Was Justin Martyr like the Apostle Paul?

Justin the Philosopher (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The young philosopher walked along the seashore, his mind active, always active, seeking new truths. He had studied the teachings of the Stoics, of Aristotle, and of Pythagoras—now he was following Plato’s system. 

Plato had promised a vision of God to those who delved deeply enough into truth. That is what Justin the philosopher wanted.

As he walked, he came across an elderly Christian man. Justin was struck by his dignity and humility. The man quoted from Jewish prophecies, showing that the Christian way was indeed true; Jesus was the true expression of God.

That was Justin’s turning point. Poring over those prophetic writings, reading the Gospels and letters of Paul, he became a devoted Christian. For the remaining thirty or so years of his life, he traveled, evangelized, and wrote. He played a crucial role in the church’s developing theology, in its understanding of itself, and the image it presented to the world.

Almost from the start, the church functioned in two worlds—Jewish and Gentile. The Book of Acts depicts the slow and sometimes painful opening of the bud of Christianity onto the Gentile world. Peter and Stephen preach to Jewish hearers, and Paul speaks to Athenian philosophers and Roman governors.

In many respects Justin’s life paralleled Paul’s. The apostle was a Jew born in a Gentile area (Tarsus); Justin was a Gentile born in a Jewish area (ancient Shechem). Both were well-educated and used the gift of argument to convince Jew and Gentile of the truth of Christ. In Rome each was martyred for his faith.
During the reigns of first-century emperors like Nero and Domitian, the church had focused on surviving, continuing its tradition, and showing Christ-like love. Outsiders saw Christianity as a primitive sect, an offshoot of Judaism noted for its strange teachings and practices.

By the middle of the second century, under the reasonable rule of emperors like Trajan, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius, the church had a new concern: explaining itself to the world in convincing terms. Justin became one of the first Christian apologists, those who explained the faith as a reasonable system. Along with later writers such as Origen and Tertullian, he interpreted Christianity in terms familiar to the educated Greeks and Romans of his day.
Justin’s greatest work, the Apology, was addressed to Emperor Antoninus Pius (in Greek the title is Apologia, a word that refers to the logic upon which one’s beliefs are based). As Justin explained or defended his faith, he contended that it was wrong for the Roman authorities to persecute Christians. Rather, they should join forces with Christians in exposing the falsehood of the pagan systems.

For Justin, all truth was God’s truth. The great Greek philosophers had been inspired by God, to some extent, but had remained blind to the fullness of the truth of Christ. So Justin borrowed freely from Greek thought, explaining Christ as its fulfillment. He seized on John’s principle of Christ as Logos, the Word. God the Father was holy and separated from evil humanity—Justin could agree with Plato on this. But through Christ, His Logos, God could reach out to human beings. As the Logos of God, Christ was part of God’s essence, though separate, as a flame lit from a flame. (Thus Justin’s thought was instrumental in the church’s developing awareness of the Trinity and the Incarnation.)

Yet Justin had a Jewish stream of thought along with his Greek leanings. He was fascinated by fulfilled prophecy. Maybe this went back to his encounter with the old man by the sea. But he saw that Hebrew prophecy confirmed the unique identity of Jesus Christ. Like Paul, Justin did not abandon the Jews in his move toward the Greeks. In Justin’s other major work, Dialogues with Trypho, he writes to a Jewish acquaintance, presenting Christ as the fulfillment of the Hebrew tradition.

Besides his writing, Justin traveled extensively, always arguing for the faith. He met Trypho in Ephesus. In Rome, he encountered the Gnostic leader Marcion. On one trip to Rome, he alienated a man called Crescens the Cynic. When Justin returned to Rome in about 165, Crescens denounced him to the authorities. Justin was arrested, tortured, and beheaded, along with six other believers.
He had once written: “You can kill us, but cannot do us any real harm.” The apologist carried that conviction to his death. In so doing, he won the name he would wear throughout history: Justin Martyr.


Curtis, A., Lang, J. S., Petersen, R., & Curtis, J. S. L. A. K. (1998). 100 most important events in christian history, the. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker.