The First Apology of Justin

 Chapter I.—Address.

 Chapter II.—Justice demanded.

 Chapter III.—Claim of judicial investigation.

 Chapter IV.—Christians unjustly condemned for their mere name.

 Chapter V.—Christians charged with atheism.

 Chapter VI.—Charge of atheism refuted.

 Chapter VII.—Each Christian must be tried by his own life.

 Chapter VIII.—Christians confess their faith in God.

 Chapter IX.—Folly of idol worship.

 Chapter X.—How God is to be served.

 Chapter XI.—What kingdom Christians look for.

 Chapter XII.—Christians live as under God’s eye.

 Chapter XIII.—Christians serve God rationally.

 Chapter XIV.—The demons misrepresent Christian doctrine.

 Chapter XV.—What Christ himself taught.

 Chapter XVI.—Concerning patience and swearing.

 Chapter XVII.—Christ taught civil obedience.

 Chapter XVIII.—Proof of immortality and the resurrection.

 Chapter XIX.—The resurrection possible.

 Chapter XX.—Heathen analogies to Christian doctrine.

 Chapter XXI.—Analogies to the history of Christ.

 Chapter XXII.—Analogies to the sonship of Christ.

 Chapter XXIII.—The argument.

 Chapter XXIV.—Varieties of heathen worship.

 Chapter XXV.—False Gods abandoned by Christians.

 Chapter XXVI.—Magicians not trusted by Christians.

 Chapter XXVII.—Guilt of exposing children.

 Chapter XXVIII.—God’s care for men.

 Chapter XXIX.—Continence of Christians.

 Chapter XXX.—Was Christ not a magician?

 Chapter XXXI.—Of the Hebrew prophets.

 Chapter XXXII.—Christ predicted by Moses.

 Chapter XXXIII.—Manner of Christ’s birth predicted.

 Chapter XXXIV.—Place of Christ’s birth foretold.

 Chapter XXXV.—Other fulfilled prophecies.

 Chapter XXXVI.—Different modes of prophecy.

 Chapter XXXVII.—Utterances of the Father.

 Chapter XXXVIII.—Utterances of the Son.

 Chapter XXXIX.—Direct predictions by the Spirit.

 Chapter XL.—Christ’s advent foretold.

 Chapter XLI.—The crucifixion predicted.

 Chapter XLII.—Prophecy using the past tense.

 Chapter XLIII.—Responsibility asserted.

 Chapter XLIV.—Not nullified by prophecy.

 Chapter XLV.—Christ’s session in heaven foretold.

 Chapter XLVI.—The Word in the world before Christ.

 Chapter XLVII.—Desolation of Judæa foretold.

 Chapter XLVIII.—Christ’s work and death foretold.

 Chapter XLIX.—His rejection by the Jews foretold.

 Chapter L.—His humiliation predicted.

 Chapter LI.—The majesty of Christ.

 Chapter LII.—Certain fulfilment of prophecy.

 Chapter LIII.—Summary of the prophecies.

 Chapter LIV.—Origin of heathen mythology.

 Chapter LV.—Symbols of the cross.

 Chapter LVI.—The demons still mislead men.

 Chapter LVII.—And cause persecution.

 Chapter LVIII.—And raise up heretics.

 Chapter LIX.—Plato’s obligation to Moses.

 Chapter LX.—Plato’s doctrine of the cross.

 Chapter LXI.—Christian baptism.

 Chapter LXII.—Its imitation by demons.

 Chapter LXIII.—How God appeared to Moses.

 Chapter LXIV.—Further misrepresentations of the truth.

 Chapter LXV.—Administration of the sacraments.

 Chapter LXVI.—Of the Eucharist.

 Chapter LXVII.—Weekly worship of the Christians.

 Chapter LXVIII.—Conclusion.

 Epistle of Adrian in behalf of the Christians.

 Epistle of Antoninus to the common assembly of Asia.

 Epistle of Marcus Aurelius to the senate, in which he testifies that the Christians were the cause of his victory.

Chapter XXVIII.—God’s care for men.

For among us the prince of the wicked spirits is called the serpent, and Satan, and the devil, as you can learn by looking into our writings. And that he would be sent into the fire with his host, and the men who follow him, and would be punished for an endless duration, Christ foretold. For the reason why God has delayed to do this, is His regard for the human race. For He foreknows that some are to be saved by repentance, some even that are perhaps not yet born.56    Literally, “For He foreknows some about to be saved by repentance, and some not yet perhaps born.” In the beginning He made the human race with the power of thought and of choosing the truth and doing right, so that all men are without excuse before God; for they have been born rational and contemplative. And if any one disbelieves that God cares for these things,57    Those things which concern the salvation of man; so Trollope and the other interpreters, except Otto, who reads τούτων masculine, and understands it of the men first spoken of. [See Plato (De Legibus, opp. ix. p. 98, Bipont., 1786), and the valuable edition of Book X. by Professor Tayler Lewis (p. 52. etc.). New York, 1845.] he will thereby either insinuate that God does not exist, or he will assert that though He exists He delights in vice, or exists like a stone, and that neither virtue nor vice are anything, but only in the opinion of men these things are reckoned good or evil. And this is the greatest profanity and wickedness.

[28] Παρ' ἡμῖν μὲν γὰρ ὁ ἀρχηγέτης τῶν κακῶν δαιμόνων ὄφις καλεῖται καὶ σατανᾶς καὶ διάβολος, ὡς καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἡμετέρων συγγραμμάτων ἐρευνήσαντες μαθεῖν δύνασθε: ὃν εἰς τὸ πῦρ πεμφθήσεσθαι μετὰ τῆς αὐτοῦ στρατιᾶς καὶ τῶν ἑπομένων ἀνθρώπων κολασθησομένους τὸν ἀπέραντον αἰῶνα, προεμήνυσεν ὁ Χριστός. καὶ γὰρ ἡ ἐπιμονὴ τοῦ μηδέπω τοῦτο πρᾶξαι τὸν θεὸν διὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον γένος γεγένηται: προγινώσκει γάρ τινας ἐκ μετανοίας σωθήσεσθαι μέλλοντας καί τινας μηδέπω ἴσως γεννηθέντας. καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν νοερὸν καὶ δυνάμενον αἱρεῖσθαι τἀληθῆ καὶ εὖ πράττειν τὸ γένος τὸ ἀνθρώπινον πεποίηκεν, ὥστ' ἀναπολόγητον εἶναι τοῖς πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις παρὰ τῷ θεῷ: λογικοὶ γὰρ καὶ θεωρητικοὶ γεγένηνται. εἰ δέ τις ἀπιστεῖ μέλειν τούτων τῷ θεῷ, ἢ μὴ εἶναι αὐτὸν διὰ τέχνης ὁμολογήσει, ἢ ὄντα χαίρειν κακίᾳ φήσει ἢ λίθῳ ἐοικότα μένειν, καὶ μηδὲν εἶναι ἀρετὴν μηδὲ κακίαν, δόξῃ δὲ μόνον τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἢ ἀγαθὰ ἢ κακὰ ταῦτα ἡγεῖσθαι: ἥπερ μεγίστη ἀσέβεια καὶ ἀδικία ἐστί.