Justin Martyr: A Reason to Die

in #christianity6 years ago (edited)

June 1 in Christian History.

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Justin Martyr was a brilliant scholar and courageous martyr of the second century. His writings placed Christianity on the map as a defendable belief system in the landscape of Greco-Roman religion and his courage would inspire millions of Christians after his death.

Justin was an educated pagan. He was trained in many forms of Greek philosophy but was unsatisfied with each of them. Meanwhile, he was intrigued by the morality and the courage of the reviled and persecuted Christians. Even so, it wasn’t until around the age of Thirty that Justin converted to Christianity.

His conversion revolutionized the way he thought and lived, and he resolved to spend his life sharing the truth that he had found. Justin became a travelling evangelist and apologist, and would preach and debate in every city he visited. His lifestyle was not unlike that of Apostle Paul, who had lived a century before.

An account remains of Justin’s debate with Trypho, a Jewish teacher. In the debate, Justin explained that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophesies, that Christians are free from the regulations of the old covenant, and that the gentiles had been included into the people of Israel.

Most famous of all are Justin’s two treatises addressed to none other than the Roman emperor himself. Justin argued against the violent persecution of Christians—insisting that Christianity was a valid belief system that deserved its place among the legal religions of the empire. He explained that the Christian belief in eternal justice caused them to be moral and upright citizens. He explained, in detail, what went on during Christian meetings in order to put to rest the rumours that Christians were sex offenders, cannibals, insurrectionists. This account is among the first existing descriptions of Christian worship.

Justin goes on to boldly explain his Christian faith to the emperor—highlighting the core elements of Christianity within the framework of Greek philosophy. At that time, reason and logic were highly regarded. Justin argues that as the logos (word, or reason), Christ is the embodiment of all rationality—the bearer of ultimate truth. As such, all good philosophy has within it a spark of truth and of Christ himself. Christ is also the overarching rationality that is seen in nature and has bound the universe together since creation.

Justin was arrested with a group of Christians, and was given a mock trial in Rome. The prefect demanded that they deny their God by offering sacrifices to idols. “There is nothing which we more earnestly desire, than to endure torments for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Responded Justin, “We are Christians, and will never sacrifice to idols.”

Justin was beheaded along with six other Christians in the year 165, his courage and intellect made a powerful impact in the development of the church, and Justin Martyr is considered one of the great church fathers. He is remembered by Catholics every year on June 1.

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Verse of the day: Revelation 12:11
They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

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Justin dedicated himself to reading the Bible and there he found wonderful teachings that he had not been able to find in any other book before. He was about thirty years old when he converted, and thereafter the study of Sacred Scripture was for him the most profitable of all his existence. When he was not yet a Christian, there was something that moved him deeply and was to see the immense value with which the martyrs preferred the most atrocious martyrs, so as not to deny their faith in Christ, and that this made them think: "These should not be criminals because they die very holy and Christ in whom they believe so much, must be a very important being, because no torment makes them stop believing in Him. "
The pagans knew little about Christianity because there were few writings that defended our holy religion. And Justin became convinced that many pagans would become Christians if they read a book where they were philosophically proven that Christianity is the holiest religion on earth. He called attention to those words of the Book of Ecclesiastic in the Bible: "Having wisdom and keep it for oneself without communicating it to others, is an infidelity and uselessness." That is why he proposed to collect all the evidence he could and publish his Bible "Apologies" in favor of the religion of Jesus Christ.

Great Post, If only we could all as christian show such bravery in the face of persecution and death. This is well written and I enjoyed reading it. thank you

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Great Post, If only we could all as christian show such bravery in the face of persecution and death. This is well written and I enjoyed reading it...

Excelent brother. God bless you more

I am named after the first martyr, Stephen, myself; and Foxe's Book of Martyr's is a book I often read from just to remind myself how easy our Christian life is today, and what terrible suffering our Christian forebears went through to establish the truth.

Thanks for this reminder!

May we each have the courage and faith to do as they did, if ever called upon.