OF SAINT JUSTIN PHILOSOPHER AND MARTYR, GREEK QUESTIONS TO THE CHRISTIANS

 of the insoluble problems, which are raised by the stone-hearted, this is also one. 15. For if, he says, the dead must rise whole, how, if it should h

 For it is illogical to make use of the energies of the incorporeal, but to be ignorant of the existence of the incorporeal. Another. There are two pow

 But since substance according to the first division is into body and incorporeal, how is the incorporeal not a substance existing in itself? Another.

 of...having been established, which was made known to us through the foretelling and teaching of both the prophets and of our Lord and Savior Jesus Ch

 How is the soul not independent? Question. How does God differ from the soul? Answer. In the way that being creator and master differs from having a c

 one can have through some need, but no longer unbegottenness for the unbegotten must exist as unbegotten without any necessary cause. Another. If the

 is resolved into the elements from which they were originally composed. Even if the manner of the dissolution of the parts occurs through being eaten

 ...ute the resurrection, those who disbelieve it? But if by the first, the argument is false for the diagonal does not become incommensurable with th

 they are weak. For that a man should become food for fish presents a difficulty, but not a proof. For it is impossible for the same thing to be submit

 of Plato from his being a man into his becoming an ant, for God also to be changed from being what He is. But if Plato is transformed, but God is not

 cast it away, how is it not irrational to disbelieve God as if concerning an impossible thing, when He has promised to make the rest of humanity incor

 40. If it is good for us to be mortal in the present, but better for us to be immortal in the future, how is it not absurd to say that God is able for

40. If it is good for us to be mortal in the present, but better for us to be immortal in the future, how is it not absurd to say that God is able for the creation of the good, but unable for the creation of the better? 41. If it is impossible for God to make a mortal body immortal, how will death not be stronger than God, since He is unable to rescue those subject to it? 42. If God has the power to give life to the dead, how are those who are raised not fit for resurrection? And since God is able to raise the dead, and those who are raised are fit for being raised, what place does the unbelief of those who disbelieve the resurrection have? 43. If God is Lord over our being and not being, how will our becoming immortal not be from His same lordship? But if our becoming immortal stands outside of God's lordship, how will God not be one who is not Lord over our not being? 44. If the nature that immortal and mortal things have, they have from the will of God, how is it not possible for the dead to be made immortal when God has willed it? 45. The constitution of those things whose opposing forces are weak is firm. But if the Greeks, having used every manner of opposition for the refutation of the dogma of the resurrection, were not strong enough to refute it, the dogma being kept unshaken amidst the manifold oppositions by the power of God who brings about the resurrection, on what account is the resurrection of the dead unbelievable, when the dogma concerning it is shaken neither by hands nor by tongue? 46. If the greatest sign of God's invincible and incomprehensible power is to know the forms and the actions, both good and evil, of all men, both living and dead, how is the resurrection of the dead not a demonstration of God's incomprehensible power and knowledge, through which He restores men to being again? But if this is so, how will he who deprives the dead of the resurrection not be depriving God of such a demonstration? 47. If the Greeks, having hoped to refute the dogma concerning the resurrection through their own opposition, failed in their hope, how will they not fail again in their hope, hoping again that there will not be a resurrection of the dead? 48. It was necessary for the Greeks, having fought against the dogma concerning the resurrection, either not to be defeated in the battle or, having been defeated, not to disbelieve the resurrection; but if not, their first fruitless labor will be a refutation of their irrational unbelief.

