Chapter VIII.—Antiquity, inspiration, and harmony of Christian teachers.

Since therefore it is impossible to learn anything true concerning religion from your teachers, who by their mutual disagreement have furnished you with sufficient proof of their own ignorance, I consider it reasonable to recur to our progenitors, who both in point of time have by a great way the precedence of your teachers, and who have taught us nothing from their own private fancy, nor differed with one another, nor attempted to overturn one another’s positions, but without wrangling and contention received from God the knowledge which also they taught to us. For neither by nature nor by human conception is it possible for men to know things so great and divine, but by the gift which then descended from above upon the holy men, who had no need of rhetorical art,25    Literally, “the art of words.” nor of uttering anything in a contentious or quarrelsome manner, but to present themselves pure26    Literally, “clean,” free from other influences. to the energy of the Divine Spirit, in order that the divine plectrum itself, descending from heaven, and using righteous men as an instrument like a harp or lyre, might reveal to us the knowledge of things divine and heavenly. Wherefore, as if with one mouth and one tongue, they have in succession, and in harmony with one another, taught us both concerning God, and the creation of the world, and the formation of man, and concerning the immortality of the human soul, and the judgment which is to be after this life, and concerning all things which it is needful for us to know, and thus in divers times and places have afforded us the divine instruction.27    [The diversities of Christian theology are to be regretted; but Justin here shows the harmony and order of truths, such as are everywhere received by Christians, to be an inestimable advantage.]

Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδήπερ οὐδὲν ἀληθὲς περὶ θεοσεβείας παρὰ τῶν ὑμετέρων διδασκάλων μανθάνειν ἐστὶ δυνατόν, ἱκανὴν ὑμῖν ἀπόδειξιν τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἀγνοίας διὰ τῆς πρὸς ἀλλήλους στάσεως παρεσχηκότων, ἀκόλουθον ἡγοῦμαι ἀνελθεῖν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἡμετέρους προγόνους, τοὺς καὶ τοὺς χρόνους τῶν παρ' ὑμῖν διδασκάλων πολλῷ προειληφότας καὶ μηδὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ἰδίας αὐτῶν φαντασίας διδάξαντας ἡμᾶς, μηδὲ πρὸς ἀλλήλους διενεχθέντας ἢ τὰ ἀλλήλων ἀνατρέπειν πειρωμένους, ἀλλὰ ἀφιλονείκως καὶ ἀστασιάστως τὴν παρὰ θεοῦ δεξαμένους γνῶσιν καὶ ταύτην διδάσκοντας ἡμᾶς. Οὔτε γὰρ φύσει οὔτε ἀνθρωπίνῃ ἐννοίᾳ οὕτω μεγάλα καὶ θεῖα γινώσκειν ἀνθρώποις δυνατόν, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἄνωθεν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἁγίους ἄνδρας τηνικαῦτα κατελθούσῃ δωρεᾷ, οἷς οὐ λόγων ἐδέησε τέχνης οὐδὲ τοῦ ἐριστικῶς τι καὶ φιλονείκως εἰπεῖν, ἀλλὰ καθαροὺς ἑαυτοὺς τῇ τοῦ θείου πνεύματος παρασχεῖν ἐνεργείᾳ, ἵνα αὐτὸ τὸ θεῖον ἐξ οὐρανοῦ κατιὸν πλῆκτρον, ὥσπερ ὀργάνῳ κιθάρας τινὸς ἢ λύρας τοῖς δικαίοις ἀνδράσι χρώμενον, τὴν τῶν θείων ἡμῖν καὶ οὐρανίων ἀποκαλύψῃ γνῶσιν. Διὰ τοῦτο τοίνυν ὥσπερ ἐξ ἑνὸς στόματος καὶ μιᾶς γλώττης καὶ περὶ θεοῦ καὶ περὶ κόσμου κτίσεως καὶ περὶ πλάσεως ἀνθρώπου καὶ περὶ ἀνθρωπίνης ψυχῆς ἀθανασίας καὶ τῆς μετὰ τὸν βίον τοῦτον μελλούσης ἔσεσθαι κρίσεως καὶ περὶ πάντων ὧν ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστιν ἡμῖν εἰδέναι ἀκολούθως καὶ συμφώνως ἀλλήλοις ἐδίδαξαν ἡμᾶς, καὶ ταῦτα ἐν διαφόροις τόποις τε καὶ χρόνοις τὴν θείαν ἡμῖν διδασκαλίαν παρεσχηκότες.