teacher of these things is Jesus Christ, who also was born for this purpose, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judaea, in the times of Tiberius Caesar; 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, we will prove. (First Apology 13 [ANF 1:166-67])


In the Greek of his work, Justin is pretty explicit about this. Here is his ΠΡΟΣ ΤΡΥΦΩΝΑ ΙΟΥΔΑΙΟΝ ΔΙΑΛΟΓΟΣ 56, in Patrologia Graeca 6:597:



The highlighted portion translates as "another [i.e., a second] God and Lord," one that was numerically distinct, not just from the person of the Father, but also from "God."

Rejection of creatio ex nihilo

But we have received by tradition that God does not need the material offerings which men can give, seeing, indeed, that He Himself is the provider of all things. And we have been taught, and are convinced, and do believe, that He accepts those only who imitate the excellences which reside in Him, temperance, and justice, and philanthropy, and as many virtues as are peculiar to a God who is called by no proper name. And we have been taught that He in the beginning did of His goodness, for man's sake, create all things out of unformed matter; and if men by their works show themselves worthy of this His design, they are deemed worthy, and so we have received--of reigning in company with Him, being delivered from corruption and suffering. For as in the beginning He created us when we were not, so do we consider that, in like manner, those who choose what is pleasing to Him are, on account of their choice, deemed worthy of incorruption and of fellowship with Him. For the coming into being at first was not in our own power; and in order that we may follow those things which please Him, choosing them by means of the rational faculties He has Himself endowed us with, He both persuades us and leads us to faith. And we think it for the advantage of all men that they are not restrained from learning these. (First Apology, 10 [ANF: 1:165], emphasis added)

The underlying Greek is εξ αμορφου υλης, and refers to matter (which pre-exists the act of divine creation) without form. Justin is an early witness to the doctrine of creation being out of pre-existing material, not ex nihilo.


There were no "proto-Protestants" in Justin's time.