μ. Eἰ καλὸν μὲν τὸ εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ παρόντι θνητούς, κάλλιον δὲ τὸ εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἀθανάτους ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι, πῶς οὐκ ἔστιν ἄτοπον τὸ λέγειν τὸν θεὸν δυνατὸν μὲν πρὸς ποίησιν τοῦ καλοῦ, ἀδύνατον δὲ πρὸς ποίησιν τοῦ καλλίονος; μα. Eἰ ἀδύνατον τῷ θεῷ τὸ θνητὸν σῶμα ποιῆσαι ἀθά νατον, πῶς οὐκ ἔσται ὁ θάνατος ἰσχυρότερος τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐξ αὐτοῦ μὴ δυναμένου ·ύσασθαι τοὺς αὐτῷ ὑποκειμένους; μβ. Eἰ ὁ θεὸς ἔχει δύναμιν ζωοποιητικὴν τῶν νεκρῶν, πῶς οὐκ εἰσὶν ἐπιτήδειοι πρὸς ἀνάστασιν οἱ ἀνιστάμενοι; Τοῦ θεοῦ δὲ πρὸς τὸ ἀνιστᾶν τοὺς νεκροὺς δυνατοῦ ὑπάρχοντος, καὶ τῶν ἀνισταμένων ἐπιτηδείων πρὸς τὸ ἀνίστασθαι ὑπαρ χόντων, ποίαν ἔχει χώραν ἡ ἀπιστία τῶν ἀπιστούντων τὴν ἀνάστασιν; μγ. Eἰ τοῦ εἶναι καὶ τοῦ μὴ εἶναι ἡμᾶς δεσπόζει θεός, πῶς οὐκ ἔσται ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς αὐτοῦ δεσποτείας τὸ γίνεσθαι ἡμᾶς ἀθανάτους; Eἰ δὲ τὸ γενέσθαι ἡμᾶς ἀθανάτους ἔξωθεν τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ δεσποτείας καθέστηκε, πῶς οὐκ ἔσται θεὸς τοῦ μὴ εἶναι ἡμᾶς μὴ δεσπόζων; μδ. Eἰ, ἣν ἔχουσι φύσιν τὰ ἀθάνατα καὶ τὰ θνητά, ἐκ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἔχουσι βουλήσεως, πῶς οὐκ ἔστι δυνατὸν τὸ ἀθανατίζεσθαι τοὺς νεκροὺς βουληθέντος τοῦ θεοῦ; με. Ὧν τὰ ἀνθιστάμενα ἀσθενεῖ, τούτων ἡ σύστασις βε βαία. Ἀλλ' εἰ παντὶ ἀντιστάσεως τρόπῳ κεχρημένοι οἱ Ἕλ ληνες πρὸς ἀναίρεσιν τοῦ τῆς ἀναστάσεως δόγματος ἀναιρεῖν τοῦτο οὐκ ἴσχυσαν, τῇ τοῦ ποιοῦντος τὴν ἀνάστασιν θεοῦ δυ νάμει ἀσάλευτον ἐν ταῖς πολυτρόποις ἀντιστάσεσι φυλατ τόμενον τὸ δόγμα, κατὰ τί ἄπιστος τῶν νεκρῶν ἡ ἀνάστασις, τοῦ περὶ ταύτης δόγματος μήτε ὑπὸ χειρῶν μήτε ὑπὸ γλώσσης σαλευομένου; μ. Eἰ μέγιστόν ἐστι δεῖγμα τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἀηττήτου καὶ ἀπεριγράπτου δυνάμεως τὸ εἰδέναι πάντων τῶν ἀνθρώ πων, ζώντων τε καὶ νεκρῶν, τάς τε ἰδέας καὶ τὰς πράξεις ἀγαθάς τε καὶ φαύλας, πῶς οὐκ ἔστι τῶν νεκρῶν ἡ ἀνάστασις ἀπόδειξις τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπεριγράπτου δυνάμεώς τε καὶ γνώ σεως, δι' ἧς εἰς τὸ εἶναι πάλιν ἀποκαθιστᾷ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους; Ἀλλ' εἰ τοῦτο, πῶς οὐκ ἔσται ἀποστερῶν τὸν θεὸν τῆς τοι αύτης ἀποδείξεως ὁ ἀποστερῶν τοὺς νεκροὺς τῆς ἀναστά σεως; μζ. Eἰ ἐλπίσαντες Ἕλληνες ἀναιρεῖν διὰ τῆς οἰκείας ἀντι στάσεως τὸ περὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως δόγμα ἀπέτυχον τῆς ἐλπίδος, πῶς οὐκ ἔσονται ἀποτυγχάνοντες πάλιν τῆς ἐλπίδος, ἐλπί ζοντες πάλιν μὴ ἔσεσθαι τῶν νεκρῶν τὴν ἀνάστασιν; μη. Ἐχρῆν τοὺς Ἕλληνας, μαχεσαμένους κατὰ τοῦ περὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως δόγματος, ἢ μὴ ἡττᾶσθαι ἐν τῇ μάχῃ ἢ ἡττη θέντας μὴ ἀπιστεῖν τὴν ἀνάστασιν· εἰ δὲ μή γε, ἔσται αὐτῶν ἡ πρώτη ματαιοπονία ἔλεγχος τῆς ἀλόγου αὐτῶν ἀπιστίας.