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The First Apology

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The First Apology

by Justin Martyr

Chapters

1. Chapter 1: Address.
2. Chapter 2: Justice Required.
3. Chapter 3: The Demand for Judicial Investigation.
4. Chapter 4: Christians Unfairly Condemned Simply for Their Name
5. Chapter 5: Christians Accused of Atheism.
6. Chapter 6: Refuting the Accusation of Atheism.
7. Chapter 7: Every Christian Must Be Judged by Their Own Life.
8. Chapter 8: Christians Declare Their Belief in God.
9. Chapter 9: The Foolishness of Idol Worship.
10. Chapter 10: How to Serve God.
11. Chapter 11: The Kingdom that Christians Aspire to
12. Chapter 12: Christians Live as if Under God's Watch.
13. Chapter 13: Christians Serve God Logically.
14. Chapter 14: The Demons Distort Christian Teachings.
15. Chapter 15: What Christ Himself Taught.
16. Chapter 16: About Patience and Swearing.
17. Chapter 17: Christ Taught Civil Obedience
18. Chapter 18: Evidence of Immortality and Resurrection.
19. Chapter 19: The Possibility of Resurrection.
20. Chapter 20: Pagan Similarities to Christian Doctrine.
21. Chapter 21: Analogies to the History of Christ.
22. Chapter 22: Analogies to the Sonship of Christ.
23. Chapter 23: The Argument.
24. Chapter 24: Varieties of Pagan Worship.
25. Chapter 25: Christians Abandon False Gods
26. Chapter 26: Christians Do Not Trust Magicians
27. Chapter 27: The Sin of Abandoning Children.
28. Chapter 28: God's Care for People.
29. Chapter 29:—Abstinence of Christians.
30. Chapter 30: Wasn't Christ a Magician?
31. Chapter 31: About the Hebrew Prophets.
32. Chapter 32: Christ was Predicted by Moses.
33. Chapter 33: The Prediction of Christ's Birth Method
34. Chapter 34: The Foretold Place of Christ's Birth.
35. Chapter 35: Other Fulfilled Prophecies.
36. Chapter 36: Various Methods of Prophecy.
37. Chapter 37: Sayings of the Father.
38. Chapter 38: Sayings of the Son.
39. Chapter 39: Direct Predictions by the Spirit.
40. Chapter 40: The Prediction of Christ's Arrival
41. Chapter 41: The Prediction of the Crucifixion.
42. Chapter 42: Prophecy in Past Tense
43. Chapter 43: Responsibility Claimed.
44. Chapter 44: Not Nullified by Prophecy.
45. Chapter 45: The Prediction of Christ's Place in Heaven.
46. Chapter 46: The Word in the World Before Christ.
47. Chapter 47: The Predicted Desolation of Judea.
48. Chapter 48: The Prediction of Christ's Work and Death
49. Chapter 49: His Rejection by the Jews Predicted.
50. Chapter 50: His Humiliation Predicted
51. Chapter 51: The Majesty of Christ.
52. Chapter 52: Certain Fulfillment of Prophecy.
53. Chapter 53: Summary of the Prophecies.
54. Chapter 54: Origin of Pagan Mythology.
55. Chapter 55: Symbols of the Cross.
56. Chapter 56: The Demons Continue to Mislead Men.
57. Chapter 57: And Initiate Persecution.
58. Chapter 58: Promoting Heretics
59. Chapter 59: Plato's Debt to Moses.
60. Chapter 60: Plato's Theory of the Cross.
61. Chapter 61: Christian Baptism.
62. Chapter 62: Its Imitation by Demons
63. Chapter 63: How God Appeared to Moses.
64. Chapter 64: Further Distortions of the Truth.
65. Chapter 65: The Administration of the Sacraments.
66. Chapter 66: About the Eucharist.
67. Chapter 67: Weekly Worship of the Christians.
68. Chapter 68: Conclusion.
69. Letter from Adrian Supporting the Christians.
70. Letter from Antoninus to the General Assembly of Asia.
71. Letter from Marcus Aurelius to the Senate, in which he credits Christians for his victory.
🎧 The First Apology
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See 1885 English translation

Chapter 22: Analogies to the Sonship of Christ.

MOREOVER: the Son of God, Jesus, even if He were just a man of natural birth, is still worthy to be called the Son of God because of His wisdom; for all writers refer to God as the Father of men and gods. And if we claim that the Word of God was born of God in a unique way, different from ordinary birth, this should not be surprising to you, since you say that Mercury is the divine word of God. And if someone objects that He was crucified, remember that this is similar to those you consider sons of Jupiter, who also suffered as we have described. Their sufferings at death are noted to be diverse, not the same, so His unique sufferings do not make Him lesser than them; rather, as we stated earlier, we will now prove Him superior—or perhaps we have already done so—because His superiority is demonstrated by His actions. And if we say He was born of a virgin, accept this just as you accept the story of Perseus. And in saying that He healed the lame, the paralyzed, and those born blind, we appear to speak of deeds similar to those attributed to Æsculapius.

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The First Apology

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